Out of Office

Here, I skied today:

Friday Review Roundup

I wish Baltimore Magazine would put their nice review of Rupert Wondolowski's massive (though small) book The Origin of Paranoia as a Heated Mole Suit, because then I could link to two glossy reviews of PGP books today.

As it is, I have only to point out Jonathan Messinger's masterful Time Out Chicago review of Shane Jones's Light Boxes. Messinger calls it a "fever-dream fable" and a "sweet, surreal battle in the snow."

And here is another awesome thing, by the inimitable Daniel Bailey. I think the one sentence he writes about the book/Shane is something that someday anyone would like someone to say about them.

Finally, Jamie Iredell mentioned Light Boxes in an abstract for an article he's working up about how Shane's novel, Blake Butler's EVER, and other books are affecting the salvation of publishing. I like that he says LB makes creative use of white space that suggests the snowy planes of its setting." I look forward with gusto to reading his paper.

I'm confused

I don't know what's going on at Ryan Call's blog, but I like it.

Book Trailer 1

Michael Kimball, my personal videographer (and former novelist), created a book trailer for Adam Robison and Other Poems.
Production of the video is a blur for me. Thanks to Blake, Shane and Molly for doing voiceover work. And thanks to my videographer.

Narrow House Press

My amazing publishers have a new blog website. Narrow House has been at it for a long time, putting out work by luminaries like Rod Smith, Anselm Berrigan, Carol Mirakove . . . it's an impressive catalog. They started out as Narrow House Recordings, making CDs of poets reading their work. With Ric Royer's project (or Nic Noyer as Ryan Called him once and I have since preferred) There Were One and it Was Two (awesome title), they got elaborate and made a CD with an extensive book inside it. Then they put out M. Magnus's really great Verb Sap, their first book proper.

Coming soon, I can feel it, is the ie reader, a collection of poetry from people who have read at Baltimore's famed and amazing ie poetry series. It includes work from, geez, CA Conrad, Graham Foust, Gina Myers, Lisa Jarnot, Bob Perelman . . . I keep using ellipses when writing about Narrow House. That's a good indicator of how awesome they are.

Light Boxes reviewed in Time Out Chicago

Jonathan Messinger wrote a really nice review of Light Boxes for Time Out Chicago.

We expect a vibrant imagination in our authors, but charm is an underrated quality, and Jones has both in spades. Light Boxes twists through a waking nightmare, where violence slashes through characters but vines and flowers emerge in blood’s stead.

Thanks Jonathan. This is the sort of reading that makes everything worthwhile.

Adam Robison and Other Poems

I'm excited to have Shaun Preston painting my portrait for the cover of my forthcoming book of poems from Narrow House Press. Why wouldn't I be: talk about talent! Imagine this painter and Justin Sirois's design smarts in tandem.

Weekly Review Roundup

{[(Some of these reviews are more than a week old, but since it's the first Weekly Review Roundup I wanted to post everything I can remember and start fresh next week.)]}

<-Also, no negative reviews yet.->

The first one is from JA Tyler and Mud Luscious from back in January, and it says, "Shane Jones’ debut novel is a rattling, vigorous, absolute must read." Wow!

Claudia Smith said, "There is an archaic sense of loneliness, and deep sympathy for humanity, in Jones' words. Striking, visceral, atmospheric, and absorbing." Then she did a small interview with Shane.

Here is a great interview by the amazing Rauan Klassnik. I had the pleasure of meeting him at AWP and it really was a pleasure and I'm not just saying it was because his reading of the book rules so much.

Says Dispatches from Utopia, "There is no posturing here, no self-conscious forcing of the work. What unfolds in these pages is Shane Jones’ singular voice, the world as only he can show it to us, and it is a beautiful thing."

Have you heard about Michael Kimball writing life stories on postcards? Here's Shane's. Michael also mentioned on his blog that he likes the interview Sam Pink did with Shane at TPC.

Darby Larson says, "Light Boxes has a happy, dreamy vein."

Alan Rossi said, "The author's imaginative world is so complete unto itself that it feels nice to live inside that world for a short time."

At internettle soup, Adam Coates wrote a review poem about it:

Light boxes seems to inhabit a world between possibilities
it seems both natural and not
i felt invited to read more than ordered or compelled
it makes a good memory

And today Ken Baumann compared Light Boxes to Jesus: "I feel it's hard today to find a work of art that is earnest, that is compassionate . . . I was startled by Shane Jones's novel because it is so painfully both; it bleeds itself, and bleeds for others."

