Audio Books - Read More Without Actually Reading

A few weeks ago, I blogged about how to read a lot more without reading a lot. And one of the ways I recommended doing that was by going audio.

For the longest time, I wasn't a fan of audio books. When I drive, my mind tends to wander and I would find myself losing the thread of the stories I was listening to after only a few minutes. Then I'd have to go back to the last part I remember hearing and listen again. Sure as shit, after another few minutes, I'd realize I hadn't been listening again. (sound familiar?)

I was also INCREDIBLY unsatisfied with the narrators I was listening to. Some were too robotic, others had distracting accents. Or I'd get a double-whammy - a robotic narrator with a distracting accent! I'd catch myself mentally mumbling away about how icky their reading was, and yup, you guessed it, I'd missed part of the story again...

Then, in 2011, I listened to City of Thieves, narrated by Ron Perlman. The story, the narration, the whole shebang! It was heaven! And I've been a hardcore audio book fan ever since.  Sure, it took me awhile to find my groove - what kind of books work best for me on audio? What narration style do I prefer? - but by the middle of 2012, I was knocking out audio books on my weekend commutes to and from work like it was nothing.

Initially, I was buying my audio books on CD from a roaming book distributor when they had warehouse sales. But the hubs and I were constantly trading cars for work, and every time we switched cars, I'd lose my spot on the disc and spend a good five minutes of my drive seeking out the place where I'd left off.

Then I discovered Audible and Downpour - two digital audio book distributors. God, what a difference the digital downloads made! Stream them right from the app on my phone through my car's bluetooth and never worry a bit about losing my place.

If you're on the fence about going audio, or aren't sure whether Audible or Downpour is right for you, check this out:

1. Audible:

Audible.com is part of Amazon Inc. (but you knew that already, right?). They have a membership program (1 book @ 14.95 a month, or 2 books @ 22.95 a month), or you can just purchase books from them strictly on a need by need basis. And they have an app for every device which is really simple to use. But they don't have an easily accessible way to view audio book sales, if they do run sales, unless I am overlooking it....? Hmmm...

Their mission: To establish literate listening as a core tool for anyone seeking to be more productive, better informed, or more thoughtfully entertained. Audible content includes more than 180,000 audio programs from leading audiobook publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazine and newspaper publishers, and business information providers.


Here are some samples of the small press literary fiction titles they currently have available:


Fog Island Mountains, by Michelle Bailat-Jones, narrated by Jennifer Ikeda (Tantor Media)

Huddled beneath the volcanoes of the Kirishima mountain range in southern Japan - also called the Fog Island Mountains - the inhabitants of small town Komachi are waiting for the biggest of the summer’s typhoons. South African expatriate Alec Chester has lived in Komachi for nearly 40 years. Alec considers himself an ordinary man, with common troubles and mundane achievements - until his doctor gives him a terminal cancer diagnosis and his wife, Kanae, disappears into the gathering storm.




Fugitive Colors, by Lisa Barr, narrated by Jonathan Davis (Arcade Publishing)

Fugitive Colors is a gripping debut novel of an artist's indomitable vengeance after World War II. Julian Klein, a young American artist, rebels against his religious upbringing and is eager for the artistic freedom of 1930s Paris. He flees Chicago only to find himself consumed by a world in which a paintbrush is far more lethal than a gun. An artist turned spy, Julian at the same time competes with jealous inferior artists who feverishly attempt to destroy those with true talent.





Love in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, by Judd Trichter, narrated by Luke Daniels (Thomas Dunne Books)

• This title is scheduled to be released on 02-03-15
• Set in a near-future LA, a man falls in love with a beautiful android - but when she is kidnapped and sold piecemeal on the black market, he must track down her parts to put her back together.

2. Downpour:

Downpour's website is a breeze to navigate. They've got a drop down menu that shows you what's on sale now, what their Deal of the Week is, AND they feature these cool ever-changing package sales. They are also breaking new ground by offering audio book rentals - deeply discounted prices on thousands of audio books, up to 70% off. The only catch? The books remain in your stack for 30 days. After that, you lose access to them. But if you only "rent" when you are ready to read, it's a heckuva lot cheaper on the ole wallet. Downpour also has a membership plan - 12.99 (or one credit) per month - which is a bit cheaper than Audible's. Oh, and Downpour has an app too.

Their mission: offering a constantly growing selection of tens of thousands of audiobook titles, real value for your money, and DRM-free audiobook downloads. Experience our low everyday prices on every audiobook you download.


