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Posts By Caleb J. Ross

began writing his sophomore year of undergrad study when, tired of the formal art education then being taught, he abandoned the pursuit in the middle of a compositional drawing class. Major-less and fearful of losing his financial aid, he signed up to seek a degree in English Literature for no other reason than his lengthy history with the language. Coincidentally, this decision not only introduced him to writing but to reading as well. Prior this transition he had read three books. One of which he understood.

The DerpCast, and new collaborate YouTube channel featuring my ugly mug

Four book-centric YouTubers talk about books, book news, and other tangentially related bookery. The first episode, titled  CASUAL VACANCY HITS 1 MILLION SALES, went live today. Head over, subscribe, enjoy. Rise. Repeat. Head over the The Booktube Network's DerpCast channel page and watch the first episode. Also, feel free to check out my introduction to the episode by clicking the image below. Wait. DerpCast, as in we are a cast of derps. Donlon, you son of a bitch! The Guilty Parties Donlon T. www.youtube.com/CaptainEmbro www.facebook.com/CaptainEmbro www.twitter.com/CaptainEmbro Caleb J. Ross www.youtube.com/calebjross www.facebook.com/author.calebjross www.twitter.com/calebjross www.goodreads.com/CalebJRoss www.calebjross.com www.amazon.com/Caleb-J.-Ross/e/B002TXEDB8 Liz Vallish www.youtube.com/elizziebooks www.facebook.com/elizziebooks www.twitter.com/elizziebeth www.elizziebooks.com www.elizziebooks.tumblr.com/ www.goodreads.com/elizziebooks Dean Goranites www.youtube.com/gnites88 www.twitter.com/Unleash_this www.unleash-this.com

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A Drinking Playlist for Reading I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin

A drinking playlist. A brilliant idea, or the brilliantest idea? Lori, over at The Next Big Book Blog was kind enough to have be back after my August stop at her blog when I read my story "Petty Injuries." This time, she asked me to supply a drinking playlist, which is exactly what it sounds like: what to drink to elicit or compliment specific moods, specifically with regards to books. I outline for you a playlist according to my novel, I Didn't Mean to be Kevin.

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Imperfections Make for Interesting Characters (Video Blog ep 035)

Really, the title of this entry is all I need. Imperfections do make for interesting characters. Nobody wants to read about a perfect human (unless the story deals with the human’s perfection as a weakness in contrast to the rest of the human race). Even Superman needed Kryptonite to be interesting. I re-learned, during a recent trip to New Orleans, that a writer should embrace the imperfections.

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Burning Books (Video Blog ep 034)

Though we’re just past Banned Books Week, I don’t think it’s ever too late to celebrate the majesty of systematically stripping away a person’s right to choose literature. But I don’t just want to stand on the sidelines and praise those beautiful nutjobs. I want to help. Banning books can only do so much. To really make a point, you have to burn books. Here I present a few examples which I hope you will copy so that we may all live in a better world.

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Spoiler Alert Alert: This Video Burns Spoilers (Video Blog ep 033)

I don’t agree with the avoid-them-like-the-plague concept of spoiler alerts. To me, if a book can be spoiled by a simple plot revelation, then it’s not a book worth reading. I read for the journey, for imagery, vivid description, the language, concept, and on the list goes, but what remains interestingly absent from this list is plot. I don’t care much about the plot of a book. But that’s me. I know I’m in the minority. So don’t be surprised when I continue to write *SPOILER ALERT* every time I tell you that Tyler Durden and the narrator of Fight Club are the same person.

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I’m trying out this VYou thing. Ask me anything.

I only recently heard about Vyou.com. I like the concept, so I'm trying it out. For those uninitiated, Vyou.com is like a cross between video chat and YouTube given the veneer of an amateur interview portal. Basically, ask any member anything, and they respond via video. I know, you could do this on YouTube, so why go to Vyou.com to do it? Well, the Vyou.com interface is built specifically to handle the asking and responding of quick questions via video. I'm not celebrity enough for anyone to care about my personal opinions on things (though, I'm not promising not to spew a visual diary every once-in-a-while), so what kinds of questions should you ask me? Anything, really. Do you want to know about publishing? Ask. About writing? Ask. About cartoons? Ask. Do you have questions regarding any of my many blog posts on this site (537 to date)? Ask. Who knows how long…

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Why I Couldn’t Finish Reading The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano (Video Blog ep 032)

It takes a lot for me to abandon a book once I've started reading it, and that struggle becomes more and more serious the further I progress through said book. So, perhaps this is why I was able to drop Roberto Bolaño’s The Savage Detective after reading just over 1/3 of the book (though, 1/3 is often too far for me to abandon a book; I suppose this speaks to what a true waste of time I felt The Savage Detectives to be). First, to address any of the friends who suggested I read this book: my faith in your taste is not diminished in the least. I believe my grip is mostly a matter of personal disinterest in the subject matter. I mean, no matter how good a book about baseball is written, I wouldn't be excited to read it. The Savage Detectives is about teenagers without responsibility who worship poetry, yet refuse…

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