Audioreview: The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim

Listened 1/29/12 - 2/9/12
4.5 Stars - Highly Recommended to readers who don't let a little switcheroo at the end ruin the whole kit and kaboodle
10 cd's (approx 11 hrs)
Publisher: AudioGo

Who says a book about a severely depressed main character can't be funny? Jonathan Coe's The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim will make you laugh out loud at the most inappropriate moments! Of course, I cant speak for the print version, since I listened to this on cd in my car during my commutes to and from work, but AudioGo's narrator Colin Buchanan  had me in stitches more than a few times with his impeccable timing, cheeky sarcasm, and undisguised naivety.

The story, if you look at it strictly from a plot standpoint, is really quite sad: Maxwell Sim had an incredibly difficult time coping with the fact that his wife and daughter up and left him. Taking leave from his job at the department store, he fell into a horribly deep depression. 6 months later, he gets an email notification that his ex-wife bought him a plane ticket to visit his estranged father out in Australia. So he goes.

On the final day of his visit, while eating alone at a local diner, Maxwell notices a Chinese lady and her daughter playing cards at a table across the terrace and is suddenly painfully envious of their relationship. As he boards the plane home, acutely aware of the feelings that this woman and her daughter ignited within him, he desperately needs to talk to someone. It's been so long since he's had an actual conversation ... and he's itching to unburden himself of the past 6 months of loneliness. And when a man takes the seat beside him, as the plane begins to taxi, that is exactly what Maxwell does. He talks non-stop for a good portion of the flight to Charlie, his seat-mate, unburdening himself of all of his fears and fantasies and of the horrible divorce and the depression he's suffered. It all comes pouring out of him, and he feels such a sense of relief... until the stewardess interrupts his soliloquy to inform him that Charlie, the man to which he has been spilling his guts to, appears to have taken a heart attack and died beside him.

And this, my friends, begins the incredibly amazing, sometimes hilarious, slightly unreal story of Maxwell Sim. A man who, suddenly manic with a panic to talk, falls head over heels in love with every woman he comes into contact with - the young junior adultery facilitator (whose name escapes me) he strikes up conversation with in the airport cafe during a layover on his trip home; Lindsay, the creative half behind the toothbrush company he decides he travel to the Shetland Islands for in order to help his buddy's business take off; and most pathetically, "Emma", his trusty, non judgmental GPS system. Oh yes, you heard me. He falls in love with his GPS system's voice. A tragic, hopeless romantic who hasn't quite discovered how to completely pull himself out of his depressive cycle of self-loathing, Maxwell proves to be one of the most sympathetic characters I can recall ever reading. Your heart will bleed for this poor ole sap who can't seem to get his relationships right.

The book contains some additional side-stories which are introduced to us in the form of letters and short stories written to or by some of the other characters that Maxwell happens across throughout his travels. They were initially distracting, pulling us away from Maxwell and thrusting us into the trials and tribulations of solo-sailor and suicidal Donald Crowhurst, or the fucked-up relationship between a young Harold Sim (Max's dad) and his friend Rodger, or the story of The Nettle Pit which was written by his ex-wife, outlining a painful moment buried in Maxwell's past. But over time, the author begins to weave elements of each throughout Maxwell's journey, and we suddenly begin to appreciate the fact that we didn't skim over (or completely skip) those portions of the book. They do come to hold incredible meaning for Max, and for us, too, as the reader.

The book delicately navigates the slippery slope of uncomfortable and unattractive human emotions - loneliness, suicidal depression, jealousy, self hatred - in a tender and ticklish way. Yes, the situations Maxwell find himself in are sometimes quite cartoonish, but the author has his reasons for that. Which brings me to the book's somewhat aggravating ending.

See, there was a point in the book where Max finds himself stranded in his car, in the middle of a snowstorm with very little gas left and only his GPS for company. He was sliding back into a deep depression, on the verge of a very humiliating breakdown.. and it was quite an impressive scene. It had this sense of finality to it... you know? Like we were all sitting on the cusp of something huge, like we were holding our collective breath for a long, long moment, terrified of breaking the beauty of the moment... and then I noticed that there was still a disc and a half to go. What the wha? How could there still be a disc and half to go when it felt like the ending should be right here, right now?

What followed after that was something quite different than I had anticipated. There were some awkward twists and turns, and things were unnecessarily tied a wee bit too tightly into neat and pretty bows. I had wanted my heart to break, and what I ended up with was an ending that came completely out of left field - it was unexpected and unwanted. I wanted to ask the author for my time back. I felt cheated. I felt like Coe had run out of ideas. Like he thought... Oh Shit, I've let this thing go on too far, I've gotta wrap it up now.

Now that I have put some time between me and the story, and discussed the ending - albeit briefly - with an author friend who had read the book, I feel a little better about it. I'm not saying I accept it. I still believe the author missed his opportunity back there with Maxwell freezing to death in the car, pleading with "Emma" the GPS navigator not to leave him as the car battery died... he was so close to making this a #nextbestbook. Oh well...

