Video Games are Real

Tag: CHARACTERED PIECES

  • Charactered Pieces gets Ben Tanzered

    Charactered Pieces gets Ben Tanzered

    I have long known that Ben Tanzer is a fan of my story “An Optimist is the Human Personification of Spring” from my Charactered Pieces chapbook. Ben has been kind enough to tell me that very fact, saying to me that it is one of the most affecting stories he has read recently (even telling the world on his podcast). Simply stated, he likes the story, and his enthusiasm and praise is exactly the reason I write.

    So, when he posted some more praise at Matt Bell’s blog, I once again felt the rush of what it means to truly be a writer. I can’t think this man enough (and Matt Bell for hosting the post).

    “As the story unfolded, I knew it would go wrong, had to go wrong, and when it did, it took everything I had not to cry in the middle of the Red line “L” during the rush hour traffic, sitting saying to myself, breathe, hold it together bro, almost home, almost.

    Ross and Ruland grasp that, in these stories anyway, and they hit me, and I was unprepared for it, and it’s wonderful being punched that way. It’s a gift in the way short stories are gifts. Quick and intimate. Sometimes violent. And then gone.”

  • Stranger Will popping up in strange places

    Stranger Will popping up in strange places

    News aggregator sites collect information in strange ways. Ever since Otherworld Publications went public with their 2011 book lineup, many unrelated aggregator sites have picked up the story. Usually, even with the seemingly unrelated, there is something within the text of a press release that would cause aggregators to jump on board. Let’s see if we can find those reasons.

    First, here’s the release in full:

    Otherworld Publications is Excited To Announce the 2011 Publication Line-up

    04/10/2010
    Otherworld Publications

    Louisville, KY (PRWEB) October 4, 2010

    Otherworld Publications is tickled to denote the 2011 publication line-up. We have another breathless year ahead of us

    About the Authors:

    Michael Wallace

    Michael Wallace grew up reading all the history texts and novels he could find. His library shelves are filled up with a range of genres from H.G Wells and Jules Verne to Michael Crichton and Tom Clancy. It is only biological he writes thriller adventures with a science fiction twist and some history shed in for fun. At the point the reader becomes at ease with the pace of his stories, he will struck you with a plot twist, which will change the game

    His first novel, The Red Fire Fly, broke new ground when it was released with its own soundtrack. The combination of music with a novel adds a third dimension by permitting the readers get word the background of the scenes

    He lives in Colorado where on weekends you will find him rock climbing, or kayaking, or backpacking, or snowshoeing, or hiking, but most likely, you will find him running a trail somewhere. He runs 30 to 40 miles a week and he does it unshod. Yep, he is one of those amok barefoot runners and to make it worse he hopes to one day run in all the stages of the Four Deserts Race. You can larn more about him and his books at http://thehashwriter.com

    Jennifer Cloud

    Jennifer Cloud was born in Asheville, North Carolina. She got down her love of books at a young age and soon after observed her love for composing. Her husband boosted her to finish up her first novel after happening a biased manuscript she had concealed away in an armoire. She now resides in Missouri with her husband and two daughters. She is the author of many novels in both print and electronic versions. She has also had two dozen little stories printed and many novellas.

    David Donaghe

    David H. Donaghe lives and works in the eminent desert of austral California. David has three passions in life: scanning, composing and teasing his motorcycle. When not cutting into into an acceptable book or setting his face in the wind on his motorcycle, David writes little stories and novels. He has had three short stories printed so far and another coming out in an anthology

    David’s other hobbies include, fishing, hunting, karate, camping, horsemanship and other outdoor activities. He uses these experiences and other life experiences in his composing. David is currently sunning life and working on his next novel.

    Brandon Tietz

    Brandon Tietz is the author of the novel, “Out of Touch,” a transgressive take on nightlife, socialites, and sensory deficiency. He enjoys a well-poured vodka tonic, acceptable conversation, and the ariose stylings of Röyksopp.

    Currently, Tietz serves as one of the moderators of the Chuck Palahniuk Writers’ Workshop and is working on his second book, a themed collection, entitled, “Vanity.”

    His work can be seen on Lobster Cult Magazine and Outsider Writers Collective. He is also a three-time Chuck Palahniuk anthology finalist

    Thomas Matthews

    Thomas K. Matthews is a printed author, award acquiring designer, feted illustrator and nonrecreational communication coach. He has composed twelve novels and teaches composing workshops, speaks at eminent schools and localised colleges as well as lectures for the localised Learning Annex on self printing. The son of a retired American Literature professor he has been engrossed in the written word since birth. Thomas lives in California with his wife and son

    Caleb J. Ross

    Caleb has a degree in English with a minor in creative writing from Emporia State University in Emporia, KS. Based on his composing merit, ESU funded his attendance to the Tin House Writer’s Workshop in Portland, Oregon during the summer of 2004 where he had the opportunity to study with novelist Peter Rock. He has recently finished a six-week writing intense with Craig Clevenger, author of the novels The Contortionist’s Handbook and Dermaphoria (MacAdam/Cage). His fiction and non-fiction have came out widely. His fiction chapbook, Charactered Pieces, was let go of in 2009 from OW Press, and traded out of its first print run within two months.

