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  • Look mom, I made the cover of Noir at the Bar 2

    Look mom, I made the cover of Noir at the Bar 2

    Back for another round of booze, blood and bad taste, Noir at the Bar continues its assault on the literate world.

    Contributors include: Jedidiah Ayres, Frank Bill, Jane Bradley, Sonia L. Coney, Hilary Davidson, Les Edgerton, Nate Flexer, Matthew C. Funk, Jesus Angel Garcia, Glenn Gray, Kevin Lynn Helmick, Gordon Highland, John Hornor Jacobs, David James Keaton, Tim Lane, Erik Lundy, Jason Makansi, Matthew McBride, Jon McGoran, Cortright McMeel, Aaron Michael Morales, Scott Phillips, Robert J. Randisi & Christine Matthews, John Rector, Caleb J. Ross, Duane Swierczynski, Mark W. Tiedemann, Fred Venturini, Benjamin Whitmer and Nic Young

    You will definitely need to order this collection. Available (exclusively, I think) via Subterranean Books (online and in person), based in St. Louis, Missouri. The store is amazing. Help the indie bookstores, order a copy now!

    Click here to order Noir at the Bar 2

  • Ranking Chuck Palahniuk’s novels from Most Important to Least Important

    Ranking Chuck Palahniuk’s novels from Most Important to Least Important

    UPDATE: While I still read most Palahniuk books, my main focus now is YouTube videos about video games. Check out my channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/calebjross

    Chuck Palahniuk is an important writer. Love him or hate him, he’s done more to bring reading to uninterested demographics than almost any other author. But how do his books rank?

    I decided to take some time to (as) objectively (as possible) rank all of Chuck Palahniuk’s novels from Most Important to Least Important as a way to help hew readers find the right Palahniuk book.

    What makes for an important book? It’s not necessarily a good story or well-written prose. I believe it’s a mixture of both, along with contextual relevancy, or “impact. For purposes of this list, I will be weighing the social impact of the book above any other metric.

    Here’s the list

    Socially relevant

    • Fight Club (machismo and consumerism)
    • Survivor (cult of celebrity)
    • Invisible Monsters (cultural importance of and priority placed on beauty)

    Maybe socially relevant

    • Haunted (the reality TV obsession and “Truman Show Syndrome”)
    • Pygmy (Xenophobia, terriorism)

    Not socially relevant

    • Rant
    • Choke
    • Lullaby
    • Diary
    • Snuff
    • Tell-All
    • Damned

    The video is long, averaging about 1 minute per book (totaling about 12 minutes), but it’s a good enough primer, I think.

    In addition to this one 12 minute video, I recorded a series of mini-reviews of each book. Check out any of the videos in the playlist below. At the end of each video, you’ll see a series of links that you can click to continue watching other Palahniuk book reviews.

  • The Conan Sometimes References Books Twice (in a Row)

    The Conan Sometimes References Books Twice (in a Row)

    (part of my ongoing Unexpected Literary References series)

    The title from this September 25th, 2012 episode is a take on the James M. Cain novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice. This makes two book references in a row.

    Not only is this not the first time Conan has referenced a literary work in his episode titles, it’s not even the first time he’s referenced The Postman Always Rings Twice. Someone at the Conan O’Brien show must have a bit of a Cain boner.

  • Conan in the Rye

    Conan in the Rye

    (part of my ongoing Unexpected Literary References series)

    The title from this September 24th, 2012 episode is obviously a take on Catcher in the Rye.

    This isn’t the first time Conan has leveraged a book title for a show title.

  • Getting the Signed Book – Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson (Video Blog ep 028)

    Getting the Signed Book – Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson (Video Blog ep 028)

    Click the image above to watch the story of getting Denis Johnson to sign my copy of Jesus’ Son.

    A few years ago I attended a writing conference in Portland, Oregon called the Tin House Writer’s Workshop. During the event, I met a lot of great authors, one of which was Denis Johnson, author of, among many other books, Jesus’ Son.

    This newest installment of Getting the Singed Book features my heroic story of how I got my copy of Jesus’ Son signed by the author. It involves, among other awkward situations, the author nearly, almost, kinda drinking my pee. Read all about this almost happening at Dark Sky Magazine, here: http://www.cjrlit.com/DrinkingPee

    And don’t forget: subscribe to my YouTube channel, subscribe to my YouTube channel, subscribe, subscribe, subscribe!

  • 1-25-2013. More content. Fewer typos. One less creepy old man on the cover.

    1-25-2013. More content. Fewer typos. One less creepy old man on the cover.

    Expect it here, at Perfect Edge Books

  • Video Review of The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson (Video Blog ep 027)

    Video Review of The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson (Video Blog ep 027)

    Click the image above to watch the video review

    The Orphan Master’s Son is a remarkable book. I’ve been a fan of Adam Johnson’s work since his story collection Emporium (which I credit as being a primary impetus to my own fiction writing), and though both books are stellar, they are so in such different ways. It’s hard to believe that the man who wrote Emporium is the same guy who wrote The Orphan Master’s Son. Perhaps the two personalities are a Jun Do/Commander Ga thing (reference to the book).

    In this video review you’ll suffer through my overt praise as well as my amazing Photoshop skills. Who knew Adam Johnson could so easily become Kim Jong Il?