Do yourself a favor though. When you do pick this up, and you really should pick this up, make sure to listen to it on Audio. Trust me! You won't regret it.

Indie Book Buzz: Rose Metal Press

It's a great day for some 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 pick come from Rose Metal Press co-founders

Abigail and Kathleen

I Take Back the Sponge Cake: A Lyrical Choose-Your-Own-Adventure

By Loren Erdrich and Sierra Nelson

(February 29, 2012)

I Take Back the Sponge Cake is a choose-your-own-adventure collaboration between poet Sierra Nelson and visual artist Loren Erdrich. Each turn of the page features an ink and watercolor drawing, a poem, and a choice between two sound-alike words that create a variety of paths through the book. The adventure always begins in the same place, but depending on your choices your reading experience moves by emotional meander—leaping, looping, and surprising until it finally reaches one of the possible endings. With its blend of words, artwork, and audience participation, I Take Back the Sponge Cake is a triple threat.

“Erdrich and Nelson's collaboration is a delight. There's a perfect amount of distance between the poems and the images in this book—enough to allow for the snap of connection and the fizz of dissonance. Their lyrical choose-your-own-adventure invention asks you to choose between homophones to complete a given sentence, creating a surprising portrait of your own disposition at the same time that it produces multiple pathways to the book’s splendid endings.”—Matthea Harvey, author of Of Lamb and Modern Life

Bios:

Abigail Beckel, co-founder and publisher of Rose Metal Press, has worked professionally in the publishing industry for more than 11 years. She is also a published poet.

Kathleen Rooney, co-founder and editor of Rose Metal Press, is the author, most recently, of the essay collection For You, For You I Am Trilling These Songs (Counterpoint, 2010). Her second solo poetry collection, Robinson Alone, will be published in Fall 2012 by Gold Wake Press. 

So what do you think guys? Doesn't that book sound all sorts of awesome? Help TNBBC and Rose Metal Press spread the buzz about this book by sharing this post with others!

INdie Book Buzz: Curbside Splendor

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 pick come from Ben Tanzer,

friend of Curbside Splendor

Chicago Stories: 40 Dramatic Fictions by Michael Czyzniejewski 
(April 2012)

I should be clear that I am uniquely biased in my great affection for Chicago Stories: 40 Dramatic Fictions by Michael Czyzniejewski the new release from Curbside Splendor. Czyzniejewski is a beautiful writer full of wit and charm, and with this collection he has not only written with great verve and flash, but he has written about any number of disparate Chicago characters whose stories you cannot help but lose yourself in because like all great writers Czyzniejewski has made it so. And then there are Rob Funderburk's illustrations, revved-up with joy and nuance, and somehow propelling these stories even farther off of the page and into your brain than they were already able to do all by themselves. No easy task that, and yet, here we are.

But while all of this is true, as true as the more recent Mayor Daley's ability to mangle syntax in a singular fashion unseen since at least his late father's reign, what I am most excited about when it comes to this book, is that as a former East Coaster and Left, and as someone who never spent any time in Chicago, much less the Midwest until moving here, I am now constantly amazed, and re-amazed, that people who don't live here can still show-up and be amazed themselves at just how wonderful Chicago is. How can't they know that already? Where have they been and what have they been doing with themselves that this wasn't already as self-evident as the fact that there was no way President Obama couldn't help but break our hearts? I can't answer this, but I don't need to, because the Chicago Stories will clear up any confusion post haste and hence forth. 

Bio:
Ben Tanzer is the author of the books 99 Problems, You Can Make Him Like You, My Father's House and So Different Now among others. Ben also oversees day to day operations of This Zine Will Change Your Life and can be found online at This Blog Will Change Your Life the center of his vast, albeit faux media empire.

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 Curbside Splendor spread the buzz about these books by sharing this post with others!

Book Giveaway: Banned For Life

I cannot tell you how thrilled I am that TNBBC is able to offer you this next novel

as part of our Author/Reader Discussion series!!

World, I give you 

D.R. Haney's 2009 debut novel Banned for Life

In order to stimulate discussion

We will be giving away 20 (yes, you read that right) copies of his novel. 

*This giveaway will be opened internationally for 3 copies*

Here's the Goodreads description:

"For almost two decades, rumors have swirled around Jim Cassady, the quasi-legendary punk-rock frontman who disappeared without a trace after his girlfriend’s apparent suicide. Though largely written off as dead, some claim to have had brushes with Cassady, now said to be homeless and bumming change on the streets of his native Los Angeles. Intrigued, Jason Maddox, a would-be filmmaker and Cassady fan, decides to investigate. But the man he eventually finds and befriends is damaged in ways he could never have imagined, and Jason’s own life begins to unravel as he tries to save the hapless Jim Cassady from himself. A mystery wrapped in a rollercoaster account of the American pop-culture underbelly, Banned for Life has been cited as a "cult-favorite" by the New York Journal of Books, with a reputation that continues to expand."