    Beth Ann Masarik

    Beth Ann has been writing since she was 15 years old, and was published in the 2002 Schreiber Times. She took constructive composing classes in college, and feels that they assisted her go the writer she is today. In addition to writing the sequel to The World Among Us, she participates in a foreign anthology project, where writers from around the world come together to share their talent.

    Originally starting as a writing assignment for college, The World Among Us series has sparked up a role playing group online, and a fan base of over 170 followers on Facebook, and over 200 followers on Twitter. Beth Ann lives in New York where she is a legal assistant and teaches for her Family Time program, a religion program for the kids in her parish. She is also a lector on the weekends

    Stephen Prosapio

    Stephen Prosapio received his Bachelors of Arts degree in Political Science from DePaul University in Chicago. After announcing for one of the nation’s largest fantasy football websites, footballguys.com, Stephen composed his first novel. Competing against 2,676 other novels, he acquired a Top Five Finalist award in Gather.com’s 2007 First Chapters contest

    Articles about him have been featured in the San Diego Union Tribune, The North County Times, Today’s Local News, San Diego Magazine and the DePaul University Alumni magazine.

    In January of 2010, Stephen established a Facebook XPI Fan Club for people interested in things paranormal. The group stood out 1,600 members in April and continues to mature approximately 500 members a month

    Stephen works as an executive recruiter and resides in Oceanside, California. He is currently crafting a sequel to Ghosts of Rosewood Asylum that chronicles the ongoing adventures of Zach Kalusky and the Xavier Paranormal Investigators

    Michael Sonbert

    Michael currently teaches ninth grade English in South Philadelphia and his first novel, The Never Enders, was released in September 2008 by IBOOKS Inc., an act upon of Brick Tower Press in Manhattan. Presently, he runs a workshop intense on Chuck Palahniuk’s Official Website.

    About Otherworld Publications:

    What makes Otherworld Publications different? We are revolutionizing the publishing business. We are a publisher with the Author in mind. Our goal is to assist Authors be boffo. Let’s form the future together!

    We have a team of authors, editors and graphic artists to help make your publishing dreams come true. Most of us are printed authors and we key out with the trials and tribulations for the printing industry. That’s why we organized Otherworld Publications with the Author in mind.

    ###

    Here are the aggregators:

    Renewable Alternative Energy
    Solar power – Wind power – Save money with Alternative Energy

    My guess is that the word “wind” mentioned once in the press release, interested this aggregator. Pretty desperate. I can’t imagine anyone thinking, “I’d like to know about wind,” to which a friend asks, “what aspect of wind?” “Oh, anything,” says the first. “Wind power, wind energy, and hell, just the word ‘wind’ shoved into any paragraph would be great.” I know, this entire scenario is stupid, as it supposes this wind searcher has a friend.

    iPhone – iPod – iPad
    iPhone, iPod, iPad Hacks and Tricks

    I am equally confused with this one. Maybe “broke new ground when it was released with its own soundtrack. The combination of music with a novel” iTeased this iAggregator. iHope not. That would be iDiotic.

    JAG’s Sports News

    This one is pretty easy, though no less irrelevant than the others. The phrase “After reporting for one of the nation’s largest fantasy football websites, footballguys.com…,” has got to be the culprit. But again, what the hell is so relevant about the simple combination of vague terms (the words football and website)? Time to tease the aggregator: “baseball and modem,” “Foosball and screen resolution,” “fantasy and internet.” That last one will probably be popular for dirty reasons.

    WP Themes Choice

    Judging by the url, this one was tagged as “publication.” Surely this blog doesn’t pull in any press release with the world “publication.” Wait, aggregators are stupid. Never mind.

    good news – Awesome Blog

    Again, I don’t know why the press release appeared here, but honestly, I can’t be mad at a site with such an awesome name.

  • Will you lend me a virtual couch?

    Will you lend me a virtual couch?

    In late 2009 I embarked on a the Blog Orgy Tour in support of Charactered Pieces: stories which took me all the way from my living room to the Javanaut coffeehouse on 39th street and everywhere in between with wireless internet access. Oh, the groupies. But that’s for another post.

    As some of you may know, my novel Stranger Will is set to be released in March 2011 by Otherworld Publications. I miss the road (which remains unmoving just outside my office window). So, I want to do another tour. Announcing the

    Posting for Strange: The Blog Orgy Tour II: Stranger Will: (Unnecessary Colon)

    (I’m still working on the name)

    My goal this time is to embark on a marathon blog tour, from the release of Stranger Will in March all the way to the November 2011 release of my second novel, I Didn’t Mean to Be Kevin (Black Coffee Press). This is quite ambitious, but I’ve been looking for a good way to get burned out on this whole writing thing. I think this is it.

