Category Archives: Books

Gothic Blue Book: The Revenge Edition

19 Friday Oct 2012

Posted by in Books, Burial Day, Fiction

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It’s out now. Gothic Blue Book: The Revenge Edition from Burial Day Books.

Including stories from (in addition to yours truly) Chad P. Brown, cheeky librarian Tara Cleves, 18th Century British ne’er-do-well Phil Hickes, Emma Hinge, Horror Writers Association member K. Trap Jones, Odyssey Award winner Daniel Kraus, Bellevue patron David Massengill, Pushcart Prize winner Carl Palmer, collection editors Cynthia Pelayo and Gerardo Pelayo, your debauched fairy godmother Cortney Philip, mysterious North Londoner Wednesday Silverwood, Jennifer A. Smith, and Melissa Stanziale.

We put my ex-boyfriend on the cover.

Try it. You’ll like it.

The Graduate Part II: Acoustic Boogaloo

22 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by in Books, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

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See, it’s not electric because I have no money to pay the electric bill. Get it? Ha ha! Ha…

The faculty of the SAIC writing department got us all graduation gifts! Ain’t it sweet? We definitely didn’t get those in undergrad (though, to be fair, at U-Iowa I think there were about 5,000 students in my graduating class).

My heart threw up when I saw a box full of these outside the administrative director’s office.

Durr, I wonder what it could be?

Yes, obviously it was a book – a spectacularly awesome book! And in the envelope was a nice note from our department head, Sarah Levine.

Squeeee! It’s like Christmas!

That’s Drawing From Life: The Journal as Art, edited by Jennifer New. I doubt there’s any better book you could get for a writer in an art school (except maybe for You’re Broke Because You Want to Be: How to Stop Getting By and Start Getting Ahead by Larry Winget). I can’t wait to read it. And then eat it, because the dust under my empty fridge is becoming a tedious meal.

Rednecks on C-SPAN

31 Thursday Dec 2009

Posted by in Books, SAIC, solstice

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It’s kind of surreal to hear a guy call in to Capital News Today and drawl that we should have tens of thousands of Marines down at the U.S.-Mexico boarder at all times and arm those Marines with machine guns.

Just finished Thunderstruck by Erik Larson. It was killer (heh heh heh). Now I’ve started A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, and I’m sure it will prove to be even better. The first six pages are the introduction, and it blew my goddamn mind. It didn’t necessarily introduce any ideas I’d never thought of before, but it presented them in such a clear way that it was impossible not to try and wrap my brain around singularity and the cosmos. Plus, he’s kind of a smart ass, which I like.

Made it through my first semester in grad school and passed everything. Enrolled in classes for spring 2010. Beau O’Reilly’s going to be my adviser. I’m going to continue working on the collection of short stories.

No PJs for Christmas this year. Sigh.
Next year I’m asking for this:


Somebody want to head out to Andersonville with a big ol’ truck? Crow bar? Rig up a pully system?

A belated ‘Happy Solstice’ to all.

Librarians and Library Cards

17 Tuesday Nov 2009

Posted by in Books, Thanksgiving

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I can’t get a library card because they want me to show them a bill that has my address on it. The bill has to be dated within the past 30 days. The problem with this is that no one mails out paper bills anymore. Everything’s done online. So I guess I don’t get to use the library. I told the guy behind the counter that he could stop by my place after his shift and I could prove to him that I lived there. He declined, even after I told him I had nearly a whole bottle of red wine AND the sixth season of ‘Scrubs’ on DVD.

Discovered a wonderful web site: Regretsy.com. It’s the answer to Etsy.com, where people post pictures of artistic things they’ve made that are available for sale via the web. Regretsy is a blog dedicated to documenting the most hideous examples of ‘art’ that people have foolishly thought were worth real money.

Will be in Davenport for Thanksgiving. Anyone is welcome to use that information to break into my efficiency apartment, as the only thing of value (that is, me) will already be gone. If you decide to break in anyway, though, please try and do something about the stubborn tea leaves that are stuck to the inside of my tea pot. I can’t get my whole hand in there to clean them out and my scrub brush just isn’t doing the trick.

DANGER KEEP OFF THE TRACKS

08 Tuesday Sep 2009

Posted by in Books, Museum of Science and Industry, Red Eye, the L

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It’s time to come clean. I’ve never understood the appeal of pony play.