Here's my description (and why I am so excited to share it with you!):

"Every once in a while, I read a book that I think everyone else should read. A book that lovers of all genres can enjoy. A book that I wish I could buy for every single non-reader out there to prove to them what they are missing. [Banned for Life] is one of those books...once I started, I knew I was not going to want it to end. It called to me every time I put it down. It begged. It screamed. I savored every moment of it, and I dreaded reading that final sentence." 

This contest will run through February 8th.

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

Here's how to enter:

 1 - The narrator in this book has his life changed by a song. Comment here by telling us about a time when your life was changed by a song, or a concert, or an artist.

2 - State that you agree to participate in the group read book discussion that will run for the entire month of March over at TNBBC on Goodreads. D.R. Haney 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 March 1st). 

 3 - You must leave me a way to contact you (email is preferred). AND tell me if you are international or a resident of the US!!!!

Good luck!

Review: Spaceman Blues - A Love Song

Read 1/24/12 - 1/29/12
3 Stars - Recommended to readers who like their sci-fi a little more literary
Pgs: 219
Publisher: Tor

A man who managed to turn New York City against him suddenly disappears. His lover decides to find out where he went. Tracking him down will prove to be the biggest challenge of his life... if he manages to survive it.

Spaceman Blues is not your typical "aliens come to take over the world" story. Don't get me wrong, once you hit the end of the book, there is some of that. There are no little green men with anal probes who beam screaming humans up into their ships - although there are 4 Horsemen donning raincoats who fly around NYC on hovercraft-type machines, demolishing people and buildings with their guns of green light.

Forget the aliens for a moment, though. This is really a book about Manuel, who has gone missing, and his boyfriend Wendell, who is willing to go through just about anything to uncover what's happened to his "baby". And yet, it goes even deeper than that, doesn't it? It seems to be saying something profound about our ability to persevere and endure under the most trying of situations; our refusal to give up in the face of failure and defeat; our need to stand up against the unknown...

Ooooor, it could just simply be trying to tell us that bloody cockfights, underground cities, religious cults, unidentifiable dead bodies found floating in the river, and alien assassins are fucking awesome and I'm just reading too much into it.

Brian Francis Slattery winds his tricky and twisty prose around your head, filling it with momentary explosions and bright burning lights to confuse and disorient you. Because, truthfully, sometimes Spaceman Blues really does confuse and disorient you. But no worries, because once the smoke dissipates and the fires die down, you'll quickly find the trail back to our Spaceman hero Wendell. Just sit tight, breathe through it, and all will be well in the world. Well, unless, you know, you've awoken the wraith of an alien race and continue to test their patience...

Audioreview: Couch

Listened 1/9/12 - 1/27/12
3.5 Stars - Strongly Recommended to readers who like a little bizarro mixed into their fiction
Audio download (approx 11hrs)
Publisher: Iambik Audio / Small Beer Press

This was a book that had been sitting on my goodreads to-buy shelf for over a year, so I was thrilled to see it on Iambik Audio's website. I immediately downloaded a review copy on my Droid, and started listening on my commute to and from work.

First thing worth noting: Couch's Iambik narrator, Gregg Margarite, has an impossibly deep, grumbly voice. So deep, in fact, that I had to drop the bass on my car speakers to -10 to be able to decipher just what this guy was saying! He also has a very awkward "fake" laugh, but that is neither here nor there. These are things you will get used to.

Second thing worth noting: Once you start this book, no matter how silly and strange it gets, there is just no stopping until you reach the end. And boy oh boy, do things sometimes take a turn for the strange...

Couch begins with three unemployed roommates who are forced out of their flooded apartment. Rather than freak out about it, they decide to pool their limited funds together and go on a vacation. Only their landlord throws a bit of a wrench into their plans - they have to take their couch with them. Unhappy but unphased by this odd request, they carry the couch out onto the street with the intention of dropping it off at the nearest Goodwill. However, the couch has another destination in mind. As Thom, Eric, and Tree start trudging it down the sidewalk, the couch begins to grow incredibly heavy. Confused, and not quite believing what they just felt, the three turn around and carry it the other way. Sure as shit, after a few steps, the couch becomes lighter.

Now at the mercy of their seemingly magic (or perhaps possessed?) couch, our three friends reluctantly let it lead them on the journey of a lifetime... across states, across rivers and oceans, into uncharted foreign jungles... all the while being chased by people who want the couch for themselves, and will go to great lengths to get it.