Here are some samples of the small press literary fiction titles they carry:


Big World, by Mary Miller, narrated by Andi Arndt, Mary Miller, Mary Gauthier, Louise Mosrie, Janis Ian, Telisha Williams, and Amy Speace (Short Flight/Long Drive Books)

The characters in Mary Miller's debut short story collection are at once autonomous and lonesome, possessing both a longing to connect with those around them and a cynicism regarding their ability to do so, whether they're holed up in a motel room in Pigeon Forge with an air gun shooting boyfriend as in "Fast Trains" or navigating the rooms of their house with their dad after their mother s death as in "Leak." Mary Miller's writing is unapologetically honest and efficient and the gut-wrenching directness of her prose is reminiscent of Mary Gaitskill and Courtney Eldridge, if Gaitskill's and Eldridge's stories were set in the south and reeked of spilt beer and cigarette smoke. 





Winterswim, by Ryan W Bradley, narrated by Paul Michael Garcia (Civil Coping Mechanisms)

Pastor Sheldon Long was born of the woods, raised in a secluded cabin by a mute mother and an abusive father who preached God's vengeance. Forced to take control of his own destiny, Pastor Long found God in his own way, melded with the mythologies of his mother's tribe. Now he's out to send the wicked, as he has judged them, to heaven. Steven, Pastor Long's son, is simultaneously pining for his former babysitter who has moved to Hollywood and crushing on nearly every girl he goes to school with. Soon his preoccupation with the opposite sex lures him into investigating a string of drownings that local police are declaring accidents.

Ryan W. Bradley's novella weaves religiosity and mythology into a tale of drugs, sex, and murder set against the frozen backdrop of blue-collar Alaska. 





The Wilding, By Benjamin Percy, narrated by Anthony Heald (Graywolf Press)

Echo Canyon is a disappearing pocket of wilderness outside of Bend, Oregon, and the site of conflicting memories for Justin Caves and his father, Paul. It’s now slated for redevelopment as a golfing resort. When Paul suggests one last hunting trip, Justin accepts, hoping to get things right with his father this time, and agrees to bring his son, Graham, along. As the weekend unfolds, Justin is pushed to the limit by the reckless taunting of his father, the physical demands of the terrain, and the menacing evidence of the hovering presence of bear. All the while, he remembers the promise he made to his skeptical wife: to keep their son safe.

Benjamin Percy, a writer whose work Dan Chaon called “bighearted and drunk and dangerous,” shows his mastery of narrative suspense as the novel builds to its surprising climax. The Wilding shines unexpected light on our shifting relationship with nature and family in contemporary society.






So what do you say? Did these samples get your earholes tingling? Do you see more audio books in your future? Either way you go, you can't go wrong. Fiction vs. Non Fiction. Short stories vs. Novels. Big 5 vs. Small Press.... these guys have it all.

If you haven't already, go on and open accounts with these guys. Give your eyes a break and let your ears get in on the fun. It's time to get your audio on! And oh yeah... happy listening!!

Blog Tour: Once a Goddess

Always flattered to be a part of the Grab the Lapels blog tours because Melanie Page is doing such wonderful things to get writers the exposure and attention they deserve. We're thrilled to help kick off Day One of their Once a Goddess blog tour! 
 

Where Writers Write is a series that features authors as they showcase their writing spaces using short form essay, photos, and/or video. As a lover of books and all of the hard work that goes into creating them, I thought it would be fun to see where the authors roll up their sleeves and make the magic happen. 

This is Sheila R Lamb.

Sheila Lamb received an MFA in Creative Writing from Queens University of Charlotte and an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from George Mason University. Her stories have earned Pushcart and storySouth Million Writers Award nominations. She’s also the journal editor for Santa Fe Writers Project. Sheila has traveled throughout Ireland and participated in the Achill Archaeology Field School. She loves Irish history, family genealogy, and is easily distracted by primary source documents. She lives, teaches, and writes in the mountains of Virginia.

Where Sheila Lamb Writes

I write in bed.  Beds are made for relaxation. They're also made for…other stuff. I'll call it passion. Writing is my passion. I need to be relaxed to allow characters to tell their story.  It makes sense to be in a comfortable place and let the story flow.

I began writing Once a Goddess on a mattress on the floor in Shepherdstown, WV. I had burned out of teaching high school social studies, had gotten a part-time adjunct gig (sociology, not creative writing), and moved back to my college town. Given the space and time to explore, I picked up a pen and began to write.