    So my question is: will you help?

    My primary request is for one day’s worth of blog space. I’ll write a post which you will publish a pre-determined date. Simple. This post can be entirely my own, or it can be an interview, or I could write a review of a book…whatever, really. If you have a cool idea, I’m all for it. I would like to try and fit my post content into the content of your site (when in Rome, blog as the Romans blog). If you critique cartoons, I’ll do the same. If you review lit journals, I’ll do the same.

    My secondary request would be for you to spread this tour stop request to all of your lit-reading friends and contacts. Obviously I will need a lot of sites in order to fill the 32+ weeks of tour time. If I average 3 posts per week, that’s 96 sites. Damn. If you know someone with a writing-related blog, please pass along my information. Or even pass his/her information my way and I’ll reach out.

    If you are able to help, please let me know. Though I won’t start posting until the middle of March 2011, I’ll need as much time as possible to organize all of the dates and content with the various website editors.

    Please contact me at caleb [at] calebjross [dot] com. Put something about the blog tour in the subject line, so my spam bots know that you’re cool.

    Already drowning,

    Caleb J Ross

  • Have you heard about the new fake James Patterson book?*

    Have you heard about the new fake James Patterson book?*

    James Patterson new novel*neither James Patterson nor Stephenie Meyer wrote this book**

    **Thank fucking God***

    ***though I wouldn’t mind their sales. Get to it, asterisks readers.

  • What brings you back?

    What brings you back?

    Things need to change. I need to blog more. I need to have interesting things to say. Yes, that is the correct order for those last two items. Blogs, generally, are dumb. So many of them tend to be self-infatuated messes. The argument that this egotism is their exact purpose stands, true. So perhaps my contempt is like me at an orgy: so many people doing it must mean it’s fun, but every time I try one, I leave with a bad taste in my mouth. Gross.

    I read plenty of industry blogs, which I see as more an evolution of the commercial print world (magazines, trades, etc.) than as an evolution of the private world (diaries, journals, bathroom stalls). So, maybe I am meant simply to avoid the diaries and try to make this blog more about the industry.

    Problem: I don’t know much about “the industry.” I don’t even know what industry that would be. Publishing? Authoring? Is drinking an industry?

    [pullshow]I want to be useful. I want to provide valuable content to my 2.5 readers (I call them nuclear readers; when they comment on my posts, I call them nuclear reactors…get it…anyone…). A Platform is becoming an increasingly important part of a writer’s business arsenal. Think of a platform as a retarded term for group of buyers. Essentially, publishers want writers to have a market before a book is even contracted. Strange, I know. If I already had an audience, I would print and sell the book myself. (Already, I’ve stream-of-conscious-ing this thing; next step: decorate with Lisa Frank stickers and catch my older sister reading it).

    [pullthis]So my question is, what is useful? What is my unique knowledge?[/pullthis] Or if not that, what is the unique perspective I can offer? Here’s a list of possibilities:

    • I edit the OWC site, so I know some about small presses and “outsider” authors
    • I write fiction, so I know about lying
    • I have a lot of concepts for niche products, so I could give away million-dollar product ideas for free
    • I’m really good at eating pop-tarts. The trick is to turn them upside-down before eating, so that the icing touches your taste buds directly. Shit, there goes that blog post.
    • I know a little about podcasting
    • I once helped nurse a bird back to health after nearly hitting it with a lawn mower (yes, “nearly.” The bird was emotionally traumatized)
    • I marketed my debut story collection, Charactered Pieces, with a zero-dollar budget, so I know how to spend a lot of time not writing constructive fiction. Related: I blog

    Any of these sound good. Why do you, dear reader, come back to a blog? What would bring you back to me? (more…)

  • Google Stories – “Charactered Pieces” and “Stranger Will”

    More about Charactered Pieces, here.

    More about Stranger Will, here.

  • Caleb’s SNIPPETS OF TOMORROW (04/25/10)

    Caleb’s SNIPPETS OF TOMORROW (04/25/10)

    @ UnRonic, Stephen Krauska offers some truly amazing words about Charactered Pieces. There’s so much more than I deserve in the full review, so I urge you to click over the UnRonic to read everything. But here’s a snippet:

    Between his spectacular characters, interesting stories, excellent metaphors all held together with great imagery and vivid description, Ross is a must read. He’s young, fresh and down to earth enough to admittedly “steal” lyrics and write an “Acknowledgment” section that sounds more like a bonus story than a Hollywood awards speech. Keep an eye on him, he is bound to turn up more great work in the future.

    @Outsider Writers Collective – on the above note, there are only 23 copies of Charactered Pieces left of the entire 150 copy print run. I don’t think there are any plans to go into another print run anytime in the near future. Of course, .pdf and Kindle copies will be available for the foreseeable future. However, if you want a print copy, now would be the time to claim one. Click here to visit the purchase page at Outsider Writers Collective.