An immensely fun book, Couch never takes itself too seriously. Prophetic dreams, wacky legends, and a secret council of anonymous couch protectors... It will ask you to suspend your disbelief, " If you fall asleep on the couch, it turns you near-comatose?" and ask you to suspend it some more, "The couch can float on the ocean and can't be damaged?"... again and again. No matter how much weird shit it throws at you, no matter how often you find yourself saying "oh, come oooon!",  I guarantee you won't be able to stop until you find out just what the heck is up with that damn couch!

Couch is the first novel that I've consciously experienced in Third Person Limited, or Close Third Person. The author lives mostly on the shoulder of Thom  - our oversized, recently dumped, computer geek - so, even though we are exposed to Eric and Tree's point of views, we are extremely privy to Thom's thoughts and feelings (though there is one part in the book where the close narration does switch, briefly yet clumsily, from Thom to Eric). For as much as this narration style initially distracted me, it's actually - strangely - a good fit for the story.

As is Gregg. Deep voice aside, he has this odd accent that's part Californian slacker, part hippy-burnout. And while he wouldn't be my first choice for an audiobook narrator, his voice has this slightly bored, resigned quality to it that slowly grows on you and seems to become its own character within the book.

Couch is most definitely for readers who like their fiction a little loose. It toys with you, it plays with the rules, twisting them little by little, and before you know it you are knee deep in it and desperate to know how it's all going to end.

Have you listened to Iambik before? It's a great source for indie literature on audio and it comes at a great price too. Check it out...

The Larry Closs Blog Tour: Wrap-Up

Have you enjoyed our week full of Larry-centric blog posts? Have you gained some new insight into the mind of this amazing author? Have you marked Beatitude as To Buy and To Read on your goodreads shelves, or better yet, gone out to purchase a copy for yourself? If you answered yes to each of those questions, our jobs here are done!


If you haven't been following the tour, and wish to see it in its entirety, this is your chance to catch up:


Day 1 hosted by yours truly - Larry defined what "Being Indie" means to him
Day 2 hosted by Emmet (..I Can Stay)- posted a review of Beatitude
Day 3 hosted by Mandy (MandytheBookworm's Blog) - guest post by Larry on how The Beats did and didn't inspire Beatitude
Day 4 hosted by Patrick (the Literate Man) - an interview w/ Larry on men and literature among The Beats and Today.
Day 5 hosted by Jenn (the Picky Girl) - an instagram photo tour of Beatitude by Larry
Day 6 hosted by Erica (BookedinChico) - an personal essay by Larry about New York City
Day 7 hosted by Tara (BookSexyReview) - an interview revolving around the book, the Beats, and the Ginsberg poems.


Throughout the tour, we are shown - post after post - that Beatitude is so much more than just a novel. It's a lifestyle, it's New York, it's a living breathing thing that you can connect with on multiple levels. 


I want to thank the awesome bloggers who participated in this week's tour. Without them, this tour would not have been possible. They are among the best out there, and I truly appreciate the time and effort they put in over the past month to prepare for this week! 


I also want to thank Larry - the author, the photographer, the New Yorker - who was willing to go along with us for the ride. He worked so hard behind the scenes to compose guest posts and respond to interviews, and sent us the amazing blog tour icon. 


And of course, thanks to everyone who followed us day after day during the tour, sharing the links and spreading the word!

Review: Taft 2012

Read 1/15/12 - 1/23/12
4 Stars - Strongly Recommended
Pgs: 249
Publisher: Quirk Books 


Think a fictional book featuring a political figure just isn't your bag? Think again! Jason Heller smacks the White House on its ass and makes it his little bitch in his recently released debut novel Taft 2012.

This sweet little satire starts with Taft's unexplained appearance on the muddy White House lawn in 2011, where he seems to have just awakened from a 100 year deep sleep. After multiple tests confirm that this is indeed our twenty-seventh president returned intact and unaged from god-only-knows-where, Taft is reluctantly ushered into the twenty-first century - wireless telephones, airplanes, social media, state of the economy, Twinkies, and electronic golfing. Once the public catches whiff of Taft's presence, he soon feels the familiar rush of celebrity.  Die hard supporters quickly create The Taft Party - nostalgic for the way things used to be, for the old, honest, American values - in the hopes of pushing "Big Bill"  into the presidential elections once again.

The book is made even sweeter by short chapters paired with creative news and media coverage in the form of TV transcripts, news articles, book excerpts, secret service entries, and even a fictional @taft2012 twitter stream. It helps that Jason wrote William Howard Taft as this immensely lovable, slightly bewildered man who simply cannot understand the sway he still holds over the public, 100 years later. I mean, how often do you read about a character you kinda wish you could have met in real life, right? Taft felt real and down to earth while still managing to exude this sense of worldliness about him. I would love to snag a cup of coffee with the guy and pick his brain on the pros and cons of America then and now.

