Townsend Prize, HuffPo rant, a piece of the moon, and other stuff from April
There are several problems with a writer having a blog. One is that the writer by definition is probably supposed to be writing something else right now. The other is that the line between posting something of genuine interest to readers and something that is cravenly self-promotional is a hard one to spot, and constantly moving, and perhaps even imaginary.
Also there's the irony that, when a lot of blog-worthy things are going on, that's a sign that I'm busy, and therefore having trouble making time to blog about those things that I've been busy with.
Hence my relative lack of blogging lately.
But, I'm back. Last week was a bit of a whirlwind, but a good and productive one, so I'm posting a few links below. If they seem annoyingly self-promotional, and if they seem to be coming from Thomas Mullen the brand rather than Thomas Mullen the writer, or even Thomas Mullen the person, my apologies. I do hope instead that the below is genuinely interesting.
1. Thursday night I was thrilled to learn that my second novel was named the winner of the Townsend Prize, which is awarded to the best work of book-length fiction by a Georgia author over the preceding two years. Past winners have included Ha Jin and Alice Walker, so it's wonderful company to be included in. Also, last year's winner was some book called The Help, so I have dramatically brought down the average sales figures of past winners. Oh well.
To see the Atlanta Journal-Constitution story, click here.
It was a fun evening, at which I got to meet the other nine nominees (a few of whom I'd already met, including one whos literally my neighbor), as well as other writers, professors, booksellers, readers, and other assorted book people.
One of the cool things about being in Atlanta is that, while it's a major city with various dynamic things going on, it's unpretentious and laid back enough for writers to meet up randomly, have coffee, chat, etc. I've met a ton of other writers in my three years here and look forward to a long literary future in the ATL.
2. In less warm and sunny news: Discouraged and dismayed by the recent Department of Justice settlement with publishers over e-book prices, and just overall frazzled by the state of publishing in general, and the strange netherworld in which writers like myself find ourselves as we try to reach an audience and possibly be paid for our work at a time when Amazon and Apple are themselves minting money, I wrote a satirical op-ed piece. In it, I offer to turn myself in to the DOJ for the crime of writing for profit.
It was published in the Huffington Post, and has been reposted and tweeted a fair amount, for whatever that's worth.
If you're wondering whether I am aware of the irony of writing such an article and posting it on the Huffington Post, a web-only venue that does not pay its writers: yes, I am so aware. And deeper into the rabbit hole we go...
3. Last Tuesday I tripped down memory lane, sort of, by visiting Central Catholic High School to give a reading and meet with students. The 1,000-students-strong school and many parents had read my first novel, The Last Town on Earth. A number of colleges and universities have done this with their freshmen classes, but to my knowledge this was the first time an entire high school has tackled it this way.
As a Catholic high school alum myself, and someone who went to college in Ohio, it was a surprisingly nostalgic experience. Oh, and I got to add an awesome Toledo Mud Hens T-shirt to my now fairly extensive collection of minor league T's and hats. Score!
The other cool thing about CCHS: one of their alumns is NASA's Gene Krantz--Ed Harris played him, and won the Oscar for it, in Apollo 13. Krantz is a generous alum, and he donated to the school an actual piece of the moon. It's on display in a special "moon room" in their library, complete with blown-up B/W shots of the NASA control room and one of Krantz's senior year astronomy papers (grade: 97).
For a photo of the moon, which I orbited around, check out my Facebook fan page here.
4. I was very excited to learn that I'll have a short story in the next edition of the Grantland Quarterly. The lovechild of ESPN and McSweeney's, Grantland's web site offers excellent longform journalism about sports and culture, sometimes offered not by traditional journalists but by novelists like Dave Eggers, Colson Whitehead, and John Brandon. They also publish a McSweeneys-ish quarterly book-type thingy, containing some of the best columns from the preceding few months, plus a few extras. My story will be one of the extras. Look for "The Art of a Basketball" in Vol. 3 in June, and/or order a subscription to the quarterly here.
As always, thanks for reading!
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Also there's the irony that, when a lot of blog-worthy things are going on, that's a sign that I'm busy, and therefore having trouble making time to blog about those things that I've been busy with.
Hence my relative lack of blogging lately.
But, I'm back. Last week was a bit of a whirlwind, but a good and productive one, so I'm posting a few links below. If they seem annoyingly self-promotional, and if they seem to be coming from Thomas Mullen the brand rather than Thomas Mullen the writer, or even Thomas Mullen the person, my apologies. I do hope instead that the below is genuinely interesting.
1. Thursday night I was thrilled to learn that my second novel was named the winner of the Townsend Prize, which is awarded to the best work of book-length fiction by a Georgia author over the preceding two years. Past winners have included Ha Jin and Alice Walker, so it's wonderful company to be included in. Also, last year's winner was some book called The Help, so I have dramatically brought down the average sales figures of past winners. Oh well.
To see the Atlanta Journal-Constitution story, click here.
It was a fun evening, at which I got to meet the other nine nominees (a few of whom I'd already met, including one whos literally my neighbor), as well as other writers, professors, booksellers, readers, and other assorted book people.
One of the cool things about being in Atlanta is that, while it's a major city with various dynamic things going on, it's unpretentious and laid back enough for writers to meet up randomly, have coffee, chat, etc. I've met a ton of other writers in my three years here and look forward to a long literary future in the ATL.
2. In less warm and sunny news: Discouraged and dismayed by the recent Department of Justice settlement with publishers over e-book prices, and just overall frazzled by the state of publishing in general, and the strange netherworld in which writers like myself find ourselves as we try to reach an audience and possibly be paid for our work at a time when Amazon and Apple are themselves minting money, I wrote a satirical op-ed piece. In it, I offer to turn myself in to the DOJ for the crime of writing for profit.
It was published in the Huffington Post, and has been reposted and tweeted a fair amount, for whatever that's worth.
If you're wondering whether I am aware of the irony of writing such an article and posting it on the Huffington Post, a web-only venue that does not pay its writers: yes, I am so aware. And deeper into the rabbit hole we go...
3. Last Tuesday I tripped down memory lane, sort of, by visiting Central Catholic High School to give a reading and meet with students. The 1,000-students-strong school and many parents had read my first novel, The Last Town on Earth. A number of colleges and universities have done this with their freshmen classes, but to my knowledge this was the first time an entire high school has tackled it this way.
As a Catholic high school alum myself, and someone who went to college in Ohio, it was a surprisingly nostalgic experience. Oh, and I got to add an awesome Toledo Mud Hens T-shirt to my now fairly extensive collection of minor league T's and hats. Score!
The other cool thing about CCHS: one of their alumns is NASA's Gene Krantz--Ed Harris played him, and won the Oscar for it, in Apollo 13. Krantz is a generous alum, and he donated to the school an actual piece of the moon. It's on display in a special "moon room" in their library, complete with blown-up B/W shots of the NASA control room and one of Krantz's senior year astronomy papers (grade: 97).
For a photo of the moon, which I orbited around, check out my Facebook fan page here.
4. I was very excited to learn that I'll have a short story in the next edition of the Grantland Quarterly. The lovechild of ESPN and McSweeney's, Grantland's web site offers excellent longform journalism about sports and culture, sometimes offered not by traditional journalists but by novelists like Dave Eggers, Colson Whitehead, and John Brandon. They also publish a McSweeneys-ish quarterly book-type thingy, containing some of the best columns from the preceding few months, plus a few extras. My story will be one of the extras. Look for "The Art of a Basketball" in Vol. 3 in June, and/or order a subscription to the quarterly here.
As always, thanks for reading!
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