Video Games are Real

Category: Charactered Pieces: stories

Blog Orgy Tour stops #13 & #14: read “Refill,” and get drunk with Bukowski

Today is another double-header, sending me from the literary and artistic haven for poets, writers and artists known as Troubadour21 to the subterranean bloke’s room populated by Bukowski, Kerouac, Carver, and Waits known as Bukowski’s Basement (I think Bukowski contributes more than is 1/4 of the rent to get his name on the sign).

At Troubadour21, a full story from Charactered Pieces is posted. This one called “Refill,” which originally appeared in the now defunct Green Muse Review. This story is a personal one, semi-autobiographical, yet despite what that description implies, it isn’t boring.

Over in Bukowski’s Basement, I talk a bit about my secret dream of being a barstool stereotype. It’s not secret anymore. The post also acts as the final installment of my Author Notes, this one about the non-fiction piece, “A Chinese Gemini.” Fitting, the piece spends some time in a bar.

The Blog Orgy Tour is winding down. But I promise that these final days just might be the best. I’ve got an AMAZING review coming from Craig Wallwork’s blog; a bit on my note-taking process at Jason Kane’s blog; I help some writers at Medialysis; I promote scribbling in books at LitDrift; I have a top five list at Deckfight; and last A FULL WEEK OF FREEDOM BLOGGING AT 3AM MAGAZINE. Click here for links to all the upcoming stops.

You want to be a part of it all. Contact me. I’ll swing by and mess up your blog, too.

December 31, 2009
Blog Orgy Tour stop #12: Ren & Stimpy & Charactered Pieces

Today, I stop at Nicholas Karpuk’s blog, which consists of a series of posts tagged “Cartoon Hell,” that comment on a cartoon DVD from a $5 collection called “150 Cartoon Classics.” You have no idea how much this idea excited me when I first heard about it. So, to be able to add a bit of cartoon talk to his blog is an honor.

There, I talk about how Ren & Stimpy inspired the cover design for Charactered Pieces.

And just for fun, check out this playlist featuring Tex Avery’s most well-known cartoons. As a child, I absorbed Looney Tunes cartoons. Avery’s “[Blank] of Tomorrow” newsreel satires were my favorite (as evidenced by an earlier post here).

December 29, 2009
Caleb’s SNIPPETS OF TOMORROW (12/27/09)

@ This Blog Will Change Your Life, kindness aficionado and author extraordinaire, Ben Tanzer notes his excitement about Charactered Pieces. I’m excited too for his book Most Likely You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine, which should be in the mail right now. People have good things to say. And I believe people.

@ Oxyfication.net, each Charactered Pieces story is being discussed. I plan to offer the printed and bound discussions in the future to use as a giveaway. Join the conversation here.

@Present Magazine Pete Dulin offers a generous review of Charactered Pieces.

@Goodreads the reviews for Charactered Pieces keep coming in and are equally as generous as Pete’s above.

December 27, 2009
You know you want it…

The response to my free lit journal back issue offer has been beautiful. Thank you to all who have ordered a copy of Charactered Pieces, and thank you more for giving homes to those back issues sitting on my shelf.

Originally, I intended to offer free back issues through the end of the year. But, because I have so many back issues and because I am in the middle of the Blog Orgy Tour, I figured, I might as well extend the offer through the duration of the tour. So, until January 16th, every order of Charactered Pieces placed directly with the publisher, will include a free back issue of a literary magazine (you even get to choose). Orders though Amazon.com cannot count, unfortunately.

Click here to see the full list of remaining issues.

Click here to see the full list of Blog Orgy Tour stops.

The final bit of news: starting on January 17th, the price of the print version of Charactered Pieces will go up one measly dollar to $7. I assure you, the buy is still completely worth the price. Why the increase? I want to help OW Press put out another chapbook as soon as possible. With the current $6 price, another chapbook could take years (seriously, that’s how little profit is to be made at the $6 tag). The extra $1 will help tremendously in getting additional quality reading material to your face.

In summary:
free lit mag back issues through January 16th
$6 price for Charactered Pieces through January 16th

Support a small press. Buy stuff.

awesome photo credit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/merrickb/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

December 25, 2009
Blog Orgy Tour stop #8: Why it’s okay to trust a black magician

Today, the wind takes me to xTx’s blog, Nothing to Say, where I say precisely that. Except I use words to do so.