Read an article in the Red Eye about a group that sponsored a poll to find out what’s cool (the act of which, the writer of the article astutely pointed out, is inherently uncool). Even the word ‘cool’ itself seems pretty passé.
This is the type of thing that I had to ponder in that couple of weeks between arriving in Chicago and when classes started. My brain nearly turned to mush during that period, mostly thinking about things that made the passage of time seem absurdly surreal.
Example:
The clash between forms of communication that leave so many people at a loss when they must decide how to express themselves; phone calls, email, micro-blogging, social networks, and on and on so that it’s a miracle we ever hear each other at all.

But my brain didn’t turn to mush.
Classes finally started on September 3. It’s good to be back in a world of deadlines. Picked up my transit card and student ID.
Transit cards are awesome. They give you a feeling of power that’s probably on par with what FBI agents feel when they flash their badges at someone and scream ‘FBI! STAND DOWN!’ into people’s faces. On days when I don’t have classes, I get to go on adventures.
Hyde Park is a good place to go – the University of Chicago, the Museum of Science an Industry, Promontory Point, 57th Street Books, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House are all there.
Will be searching for more places to visit. Am always open to suggestions.
Also, I love riding the El because it’s high over the street – up in the trees and over the rooftops. Some of the buildings are so close to the train that I think we’re going to hit them for sure, even though they’ve stood side-by-side for decades without incident (in some cases, the buildings and the El have stood next to each other for over 100 years – the oldest section dates from the early 1890s).

Anyway, class line-up:
Grad Project Meeting on Mondays
Wednesday, Laptop Sound Technique
Thursday, Novel workshop and Short Prose Forms
Friday, Writing the City

No T.A.ing this semester, I’m afraid. There was a shortage of classes dealing with the art and culture of warfare.

Pro-tip: If your pictures don’t turn out, say they’re too dark, just colorize them all funky and people will think you’re artistic rather than technologically incompetent.

Twisted

01 Sunday Feb 2009

Posted by in Books, Iowa Writers Workshop, John Steinbeck, Mia Gallagher, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Super Bowl, the Loop

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Some one has used my debit card to make purchases at Wal-Mart. I have decided to track this person down and make them dead. I am hoping to get this on video tape.

I applied to the last school on my list, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. They sent me a giant book full of information about the school and the city of Chicago. Now I’m kind of thinking that it wouldn’t be terrible if I wound up going there, though some of the student work they chose to include made me wonder if someone isn’t trying to sabotage the SAIC.
Two of the most awesomest things about Chicago: (1) The Gene Siskel Film Center – brand new, state-of-the art, the book calls it “the most technologically advanced film-viewing facility in the Midwest,” which I have heard repeated elsewhere. The Center shows movies every day of the week and only charges students $4. Plus, it also hosts courses and lectures, and panel discussions with guest directors, artists, and scholars. There is a cafe, but no booze. Anyway, number (2) The Poetry Center of Chicago, which is a non-profit organization that offers readings, workshops, residencies, and arts education. Their goal is to make poetry accessible to the general public, and their past guests include Billy Collins, Allen Ginsberg, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Mary Oliver.
I would probably spend all of my time in these two places. Plus, there’s the Blues Fest, the Irish American Heritage Festival, and Taste of Chicago.
One more thing: a recent exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago was called, “2001: Building for Space Travel.”
Maybe it would be a bad idea for me to remain in Iowa City, even if I did get into the UI workshop. Twenty-three years old and I haven’t lived outside of Iowa yet – not really. Maybe Chicago is the right place to go. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about missing subzero temperatures and snow inside my shoes.
SAIC is right off Lake Shore, south of Wacker Drive. It’s probably really expensive to live there. Stuido apartments in the South Loops, where the school is located, start at around $1000 per month. Things are looking pretty bleak for me financially – I would have to work my ass off to get enough money together. Right now, all I can think about is how much I’d like to set here all day and read this book by Mia Gallagher that I picked up for on the plane in August. Still haven’t read it. It’s called “Hellfire,” her debut novel. And next to that, “East of Eden,” by Steinbeck. I should probably read that one first.

Today people are watching the Super Bowl. I have hamburger meat, beer, and high pulp orange juice. I am ready. Oddly, I have come to loathe the commercials that play during the Super Bowl. They used to be innovative, but now they just try way too hard. I will be keeping track of the game online.
Also, I am rooting for the Steelers because their defensive coordinator is named Dick LeBeau.