Indie Book Buzz: Mud Luscious Press

It's the return of the Indie Book Buzz here at TNBBC. Over the next few weeks, we will be inviting members of the indie publishing houses to share which of their upcoming 2012 releases they are most excited about!

This week's picks come from J.A. Tyler,

the founding editor of Mud Luscious Press.

Save 35% off the cover price by subscribing to the entire set of 2012 MLP titles in December! $40 nets you Gregory Sherl’s The Oregon Trail is the Oregon Trail, Matt Bell’s Cataclysm Baby, Ken Sparling’s Dad Says He Saw You at the Mall, and Robert Kloss’s The Alligators of Abraham, all delivered as soon as they are released across 2012 and with free shipping! Subscribe here: http://mudlusciouspress.com/books/subscribe/

The Oregon Trail is the Oregon Trail by Gregory Sherl

(January 2012)

The Oregon Trail is the Oregon Trail is the second full-length book from Gregory Sherl but the first to be thematically tied together as a complete narrative. The Oregon Trail is the Oregon Trailtakes its roots in the language of the Oregon Trail computer game, popularized during the rise of computers and still throbbing online at facebook today, creating this mélange of poetry devout to fever and spoke-breakage, child #1 and #2, bullets and bison and fording rivers. Sherl is this new kind of poet who opens his heart on each page, and we are convinced that The Oregon Trail is the Oregon Trailwill bleed as such for the duration of 2012.

Cataclysm Baby by Matt Bell

(April 2012)

Matt Bell is a meticulous writer and a charmingly careful promoter, which is the reason for the wide(ish) break between the release of his highly acclaimed story collection How They Were Found and his first novel(la) Cataclysm Baby. But the wait is so worth it, because now we are salivating for what Bell will bring, and what he brings in Cataclysm Baby is an apocalypse of failed parenting, failed children, failed births: the ripeness of violence gorgeously juxtaposed with the fragile and tender act of fathering, of mothering, of crafting a child who we hope will survive. Cataclysm Babyis going to floor readers.

Dad Says He Saw You at the Mall by Ken Sparling

 (August 2012)

Originally published by Knopf in 1996, Ken Sparling’s debut novel was ill-promoted and only modestly circulated during its release. Years later, Dad Says He Saw You at the Mall gained the underground momentum it deserved – readers hailing it as a cult classic – but by then, the book was out of print. Now, with a brilliant new introduction by Sparling, this re-release of Dad Says He Saw You at the Mall is our chance to delightfully and with great fervor place this book back into circulation, giving everyone a chance to re-visit the daringly candid and beautiful start of Ken Sparling’s ever-rising literary career.

The Alligators of Abraham by Robert Kloss

(November 2012)

Brought to the head of the pack with the 2011 release of How the Days of Love & Diphtheria, Robert Kloss fans are longing to read what this new writer can do in full form, and we guarantee that they will not be disappointed by one letter of The Alligators of Abraham. Framed by the death of Abraham Lincoln and the unrest of post-war, alligator hissing haunts the leather hills and death-fires of The Alligators of Abraham, a terse and dense novel(la) wrapped in cover and interior illustrations from Matt Kish, the artist behind the Oprah-praised Moby-Dick in Pictures from Tin House Books. Robert Kloss will gut readers with The Alligators of Abraham, and we welcome you to the flaying.

About J. A. Tyler:

J.A. Tyler is the author of four novels, including A Man of Glass & All the Ways We Have Failed from Fugue State Press. His work has appeared with Black Warrior Review, Caketrain, Diagram, New York Tyrant, and others. For more info, visit: www.chokeonthesewords.com.

Ok, No fair! The Alligators of Abraham sounds absolutely fantastic and I cannot believe it doesn't release until next November! And hello, if you are not already reading Mud Luscious books, now you can see what you have been missing! 

So what do you think guys? See anything that catches your eye? Which of these books are you most excited to see release? Help TNBBC and Mud Luscious Press spread the buzz about these books by sharing this post with others!

Audiobook Review: The Passage

Listened 11/15/11 - 12/21/11
2 Stars - Not recommended as an intro to the genre
Audiobook - 29 cd's / approx 36 hours

Readers, you have let me down. Ooh, how you have let me down. The buzz that surrounded this book at BEA10?? The rave reviews from people who claim to still be checking around corners and refusing to walk into darkened garages weeks after having put the book to bed?? What has happened to everyone's taste? Have books like Twilight and The Da Vinci Code left your brains mushy? Have I fallen down the rabbit hole? Am I too demanding of my literature??

Lord only knows how I made it through all 36 hours of this audiobook. I think part of it was the fact that I have an hour and a half roundtrip commute to work four days a week, and I was really sick of listening to morning radio. I think the other part me kept believing that somewhere, somehow, this thing had to get better.

For starters, where was the editor in all of this? In my opinion, Cronin had 3 or 4 books worth of material crammed together unnecessarily into this gigantic doorstopper, and the person who allowed it to see the light of day this way should be forced to edit chapbooks and flash fiction for the rest of their career - if only to prove just how much more powerful brevity can sometimes be.