The post is a play on the title of xTx’s chapbook, Nobody Trusts a Black Magician, which I suggest you read. After you read my guest post, of course. And, of course (x2), after you read my chapbook, Charactered Pieces: stories.

See the rest of my stops and dates at the Blog Orgy Tour page. And definitely spread the word of my many virtual miles. If you ask nice, I might just do a stop at your blog, too (you actually don’t have to ask nice…I’ll do it).

December 21, 2009
Free print Lit Journals through January 16th

Now, through the end of the year January 16th, every order of the print version of Charactered Pieces will include a free back issue of a literary journal (orders direct from the publisher only; no Amazon.com orders for this deal). I’ll even let you pick which one you’d like (just put the title in the COMMENTS/SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS section of the PayPal checkout). The list is below (it’s a long one; study it carefully). Contact me if you want to know the content of a specific issue.

Keep in mind that the cover price for most of these journals is well above the $6 for Charactered Pieces. Just try to make a bad deal out of that. One way, I guess, would be to put all of the money you save into an emergency cash loan. But really, don’t do that.

I know that some of you out there have considered purchasing a literary journal in the past, but because it’s hard to part with money when the exact acquisition is questionable, you don’t. Here’s a chance to make that leap a bit easier.

$7 – Buy from OW Press

NOTE: Strike-through indicates that the issue is no longer available

Alimentum | No. 4, 2007
Arts & Letters | No. 21, 2009
Ballyhoo Stories | Vol. 1, No. 1, 2005
Ballyhoo Stories | Vol, 2, No. 1, 2006
Ballyhoo Stories | No. 4, 2007
Black Warrior Review | Vol. 32, No. 2, 2006
Bust Down the Door and Eat All the Chickens | No. 6, 2007
Bust Down the Door and Eat All the Chickens | No. 8, 2008
Bust Down the Door and Eat All the Chickens | No. 9, 2009
Caketrain | No 5, 2007
Canteen | No. 4, 2009
Cause & Effect | Vol. 1, No. 1, 2007
Copper Nickel | No. 11, 2009
Eclipse | Vol. 16, 2005
The Evansville Review | Vol. 15, 2005
Fiction | Vol. 18, No.2, 2003
Flint Hills Review | No. 6, 2001
Flint Hills Review | No. 8, 2003
Hobart | No. 5, 2005
Iron Horse Literary Review | Vol. 11, No. 2, 2009
The Journal | Vol. 24, No. 2, 2000
Lake Effect | Vol. 10, 2006
The Main Street Rag | Vol. 14, No. 1, 2008-09
The Midwest Quarterly | Vol. 43, No. 4, 2002
Mississippi Review | Vol. 35, No. 3, 2007
The Missouri Review | Vol. 26, No. 1, 2003
MLP chapbook | Brian Evenson
MLP chapbook | Charles Lennox
New Letters | Vol. 72, Nos. 2, 2006
New Letters | Vol. 72, Nos. 3 & 4, 2006
New Letters | Vol. 73, No. 1, 2006-07
New Letters | Vol. 73, No. 3, 2007
New Letters | Vol. 73, No. 4, 2007
New Letters | Vol. 74, No. 1, 2007-08
New Letters | Vol. 74, No. 2, 2008
Other Voices | Vol. 16, No. 40, 2004
Quarter After Eight | Vol. 11/12, 2004-05
The Rectangle | Vol. 80, 2005
Redivider | Vol. 3, No. 1, 2005
Reed | Vol. 57, 2004
Santa Clara Review | Vol. 93, No. 1, 2005-06
The Sigma Tau Delta Review | Vol. 2, 2005
The Southeast Review | Vol. 23, No. 1, 2003
Subtropics | No. 1, 2006
Tin House | Vol. 1, No. 1, 1999
Tin House | Vol. 5, No. 2, 2004
Tin House | Vol. 8, No. 3, 2007
Vain | No, 1, 2007

December 20, 2009
Blog Orgy Tour stop #5: Holiday Shopping Guide

Today, I do a double-header. Not only do I offer my Charactered Pieces playlist at Justin Holt’s blog, but the Emerging Writers Network blog has been kind enough to post my holiday gift list. EWN was recently named one of OnlineDegree’s top 50 lit blogs. And let’s be honest, if you are waiting until today to do your holiday shopping, you likely need this list. Thank me later. Over a beer.

See all the rest of the Blog Orgy Tour stops here.

December 17, 2009