I've always kept a journal and it was something I did usually before I went to bed or first thing in the morning. So, writing in bed was nothing new to me. Brigid would wake me up in the middle of the night with things she wanted to say. Plot points, dialogue, a scene revision would pop into my head, right as I was falling asleep. Karl Marx would also wake me up with things he wanted to say for my sociology lecture the next day. Eventually, Brigid won out.

I have a desk and a computer and I had one back then. I don't write well at a desk; not the first draft of a story, not to get in the zone and keep on going until the story is complete. I can get into final revisions and edits at a desk. But not during those first flushes of creativity. A desk has always felt like work, and a computer has always been full of distractions. Even if I switch off the Wi-Fi (rarely), I'm still distracted by things on the desk or on the computer. Journals don't wake up a partner in the middle of the night with lights or - because I always forget to turn down the volume - bells, whistles, you've got mail, and Facebook pings.

The bed and notebook go hand in hand.  Eventually, the first few pages of Brigid's story turned into Once a Goddess, the majority of it written on yellow legal pads and in composition notebooks. My writing expanded from the one novel-in- progress, to two, to the trilogy. I also began to write to numerous short stories and new novel drafts. With the exception of the emergency middle-of-the-night notebook, which stays on my nightstand, I write in a separate room. My writing room doubles as the guest room, but I still write on the bed. The stack of papers and books next to me grow and change depending on the project. I don't ever want my writing to feel like work. I want Brigid's voice to continue to speak as I finish the third book in the trilogy. Writing is passion. Writing is creativity. And like other passionate and creative things, writing needs to be done in bed.

For the sake of peace, Brigid of the supernatural Túatha de Danann enters into an arranged marriage with Bres, the prince of the enemy, and casts aside her own hopes for happiness. Set in a time when myths were reality, Once a Goddess brings the legend of the Ireland’s magical Túatha dé Danann to life…

Book Giveaway: The Poor Man's Guide to an Affordable, Painless Suicide

Since July 2010, TNBBC has been bringing authors and readers together every month to get behind the book! This unique experience wouldn't be possible without the generous donations of the authors and publishers involved.

It's the first of the month and you know what that means.

It's time to bring you March's Author/Reader Discussion Book!

We will be reading and discussing The Poor Man's Guide to an Affordable, Painless Suicide

with Schuler Benson

Alternating Current Press has generously made 15 copies available:

8 print copies (limited to US residents only) and

7 digital copies in either PDF, Mobi, or Epub (open internationally)

Here's the Goodreads description of the book:

Twelve stories, fraught with an unapologetic voice of firsthand experience, that pry the lock off of the addiction, fanaticism, violence, and fear of characters whose lives are mired in the darkness of isolation and the horror and the hilarity of the mundane. This is the Deep South: the dark territory of brine, pine, gravel, and red clay, where pavement still fears to tread. (Features illustrations by talented artists Ryan Murray and Patrick Traylor.)

This giveaway will run through February 8th. 

Winners will be announced here and via email on February 9th.

Here's how to enter:

1 - Leave a comment here or in the giveaway thread over at TNBBC on goodreads, stating what format you prefer (choose one option from above), and where you reside. Remember, only US residents can win a paper copy!. 

2 - State that you agree to participate in the group read book discussion that will run from March 16th through the 22nd. Schuler Benson has agreed to participate in the discussion and will be available to answer any questions you may have for him. 

 3 - Your comment must have a way to contact you (email is preferred). 

ONLY COMMENT ONCE. MULTIPLE COMMENTS DO NOT GAIN YOU ADDITIONAL CHANCES TO WIN.

 *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 the discussion begins). 

GOOD LUCK!

Book Review: Rude Vile Pigs

Read 1/14/15 - 1/21/15
3 Stars - Recommended to readers who like non-traditional storytelling and eat up satire with a spoon
Pages: 280
Publisher: Self Published
Released: 2014


When reading Rude Vile Pigs, there is no pressure to like its characters. They are rude, they are vile, and they are, essentially, quite piggish. Leo X Robertson could not have chosen a better title for this dark satirical look at humanity at its most down-and-out.

In the town of... wait for it... Sadwhitepeopledrinking, we find ourselves in the midst of a middle-aged alcoholic divorcee's mental breakdown. Jim Joy still has the key to his old place - the new owners haven't changed the lock yet - and when the family is out and about, he sneaks into the attic, smokes weed, and sets himself to eavesdropping on (and slightly, innocently, interfering with) them. He's emotionally paralyzed, can't come to terms with his new bachelorhood, and shamelessly hides from reality by invisibly integrating himself into, and falling in love with, the lives of Kate, George, and Kayleigh. Until the day he takes his obsession with them too far and finds himself arrested.