The prologue itself should have been one book. Between the discovery of the initial virus; Jonas Leer and his obsession with the healing properties and seemingly ageless qualities of the virus; the government's attempt to secretly harness the virus for its own use by testing it on death row inmates; the kidnapping of little Amy from the convent; and the whole kit and caboodle going bad, you had a well rounded and thickly populated story that was also setting the stage for something bigger...bigger than bigger.. something epic. Something that the reader would have to wait for the next book in the series to read about.

Here's how I would have broken this sucker down: (If you haven't read the book, maybe you want to skip this next part until you have. I don't think I am spoiling anything so much as just talking a bunch of nonsense that you most likely won't understand)

Book I - The Amy, Lucy, Wolgast Years. Ending with a bang as Amy ran for the hills while Wolgast lay beneath the tree by the cabin, saying goodbye.....

Book II, to be released a year later, encompassing the Compound Years. The 80 year jump into the future, a world of new characters including Peter, Alicia, and Auntie, "all eyes" and "the sanctuary", and survival against the virals. Ending with the arrival of Amy,  and virals staging their first organized full out attack on the wall...

Book III, released the year after that, bringing with it the chaotic aftermath of the big viral attack and the New Long Ride. Leaving the safety of the Compound to return Amy to the place she came from, searching for an answer, and hoping to find the army. And ending with Lacey in the mountain....

Book IV, The New Thing... the ultimate weapon against the virals...

I get the impression that Cronin had his heart set on writing an epic novel. You know, a novel that successfully spanned 100+ years, that ripped you out of the world you know and spit you out into a world wholly unknown and unknowable, that bridged the gaps between generations of peoples (the time before and the time of the survivors) who never knew each other but were directly impacted by the decisions of one another.

Yet for all he attempted to accomplish, he just managed to frustrate and alienate me. I felt completely disconnected from his characters after the huge jump that took place at the end of the prologue. Here I spent the first 14 discs or so building relationships with Amy and Sister Lacey and Agent Wolgast, only to have them completely taken away from me as I was thrust 80 years into the future and surrounded by a batch of strange new people I wasn't quite prepared to meet yet. And this seemed to happen again and again, awkward transitions from one place and time to another... though none ever as jarring as that initial 80 year leap.

Perhaps Cronin (or his editor) were not fans of those old sci-fi/fantasy novels like The Death Gate Cycle, novels that redefined "epic fantasy" with their intense world-building, character families, and in depth storytelling? In reality, it was one gigantic doorstopper of a novel that was free to roam and grow and tell its story fully and intricately over time... as a series. I can't help but think that The Passage should have done the same. What freedom Cronin could have allowed himself, what time he could have had, to play a little longer within each phase of his destroyed new world. To really dig deeper into the details.

(And before you jump all over me, I do understand that The Passage is the first of a three book series. I'm just saying that he should have broken it out into more parts... because god only knows how much information he crammed into the two upcoming novels....)

As if this wasn't enough, there were parts within the novel itself that didn't translate well into audio. Moments where, had I been the reading the printed book, I could have easily skimmed or skipped all together - such as the part where Amy hears the virals asking one question over and over again in her head. Who Am I? Who am I? WHO am I? Who AM I? WHO AM I? This one question, at one point in the book, must have been repeated for three minutes straight, each time with a variance in the emphasis and tone. I wanted to scream. Truly, I did. Then, towards the end of the book, Amy answers this question by saying aloud each and every one of their names. And there are a lot. Minutes and minutes worth of names being recited. With no end in sight, literally, since I was listening to it and couldn't rightly tell how much longer that nonsense was going to go on. Ahhhhhh!!

And strangely, Justin seems to have a thing with three's. Many times, throughout the entire book, his characters were want to repeat an expression three times in succession.  "Who am I? Who AM ? WHO am I?" was one of them. Of course, now that I am trying to recall examples of what they were, I am drawing a blank (a friend and I were discussing this as one of the downfalls of audio vs. paper.. the inability to flip through an audio when in need of something to reference).

Oh, I could go on and on about all the things I disliked. I didn't really even touch on the narrator and the unattractive voices he gave his females. It was subtle but I detected an insistent whine and nag to them all that was not present in the male voices. Though I must say that whoever they used for the narration of Sarah's journal entries was perfect. I loved her voice. I could listen to her read forever....

Ahhh well, enough bitching and complaining for one post, yes? I'm still sore over the shitty ending.... perhaps it's best if I just let that part go???

A Place Indies Can Call Their Own

A little over a month ago, I happily stumbled across the debut of Consortium Books weekly Twitter hashtag chat - #indieview. For those of you who love independent publishing, this is the place you want to be every Wednesday morning at 10:30am EST. Trust me! Talk about a meeting of the minds....