A political premise with some sci-fi thrown in for fun... Taft 2012 is a cleverly enjoyable, never gimmicky, read for readers of the left wing, right wing, and no-wing persuasion alike. It's an equal opportunity novel and I recommend you pick it up and give it a whirl. If you manage to grab a copy soon, you might still catch the man behind Taft 2012 in the Author/Reader Discussion taking place right now over at TNBBC. If you're unsure, why not hop on over to the discussion now and see what our readers are saying about it?

Still not enough for you? How bout feasting your eyes on these book trailers?





Did I mention how extremely timely the novel is? With the new presidential hoopla going on in the "right here and now", how can you NOT want to read this book? And with all the #ows and #sopa news, why not consider the potential old school, back to basics mentality that only a 150 year old president could bring to the table?

For more info on the book, you can listen to Jason Heller speaking to the book on Twenty-Twelve and also on this NPR interview . And check out this Taft 2012 Campaign website to whet your appetite even more.

The Larry Closs Blog Tour Kick-Off

Welcome to the very first stop on the Larry Closs Blog Tour!

I am thrilled beyond words to introduce you to Larry and his stunning debut novel Beatitude. Here's a little secret...It was my fear of this incredibly poignant, beautifully complicated novel going unnoticed and unread that instigated this blog tour. As I cracked the cover and began reading, I realized I was holding a book that had the potential to slip between the cracks... to fade away before it had found its chance to shine. And I panicked.

Published through Rebel Satori - a very small, virtually unknown press - Larry found most of the marketing, publicity, and (believe it or not) galley printing, falling onto his shoulders. It was Larry's review pitch that alerted to me to the book initially. Had he not pitched me, Beatitude would very likely have slipped right by me as well! 

And therein lies the rub when publishing with an indie, right? If you guys know me at all, you know how obsessed I am with small presses and the amazing literature they continuously crank out. Awesome books with unique stories that appeal to specific sorts of readers. But these publishers also tend to have smaller wallets, which translates into limited funds, which translates into a limited reach. As of today, Larry has not yet toured to promote his novel, which released back in October. So I took the reigns, took action, and decided to launch a tour of sorts for Larry, to help spread the word about Beatitude and get his book into the hands of more readers. 

I am so happy you decided to pop in and check it out! And I am extremely grateful to Emmet, Mandy, Patrick, Jenn, Erica, and Tara for offering up their blogs as additional stops. I am also immensely grateful to Larry for his enthusiasm and willingness to work hard behind the scenes to help us prepare for what you are about to see.

We have a great tour planned for you. So kick back, relax, and let us woo you and wow you with all things Larry Closs! For starters, I'll be sharing Larry's thoughts on what being indie means to him and how his unfailing devotion to this novel finally paid off:

By Larry Closs

Let’s be honest: Every author dreams of writing a book that’s groundbreaking and edgy and yet so insightful that it’s immediately signed by a major agent, snapped up by a major publisher with a huge and highly publicized advance (after a fierce bidding war) and simultaneously translated into a dozen languages. Naturally, the book debuts at No. 1 on the bestseller lists, and the combined sale of the movie rights and your screenplay adaptation earns you six figures (seven, anyone?). Then you start envisioning which A-list actors will play your protagonists on the big screen and who you’ll thank in your Oscar acceptance speech. Best of all, you’ll finally have enough money to ditch the day job and do nothing but write. Well, write and travel.

And then there’s reality.

You devote every spare minute for years working on your first novel, as pure a labor of love as there ever was, for both you and the family and friends who kindly endure draft after draft after draft as you agonize over every little detail. Final manuscript in hand, you research literary agents and start at the top. “I write a little like the guy who wrote No. 3 on the New York Times Fiction Bestseller List,” you tell yourself. “Who’s hisagent?” But his agent isn’t interested. So uninterested, in fact, that all you get in response to your carefully crafted query is an email form rejection, with “sincere apologies and regrets” for sending an email form rejection. As you work your way down a list of a hundred agents and your inbox overflows with sincerity for several months, maybe several years, you have three choices: 1) Allow the rejections to convince you that your book really isn’t any good and banish it to a dark corner of your hard drive; 2) Damn the rejections because you still believe in your book—and then self-publish; 3) Skip the agents, change course and go directly to the publishers—the independent publishers.

I wrestled with No. 1, considered No. 2 but ultimately chose No. 3, because I still sought the validation that self-publishing doesn’t always provide. After much research, I arrived at Rebel Satori Press. The name struck a chord—a Zen revolution!—and the catalog of titles seemed to share my sensibility as well as an interest in the Beat Generation writers—Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs—who figure prominently in Beatitude. I queried the publisher, Sven Davisson, who asked for an excerpt, then the full manuscript. Six months later, he sent me a contract.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but though I had written a book and landed a publisher, my work had just begun. What does it mean to be an indie author? Here’s what I’ve discovered:

1. Literary Agent: When I told an author friend that Rebel Satori had accepted Beatitude, she said that I should get an agent. And that getting an agent would be easy. She was right. After all the rejections I’d received, I was shocked to discover that several literary agents were suddenly interested in representing me. Why? Because the book had already been sold, mitigating most of the risk. Why would I need an agent at that point? To help with the contract. I knew nothing about contracts. My agent helped me negotiate and retain both foreign and adaptation rights, the two most likely sources of any significant revenue aside from royalties. The agency receives a commission on those sales, but the agency has a dedicated foreign rights department and contacts in film and television that I don’t. It’s much more likely to sell those rights than I would be on my own.