Coming to terms with the fact that he has officially hit rock bottom, Jim decides to stay there awhile and develops a kind of devil-may-care attitude. Shortly after Kate dropped the charges against him, Jim visits her at her place of employment, completely disregarding her insistence of never seeing him again. George finds out and kicks the shit of him. Jim's lack of reaction and jerky continued attempts to contact them begins to rub off. This selfish outlook of his - take whatever you want, do whatever you want, say whatever you want - unexpectedly spawns a new religion, one of embracing your inner asshole. People begin to witness Jim getting what he wants and boy does it look good. Before he knows what's happening, townsfolk are attending his weekly "sermons" to learn how best to develop their newly found fuck-all attitude. He's built an asshole-inner-circle. And being selfish has become infectious.

So what happens to a town where people stop giving a shit about the rules that once guided them? Where everyone is out for themselves and no one's got anyone's back anymore? And what happens when the man who started it all suddenly becomes sick and tired of it?

Rude Vile Pigs is told from the alternating perspectives of Jim, Kate, George, Kayleigh, and Jim's ex-wife Julia. However, before we get to the actual story, Leo spends the first seventeen pages showing us "how we got there" with a mish-mosh of internal dialogue, presenting the events out-of-sequence. If you are patient with yourself, and keep flipping back to the list of characters Leo provides you with, you'll quickly piece together what is taking place. And then, once the pivotal moment has been outed, you'll find yourself relaxing comfortably into the more familiar delivery of sequential chapters.

If you're anything like me, at times you might find Leo's humor to be somewhat forced. Is that common with satirical fiction? I've no shame in admitting that I don't always "get" the point of satire. Maybe that's why I also found Rude Vile Pigs guilty of attempting to take itself a wee bit too seriously? Perhaps I'm just jaded, but the idea of an entire town of people all of a sudden letting go of all social norms and doing whatever the fuck they want just because one dude is doing it and getting away with it is just a bit too out there for me.

It's like the kid who gets caught smoking and is forced to consume an entire pack, one cigarette immediately after the other. He was forced with the assumption that too much of a good thing will quickly becomes a bad thing. Something he'll get sick of before it starts to really take root. But who's to say that wouldn't backfire, and by giving the kid more of what he wants, you've just proved his point, that smoking is cool as shit and he'll be a steady pack-a-day'er for the rest of his life. He may even be able to convince a friend or two that this new lifestyle is perfect for them too, but a whole town of non-smokers? Now imagine that town of non-smokers being forced to smoke cigarette after cigarette, all at the same time... pack them into a room until the smoke has filled it from floor to ceiling, till all they can smell and taste is that cigarette smoke... how long until most of the people break away and run for the doors screaming and choking from the badness of it all?

It's the same idea, really. I'm going to be a jerk to you. I'll step all over you and get what I want. Does that make you idolize me and want to become a jerk so you can do the same thing to someone else? I doubt it. Assholes tend to demonstrate undesirable behaviors. The only one who thinks being an asshole is fun is the asshole. I don't necessarily agree that being an asshole creates more assholes. But why don't you read Rude Vile Pigs and contemplate that for yourself?

Ian Doescher Recommends Fog Island Mountains

 Writers Recommend is a series where we ask writers to, well, you know.. recommend things. Like the books that they've enjoyed. To you. Because who doesn't like being recommended new and interesting books, right?! Think of it as a PSA. Only it's more like a LSA -Literary Service Announcement. Your welcome. 

Ian Doescher Recommends Fog Island Mountains by Michelle Bailat-Jones

As I get older, more and more of my friends from high school, college and beyond are becoming authors.  This is always fun for me, and I love reading the books that come from the imaginations of people I've known in the past (in some cases as many as 25 years ago).  This year, it was a particular pleasure to read my friend Michelle Bailat-Jones' book Fog Island Mountains (Tantor Media, 2014).  The book tells the story of Alec Chester, a South African who emigrated to Japan decades ago and is married to Kanae.  The couple lives together in the fictional village of Komachi, in the nonfiction Kirishima mountain region of Japan known as the fog island mountains.  When Alec is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Kanae flees from him for reasons that... would give away some of the story, so I won't.  The book is beautifully written, capturing the delicate dance of Alec, Kanae, and their three children, and their reactions to Alec's illness.  The story is narrated by Azami, an old storyteller of Komachi who weaves Japanese mythological stories into the story of Alec and Kanae.  The result is a book you want to read slowly and savor, as emotionally rich as my own books are silly and fun.  Michelle's writing style is captivating -- she could rewrite the story of the three little pigs and it would become a work of art.

