Ben LeRoy or Dead Paparazzo? #Bcon2014
Category Archives: Books
Forest of Fortune at CSUN
Citizens of the San Fernando Valley, I’ll be reading on the CSUN campus tonight as part of the professional reading series hosted by the Creative Writing Circle. If you’re near Northridge, come on by or drop me a line. Refreshments will be served.
UPDATED: Had a really great time at CSUN last night with the Creative Writers Circle. Because CSUN is a commuter school, students interested in creative writing have carved out a niche for themselves and built their own community. These things are just as crucial to the life of a writer as reading and, you know, actually writing. Because my path was not a traditional one, it’s inspiring to see young writers who get it. Really grateful to be a part of the Creative Writers Circle community, with a special thank you to Danielle Orozco for handling all the details. I look forward to seeing these writers again as they move beyond the classroom and into the literary community at large.
Deck ape off galley duty circa 1987.
I had a great time road tripping up to Camarillo with Louis Armand this week to visit with Sean Carswell and his students at Cal State University Channel Islands. It’s a gorgeous campus that, believe it or not, used to be a state mental hospital and is the inspiration for the Charlie Parker song “Relaxin in Camarillo.” (Srsly.)
It was the perfect setting to read from “Forest of Fortune” and Louis’s fantastic new novel “Cairo,” a madcap romp through time and space that was shortlisted for The Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize. Louis has a website for the book with excerpts, insights and all kinds of interesting ephemera that’s definitely worth checking out.
Then we read together again on Saturday night along with Heather Fowler, Megan Tuite and TBD at the Media Arts Center in an event organized by The Radvocate and sponsored by So Say We All.
Radvocate reading with Louis Armand, Meg Tuite and yours truly. (at Media Arts Center San Diego)
Radvocate reading with Matt Lewis, Keith McCleary, Heather Fowler and Kiik AK (at Media Arts Center San Diego)
My Damage
This has been in the works for a long time, but I’m very happy to announce that my next nonfiction book project is going to be a collaboration with Keith Morris, founding member of Black Flag, Circle Jerks and OFF! on his memoir: My Damage: 40 Year on the Front Lines of Punk (Da Capo, Fall 2016). I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to work with a true iconoclast who at age 59 is still making records and touring all over the world. Bottles to the ground, this is going to be a hell of a fun ride!
Relaxing in Camarillo… (at California State University, Channel Islands)
Louis Armand and me ready to terrorize the student population. (at California State University, Channel Islands)
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