Microfiction! Cheap!

Joe Young is selling his stories for $100.

5:10 Readings

The Five:Ten reading series is amazzzzzzzzing. I have a great time every time I go.

This Saturday, I think, it will be the best ever. Shane Jones will be there to read from his new PGP book, Light Boxes, which you will be able to buy then -- or buy it now and read along on Saturday, or if you aren't near Baltimore, buy it now and find a comfy place in your house and read it for 12 minutes.

Then read Blake Butler's Ever for 12 minutes.
Then read Citizen Rahne Alexander for 12 minutes; I haven't read her fiction but I bet it's AMAZING cuz Rahne is AMAZING.
Then read Kyle Minor and Kathleen Rooney for 12 minutes each.
Then go get a couple beers with awesome people.

No-AWP Report

Sorry I'm getting my post about No-AWP up a little late. It's just that No-AWP sucks this year. It's hard to remember what I ever liked about No-AWP. At No-AWP I keep not running into Matt Bell. It's true! I just keep sitting at my cubicle wondering whether I should quit my job. I go to sleep at a normal time. I'm always sober. At No-AWP I don't wonder where everybody suddenly went and then find them an hour later at the funnest table flying a helicopter. No, instead, this year at No-AWP I go long stretches of the day before running into writers I really like, like justin sirois or Michael Kimball. I haven't seen Ric Royer at No-AWP for weeks. I know Ric Royer is around somewhere at No-AWP, but there isn't a funnest table to meet him at.

No-Peter Cole is punching me in my No-face, I think, it's confusing, this negativity.

At No-AWP I can't figure out how to upload videos.

There are No-shots at the No-Hobart table. No-Elizabeth Ellen and No-Aaron Burch are no-standing at that table all the time at No-AWP. No-Zach Dodson is no-awesome. One thing about No-AWP is I'm always taking No-smokes with No-Daniel Bailey.

I rode the bus home from work last night and saw No-Blake Butler doing an amazing reading at No-AWP. At No-AWP no one wears badges that say Adam Robinson, not even No-Jereme Dean or No-Craig Griffin. I don't hear about a box of badges that say Adam Robinson from Ryan Call. No-Ryan Call bites compared to Ryan Call. I'm having a serious problem with No-Ryan Call and No-Shane Jones and No-Christy Call being at No-AWP this year. Where the heck is No-Mike Young? He's everywhere. Where is he? He's at No-AWP.

This weekend, though, should be better. I'm going to see No-Blake Butler and No-Shane Jones. No-Molly Gaudry is coming from Philadelphia. It will be at that actual thing, the five:ten. It won't be anything like this bullshit No-AWP. It'll be a lot like AWP.

AWP Was Not Too Bad Here Are My Debit Card Purchases

Contest Results

Results are in for the poetry contest. Shane Jones judged several submissions.
The first prize winner is v.e. who wrote this:

neveryou & never I
with neverclocks and neverwords
of neverlands and neverbirds
and wendy baking never-pie

BIO:
v.e. is still pretty sure there is not a single thing she neither is nor is not. 'cept louis armstrong. she's pretty glad he is always a surprise.

She received Light Boxes, The Origin of Paranoia as a Heated Mole Suit, Mary Miller's Big World and the publication of this poem in the sixth issue of IsReads.

Ryan Walker Bradley won second prize. Here is his poem, called "My Little Youth."

When I was young
everything was not true,
and I never grew
words on my tongue.

BIO:
Ryan W. Bradley's poetry and fiction has been published or is forthcoming in The Oregonian, A Thousand Faces, Third Wednesday, Yippee Magazine, and Gander Press Review. He lives in Southern Oregon with his wife and two sons and blogs at ryanwbradley.blogspot.com.

He receives Light Boxes, The Origin of Paranoia and publication here at this blog, right then.

The third place winner is from France so she got a PDF of Light Boxes.

Jaimes Mayhew was the fourth entry in the Guess the Number Contest and got the number right on the money. The number was 27. Jaimes received LB, Origin and Ever by Blake Butler.

I Would Like to Record Your Image

I bought this:



because it was better than buying a TV.

And I am bringing it to AWP and I would like to use it to record you. You can do whatever you want in this recording, but what I was thinking is you would read a poem from the new issue of IsReads, issue 5, and allow me to post it at IsReads.com when the new site is launched.

So come by, huh, whadday say? My table is the table that No Colony and Noo Journal have, too, so it's bound to be pretty good.

