Things that I think are great – Page 2

Path to Publication 2.2: On Being A Writer And Having Poor Impulse Control

My first novel is the start of a series. In my last column, I talked a bit about the process of researching the sequel, City of Rose. You’d think, in the month since that column ran, I would have gotten a lot of work done. And you would be wrong!

If I were a smart person, I would have used my impending purchase of an XBox One as an incentive to work harder. I should have said: “Self, you can buy the XBox One only when you finish the first draft of your next book. Then you can play a straight week of Titanfall as a palate cleanser, before you have to get into the editing process.”

But I have poor impulse control. So I bought it. And really, it’s the definition of a catch-22: I wanted to use my advance to treat myself to something, and in the process turfed my chances of having the free time to write another book. And you know what? I’m fine with that. Titanfall, man. There is something so viscerally satisfying about being pinned down by enemy fire and then summoning a giant robot from the sky and then climbing inside it to fire rockets at people. Especially after a long day…

Read the rest here!

Noir at the Bar!

Are you ready for another installment of Noir at the Bar NYC?

I hope so. Because I’m not. I’m still not sure what I’m going to read. But I will be there, with a story of some kind, and if you’re around, you should swing by.

Sunday, April 27

6-9 p.m.

Shade in the West Village

There will be noir. And booze. And crepes. There are some great readers on the slate: Tim Hall, Jack Getze, Jordan Harper, Scott Adlerberg, Gary Cahill, Jason Pinter, and Anthony Rainone.

It’ll be fun!

Tom Spanbauer: A Primer, and A Review Of His Latest Novel, ‘I Loved You More’

Over at LitReactor, I reviewed Tom Spanbauer’s latest novel, I Loved You More, and looked back at his first four novels, and talk about how much his writing has meant to me. You should check it out. It’s the only earnest thing I’ve ever written.

Party time at AWP

Are you going to AWP? I’m going to AWP. In beautiful, sunny Seattle!

LitReactor is teaming up with Writer.ly and the Booked. Podcast for some super happy fun times for Thursday, Feb. 27.

Mark your calendar. Details here.

(more) Top favorite reads of 2013

LitReactor just posted an end-of-the-year roundup, for which I provided my top five favorite books that were released in 2013. Narrowing it down to five was tough. I did my best. Here’s the list I gave them:

The Hard Bounce by Todd Robinson
Graphic the Valley by Peter Brown Hoffmeister
Country Hardball by Steve Weddle
Junkie Love by Joe Clifford
Dare Me by Megan Abbott

You can click over to the site to see why I picked these books. Plus, you’ll see the books my LitReactor cohorts picked, and there are some great reads in there.

But there were a lot of other books I read that I really enjoyed and I want to give them their due. So, here are the rest of my favorite reads among books released this year:

The Twelve-Fingered Boy by John Hornor Jacobs. It’s got an incredible voice and a unique structure and I’m a little desperate for the next installment.
False Memory by Dan Krokos. Swords! Kung-fu! Teen drama! Secrets! Awesomeness from beginning to end.
Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss. This book is horrifying. Horrifying.
Blue Blazes by Check Wendig. Irish sandhogs as New York City’s last line of defense against a Lovecraftian hell PLUS kick-ass roller derby girls. How could I not love this book?
The Little Boy Inside and Other Stories by Glenn Gray. I have a bad habit with short story collections—I read a few stories, put the book down, and then don’t pick it up again for months. This one I went straight through. Between the body-building horror stories and medical horror stories I was squirming from start to finish.
The Big Reap by Chris F. Holm. Hardboiled soul collector caught in a conflict between heaven and hell. Love it. This is the third installment of a series and while the first two are really good, Holm steps up his game on this one.
Double Down: Game Change 2012 by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. This recount of the 2012 matchup between President Obama and Mitt Romney totally satisfied my political sweet tooth. And there are a lot of fun opportunities for divining the 2016 race.
The Shanghai Factor by Charles McCarry. There are no big action pieces in this spy thriller. It’s mostly people sitting in rooms and talking. And yet it is monstrously gripping the entire way through.
Cover of Snow by Jenny Milchman. A snowy landscape and a town’s secrets. A recipe for skullduggery here. Beautiful writing.
Toxic Garbage by Kelby Losack. This is the first book someone has ever asked me to blurb. Luckily I liked it a lot!
Fight Song by Joshua Mohr. Just when you think the “modern male emasculated in suburbia” trope has been done to death, Mohr makes it special.
A Wind of Knives by Ed Kurtz. Dark and challenging. Set in the past, immediate in its exploration of themes like love, and intolerance, and revenge.