Each Wednesday Indie publishers, authors, and book bloggers flock to #indieview in eager anticipation. Rachel Zugschwert, the woman behind the @consortiumbooks tweets and the hashtag's passionate host, chooses a new topic each week for us to discuss. Past topics ranged from what Independent publishers can do to increase their readership and reach, to defining what "Indie" means in today's publishing world, and most recently - how indie publishers and book bloggers can work together to support and nurture one another. 

The conversations are always enlightening. Feedback and suggestions are always welcome.  Rachel is open to participant requests when deciding on upcoming topics and she also posts a transcript of the entire chat each week for those who were unable to attend but wished to be able to see what took place. Though the weekly chats are scheduled for 30 minutes, on more than one occasion Rachel has encouraged the conversation to continue... because sometimes, once the collaborative juices get flowing,there is just no stopping it!!

I could go on and on about #indieview, but I thought you might like to hear more about it from its creator, so I asked Rachel if she would be interested in writing a bit about the hashtag for us. The following guest post explains where the idea for the weekly chat originated from, what she hopes it will accomplish and where she would like to see it go:

#Indieview started around a conference room table, something we thought might be the answer to the lack of an indie voice that we feel frequently troubles the publishing press. Certainly independent bookstores are lauded and supported – there’s #indiethursday and regular features in all the regular publications and e-newsletters. Bloggers link to Indiebound and Powells in addition to Amazon and B&N and that’s great. But what about the indie publisher? Who was speaking for – much less about – them?

Without an answer to those questions, we thought we could step forward to solve one of those problems. We certainly don’t claim to speak for indie publishers – they’re far too varied and unique for that. What we wanted to do was create a space where people could talk about the issues facing indie publishing, both good and bad. We knew that there were people out there who appreciate indie publishing, the same way there are people who claim indie music and indie film. We just had to find them.

So we started tweeting, Wednesday mornings at 9:30 central time. Just before the first chat I remember feeling very nervous – like I was about to go on stage for a one-woman show. Would anyone come? Would I be talking to myself or just my co-workers? Does anyone even care about indie publishing?

Of course they do.

A number of our publishers show up on a regular basis. Several dedicated bloggers (we love you!) show up week after week. We’ve had participants ranging from editors at major houses to authors and readers to indie publishers who we don’t represent – a major coup! Some really interesting debates have been sparked – are self-published authors “indie” the way that small press authors are “indie”? Who decides?

In short, #indieview has succeeded in ways that I don’t think we could have envisioned. We’re creating a space for discussion, which was our initial goal. But it’s turning out to be a force for change – something for bloggers and others to take it from Twitter into the real world with panel suggestions and BEA events – official or unofficial. The issues facing the publishing industry are scary, especially for indies: a single national chain bookstore, increasing homogeny among large publishers, Amazon’s price check app. We need to be able to talk about those issues as well as the fun ones, like social media and what we’ve read lately, in a public forum, and rally people to the cause of indie publishing. Who doesn’t want to be the one to have discovered the next big thing first? That’s where indie publishers and indie authors are – we’re what’s awesome before it gets big.

Rachel Zugschwert is the marketing manager for Consortium Book Sales & Distribution. She likes books of all kinds, and her goal in life is to discover the next big book - over and over and over again.

It's Good To Be FREE

Are you one of those horrible last-minute christmas shoppers? Been going crazy looking high and low for the perfect gift for that special bookish someone in your life? Well, look no further friends. Do I have the list for you!

Everything you see here is free, or as close to free as you're ever gonna get. It's ok. You can thank me later!!

1. M. Clifford put his incredibly timely novel THE BOOK on his website for free download; a decision he made after hearing about the forcible removal of "the people's library" at Occupy Wall Street. It's interesting to note the parallel there. A book, whose story is based on the fact that the government controls what everyone is reading, put up for free because of a library of books that was taken away from people protesting the government. Sure to appeal to the masses, THE BOOK covers taboo topics such as banning books, digitally altering texts, and underground black market libraries.

2. Rachel in the OC has put her book, A WALK IN THE SNARK, up on Amazon for free. If you like cheeky, sarcastic girl-humor, Rachel is your gal. I met this witty woman at the NYC Indie Book Event a few months back and love her to pieces, and I'm thrilled to see her book getting rave reviews. Everyone else is in love with her tell-it-like-it-is views on men and women, and now you can be too! Get it while the getting is free, will ya?!

3. Ugly Duckling Presse has put a large library of their chapbooks up for free. I just discovered this goodness last night via Twitter. If you are not familiar with chapbooks, they are low cost, pocket sized collections of flash fiction, prose, and/or poetry. It's a great way to sample authors and writing styles. Some are incredibly beautiful, while others are odd and make your brain hurt. Of course, if you like what you see, they have subscriptions to their 2012 releases available on the website. Happy reading!!

4. E-Fiction Magazine is another way to sample free, online short stories and flash fiction from a variety of authors. Doug Lance, the magazine's founder, prides himself in finding the freshest voices to give entertaining insights into human relationships. I've been known to download an issue here and there when I find time, and browse through the collection. Have you given it a try? You never know what you might find and fall in love with!

