The Authentic Animal, Caption Contest / Book Giveaway

Many Dave Maddens exist in the world. There’s the one from The Partridge Family, the one who is a video game executive, the one who is a musician, the one who is an Australian police commissioner, and the one who is a writer who wrote a book that will be published by St. Martin’s Press two weeks from today entitled The Authentic Animal: Inside the Odd and Obsessive World of Taxidermy.

To celebrate its release, Dave and I came up with an idea:  I roamed the web and found various pictures of taxidermied animals, which I sent to Dave.  He then responded to each of the pictures using his vast knowledge of the field…you’ll find the pictures and his responses after the jump…you’ll also find a picture without a caption and this is where you come in…

Dave has graciously agreed to give away a free signed copy of the book to the person who comes up with the most best caption to that final image.  You have one week from today.  He’ll select the winner next Tuesday.

For those of you who aren’t clever, or who aren’t selected by Dave, I highly recommend pre-ordering the book now…it’s about taxidermy folks…you can be sure it kicks ass.  Also, you can find out more about the author here.

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Contests / 42 Comments
July 19th, 2011 / 6:19 pm

click

I need the structure, or an urge to the structure, a tickling vision, a hint or itch or organic flux to the structure (this is why I teach so many scaffolding-of-fiction based classes—we all have our biases) to begin the writing, to flow. What do you need? What do you need for the click to kick in (Brick: It’s like a switch, clickin’ off in my head. Turns the hot light off and the cool one on, and all of a sudden there’s peace.) ?

What sends you on your writing way?

Craft Notes / 24 Comments
July 19th, 2011 / 5:59 pm

I’ll Drown My Book

I irrationally don’t like Kickstarter. Mostly because I have no money to contribute. I would like, however, to introduce to you the first project I’ve ever donated to.

 

I’ll Drown My Book will be the first collection of conceptual writing by women.

Conceptual writing is emerging as a vital 21st century literary movement and Les Figues Press wants to represent the contributions of women in this defining moment. By supporting this project, you will ensure that women claim their literary space. Edited by Caroline Bergvall, Laynie Browne, Teresa Carmody and Vanessa Place, the book includes work by 64 women from 10 countries. Contributors respond to the question: What is conceptual writing? I’ll Drown My Book offers feminist perspectives within this literary phenomenon.

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Random / 6 Comments
July 19th, 2011 / 5:24 pm
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A new Brian Evenson story, “Anskan House,” appears online as an excerpt from the new issue of Redivider.

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Art Observed (Opening Salvo)

Artists have a responsibility to indulge and nourish their ideas, no matter how insignificant they may seem at first. This weekly blog post, Art Observed, is one of those ideas. It seeks to function as both an abstract, non-linear diary of sorts, and as an exercise in observation and image curating. My artwork relies heavily on the juxtaposition of images, their cohesiveness and contradiction, as well as the conclusions that the mind reaches when forced to reconcile the two. For the most part, I will opt to let each set of 10 images speak for itself, but will include some brief commentary if I find it necessary or illuminating. – TD

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Random / 13 Comments
July 19th, 2011 / 2:26 pm

Book + Beer: Murakami and Flat12

Cats. Clinical sex. Whipping up a quick miso soup. Music. Two fingers of bourbon before you go to bed. Psychic teenagers and the Sheep Man. Wells and tunnels. A quest. Death and loss. You know the material. Who in the fuck even reads Murakami? Go ahead, take my Indie Card away. (It wasn’t doing much for me anyway, expect for the 10% discount on skinny eyeglasses.) Sometimes I’m just in the mood. A sort of literary sorbet. Yo, H, how did you get into writing?

In April 1978, I was watching a baseball game in the Jingu Stadium in Tokyo, the sun was shining, I was drinking a beer. And when Dave Hilton of the Yakult Swallows made a perfect hit, at that instant I knew I was going to write a novel.

Oh fuck off, dude.

As someone here said once, Murakami can really write about food. And drinking beer.

Last night I was at this reading In Indianapolis and had several Flat 12 Half Cycle IPAs. The Half Cycle is so named due to its blending of single and double IPA characteristics. Extremely hoppy! Made dry hopped with a pound of high alpha American hops in every barrel! (You are allowed to use three exclamation marks your entire writing life, and I just used two.) Shit. I could feel the alcohol fluttering through my mouth, into brain, fluttering past brain, into ceiling. I felt like a tube. The ceiling was golden.

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Author Spotlight & Random / 19 Comments
July 19th, 2011 / 11:26 am

22 Things I Learned from Submitting Writing

Re this I thought about this:

1. Early on I sent out a lot of bullshit. I mean I would send out almost anything that seemed done, whether I loved it or not. Later on I began to realize that not only did I rarely receive acceptances for things that I hadn’t put the work on in, I also realized that boy does it suck when you accidentally get something published that you don’t even like.

2. There is a mental diminishing return to publishing. The more you do it the more the feeling is diluted. Thus, there is no rush. It seems really urgent and then it seems less urgent. Being diligent  to the point of nearly psycho produces results in that the practice of writing makes you get better and better, but you should never feel shitty for a rejection. It is just another chance to improve. Take that chance.

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Behind the Scenes / 181 Comments
July 18th, 2011 / 4:10 pm

Noo Duende Edition

I like NOO Weekly when Goodie Mike Young let’s others take over curating for a week. This week it’s Ben Kopel.

Ben says, “consider this the Duende Edition: “Extra! Extra! Bleed all about it!”

See this week shake in the shapes of  Graham Foust,  Gordon Massman, Chelsea Hogue, LaTasha N Nevada Diggs, Bianca Stone, & Matt Suss.

 

Do Yo Know Matt Suss?                         O shit.

You should.

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Presses / 5 Comments
July 18th, 2011 / 1:41 pm

A Review of Your Review: Ben Mirov Reviews Jeff Gordinier’s Review of Chris Martin’s BECOMING WEATHER

My friend Amy Lawless showed me this review of Becoming Weather by Chris Martin in the New York Times (scroll to the bottom of the article). Here is my review of the review, beginning with an excerpt from the review:

“No, the author of “Becoming Weather” is not the same Chris Martin who is the frontman of Coldplay and the husband of Gwyneth Paltrow. But it’s easy to see how you might leap to that assumption, because what you often find here are the kind of well-intentioned ruminations — “The people I love / lack something sufficient / for the violence of this world” (oh, buck up, people!) — that you might expect from a pop star who lets verse pour forth in his dressing room between bites of a vegan corn dog.”

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Random / 26 Comments
July 18th, 2011 / 11:47 am

Something I Wrote in 2009

 

I wrote this in 2009. I didn’t fine-tune it. I didn’t submit it. I didn’t blog it. It just sat there. I thought of it fondly. I reread it this morning for the first time in approximately two years, and a lot of it seems to holds true. Here is the unedited version (with yes, Hemingway, the 30s, 40s, 90s, and copious exceptions to this “study” missing):

notes on literary style concerning male protagonists: early-mid 20th century vs. turn of 21st century

– seems like an interesting thing to investigate, have noticed some interesting differences

– in significant works of early-mid 20th century male protagonists seem to uphold certain amounts of confidence, toughness, dominance, even in the face of hardship, emotional experience, or tragedy

– beginning in late 20th century, moving to 21st, male protagonists seem to experience greater awkwardness, greater sense of helplessness and hopelessness, less ambition, less necessity to uphold spirit and status

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Behind the Scenes / 10 Comments
July 18th, 2011 / 11:38 am