Many thanks to Charlie Daly for featuring me on Daly Prose and conducting this short interview where we talk about the writing process, possible sequels to Forest of Fortune and THIS IS NOT A CAMERA.
The Rats of Hyper-Reality
TFL# 56
The Floating Library stays close to home port for a look at a trio of exceptional debut novels by Andy Roe, Celeste Ng and Shanna Mahin, who was reviewed in the New York Times last week. An excerpt:
Oh! You Pretty Things is also about class, but you’d be hard pressed to find a class struggle this entertaining. When the story prepares you for a Hollywood ending, the long-suffering, acid-tongued narrator (“If I were a cutter, I’d have crop circles on my thighs”) brings the funny.
The new Vermin on the Mount European tour t-shirt is super cute and extra tough (and not just because Annie is wearing it). Art by the one and only @splurgeo
American etiquette and rules of politeness (1883) dictates proper etiquette for assault with bow and arrow (?).
Underground Soundtrack
Many thanks to Roz Morris for featuring me this week on the Underground Soundtrack, which explores the music that accompanied the creation of a novel. In my case, Forest of Fortune came out of the ambient droning of slot machines, the frenzy of punk rock, and chaos of an unexpected death.
When the anger passed and the sadness moved in I turned to Dillinger Four’s Civil War, the saddest punk rock record I’ve ever heard. The songs are suffused with melancholy that I drank up like the cheap vodka I drank on the long drive to and from the Indian reservation every day.
Read the rest of the soundtrack. If you’ve never seen Jay Reatard play Blood Visions live, check this out. This also seem like a good place to link to “The Haunted Casino” which the Mind Spiders wrote and performed for the Forest of Fortune book trailer.
at HTHCV
In case anyone was wondering, “How’s Jim doing today?” Here’s your answer. #yardbird (at Paradise Hills)