5. Indie Book Blowout's "12 Days of Christmas" Event is almost over. If you'll recall, we did a post on this right as it kicked off. All indie ebooks listed through them are marked down to the incredibly unreasonable price of .99 cents. How can you not want to download each and every one of those???

Give the (free) gift of a book this holiday season and discover your next best book or author while you do it!

Indie Spotlight: Michele Gorman

It's no secret that traditionally published authors sometimes take the plunge into self-publishing. For some, it's because they want to package and promote the book in a way that stays truer to their vision of the book. For others, it boils down to controlling the price of the book, the manner in which it will be sold, and reaping the benefits of every individual sale.

For Michele Gorman, the choice to self publish her novel Single in the City, which was originally published across the pond by Penguin UK, was a mixture of many things. I was extremely curious to hear all about it, since it seemed that the UK version of the book had done so well....

Here's her story:

Thanks so much Lori, for inviting me today to chat about self-publishing! It’s a completely different proposition than it was even 5 years ago, thanks to the rise of eBooks. And this is great news for both writers and book lovers.

Today there are lots of reasons for published writers to choose self-publishing. Maybe you’ve been with a big publisher and had a bad experience. Maybe you had a good experience but want complete control over the whole publication process. Or maybe you just have more faith in your book, and your audience, than big publishers do.

I was elated when Penguin UK offered to publish Single in the City. And I had a great experience with them. My editor was excellent, the sales team worked really hard and got my book into one of the UK’s biggest supermarkets and into every airport and train station book shop in the country. And my publicist was incredible. I definitely believe in the partnership between writers and great publishers but sometimes self-publishing is the right decision for a specific book in a specific market.

Penguin UK offered a global deal but my agent and I held back the US rights. This was because I wanted a US publisher for the book (Penguin UK and Penguin US are run independently each from their own territories). I wanted a US publisher to handle Single in the City on ‘home soil’ because Hannah, the main character, is American and her story about moving to London is seen through her rather baffled American eyes. I figured it would be a great fit.

Unfortunately the publishers we approached didn’t think that US chick lit fans would ‘get’ the culture-specific humour of a book set in London because many hadn’t been there. I reject this judgment. I have more faith in American women.

We don’t need to have experienced something in order to understand it. I doubt many women who’ve bought We Need To Talk About Kevin have a homicidal son, and no one who reads Jane Eyre today has lived in the 18^th Century. These books are read because women empathise with their characters’ feelings. Single in the City is about establishing a new life in an unfamiliar situation. Who hasn’t had the same cringeworthy feelings when moving to a new city, or country, starting college or a new job or trying to fit into a boyfriend’s family? And who doesn’t laugh when they hear about others who’ve been in the same boat? This is a universal theme, so I decided to publish the book myself.

It was a lot of work to get Single in the City ready for its American launch. I had to ‘translate’ it into American from British English, and while I was at it I figured I’d rewrite it too. I’m very lucky to have had a year of reviews from so many readers, which allowed me to see what they liked and didn’t like. For example several readers would have preferred less drinking … since that wasn’t an important feature of the story I toned it down (though we do like a tipple over here!). Hannah is also a bit more of a rounded character now, and I’ve deepened the scene settings to give a stronger sense of place – it’s a bit more descriptive. I also took out the footnotes that explained American/British differences (they were aimed at British readers to explain some of our more peculiar habits). Finally, and most fun, I got to design the new cover!

So it’s been a very busy few months, but rewarding, and I’m excited that Single in the City can now be read by an American audience. And I’m looking forward to hearing what everyone thinks, so please don’t be shy. Get in touch! You can send me an email through my website (www.michelegorman.co.uk) or send me a facebook friend request (www.facebook.com/michele.gorman3) or follow me on Twitter (@expatdiaries) and I’ll follow you back. I love talking with readers, so much so that I’ve hatched a plan for the next book. I’m going to write it interactively! I’m posting book excerpts on my blog (michelegormanwriter.blogspot.com) and asking readers for their opinions on storylines and characters. This is SO exciting for me so I hope many many readers will want to take part!

Finally, another exciting development for eBooks is Kindlegraph. Do you know about this? It’s genius - I’m able to inscribe eBooks for you! If you go to www.kindlegraph.com, sign in, find Single in the City and request a kindlegraph. My signed inscription for your eBook gets sent straight to your Kindle.

And if you’d like to give Single in the City as an eBook to your friends for Christmas or Hanukkah, you can gift one through www.amazon.com. I’m more than happy to inscribe their book too. Just be sure to tell your friend in the email that goes with the gift to go to Kindlegraph and make the request. You may even want to add your inscription to that email and ask your friend to copy that and paste it into the request (Kindlegraph lets you do that). Imagine being able to give your friend an eBook inscribed to say Happy Christmas Nicole, Your best friend Amy has sent you this book because you’re fabulous. We both hope you love it! All the best in 2012. Michele Gorman xoxo

Michele Gorman was born and raised in the US but has lived in London since 1998, and in 2006 she became a card-carrying Brit. Now she knows the words to God Save The Queen but still chokes up at hearing the Star-Spangled Banner. She studied accounting at university but never got the hang of debits and credits, to the dismay of several managers. Fortunately she realized early on that while her fondness for storytelling didn't foster confidence in her colleagues, it did prepare her for a life writing fiction. She  is the best-selling author of Single in the City, her debut novel published by Penguin in the UK and abroad. In October 2011 she self-published the book in the US. She's blogging about the ups (and downs!) of this experience on www.michelegormanwriter.blogspot.com.

