May 4th, 2010 / 8:25 pm
Power Quote

Damn.

Here’s something to read:

“The young ones called each other out from their cells. Set to set, block to block, nation to nation. They called each other soldier. Six pop, five drop, nines and gats and gauges. Greetings and threats indistinguishable in the voices of monster children.”

Firework, Eugene Marten, Tyrant Books

So, this is from the galley, which arrived on my desk at work today. I read the first 20 or so pages in a doctor’s waiting room. The first pages take place in a jail.

When you get a galley, it reminds you—the reader—that it is an uncorrected proof, and that some small changes may be made, and that you should check with the publicity department or the finished book before quoting from it somewhere.

I didn’t do that. I’m not going to do that. Read that paragraph—what would you change?

Seriously, Gian. If you change anything in that paragraph, I’m coming for your ass.

Tags: ,

43 Comments

  1. Blake Butler

      this book is seriously a fucking monster. god, those jail scenes. god, this book.

  2. Sean

      I’m reading it right now. On my bedside table. Dude seems to care about sentences and issues. I think it’s going to be a head-ripper.

  3. steve donoghue

      What would I change? Aside from the grammatical error in the first sentence, the sentence fragments, the gibberish, and the lazy cliche of ‘monster children,’ I wouldn’t change a thing. “God, this book” is entirely right.

  4. Sean

      are you clowning?

      u sound like my hs teacher mom (i love her) complaining about sentence fragments in Annie Dillard’s fiction.

      grammatical errors, eh?

      Come on now.

      Next thing women wear pants and some crazy fucker sells water, WATER!!, from a bottle and still makes good paper.

      dude.

      read the book, yo?

      (no, Steve) Unless you say yes and Steve you aren’t going to say yes, I guess [oh fuck I just rhymed and this parenthesis is not grammatical]

      steve

      stev

      ste

      Not even sure the rhetorical move i just did reducing your name but I am also in FINALS WEEK and just look at my track record…

      Taking all that into account, you are still wrong, Steve,

      Back off the grammar. Look into the eye of the hammer.

      book

      boo

      oo

  5. Ken Baumann

      Firework is masterpiece.

  6. Ken Baumann

      no typo.

  7. christian

      woah, i didn’t even know this was in the works. waste was one of my favorites of the year it came out. i’m psyched for it.

  8. (Ass-Brackets)

      How would he have read the book if it’s only in galley form right now? The only thing he has to go on is the excerpt. If you guys don’t want anyone commenting on the cool new wallpaper you put up in yr super-exclusive treehouse, then don’t invite anyone over who’s not a member. And by the way, Lovelace, every time I read something from you, in that thoroughly irritating voice of yours, I am reminded of Kevin J. O’Connor’s character in Peggy Sue Got Married.

  9. darby

      nice. 370 pgs. nice. i like that indie books seem to be getting longer, no? assumption? i want more.

      pre-ordered.

  10. Blake Butler

      this book is seriously a fucking monster. god, those jail scenes. god, this book.

  11. Sean

      I’m reading it right now. On my bedside table. Dude seems to care about sentences and issues. I think it’s going to be a head-ripper.

  12. KevinS

      On my stack too. Go, Gian! Go, Eugene!

  13. steve donoghue

      What would I change? Aside from the grammatical error in the first sentence, the sentence fragments, the gibberish, and the lazy cliche of ‘monster children,’ I wouldn’t change a thing. “God, this book” is entirely right.

  14. Sean

      are you clowning?

      u sound like my hs teacher mom (i love her) complaining about sentence fragments in Annie Dillard’s fiction.

      grammatical errors, eh?

      Come on now.

      Next thing women wear pants and some crazy fucker sells water, WATER!!, from a bottle and still makes good paper.

      dude.

      read the book, yo?

      (no, Steve) Unless you say yes and Steve you aren’t going to say yes, I guess [oh fuck I just rhymed and this parenthesis is not grammatical]

      steve

      stev

      ste

      Not even sure the rhetorical move i just did reducing your name but I am also in FINALS WEEK and just look at my track record…

      Taking all that into account, you are still wrong, Steve,

      Back off the grammar. Look into the eye of the hammer.

      book

      boo

      oo

  15. Ken Baumann

      Firework is masterpiece.

  16. Ken Baumann

      no typo.

