So Much to Be Thankful For

The proofs, proofed, for STEPHANIE BARBER's book/DVD package have been approved and production is underway: look for THESE HERE SEPARATED TO SEE HOW THEY STANDING ALONE OR THE SOUNDTRACKS OF SIX FILMS BY S. BARBER starting next week. And if you're in Boston, Providence, Seattle or Portland, look for the films screening in your town, and go to it, and buy it.

This was a great project that came at just the right time. I've been working for eight months on a chapbook of short stories by DAVID DANIEL and a really small but awesome chapbook of "American Sentences" by PAUL NELSON. Things were complicated because of my tech limitations. But when the opportunity to make a book of the soundtracks of Stephanie's films and new videos came up, it was pretty much a done deal; since the text is taken directly from her films, there was no editing required or even possible. The only thing that could be done was make the book proper, plain and simple, and that took a week, and we tried to proofread it every once in a while, and then I was pressed for time with getting them to the printer, and the printer fell through, and then I found another printer, and they muffed the layout a bit, but then that worked out, and now it seems ---pause--- I might get these in time for the CITYLIT FESTIVAL on Saturday. Hey, all right. A new book for the table. Even when things are supposed to be easy, they're hard. But what I learned is that by golly you just gotta buckle down and we'll get through, we'll get through.


AND. Dave Daniel's book SIX OFF 66 is in final proofing stage, which means Dave and I have both scoured it about a dozen times and we're still finding stupid widowed lines. And Leah, who did the awesome design, is now importing the tacky ISBN Barcode thing onto her sweet, simple, stunning cover. And then it's off to the printer with this book, too. ANNNNDDD. Check out Dave's new novel REUNION. This one isn't an ALEX RASMUSSEN mystery, so I'm interested to see if it reads like the sublime straightman stories in Six Off 66.

ANNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDDDD! Whoa! BLAKE BUTLER's submission for THIS PDF CHAPBOOK Series (#7) is guaranteed to please. Or gnaw. It will either please you or gnaw on the wooden part of your crappy couch. And that gnawing is guaranteed to improve the looks of your couch. I don't want to harp on this. For real, but look -- it's good; tune in. It's blurbed by JOSH MADAY (three times, see) and illustrated by LAUREN BENDER and due FRIDAY.

AND: three book reviews I wrote are up at JMWW, one of Baltimore's leading factory outlet stores for fiction that cares your head off.