Indie Book Buzz: Two Dollar Radio

It's the return of the Indie Book Buzz here at TNBBC. Over the next few weeks, we will be inviting members of the indie publishing houses to share which of their upcoming 2012 releases they are most excited about!

This week's picks come from Eric Obenauf, 

Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Two Dollar Radio.

Baby Geisha by Trinie Dalton

(January 2012)

Trinie Dalton is a writer of exceptional style and pizzazz that I'm absolutely enamored with. Publishers Weekly, reviewing Baby Geisha (January '12), compared her to Lydia Davis, Gary Lutz, and Ben Marcus, and I think that's apt. Baby Geisha is also exciting in that it represents a more grounded approach in the author's style. Bookforum dubbed this "an everyday fantastic." The stories range from the Coney Island ferris wheel, to the sloth-hugging parks of Costa Rica, to the Greek Isles, and are underlined by this author's wit and flashy voice.

Radio Iris by Anne-Marie Kinney

(May 2012)

Radio Iris (May '12) is just flat-out freaking awesome. This is a first novel by a writer named Anne-Marie Kinney that I believe folks will be talking about for years to come. The grace and authority for such a young writer is incredibly impressive. TC Boyle calls the book "a revelation, a whimsical, charming and beautifully observed novel about quotidian life." The story follows a socially awkward receptionist at a business whose function she doesn't understand (though she's overheard her boss refer to himself as "a businessman"). Her world goes topsy-turvy when her co-workers begin disappearing and a mysterious stranger appears to be living in the office suite next door. Steve Erickson called the book "a novel of unsettling humor and elusive terror, a piercing loneliness and the strangeness of the banal, and a hushed power that grows in volume before your ears."

About Eric:

Eric Obenauf is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Two Dollar Radio, an outfit he founded with his wife and brother. His writing has appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, The Rumpus, Modern Fix, and The Huffington Post. He lives in central Ohio with his wife and two kids, enjoying the occasional competitive game of basketball.

Ok, I think I have found one of my Must-Have's for 2012... Doesn't Eric make Radio Iris sound absolutely amazing?!!

So what do you think guys? See anything that catches your eye? Which of these books are you most excited to see release? Help TNBBC and Two Dollar Radio spread the buzz about these books by sharing this post with others!

Laura Ellen Scott on "Being Indie"

On "Being Indie" is a monthly feature that will be hosted here on TNBBC. We will meet a wide variety of independent authors, publishers, and booksellers as they discuss what being indie means to them.

Meet Laura Ellen Scott. I had the pleasure of hanging out with Laura during the Scranton Pages and Places event a few months ago. She was participating on a panel or two there, and stopped by a coffee shop to chat about her book.


Her novel Death Wishing, released through Ig Publishing, might just be on the shelves of your local independent bookseller. Curio is up there, in the sky. If you'd like to have some fun, visit The Wish Tank consider contributing a wish of your own. 

On Being Indie

Let me start by apologizing for the narcissistic, rambling column you are about to read, but I happen to be an indie gal who had a heck of an indie year in 2011, and I’m still on trying to make sense of my good fortune. In January Uncanny Valley Press offered my chapbook Curioas their debut publication and made it available online and as a free ebook. October saw the release of my first novel Death Wishing, by Brooklyn-based independent Ig Publishing, and over the past few months I’ve been zigzagging the country to support it by giving readings at independent books stores, festivals, galleries, and bars. To call the experience a dream come true is spot on.

Because we’re indie, we need to make noise the cheap way, so my novel was offered as a free Kindle download on Amazon for a limited time. People like free stuff, but it was still trippy to see my book hold the #1 spot in the Top 100 Free Bestsellers in Literary Fiction list for several days, with A Tale of Two Cities and A Scarlet Letter ranking 2^ndand 3^rd. In this context, the term “Literary” confuses me as much as “Bestseller.” My training is in literary writing, but my fiction is escapist: Curio is a collection of very short horror stories, and Death Wishing is a comic fantasy about dying wishes coming true in New Orleans. Sometimes it seems like the only thing standing between me and MASSIVE COMMERCIAL SUCCESS is my sticky, big L prose style, and if I was smart I’d learn how to write plain. Or, I could stay fancy-pantsed and strike it rich by writing soulful/painful books about kids. But neither of those things is going to happen, so it’s lucky for me that indie is an option--a legitimate one that seems to be picking up steam. Without indie culture, I’d be as doomed as the Flying Dutchman, unable to find harbor in commercial or literary ports.