It's always a pleasure when you get to help promote a friend's book, but it's a privilege when the book is as well-written as Fog Island Mountains.  Do yourself a favor and buy the book, then curl up on a winter's evening with a blanket, your favorite hot drink, and indulge yourself in this lovely book.

Ian Doescher is the author of the William Shakespeare's Star Wars series.  His Shakespeare Star Wars prequel trilogy will be released in 2015.  Ian lives with his family in Portland, Oregon.

Mick Carlon's Would You Rather

Bored with the same old fashioned author interviews you see all around the blogosphere? Well, TNBBC's newest series is a fun, new, literary spin on the ole Would You Rather game. Get to know the authors we love to read in ways no other interviewer has. I've asked them to pick sides against the same 20 odd bookish scenarios. 

Mick Carlon's

Would You Rather

Would you rather start every sentence in your book with ‘And’ or end every sentence with ‘but’?   

Hmm…I’d rather begin every sentence with “and.”  “But” can have other connotations/meanings!

Would you rather write in an isolated cabin that was infested with spiders or in a noisy coffee shop with bad musak? 

Since I can tune out bad music—(I always have good music playing inside my little brain—right now it’s the Stones song “Factory Girl”)--I would choose the noisy coffee shop.  Plus, I can’t stand the zit-like noise that spiders make when you pop them.  Plus, I’m addicted to coffee.

Would you rather think in a language you could understand but write in one you couldn’t read, or think in a language you couldn’t understand but write in one you could read?

 I’d have to be able to think in a language I can understand.  Both choices, though, would present problems!

Would you rather write the best book of your career and never publish it or publish a bunch of books that leave you feeling unsatisfied?

 Wow!  Incredible question.  I’d rather write the best book of my career in the hope that maybe—after my death—a relative could see it published (a la John Kennedy Toole).  (But I wouldn’t zap myself the way Kennedy did).

Would you rather have everything you think automatically appear on your Twitter feed or have a voice in your head narrate your every move?

I do Facebook, but not Twitter—BUT everything I think is not fit for reading!  Got to have that filter working or I’d be in BIG TROUBLE.  So I’d like the voice in my head narrating my life—but it would have to be a cool Raymond Chandleresque “she had legs up to her eyebrows” type of narrator.

Would you rather your books be bound and covered with human skin or made out of tissue paper?

Human skin brings up terrible connotations of the Holocaust, so I’d go with (clean) tissue paper.

Would you rather read naked in front of a packed room or have no one show up to your reading?

I’d rather have no one show up—which, fortunately, has not happened yet.  Besides, I’m so impressive naked that I would make every dude in the audience feel terribly insecure for the rest of their lives.  I simply couldn’t have that on my conscience.

 Would you rather your book incite the world’s largest riot or be used as tinder in everyone’s fireplace?

 Hmm…could it be a peaceful riot filled with laughter and dancing?  If not, then the fireplace option.  At least I’d be keeping folks warm.

Would you rather give up your computer or pens and paper?

 Pens and paper.  I get a dopamine rush from receiving emails.

Would you rather have every word of your favorite novel tattooed on your skin or always playing as an audio in the background for the rest of your life?

I would never be tattooed—so the audio option.  When housewives in horrible stretch pants (at the mall) have tattoos, you know its era of being rebellious is over.  It’s now rebellious NOT to be tattooed.

Would you rather meet your favorite author and have them turn out to be a total jerkwad or hate a book written by an author you are really close to?

 I have no illusions about famous people, so I wouldn’t mind meeting the favorite jerkwad.  I will say, though, that I met John Updike in a movie line in Boston (circa 1988), spoke with him, and he was DELIGHTFUL.  I told him how I taught his short story “A&P” to my high school students and he couldn’t recall the story, so I refreshed his memory.  I told him that one student said, “This writer really understands teenagers,” and Mr. Updike responded, “Good God. I don’t understand them now.”   Up close, Mr. Updike possessed very impressive eyebrows.

Would you rather your book have an awesome title with a really ugly cover or an awesome cover with a really bad title?

 Awesome title—we could always work on a better cover in a later printing.  I have to say, though, that Ann Weinstock creates AMAZINGLY WONDERFUL covers for Leapfrog Press.

 Would you rather write beautiful prose with no point or write the perfect story badly?