Two Reviews and a reminder

Dispatches from Utopia (great name) wrote a really nice review of Light Boxes, saying, "What on the surface appears to be a spare, well-written surrealist dreamscape of a novel by the end reveals itself to be an achingly honest expression of love and our feeble attempts to express all we contain." There's also an interview of Shane there.

And here is a short and sweet review of Dave NeSmith's El Greed. I'm going to be putting out a PDF Chapbook of new work by Dave, once I get the image resolution right.

Finally, don't forget to enter the contest, if you haven't already. It ends tonight. And will result in a lot of books being given away.

Welp.

It's not typical of me, but I really like this poem at failbetter by Dana Guthrie Martin. In particular I like the last stanza's repetition. It's a great poem, and reading Yusuf Komunyakaa this week I was forgetting there could be great poetry, poetry to care about and invest in. Nothing against YK or whatever, but I dislike the poems in his new book Warhorses (well, "Grenade" is pretty good). Maybe I can be taught to like them. But in this Dana Guthrie Martin poem we are given reflections on death (oh so blah when handled with serious reflection) and aging in a practically cavalier way (and it includes flowers!), but one that adds up and culminates with a lot of care. Care in Heidegger's garden. Ethics are here, and so is the desire to hock a wad of spit out at the last line's "blasted gardenias" and death.

Blake Butler pointed out this Nathan Neely poem at elimae that I like, too. It's a risky proposition, doing poems out of recipes, but Neely pulls it off. I like that the title refers to a "Christmas meeting" as opposed to "party." I read another poem with a recipe form really recently but it wasn't as good. Where did I read it?

Oh, there haven't been a lot of submissions for the guess the number or the poetry contest in which people can win a crap ton of books. First prize for the number guessing contest (including Blake Butler's EVER and Shane and Rupert's PGP books) has been won, but there is still plenty more, including Mary Miller's Big World from Hobart, which will go to the best poem. So get on that peoples.

I just completed a poem about Bas Jan Ader called "Two Poems, Neither About Bas Jan Ader." I'm not sure, people, I'm just not sure. Bas Jan Ader was a conceptual artist who played with gravity a lot and died when he tried to sail across the Atlantic. Here's a sample from the poem:

One day instead of pants she wore bikini bottoms
Her legs are smooth and nice but I didn’t love her basically
She will not talk to me and I will not force her to
But I am apologizing to her in a poem which means what it means qua meaning ipso facto doom
I’m carrying such a heavy Chris Burden
One time I was described as "an extreme individual"

. . . so, you know, whatever. I actually like the poem a lot but I like everything right after it's done. That's why I went in search of other poems and found that Dana Guthrie Martin one.

Hiin Enkelte means, roughly, "that one" in Danish and can be transliterated as "authentic individual" or perhaps Dasein, though I'm not sure that's helpful.

Chris Higgs wrote about Light Boxes and sent his thoughts to Shane Jones, who posted them onto his blog. The thoughts are great thoughts. Chris reads and writes so thoughtfully. He got hung up on a detail that might be seen as extraneous to the story, but something that I think is required to "properly understand" (ha, well, actually no, not "properly" and not "understand") what is happening in the book. Chris came to this conclusion too. The things that are written on page 98 are less important than the fact that they are written.

I like Chris Higgs a lot. He seems to consume books and art in general not with any careerist or even supportiveness intentions, but out of a sincere interest. I have been buying a lot of books because I like the people who are doing them, that is, I like what they are doing, but then the book goes into my pile and I am not sad that I cannot be reading it right then at that second. I would say that is a good percentage of the books I have been buying. I do look forward to reading each of them, but I don't have any plan to do it soonish. Last night I unwrapped my new Johannas Goransson A New Quarantine Will Take My Place and my new Valzhyna Mort Factory of Tears (well, this one wasn't bought just to support Copper Canyon) and I immediately wondered how much I could sell them for once I don't care about this stuff anymore.

I'm just saying this in case someone else has ever thought this way and didn't want to say it. We can have solidarity. We can be pessimistic together and admire the brainy optimism of Chris Higgs.

Sometimes I read Lee Child thriller novels and get angry at things that distract me from them. Like if I'm on a camping trip with my family and I just want to read this stupid novel but my brother is like "hey let's go kayaking" I'll be like "shut up." I never feel that way about poetry.

Except maybe for the poetry of Mairead Byrne and Matt Cook.

I feel that way about the blogging of Sean Lovelace, too, but that's different.