There were a few objections to the Kindle promotion, mainly centered around the fear that such giveaways chipped away at the idea of the novel as a genuine commodity, but I was more moved by the people who contacted me to say they were grateful for a freebee that was new, non-vampire-oriented, and 100% free of Amish romance.* Which is not to say that during the giveaway, Death Wishing was like a big fish in a little pond, but it probably looked like a purple fish in a pond of orange ones. There may be a moment right now for artful fiction, especially that which doesn’t fit into easy market categories, to find readers. That has to be worth something.  

By March my novel will be six months old—well past its sell by date I’ve been told, but I’ll still be on the road, working it. At the 2012 Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival I’ll be on a panel with three other novelists, each of whom is affiliated with major publishers: Ellen Baker (I Gave My Heart to Know This/Random House), Jessica Maria Tuccelli (Glow/Viking), and . . . Jesmyn Ward (Salvage the Bones/Bloomsbury USA). I probably don’t have to tell you that  Salvage the Bones won the 2011 National Book Award. No kidding, it’s the three of them and little indie me. The panel is titled “Women To Watch,” and I bet Jesmyn, Ellen, and Jessica will be watching me pretty closely, if only to make sure I don’t swipe the silverware. Perhaps I am merely reaping the natural rewards of a lifetime of writing and caring about writing, but I have to wonder how I scored my spot on that panel. I’m not complaining, mind you. Just wondering. Maybe, in this Wild West economy of letters, we are we all indie now.

*By the way, there should be a way to categorize books by what they don’t contain--because I know a lot more about what I don’t want than what I do want.

Book Giveaway: Taft 2012

I am really excited to bring you guys this next Author/Reader Discussion Giveaway!!

This one is a prize pack  - 

Jason Heller's upcoming debut novel Taft 2012,

along with a Taft 2012 campaign poster and pin!!

In order to stimulate discussion, 

Quirk Books has agreed to give away 5 copies to US residents

(sorry guys, no international this time!)

Curious about the book, aren't you? Here's the Goodreads description:

HE'S BACK. AND HE'S THE BIGGEST THING IN POLITICS.

He is the perfect presidential candidate. Conservatives love his hard-hitting Republican résumé. Liberals love his peaceful, progressive practicality. The media can’t get enough of his larger-than-life personality. And all the American people love that he’s an honest, hard-working man who tells it like it is.

There’s just one problem. He is William Howard Taft . . . and he was already president a hundred years ago. So what on earth is he doing alive and well and considering a running mate in 2012? 

A most extraordinary satire, Jason Heller’s debut novel follows the strange new life of a presidential Rip Van Winkle: a man who never even wanted the White House in the first place, yet finds himself hurtling toward it once more—this time, through the media-fueled madness of 21st-century America.

While you're deciding, check out the campaign video:

This contest will run through December 21st.

Winners will be announced here and via email on December 22nd.

Here's how to enter:

 1 - Comment here by telling us which of our past presidents you would vote back into office (dead or alive) and why. 

2 - Agree to participate in a group read book discussion that will run from January 15th - 29th over at TNBBC on Goodreads. Jason Heller has agreed to participate in the discussion and will be available to answer any questions you may have for him. 

 *If you are chosen as a winner, by accepting the copy you are agreeing to read the book and join the group discussion at TNBBC on Goodreads (the thread for the discussion will be emailed to you before January 15th). 

 3 - You must leave me a way to contact you (email is preferred). 

Good luck!

Indie Spotlight: Indie Book Blowout

If there was ever a time for giving... Christmas time is it! And the Indie Book Collective are certainly feeling the Christmas Spirit this holiday season.... 


In this Indie Event Spotlight, Amber Scott, Paranormal Romance author and Co-Founder of the IBC (along with authors Rachel Thompson and Carolyn McCray), explains how and why the 12 Days of Christmas Indie Book Blowout came to be, and why you should totally take advantage of it:

One year ago, three authors joined forces and co-founded the Indie Book Collective, a group that focuses on helping authors, indie and traditional alike, take charge of their careers through innovative programs, monthly classes and reader-centric events.

This December 12-24^th marks another Indie Book Collective event, the “12 Days of Christmas” where over 200 indie titles are discounted to just 99 cents on Amazon Kindle. It will be an Indie Book Blowout to remember.

Last Labor Day weekend was the premier run of the Indie Book Blowout sales event and much like Amazon’s summer Sunshine Deals, gathered authors across the genres, listing the titles in one convenient site for browsing then directs them to the Kindle page for purchase.

Readers found a way to discover new authors, score ebooks at a great price and support the authors they already love. With the new Amazon Kindle reading device line-up plus the free Kindle applications for devices like Adroid phones and iPad, every day ebooks increase in popularity.

So, why this and why now?

The Indie Book Collective is taking the traditional model and applies it to indie authors.