2. Advance: What advance? Some things are non-negotiable.

3. Editing: With an indie publisher, you’re more likely to have final say on the final version of the manuscript, for better or worse. I’m a journalist, with many years experience as both a writer and an editor. Thanks to friend and fellow editor, Mindy Kitei, whose insightful advice helped me streamline the manuscript (“Yes,” “No,” “Ugh!”), my book was in very good shape with regard to structure, pacing and style. But having read great books from indie publishers that were undermined by rampant typos and grammatical errors, I hired a friend who’s a professional copy editor to review Beatitude. Taken aback by how many minor but irksome issues she caught, I realized that hiring her was one of the best investments I’d made.

4. Legal: Beatitudefeatures lyrics from popular songs, excerpts from works by Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg and appearances by real-life, living individuals, all of which required permissions, licenses, releases and, in some cases, fees. I made a list of everything potentially problematic and consulted with an intellectual property lawyer for advice on the paths of least resistance. Obtaining permission to reprint song lyrics proved to be the most difficult and most expensive. I discovered that you can use a song title but even a line from a song will cost you plenty. Fair Use does not apply. As a result, I edited out all but one lyric. Brief excerpts from Kerouac’s books and Ginsberg’s poems were less expensive, but I still needed to track down who owned the rights and get contracts for them. Getting signed appearance releases from people whose real names I wanted to use was also relatively easy, because I knew the individuals and, ultimately, because every character in Beatitude is presented in a positive light.

5. Galleys: Media outlets that devote coverage to books usually want a galley—an uncorrected advance copy of the book, often without the final cover—six to eight months prior to the publication date. This is especially true of monthly magazines, where editors plan issues three months ahead of time and will only review a book on or near the pub date. After that, it’s old news. Many indie publishers do not print galleys because major monthlies and mainstream websites are less likely to publish reviews of indie titles, so there’s no return on investment. Rebel Satori doesn’t print galleys. So I did, believing that I needed reviews that coincided with the pub date to ensure the book’s success and hoping I could impress where others couldn’t. I researched printers and paid to produce 60 copies of Beatitude wrapped in a plain white cover with Helvetica text. I sent nearly all of them to editors and writers at magazines, book-related websites, bloggers and NPR. How many reviews coinciding with the pub date did Beatitude receive as a result? One. One very significant review. But, still. One. Looking back, I’m not sure I would do it again.

6. Book Cover: While negotiating the book contract, I retained the right—and responsibility—to oversee the cover design. I’m not a designer, but I co-owned a communication design studio for seven years. I studied thousands of book covers and decided on the aesthetic I wanted—simple, bold, graphic. A friend put me in touch with artist Anthony Freda, renowned for his gallery exhibits as well as his award-winning illustrations for Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Esquire, The New York Times, The Village Voice, Entertainment Weekly, Playboy and many others. Anthony and I hit it off immediately. He read Beatitude, asked what I had in mind and produced a cover that exceeded every expectation. Simple, bold, graphic. Fantastic. I was doubly fortunate to have another amazing artist, John Barrow, design the equally important back cover and spine, playing off Anthony’s illustration for the front and adding a whole other dimension, the ying to the yang. All the times I’d ever imagined what the cover of Beatitude might look like, I never imagined the incredible result. But, being an indie author, I was able to choose whom I wanted to work with and have input, two things that wouldn’t necessarily have happened at a mainstream publisher.

7. Marketing: Author website, book trailer, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google+, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble. I really should be tweeting.

8. Publicity: Unless you hire a publicist—even if you hire a publicist—you will spend every free minute for months, networking, emailing and calling to promote your book and convince editors and writers that it is more worthy of attention than the 50 other books that were published the same day. You have to steel yourself to the silence—the response rate is about the same as finding a publisher. The good news is that there are thousands of book-related websites and blogs and if you focus your efforts on those that focus on the type of book you’ve written, you can get coverage—a mention, an article, a post, an interview, a review. In all likelihood, however, you will spend as many hours getting that coverage as you spent writing the book.