 Wow…the perfect story badly because I could always rewrite it.  Hey, I would have created the perfect plot—the polishing could always happen afterwards.

Would you rather write only embarrassingly truthful essays or write nothing at all?

 Embarrassingly truthful essay—they’re the best.

Would you rather your book become an instant best seller that burns out quickly and is forgotten forever or be met with mediocre criticism but continue to sell well after you’re gone?

 Mediocre criticism—“This book is trash,” wrote one Concord (Massachusetts) critic about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—but continue to sell well and be beloved after I take off into the wild blue yonder.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mick Carlon’s jazz-themed novels—Riding on Duke’s Train and Travels With Louis (Leapfrog Press)—are being adopted into more and more American schools (as well as a school in Seville, Spain).  He has spoken to students in New York City, Minneapolis, Anaheim, Dallas, Plymouth (Massachusetts) and New Orleans.  Says Nat Hentoff:  “Mick Carlon’s novels are introducing a new generation to the glories of jazz and its soulful artists—and will continue to do so for many generations hence.”  Carlon’s latest novel, Girl Singer, will be published by Leapfrog Press in November 2015. 

Kate Reviews: Salaryman Unbound

Salaryman Unbound by Ezra Kyrill Erker

4 stars - Strongly Recommended by Kate
Pages: 189
Publisher: Crime Wave Press
Released: March 2014

Guest review by Kate Vane

Salaryman Unbound is a stylish, darkly comic novel of psychological suspense.

It tells the story of Shiro, a Japanese IT manager with a midlife crisis. He has considered the conventional responses to his sense of ennui – an affair or an unsuitable hobby – but in the end settles on murder.

From this starting point, the novel follows Shiro’s attempts to implement his plan and its consequences. He turns out to be a fairly inept criminal. His ideas about detection are based on what he’s read in the papers and crime dramas on TV. He has an almost adolescent idea that he will become sort-of famous as the unidentified perpetrator of an ingenious unsolved crime.

He wants to commit the perfect murder by choosing a random victim but when these attempts fail he adapts his plan. He settles on an attractive but unhappy neighbour, Sayuri, as his victim.

There are some shocks in this novel for the reader but much of the pleasure comes from irony. Shiro, caught up in his conspiracy, is unable to see what we can. His murderous fantasy keeps brushing up against the constraints of the real world. His interactions with Sayuri and his wife Naomi are particularly well observed. They continually undercut him with their cleverness and practicality.

Shiro’s behaviour is both absurd and totally believable. It is also menacing. We are not quite sure what he is capable of, and who might get hurt.

The Japanese setting gives the book an additional dimension. The life that seems so banal to Shiro will be unfamiliar to many Western readers. We learn about the texture of the characters’ daily lives – what they eat, what music they listen to, where they go at the weekend.

More profoundly, we see how Shiro’s marriage is changed by Naomi’s return to her career and the irreverence of his children as they fail to show the respect he showed his parents. Shiro’s business trip to Thailand and his interactions with his Thai subordinates give an insight into the changing economy. The Japanese salaryman is being challenged on all sides.

There is a further irony. As Shiro’s plan progresses, he steps out of his normal world. He takes risks. But paradoxically, he misses opportunities to make bigger changes. There is a pleasing ambiguity in this – his obsession is both changing him and making him fail to see what he really needs to do.

The only thing that jarred for me slightly was that the book, while mostly written from Shiro’s point of view, sometimes makes abrupt shifts into another character’s voice. This breaks the spell as we are suddenly outside Shiro’s crazed vision. One of the strengths of Shiro’s narration is that we can see his effect on other characters even when he cannot.

However, this is a small point. This is an absorbing and atmospheric novel with a satisfying twist at the end.

Kate Vane writes crime and literary fiction. Her latest novel is Not the End. 

Five Pet Peeves: Book Abuse

For those of you who were hanging around the blog yesterday, you may have met our newest review contributor, Lindsey. Lindsey runs the Straight Forward Poetry journal and will be reviewing... wait for it... poetry and chapbooks for us. Her format - Dog Eared Reviews - is an interesting and anxiety-inducing one:

She actually dog-ears her books as she reads them!

I'm suddenly finding it hard to breathe.

Hang on a sec...

...

Ok. It's ok. *pictures smooth, crisp, unfolded page corners, hundreds and hundreds of smooth, crisp, unfolded....* yeah, I'm fine. Phew!

So, needless to say, Lindsey's preferred way to mangle, I MEAN read, her books suddenly had me mentally ticking off pet peeves when it comes to how people abuse, I MEAN handle, their book as they read them.