As a platform, Amazon’s Kindle Digital Publishing offers authors flexibility otherwise unavailable. Things like updating product descriptions in order to reflect a sales event combined with price control allow authors to participate in and create sale events on their own. The Indie Book Collective has taken the individual ability to put a book on sale to a group effort to create a sale just like you’d see in any retail store. Focusing on the reader experience, they like to keep it fun. They’ll give a Kindle reading device away to a lucky newsletter subscriber plus gift cards through out the year plus have their site organized with how a reader shops in mind. Each day of the 12 Days of Christmas will be organized with popular genres, titles, award-winners, etc. in mind.

At 99 cents a pop, how affordable does taking a chance on a new author become? How great will it be to fill up the Kindle many of us are asking Santa for or gifting to others? Another really cool feature of the Kindle ebook is the digital copy lives on any registered Kindle device the customer owns. You can read your ebook on your iPhone free app. during the day and then switch it to your Kindle Fire e-reader at night because titles live in a virtual library or ‘cloud.’ Plus, with sites like Kindlegraph.com and applications like Authography, those ebooks can be personalized in a flash.

Award winners, Bestsellers. All genres. All ebooks. All priced to just 99 cents. Readers driving…indies thriving. Ho, Ho, Ho and Merry Christmas!

In between naptimes and dishes, Amber Scott escapes into her characters’ fates, loves and complications. A native Nevadan, she now makes her home in Arizona with her husband and two children. She is addicted to chocolate, often burns dinner and is a sucker for happily ever after.

You can find her website here, follow her on Twitter, and like her on Facebook. 

Review: Beatitude

Read 12/3/11 - 12/10/11
4 Stars - Strongly Recommended
Pgs: 258
Publisher: Rebel Satori Press

No, no no. Don't worry. I didn't suddenly turn all religious on you. I promise! This isn't a story about the Beatitudes. Rather, it's the story of two up and coming NYC magazine employees who share a mutual obsession with the Beat Generation. It's quite the clever title, actually, because it perfectly marries the story's two interlocking parts.  "Beatitude" is synonymous with happiness and blissfulness, the state in which our leading men find themselves, time and time again, throughout the novel. It is also author Larry Closs's way of defining those who model the Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Cassady way of life - a sort of Beat-attitude, if you will.

You see, Harry - recently crushed by a relationship gone bad - first lays eyes on Jay as he interviews with the magazine for a position in the Arts department. Days later, after they introduce themselves, they discover their shared love of all things Kerouac... and an immediate friendship is kindled. For Harry, it feels like he has met his soul mate and soon the duo are near-inseparable.

Harry uses his position at NYC's Element Magazine to snag review copies of Kerouac's books, DVD's and Audiobooks under the guise of an article he is writing on the resurgence of the Beat Generation, and gifts them to his new BFF, who gladly accepts. They take long lunch breaks together, talking endlessly about The Beats. They attend Beat poetry readings together. They convince the New York Public Library to allow them to view Kerouac's rumored Scroll Manuscript. They are inspired to purchase typewriters and co-author a novel.

Meanwhile, Jay's girlfriend Zahra sees beyond the puppy-dog love and realizes Harry's true intentions for Jay. And when Jay suddenly finds himself in the middle of a tug-of-war for his affection and backs away from Harry, Harry resolves to do whatever it takes to get him back... even if it means pretending he's no longer in love with him.

Beatitude demonstrates Larry Closs's sensitivity to the inner turmoils of love, and also showcases his own love of The Beat Generation. He subtly introduces those of us (no judging now!) who've never read Burrough's Naked Lunch or Kerouac's On the Road or Ginsberg's Howl to the Beat lifestyle while weaving it's influences through Harry and Jay's relationship. Making no assumptions, Closs brings readers like me, with no prior experience or exposure to The Beat writers, up to speed so we can clearly see the parallels he makes between Harry, Jay and Zahra and Kerouac, Cassady, and Ginsberg.

Unrequited, uneven love is the gear around which the rest of this novel turns. It's not only the heart of this story though, because it's at the core of every human being's body as well, isn't it? How many times have we fallen hard and fast for someone who simply does not feel the same.. cannot give back what we are putting in.. who is unable to feel more than a deep friendship while we are spinning down a depressive spiral of unreciprocated love? Or falling for someone who is already in a relationship and finding ourselves in the dreaded position of "third wheel", convincing ourselves that we'd rather stuff our unmatched love deep down and pretend we're cool just being friends because pretending not to love someone is better than not having them in our lives, and who knows... maybe they'll come around eventually?

Beatitude, simply put, is an exceptionally well written debut that explores love in all its varied forms, dissecting what it is to love.

Check out the book trailer:

TNBBC's Blog Turned Two

Can you believe it? TNBBC's blog turned two on December 5th! And here I was, all wrapped up in indie press merges and book giveaways and reviving the Indie Book Buzz series, that I completely forgot to celebrate! Parties are always better when held on the weekends, though, right?! So c'mon, get out your party hats and noise makers....