  17. christian

      woah, i didn’t even know this was in the works. waste was one of my favorites of the year it came out. i’m psyched for it.

  18. Maria

      i wish i had more of that book to read right now.

      um dude, it is not actually a grammatical error. you are mistaken. nice try though. also, i tend to admire gibberish.

      monster children monster mind monster mash

  19. (Ass-Brackets)

      How would he have read the book if it’s only in galley form right now? The only thing he has to go on is the excerpt. If you guys don’t want anyone commenting on the cool new wallpaper you put up in yr super-exclusive treehouse, then don’t invite anyone over who’s not a member. And by the way, Lovelace, every time I read something from you, in that thoroughly irritating voice of yours, I am reminded of Kevin J. O’Connor’s character in Peggy Sue Got Married.

  20. Matthew Simmons

      What grammatical error?

  21. darby

      nice. 370 pgs. nice. i like that indie books seem to be getting longer, no? assumption? i want more.

      pre-ordered.

  22. KevinS

      On my stack too. Go, Gian! Go, Eugene!

  23. Maria

      i wish i had more of that book to read right now.

      um dude, it is not actually a grammatical error. you are mistaken. nice try though. also, i tend to admire gibberish.

      monster children monster mind monster mash

  24. Matthew Simmons

      What grammatical error?

  25. scott mcclanahan

      Awesome.

  26. TTT

      I like the first few, but the last one is flaccid:

      Greetings and threats indistinguishable in the voices of monster children

  27. Fiona

      Fucking reductionists have no soul.

      Your use of the phrase “lazy cliche” is trite and thus your post, ironic. Change it.

  28. scott mcclanahan

      Awesome.

  29. Jhon Baker

      “greetings and threats indistinguishable…” – I guess it may sound “flaccid”, “cliche” and whatever to the writer/critic who has never heard the ‘greetings and threats indistinguishable in the voices of (what can only be called) monster children’. Call it what you will – it is precisely written and the description is hauntingly correct.

  30. Matthew Simmons

      Seriously, point out the grammatical error.

      And what gibberish? “Six pop, five drop, nines and gats and gauges”? Six shots, five deaths/injuries, nine millimeter pistols, guns, or 12-gauge shotguns?

  31. Michael Fitzsimmons
  32. TTT

      I like the first few, but the last one is flaccid:

      Greetings and threats indistinguishable in the voices of monster children

  33. Matthew Simmons

      What treehouse? What exclusivity? This is a blog. Read it and you are a sitting in the treehouse with us.

      Comment and you are a part of treehouse business. See how simple?

      It’s an excerpt from a soon-to-be-available book. You should order yourself a copy.

  34. Fiona

      Fucking reductionists have no soul.

      Your use of the phrase “lazy cliche” is trite and thus your post, ironic. Change it.

  35. Lincoln

      I do not see the grammatical error….

  36. Jhon Baker

      “greetings and threats indistinguishable…” – I guess it may sound “flaccid”, “cliche” and whatever to the writer/critic who has never heard the ‘greetings and threats indistinguishable in the voices of (what can only be called) monster children’. Call it what you will – it is precisely written and the description is hauntingly correct.

  37. Matthew Simmons

      Seriously, point out the grammatical error.

      And what gibberish? “Six pop, five drop, nines and gats and gauges”? Six shots, five deaths/injuries, nine millimeter pistols, guns, or 12-gauge shotguns?

  38. Michael Fitzsimmons
  39. Matthew Simmons

      What treehouse? What exclusivity? This is a blog. Read it and you are a sitting in the treehouse with us.

      Comment and you are a part of treehouse business. See how simple?

      It’s an excerpt from a soon-to-be-available book. You should order yourself a copy.

  40. Lincoln

      I do not see the grammatical error….

  41. kelli

      i think all is good until ‘monster children.’ even what comes before in that line is nice: ‘Greetings and threats indistinguishable.’ but ‘monster children,’ i don’t think it works. it’s not cliche, but i don’t know what voices of monster children sound like. i don’t get out much, though.

  42. kelli

      i think all is good until ‘monster children.’ even what comes before in that line is nice: ‘Greetings and threats indistinguishable.’ but ‘monster children,’ i don’t think it works. it’s not cliche, but i don’t know what voices of monster children sound like. i don’t get out much, though.

  43. Odd Words « Odd Bits of Life in New Orleans

      […] § Damn. […]