And, here are the books I read that were not published this year but I loved the living shit out of anyway:

In the City of Shy Hunters by Tom Spanbauer. I have never read a book that captured New York City so distinctly. Too early to tell but this may end up being my favorite book ever.
They Don’t Dance Much by James Ross. It’s a cheap shot because I publish this one, but still, a lost classic.
Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell. Holy shit Daniel Woodrell.
The Moment Before by Suzy Vitello. This doesn’t come out until January so I had to shuffle it down here. Still. Beautiful. I love Suzy’s writing.
The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch. Oh my stars this wonderful thing.
Dead Calm by Charles Williams. I love Charles Williams so much. I feel lucky to publish his backlist. I read half of his books this year but Dead Calm was my favorite, for a few reasons, but mostly for this stunning passage:

He still hadn’t looked up, and she had no intention of venturing farther into his territory until he’d seen her and she could assess his reaction. From here she could still make it back to safety before he could get out from behind the wheel and catch her, but going too far would be like misjudging the length of chain by which some dangerous wild animal was secured. She waited, thinking of this and conscious of the incongruity or even the utter madness of the simile. Dangerous? This nice, well-mannered, unbelievably handsome boy who might have stepped right out of a mother’s dream? That was the horror of it, she thought. Conscious evil or malicious intent you could at least communicate with, but Warriner was capable of destroying her with the pointlessness and the perfect innocence of a falling safe, and with its same imperviousness to argument.

And… that’s all I’ve got, folks! Until next year, happy reading.

Someone asked me to blurb a book!

So, this is cool: A few months back some dude asked me to blurb his book. I didn’t know him, but the plot summary was pretty cool, and I was in a good mood when I got the e-mail, so I figured, hell, let’s try this thing.

And I really liked it! Which would have been awkward if I didn’t, no? If the book sucked then I don’t know what I would have done. Written back with a blurb that read: “This is in fact a book.”

Instead, this is the blurb I came up with:

Toxic Garbage is like that perfect punk song: Dirty, propulsive, immediate, infused with anarchist spirt. And it’s carried by a rag-tag central cast that, despite their flaws and scars, clearly care for each other. The balance Losack strikes between light and dark is killer.

And he put it on the cover! Which is awesome. (It’s not on this version of the cover, but it is on the version over at Amazon, where you can buy it.)

Go read Toxic Garbage. If this is Kelby Losack’s debut, I’m excited to see what he has coming up next.

April news round-up

I wrote an article for LitReactor called Top 10 Storytelling Cliches Writers Need To Stop Using. It’s gotten more than 35,000 hits. Insane.

There’s a new podcast episode up, featuring special guest Patrick Wensink, author of the fantastic Broken Piano for President. Give it a listen.

My online marketing class starts in less than a week. It’s going to be fun! Check it out.

Speaking of classes, we’ve got a packed slate, with some really cool workshops lined up. Don’t believe me? Go take a look.

Finally, galleys are in for Kwik Krimes. Fancy!

Go see ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’

Last night I saw Beasts of the Southern Wild, which is a movie, and also completely and utterly amazing. I’m still in awe, just thinking about it. I’m not even going to tell you about it; this is one of those things that would be great if you could go into it pure.

It’s currently in limited release but supposed to be opening wider tomorrow, I think. The official website could probably be of some help there. If this is playing anywhere near you, for real, drop what you’re doing and go see it.

There’s a million reasons to see this movie. The stirring soundtrack, the badass little star Quvenzhané Wallis, the stunning poetic imagery, the compact-yet-expansive storytelling. But the most important reason is to support good art.

So many movies that hit theaters are dreck. It was nice to see something brilliant and beautiful and original. We need more stories like this. Vote with your dollar; pay to see a movie that isn’t stupid.