9. Reviews: You want reviews. You need reviews. To get reviews—hopefully, great ones—you need to stand out from the crowd while treading the thin line between being persistent and being a pest. Confronted by a daily onslaught of new titles, editors have to make quick decisions about what they will and won’t review, many times based on industry buzz, news of a huge advance, a ubiquitous marketing campaign or a bio that includes the Iowa Writers’ Workshop (which seems to guarantee a book deal and instant gravitas). How to tactfully stand out as an indie author? Prior to the pub date, I sent a galley, then, in consecutive weeks, followed up with an email, a link to the trailer and a large jpg of the book cover. After the pub date, I sent actual books and hoped for the best. Sometimes I scored, sometimes I didn’t. But the times I did more than made up for the times I didn’t.

10. Spontaneous Cool: In “Like Other Guys,” one of two previously unpublished poems by Allen Ginsberg that appears in Beatitude, the Beat poet writes that he should devote his energy to poetry and stop messing around with music because he’s a “rock star, automatically.” So are you! Despite all the challenges indie authors face, one undeniable plus is that being indie automatically confers a counter-cultural cool that Knopf cannot.

Rock on.

Follow Larry Closs: Website, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube

**Be sure to join us tomorrow over at ...I Can Stay, where the amazing Emmet hosts Day Two of the tour**

Review: badbadbad

Read 1/2/12 - 1/14/12
3 Stars - Recommended to readers familiar w/ genre
Pgs: 237
Publisher: New Pulp Press

"Roleplay is a dangerous game when you don't know who you are."

Truer words have never been spoken when used to describe the sticky situation JAG finds himself in. Recently abandoned by his wife and infant son, Jesus "JAG" Garcia finds employment as webmaster for First Church of the Church Before Church's online blog by day, while by night he plays the role of God for a bunch of fetishist he locates via an online sex site called Fallenangels.

Yes, you heard me right. Fetishist. Women who want a "daddy" figure to come and spank them, or reenact a rape scene, or go to town with a box full of toys. And as JAG loses himself to this dark and dirty underworld, creating different identities to match what each of these girls need, he begins to slowly lose himself and things start falling apart at the seams.

Interestingly, the book is written as a sort of "tell-all" from JAG to his estranged little brother. JAG details the events that led him to this sad and dangerous lifestyle, while also preparing us for what we know is going to be a story that does not end well for our kinky minded main man.

If you can stomach the coarse, sometimes raunchily described, sex scenes, you might agree that Jesus Angel Garcia's pulpy, fetish filled transmedia novel is a great example of what print publishing can be - because it's a book with online extras. Jesus has created multiple documentaries that draw from some of the themes within the book: Fear, Self Destruction, Sexual Morality, among others. Delving into an anonymous population of streetwalkers, authors and writers, husbands and wives, Jesus catches in-depth honest reactions to these words, these specific human conditions and tendencies, on film. What do you fear most? Is it death? Is it losing everything you love? Is it something tangible, something living and breathing, or something abstract? What is the most self destructive thing you have ever done? Was it something you controlled or something you had no control over? These documentaries confirm just how fucked up and unique each life is.... I enjoyed the way these mini-films complimented badbadbad's storyline, pulling you out of the chaotic web JAG weaved for himself and proving that real people go through these same or similar things too.

It also comes with it's own soundtrack. While I am not personally a fan of the type of music that he uses, it does appear to hold some influence over the book's style and cadence.

All in all, badbadbad is a true multimedia experience that helps hesitant digital readers like myself bridge that e-gap comfortably. To be honest, I wish more print books came with online extras to enhance the reading experience.

Check out books like Empty the Sun by A Barnacle Book (musical cd accompaniment), The Recipe Book (musical cd accompaniment, free app) by Black Balloon, and The French Revolution (free app) by Soft Skull to see more examples of multimedia print books.

Larry Closs Blog Tour is Gearing Up

TNBBC is at it again. Oh yeah, that's right, we've gone and organized ourselves another amazing little blog tour! We're ushering in the new year with a big loud bash across the blog-o-sphere to celebrate debut author Larry Closs and his incredibly passionate and poignant novel Beatitude.

Beatitude is one of those books that everyone should be reading, and I'm on a mission to make that happen. As are these fine bloggers, who have joined forces with TNBBC to spread the love in a variety of clever and unique ways over the course of the upcoming week.

Allow me to introduce you to the wonderful bloggers who have taken the time to contribute to our tour:
(Mark your calendars. You really don't want to miss this!)

Sunday January 22 

TNBBC

The Larry Closs Blog Tour kickoff starts here with an On “Being Indie” guest post by Larry Closs

Monday January 23 

Emmet of ….I Can Stay

Review: Beatitude

Tuesday January 24 

Mandy of Mandythebookworm’s Blog

Two Roads Diverged: How the Beats did and didn’t inspire Beatitude

By Larry Closs

Wednesday January 25

Patrick of The Literate Man

Interview: Larry Closs looks at the Beat Generation Boy’s Club and the sometimes obscure line between friendship and love.