My top five "Book Abuse" pet peeves:


5. Cover Stains - Books should never be used as a drink coaster. I know this, I am sure YOU know this, but man, how many times do you witness someone placing a cold, sweating can of coke or a hot, dripping mug of coffee on top of their current read, amirite?! You know who you are, you book abuser! That poor cover will forever bear the wrinkly water marks and brown coffee ring stains of your bad decisions. Or how bout using your book as a buffer between your hand and the kitchen table when you are painting your nails? Oh gosh how that stuff makes me cringe!


4. Food Crumbs - Eating and reading really don't go together. I don't know why people try it. You know you are going to need both hands to read with... one to hold the book, the other to turn the pages.... There is nothing worse than opening a book and discovering crusty old cookie crumbs way down deep in the pages. Or how about powered cheese finger stains, the ghostly remnants of a snack left behind as you turned the page...


3. Dog Ear - Believe it or not, this is a middle-of-the-road peeve of mine. More anxiety-inducing than the snacking and drinking. those poor folded page corners just look so painful to me. Sure, you can straighten them out and get the pages to lay somewhat flat again but the telltale triangular crease will never go away. And those once-perfect pages now have a weak spot, one that might entice its reader to unconsciously finger, or fold back and forth, until that abused little corner just gives up and detaches itself. Gasp!


2.  Marginalia - Marking up the interior of books sets my teeth grinding and my skin crawling. Pencil, pen, colored marker... I don't care what writing tool you use, I can't STAND when people write in their books. A good plenty of the 700+ unread books I own came from library and book sales. It amazes me just how many people out there make notes, underline, and highlight in their books. More times than I can count, I've had to make the tough choice to put a book I've been DYING to read back on the shelf and walk away because of how severe and distracting the marginalia was, I want to read the author's words, not your thoughts on their words. God, use sticky notes or index cards for the love of all things literary. Or, better yet, since you "loved" the book enough to mark it up to hell, why not just keep it forever? Why give it up at all?


1.  Cracked Spines - Oh how this makes my heart break. Those poor, prematurely aged books with the cracked and broken spines. Those evil, awful book abusers who actually ENJOY breaking a book in by grabbing a handful of pages from either side and CRAAAAACCCCKing that baby right down the middle. You know you who you are! Or how about those sadistic readers who fold their paperbacks over as they read them, so that the front and back covers are always touching? Which creates a million little hairline cracks down the spine... Ack! I've adopted my shared of cracked-spined books from used book stores and book sales. As I read them, I handle them with extra care, and love, and can't help but shed a tear for them as I turn the page and it partially separated from the inside of the spine because the damage was so intense. There should be a jail for readers who abuse their books so badly!



So what about you? What are your biggest pet peeves when it comes to "book abuse"??

Lindsey Reviews: The End of the West

The End of the West by Michael Dickman

Pages: 89

Publisher: Copper Canyon Press 

Released: 2009

Dog Eared Review by Lindsey Lewis Smithson (review contributor)

Michael Dickman’s debut collection of poems The End of the West from Copper Canyon (2009) reads like a physical move through grief and acceptance. The first poem, “Nervous System,” sets the path that the rest of the collection follows, with lines like “Make a list / of everything that’s / ever been // on fire—,” All of us running around / outside our /  deaths” and “I wish I could look down past the burning chandelier inside me.”

The early poems deal with several different deaths or separations, but the emotional turn begins to appear in the poem “Returning to Church,” saying  “I get the feeling / diamond after / diamond / is what’s really /  going to happen.”  Near the end of the collection the reader is offered not only relief, but also a rally cry that everything will be alright; “What I have / is finally invisible // Singing a little tune     They can’t take that away from me.

The early pages are dark, and may be emotionally difficult for some readers, however the path that Dickman paves is a beautiful one of strength and growth. Follow him and you won’t be sorry you did.

Like many readers I like to dog ear, highlight, and make notes in my books as I read them. Sometimes a single line stands out, other times it is an image, the spacing, or a feeling I had that will cause me to pause and take note. Here are the pages that I Dog Eared in The End of the West:

Pages 3, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 24, 32, 39, 41, 44, 45, 50, 51, 56, 58, 63

Lindsey Lewis Smithson is the Editor of Straight Forward Poetry. Some of her poetry has appeared on The Nervous Breakdown, This Zine Will Change Your Life, The Cossack Review, and Every Writer’s Resource: Everyday Poems.