It's been another amazing year for TNBBC. The goodreads group continues to break records with its membership. We are currently cruising around the 8200 mark. And our Author/Reader Discussion series has really taken off. Without this wonderful collection of amazing literary addicts, there would be no reason at all for this blog to exist...

The blog has experienced record breaking hits as well! It's most viewed post of all time was when I reviewed the audio version of Go The F*ck To Sleep. It was viewed a total of 2488 unique times. Our Indie Spotlight Feature really took off this year. New series like Tell Me a Story, On "Being Indie", and the Indie Book Buzz were born and have been thriving.

In an effort to support the indie and self published community, I created a list of book bloggers who are willing to do the same. And to my astonishment, TNBBC started cross posting and showing up all over the interwebs..!!

But none of this would be possible if it wasn't for the undying support of publishers, authors, bloggers, and readers like you. I do this all for you! So thank you, thank you, thank YOU for checking us out day after day, and I hope I can continue to find new and exciting ways to keep you here in the coming years...

Now let's blow out those candles and turn this mother out!!!!

Indie Book Buzz: Quirk Books

It's the return of the Indie Book Buzz here at TNBBC. Over the next few weeks, we will be inviting members of the indie publishing houses to share which of their upcoming 2012 releases they are most excited about!

This week's picks comes from Eric Smith,

Social Media & Marketing Coordinator at Quirk Books.

Taft 2012 by Jason Heller

(January 2012) 

As a massive Christopher Buckley fan, I was thrilled when Quirk’s editors told me we’d be releasing a political satire... especially one with such an awesome, hilarious premise.  The debut novel from a hilarious new voice, Taft 2012 by Jason Heller is a lot of fun.

Taft 2012 tells the Rip Van Winkle-esque tale of William Howard Taft, the 27^th President of the United States, who suddenly awakens in our time, one hundred years after he was last President. Thrown into the national spotlight, the man who never wanted to be president in the first place finds himself in the running once more, all while dealing with the trials and (sometimes delicious) tribulations of 21^st century America.

There’s actually a really fun interactive component to Taft 2012. You can visit the campaign website at www.taft2012.com, follow Taft on Twitter (@taft2012) and even show your support for the campaign on Facebook by liking Taft’s page (facebook.com/taft2012).

Working on this book has been an absolute joy. And get ready. We’ve got some amazing campaign videos launching December through January. The title drops January 17^th, 2012. 

The Thorn & the Blossom by Theodora Goss

(January 2012) 

Theodora Goss’ The Thorn & the Blossom really needs to be seen to believed… which is why we have this video for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPP7f5DoaGg

You open the book in either direction, and get to decide whose story you want to read first, Brendan or Evelyn? Both tell the same story of their enchanting, haunting romance.

It’s really quite the unique book package. No spine, tucked away in a slipcase, beautifully illustrated by Scott McKowen… it’s a book that is hard not to be excited about, especially because I’ve never seen anything like it.

The Thorn & the Blossom comes out on January 17^th, 2012 as well, and I can’t wait to see how people react to it. 

About

Eric Smith is the Social Media & Marketing Coordinator at Quirk Books. He is hopefully addicted to good books, bad movies, writing, Nerf guns and video games. You can follow him on Twitter at @ericsmithrocks and Quirk at @quirkbooks. 

So what do you think guys? See anything that catches your eye? How about that Thorn and the Blossom with the accordion-spineless action going on?

Which of these books are you most excited to see release? Help TNBBC and Quirk Books spread the buzz about these books by sharing this post with others!

The New York Stories Collection

Heads up Ben Tanzer fans! 

The book that started it all ... Repetition Patterns ... has been paired with this week's release So Different Now, to make the newest and coolest of all the CCLaP deluxe handmade paper editions - 

The New York Stories Collection. 

I first fell for Ben when I reviewed Repetition Patterns for CCLaP back in 2010. And I've gone on to review just about every book he's released since then. The man was made for writing. (Meant to write?) With each book, he tests deeper and darker waters, noticeably maturing as a writer. I remember reading a review somewhere - though I can't remember where - where a blogger noted how you can follow the events of Ben's life by reading his books chronologically, and I remember thinking... huh, how 'bout that. That blogger might be onto something there...

The super cool thing about The New York Stories collection is the fact that it's only available in the (first ever) illustrated print version - it is not being sold online this time - and is marketed towards serious book collectors and the obsessed, rabid Ben Tanzer groupies. And it's priced as such. But, really, I mean, take a look at this thing... It's absolutely fucking gorgeous!!

Have you read any Ben lately? Well what the heck are you waiting for? Whether you purchase the collectors edition pictured here, or click on the hyperlinked titles above to download each book separately, you gotta get your hands on Ben. Soon. And then be sure to come back here. Cause you're going to want to thank me later. I promise.

Oh, and if you're in the Chicago area at all in January, you might want to hang around Hyde Park. Word on the street is there's this fundraiser going to take place in a mansion where, for a cool hundred, a couple can find themselves eating and drinking to make merry while walking home with a copy of this handsome looking handmade bad boy right here. You know, just saying.