Matthew Simmons
Matthew Simmons lives in Seattle.
Friday Fuck Books, Let’s Have a Cheeseburger
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwRHGHNeOtI
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDJegk88lgw
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Teabaggers teach me something about writing: magical thinking
“There are millions of people across the country who wish you ill, and all of those thoughts that are projected on you will materialize into something that’s not very good for you. We don’t have to do anything but sit back and wish.”
There are times when I have a character in a story who I wish and wish and wish ill upon. Unless the crazy, teabagging magical thinker transcribed from the news report above, though, when I’m writing my wishes can come true. I’m an author. I am in control. I am God/a god/etc. here.
Sometimes, though, it might be helpful to ignore that wish. Maybe most of the time. Maybe most of the time, it would be detrimental to the story, to the story’s world, to be the vengeful et cetera.
I mean, nothing will happen to Stupak because millions of people across the country wish him ill. Not from the wishing. Why should I always get what I want just because I’m in control?
Matthew Simmons—
Sam Lipsyte interview by Paul Constant of The Stranger. It’s a good one. Q: This book in particular felt Elkinish to me. And I was wondering if you were thinking about him a lot when you were writing… A: Well, I think that his example is always with me. The notion of doing it with language—whatever you’re trying to do—of doing it with language and the example he set with his books is always with me. If you are in Seattle, Sam Lipsyte will be reading tonight at Neptune Coffee.
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Matthew Simmons—
Inquiry: besides Sigur Ros and Magma, can you name a band whose lyrics are in a language made up by a member of the band? (Did a little edit on the sentence. Sounded made-up.)
Three Seattle Things
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBsmdMCwZjE
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWs8PX2kHUc
Prose poems by Seattle treasure, John Olson, read at Pilot Books during Small Press Fest. Go here to see Brandon Downing introduce Mr. Olson. I missed this reading. I hate that I missed this reading.
Suggested John Olson books: The Night I Dropped Shakespeare on the Cat, Free Stream Velocity, Eggs and Mirrors.
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In treasured writer slash treasure-hunting news, Ryan Boudinot’s geocaching story project “Found and Lost” continues. It appears that copies of the story “Juan” now exist in California and North Carolina. Fans of short fiction and fans of GPS device-based tracking games take note.
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Another Seattle treasure is the producer Vitamin D. To celebrate his birthday, he gave away a free 9-song EP called Bornday, much of which he says was recorded on his birthday. Go here for a link and grab it.
Which reminds me: I started A Jello Horse on my birthday. Anyone else feel a creative urge on their born day? Anything of note come out of it?
Talk Talk
Last night, I did a reading at Pilot Books. At Pilot’s request, I did an informal craft talk after the reaing. I chose to talk a little about how to approach writing dialogue. What follows are my introductory remarks.
Let’s talk about characters when they talk. Stories—mostly—have these things called characters, and more often than not, those characters come in sets, in twos, in threes, in groups and parties and piles. And so then there we are—we writerly types—with our groups and parties and piles and sets of characters, and we have these characters in these rooms we’ve made, these rooms we’ve furnished with all sorts of nice little objects for our characters to look at and consider and think about the history of and maybe to throw at one another—and what then? Why the throwing? What then for the characters there together?
Well, God. Sometimes these characters will have to go ahead and talk to one another. How? How should we—we writerly types—approach the characters talking to each other dilemma? How the heck do we write dialogue? READ MORE >
A Very Long—and Very Interesting—Interview with Matthew Stadler of Publication Studio
Matthew Stadler reading from his new Publication Studio published novel at Smallpressapalooza at Powell's Books.
Spotlit recently on Dennis Cooper’s blog, Portland’s Publication Studio—brainchild of novelist Matthew Stadler and his business partner Patricia No. Using print on demand equipment, PS puts out books by a number of innovative writers—including two of my favorite Seattle authors, Stacey Levine and Matt Briggs—rescues the out of print or in publication limbo, and generally advocates for a more nimble, more author-centric publishing world. I asked Matthew some questions. Matthew answered.
I wanted to know more about the machine you are using to bind the books. Could you tell me about it? Where you found it? Who had it before you? What it was used for?
Yes, we use two machines. The one that got us started, that we call Ol’ Gluey, is the heart of an old Instabook III system that was developed by a man named Victor Celario, a Mexican who started the business in Morelia and Mexico City and expanded it when he moved to Florida. Victor calls Instabook “the Mr. Coffee of portable print-on-demand.” Victor designed and patented his integrated POD system in the late 1990s, aiming for a market of self-publishing authors, the people who now use Lulu or Apple’s iBook or Blurb. The Instabook rig that we have started out at a bookshop in NewJersey in the late 1990s, performing that service (as far as I know) and then migrated to Brooklyn’s Longdash Printing, which became a printing arm of a local cafe called VoxPop. Gabriel Stuart used it there to publish more would-be self-publishers and he might have tried publishing an imprint, I’m not sure. Gabe wanted to change the focus at VoxPop and had been trying to get rid of the Instabook for a year or two when I saw his blogpost offering it at a cheap price. I flew to NYC with my ten-year old, rented a van, and drove it back to Portland last summer. We got a Kyocera FS9130DN duplex B/W printer, Ol Gluey, and an Ideal guillotine trimmer from Gabe (all parts of the Instabook III system) and started to make books in September 2009. Since then we have added a Chinese knock-off of a perfect binder, a rig you can get online for $700 – $900. We do about half the books on that and half on Ol’ Gluey. READ MORE >
I love this woman.
UPDATE: Didn’t really do any research on this, and probably should have. Middle finger is photoshopped. The real image is this:
Let’s call the first image, then, an expression of collective desire.
Matthew Simmons—
Still loving Isaiah Toothtaker: “The Cormac McCarthy meets Biz Markie on the marquee…” Watch Rare Form and download it for free here. Partnered on this one with Awkward from Bristol.
Corey Haim (RIP) on artistic ambition
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLRK-XP_GLE
The direction in my life right now that I’m trying to I guess proceed with in the business is gradually from being the little boy, from the younger, you know, brother, trying to get to be the older brother or the only brother.
And who doesn’t feel that? Me, certainly. Why did Tao Lin start Muumuu House? Older brother. Year of the Liquidator? Older brother.
At what point did you decide you wanted to be the “older brother”? (And I apologize for the maleness of the metaphor. I would like sisters to answer, too.) Have you decided yet?