Thursday January 26 

Jenn of The Pickygirl

On the Town: An Instagram album of scenes from Beatitude

By Larry Closs

Friday January 27 

Erica of BookedinChico

Only in New York: The bright lights and big city of Beatitude

By Larry Closs

Saturday January 28

Tara 0f BookSexyReview

Interview: Larry Closs explores the Beats’ dark side, the most natural painkiller and whether a writer or a reader makes a novel gay.

Sunday January 29 

TNBBC

We end up back here for the Blog Tour Round Up, with links to each of the participants blog tour posts.

I hope you will join us back here this Sunday for the kick-off and take part in the celebration of Larry Closs and his debut novel Beatitude. In the meantime, to tide you over, click on the links to follow Larry and learn more about him and his novel: Larry's Website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and YouTube page. 

YesYes Books 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 KMA Sullivan, owner and publisher of YesYes Books. 

I accidently stumbled across her amazing publishing company a few months ago and it' s been true love ever since. (And I'm not just saying that because one of the YesYes poets, Nate Slawson, premiered a previously unpublished poem here a few weeks ago.)

KMA Sullivan's poetry has been published (or is forthcoming) in Potomac Review, The Nervous Breakdown, Gargoyle, > kill author, diode, and elsewhere. She has been awarded residencies at Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in creative non-fiction and from Vermont Studio Center in poetry and is the co-founder and editor of Vinyl Poetry. Today, she defines indie in her terms, while giving you a taste of YesYes Books has to offer....

YesYes Books 

The essence of Indie publishing is independence. And so we are free to publish always and only the work that keep our minds and hearts alive. For YesYes Books that means poetry and prose about sex and love, connection and despair, longing and living.

I want to smell the sound of you eating

My thighs, spread

                                                Like warm apple butter

                                    -from Heavy Petting by Gregory Sherl

We look for words that challenge and sooth; that make us cry and laugh and sweat and search for our partners so we can get busy. Life is a fucking shitstorm. At YesYes Books, we want to read words that are not afraid to live right in the middle of the tornado. And so that’s what we publish.

THE DRUGSTORE IS A VOLCANO

 

My pills are blackberry kissing. 

My pills are tiny fish exploding 

in the morning. 

It's 1989 again every where 

I look. My name is Bank Teller's 

Red Button & I am happy 

for lightning bugs & De La Soul 

so happy my boundless affection 

is not lost it's all right my boundless 

affection is only bleeding. 

I wish your knuckles. 

I wish your alligator teeth

your barbed wire love a universe 

where stars explode into congregations 

of birds. 

I wish your fists & exploding birds 

& bruises on my lungs. 

I wish your goodbye hand 

was a derringer muzzled 

into my gut.

                        -from Panic Attack, USA by Nate Slawson

But with freedom comes responsibility.  Since Indie presses are small in size in terms of manpower and capital, we need to make up for that in quality and innovation and commitment so that we earn the trust our authors place in us. As a result, we seek the highest physical quality for the books YesYes produces. We use McNaughton & Gunn for printing. We obsess over paper choices. We seek cover art that can live as art by itself as it also engages in conversation with the poetry that lives inside. We want people to want to touch and hold our books and feel pleasure even before they crack the spine.

 With freedom also comes the ability to take risks and think in new ways.  At YesYes Books we have a strong commitment to innovation. This shows up in who we publish.  Our first three print books are the first full collections for each author. We are also pushing forward a number of poets in our Poetry Shotsand Frequency series who do not have full books out yet such as Phillip B. Williams, Ocean Vuong, and Dana Guthrie Martin. We are pairing them with well-known voices including Bob Hicok, Dorothea Lasky, and Ben Mirov.

We Mark Time with Ceremonies

They roam. They build moats. 

They build fierce men named Marcus 

and quote them until we grow tired of listening 

to quotes by men named Marcus. 

They build women whose cunts we bedazzle. 

We gather at the cunts but avoid 

the anuses. But the anuses are free, 

they tell us. 

We aren’t listening. 

We are living like cats now, 

maximizing our time in the sun. 

We are poets. We are all poets. 

Poets is all we are or ever were.

                        -forthcoming POETRY SHOT by Dana Guthrie Martin

Innovation also shows up at YesYes Books through our attention to the electronic landscape. YesYes has been hugely blessed by the crazy work ethic and brilliant brain power of Thomas Patrick Levy. Not only is he a poet to swoon for (check out his chapbook Please Don’t Leave Me Scarlett Johanssonand his forthcoming I Don’t Mind if You’re Feeling Alone), he is a dynamite web developer and designer. We are about to roll out the first of three electronic-based poetry initiatives and we can’t wait to share!

To finish, how about one more spot of life in poetry.

from 30 30

I expect a bat to replace the bumblebee trapped between the window’s outside side and its smudged inside. This bat would not need to transform, would be content with its bat-self, it’s wide expanse of wing dependent on its knotted sternum, it’s small smashed face perfect in this weathered light.

 -forthcoming POETRY SHOT by Metta Sáma