|
JULY, YOU SO FLY
EXCEPT ASTROLOGY-WISE
|
|
Mercury sure as heck was retrograde this month, huh? Whew!
I almost never write short fiction anymore, but I did write some in response to a call for submissions on the theme of "Hunger." My story was accepted by the market I wrote it for (this rarely happens), and you can read it there right now, at Rhythm & Bones. It's called "Between Four and Six," and the first paragraph is absolute nonfiction, while the rest is fantasy. (It came out of the kind of reader I've come to be over the past 18 months, though.)
I did well with interviews this month. I interviewed Courtney Maum for BOMB, which was an honor and a pleasure on both ends. I've admired her for a long time, and wanted to be a part of BOMB for a long time, too. I'm so glad it all came together this month.
Cagibi ran an interview I did with Deborah Baker, which has been in the works for...a year? Since I first read The Last Englishmen, Baker's most recent, and quite extraordinary, book. It landed in exactly the right place.
July's Books I Hate interview was with Leland Cheuk, the kind and smart publisher of 7.13 Books, whose own newest novel, No Good Very Bad Asian, comes out next month.
July 2019 is the 50th anniversary of both the moon landing and the release of Nick Drake's luminous first album, Five Leaves Left. I wrote an appreciation of the album for Rock & Roll Globe. It was so, so, so fun to write.
A social media group of debut authors to which I belong has done a daily event across July called #MeetThe2020s, in which we've answered a question each day about our books and the process of publishing them. It's been great fun and has gained me a lot of support and attention, and it's made me think granularly about Ceremonials in a way I hadn't thus far. But, my goodness, I'm glad today's the last day. It's been a lot to do.
And, under the hood, I designed a press release, picked up three blurbs, redid my website, and started emailing bookstores and media outlets, all in preparation for the February release. Like I said, whew.
|
|
|
Recent Book Reviews:
- For Brevity, Laika's Window by Kurt Caswell. Unsurprisingly, I haven't been able to offload my review copy of this book, equal parts beautiful and tragic, about the first dog in space.
- For Book & Film Globe, Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner. My editor asked for a poison pen on this one and I obliged - I had a terrible time reading it - but I seem to be the only person in the book world who felt as I did about it.
- For Vol. 1 Brooklyn, an essay comparing The Trouble with Men by David Shields with Getting Off by Erica Garza. Blessings to Tobias Carroll for indulging my brain and its output yet again.
- For Locus, two books: Gather the Fortunes by Bryan Camp and Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice. Both very good.
|
|
|
|
What I'm reading:
- Bad Blood, by John Carreyrou. Galloping narrative of many years of bad judgment in Silicon Valley and among very, very rich people. I spent all day reading it. Carreyrou made a great and unusual decision in how he involved himself in the narrative.
- Novellas from Mason Jar Press and Nouvella. Long story as to why, but they've been great. Novellas are such an underrated form.
- Savage Conversations by Leanne Howe. I edited a review of this for Barrelhouse, which made me want to read it. Yay for new frontiers in poetry.
|
|
|
|
Upcoming:
- An online class! Taught by me! About book reviewing! EEE!!
- Reviews of nonfiction about guns, marriage, and female anger. (Those are three different books.)
- Interviews with Molly Gaudry and Melissa Duclos.
|
|
|
|
|
|