Indie Ink Runs Deep: John Smelcer

Every now and then I manage to talk a small press author into showing us a little skin... tattooed skin, that is. I know there are websites and books out there that have been-there-done-that already, but I hadn't seen one with a specific focus on the authors and publishers of the small press community. Whether it's the influence for their book, influenced by their book, or completely unrelated to the book, we get to hear the story behind their indie ink....



Today's ink story comes from John Smelcer. One of the last students of the legendary John Gardner, widely considered the best creative writing teacher in America, John is the author of 50 books, including the award-winning novels The Trap, The Great Death, Lone Wolves, Edge of Nowhere, and Savage Mountain (forthcoming this summer). The American Library Association named Lone Wolves as one of the best feminist novels for young adults in 2014, along with I Am Malala. The Great Death was named the best novels about sisters in 2008.

Tit for Tat: A Writer Apologizes

What can I say about my tattoo, except for what kind of numbskull has the audacity to sport one of the most iconic images from pop culture on his shoulder? More importantly, what does it say about me? Even as I write this, I’m re-watching the first James Bond movie, Dr. No(1962), for the umpteenth time. Ursula Andress standing on the beach in a bikini with her dagger drawn never gets old.

James Bond burst onto the silver screen the year before I was born. Yet, I have the vivid memory of watching it at a theater when I was six. I was enthralled. Here was a dapper, self-assured man of action, who always got the bad guy and the girls (lots of girls). Growing up in the decade of Flower Power and Free Love, 007 epitomized the latter. I loved Bond. I wanted to be him.

James Bond: Role Model.

It’s an oxymoron akin to Shakespeare’s “O Loving Hate!”

But what kind of role model is James Bond for a boy and later a young man? He may have been a woman-lover, but he was also a misogynist who treated women disrespectfully, saying and doing anything to get them into bed. Did he even remember their names afterward? Did he remember them during? (Who could possibly forget Octopussy or Pussy Galore?) Or, in that instant of passion, did he simply call out his own name?

In retrospect, I realize that much of the trouble of my life was because of James Bond, because I adopted his shameful persona. I remember going to my eighth grade prom with one girl and, by the night’s end, I had clandestinely (like a secret agent) asked three different girls to go steady with me. They figured it out soon enough, and I didn’t get a date again until high school.

Bond made me do it!

In the mid-1970s, when I was a tweenager, my mom left for a couple weeks to be with her folks. While she was gone, my father gave me permission to put a hundred nudie posters on my bedroom walls. (It was he, after all, who took me to see Bond films.) Needless to say, my mother didn’t appreciate my artistic sensibilities.

Again, Bond made me do it!

Before I type another word, I feel a need to apologize to all the girls I wronged in my life. Mea culpa. I was clueless.

As an adult—only a year younger than the Bond film franchise—I drink Vodka martinis, even though I don’t enjoy them. I’ve owned sports cars. And like Bond, I like to dress sharp, especially in classic black, gray, and white to the point that I’m a bit of a clotheshorse. I’m an Anglophile who studied at Cambridge, Bond’s alma mater, and I sometimes speak in a fake English accent.

So why did I get a 007 tattoo on Valentine’s Day a decade ago while my wife sat in the adjacent parlor chair getting her own tat? What does my tat say about me? Is there any redeeming characteristic in Bond’s personality? Can I look at my shoulder in the mirror with any sense of self-respect? Maybe. Maybe the thing I carry in me nowadays, as a husband and father of two daughters, is simply a yearning for a bygone childhood during a confusing time in America. Maybe Bond resonated with a nation trying to figure itself out. Maybe I’m still trying to do the same thing. For those of you who enjoy poetry, I present the only poem I’ve ever written about James Bond.

007 GOES TO THE MOON

James Bond went to see a doctor;

he was having a little man trouble.

They took some blood and asked him

to list all his sexual partners on a form,

but there wasn’t enough room.

Besides, he couldn’t remember them all.

There was

Octopussy, Honey Ryder, Holly Goodhead,

Solitaire, Mary Goodnight, Triple X, Jinx,

Plenty O’Toole, Strawberry Fields, Mayday,

Domino, Christmas Jones, Tiffany Case,

Jenny Flex, Xenia Onatopp, and his all-time

personal favorite—Pussy Galore.

The test results finally came in.

Horrified, doctors discovered Bond had sexual

diseases they had never even heard of before.

So they put him in a yellow bio-hazard suit,

hung an “Out of Order” sign around his waist,

and quarantined him on the dark side of the moon.