At my job I submit "requisitions" for purchase orders that go through our internal system of tubes and sprockets up to the high floors where millionaires look them over and decide whether to approve the requisition or not. I have to attach all sorts of documents to them, like service agreements and proposals and business justifications. Every time I do it I wonder if maybe I should stick a poem in there too, something short and moving. I know these millionaires aren't blogging all day so maybe they could use a distraction. The thing is, though, that I don't think they would care and why should they? Things are never good enough to capture the attention of people who don't already care.

Creating something that surprises people with the realization that something else matters that they didn't know about is my objective correlative.

Huge PGP Contest Books Giveaway UPDATED

Matt Bell had a contest to win Light Boxes, it was awesome, it's over.
And JA Tyler had a contest, it was also awesome, also over.
Shane did a contest, we got to see him on video, it's over, the winners won.

Now I guess it makes sense that the publisher would do a contest.

I'm doing two. It is very complicated. Read carefully. These two contests feature 12 PGP books given away, 2 books from other small presses, and more.

OPTION 1: POETRY CONTEST
Write a poem and win! Here are the guidelines for the poem:

Four lines long
ABBA rhyme scheme
Each line must be four words long, no more and no less
There are no constraints regarding subject matter;

write about whatever you want

Submissions will be accepted until Feb 9 at 5pm

Winners will be announced by Feb 10 at 5pm

The poems will be judged (blindly) by Shane Jones.

Include the poem in the body of an email and send the email to adam@publishinggenius.com. Also in the email include your mailing address.

For this contest there will be 3 winners:
First prize: Light Boxes by Shane Jones, The Origin of Paranoia as a Heated Mole Suit by Rupert Wondolowski, poem published in IsReads #6 and on this blog and turned into an inket-printed broadside and mailed to the recipient. **SPECIAL BONUS** This winner will also receive Mary Miller's Big World just released from Hobart. It's amazing.
Second prize: LB, Origin of Paranoia, poem published on this blog
Third prize: LB, Origin of Paranoia, poem not published anywhere

Everyone else will receive positive energy.



OPTION TWO: WHAT NUMBER WAS I THINKING OF?
For non-writing readers, the first three people to email me (at adam@publishinggenius.com) the number I was thinking of when I emailed said number to Shane Jones will receive a copy of Light Boxes and The Origin of Paranoia as a Heated Mole Suit.


The first person who emails me the correct number will also receive a copy of Blake Butler's Ever from Calamari Press.


The number is between 1 and 50.

If three people don't guess the number before Monday, Feb 9 at 5pm, I will take the guesses that are closest (over or under, not like The Price is Right). I will announce when three people have won so that people don't keep emailing me numbers.


OTHER RULES
You can't enter both contests. You have to choose one or the other, and can only enter once.
This contest is good for US mailing addresses only. Sorry. If you are not in the US and would like a PDF of Light Boxes, you may enter the contest and even if you lose I will send the PDF.
Winners will be announced by Feb 10 at 5pm.

If you have questions, post them in the comments or email me. The address again is adam@publishinggenius.com.

++++UPDATE++++
The first prize for the number-guessing contest has been won. Jaimes Mayhew gets LB, ORIGIN, and EVER. Congratulations are in order.

Rauan Klassnik Interviews Shane Jones About Light Boxes

This is a really interesting interview. Rauan Klassnik has done a great job reading Light Boxes and he ties his reading into the work of a lot of great authors. And Shane answers some tough questions. However, there are some spoilers. I think Light Boxes is a book that is sort of suspenseful, so maybe you shouldn't read that interview till you read the book.

Preorders Have Been Mailed

Thank you to everyone who preordered Light Boxes. All the preorders were sent out Saturday. There were a lot of them. My eyes grew weary from stuffing envelops. The man at the post office was not happy but not sad that he was going to have to spend about an hour with me, weighing and typing in zip codes and stuff for all of my envelopes.

Some people from other countries ordered via Paypal without emailing me first, like the instructions plainly state (you know who you are, Czech Republicans and Norwegians). These people are receiving invoices for $4. Everyone else is getting receipts. I think small presses should remember to include receipts with their books because some people might write the purchases off from their taxable income.

Thank you Otolith #12

The new issue of Otoliths is live, and it features the longest portion of my book, the Introduction, called "My Point of View." I am really proud to be in Otoliths. It is one of the first online journals I ever paid attention to. There is so much great stuff in it, including JA Tyler (but not Molly Gaudry), John M. Bennett, John M. Bennett and various collaborators, Sheila E. Murphy & John M. Bennett, Jukka-Pekka Kervinen & John M. Bennett, and so many other awesome people. David Baptist-Chirot. Extreme to the max!