Tag: newsletter
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Five (5) days left for free shipping, disturbing inscriptions, and stinky pages
Only five days left to preorder Charactered Pieces: stories and receive all of the following cash and prizes:
- Free shipping
- A (very) personal inscription. Note the specific name you would like the inscription made out to in the PayPal comments area. Also, note my use of the word “very;” I warn you: you may be disturbed by what I write. If you would rather a flat-signed, or “clean” copy, note that in the PayPal comments area as well.
- A picture of me signing the book (so there are no Antiques Roadshow conflicts 90 years from now)
- As part of the made up LUNGS FOR READERS program, each preorder will smell of delicious ACID cigars. Trust me, even if you don’t like cigars, you’d love the smell of ACIDs. Imagine if cinnamon and Italian food had a veal baby. My friends over at ArtJerk.net are going to help me stink up the books
- Whatever other fun stuff I can find to stuff between the book’s pages
Order here, from the publisher, OW Press (though, the PayPal payment will come to me)
So far, preorders have greatly exceeded my expectations. I anticipated a few unfortunate souls would feel obligated to order due to familial or neighborly relation. But, damn, I must have relayed pity to an entire town at some point in my past. I’ve got so many wonderful people not only wanting to read my stuff, but willing to pay for the opportunity. I am going to make it my mission to be sure each reader is satisfied. It starts with the bulleted gifts above. I’ve even got a head start on the inscriptions (to be transcribed once I get a hold of the books):
It ends with house-calls and roses (or does it end there…? If my wife is reading this, then yes, it does end there).
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The ocean calls my name (not an emo post, I swear)
This afternoon, on vacation, sitting at the beach with a cigar in one hand and a notepad in the other, getting a head-start on inscriptions for Charactered Pieces preorders, I was struck with a sense of a realized dream, a dream I didn’t really know I had until that moment. I write fiction for fun. One day, I’d like to make some money doing so. But until then, taking time at the beach to scribble a few words to people who are wanting to read my book…that’s a damn fine dream to have.
I’ve filled this blog (along with my Facebook account, MySpace page, and Twitter feed) with consistent salesy talk for the past few days (though historically I have always taken pride in offering a mix of the personal and the largely-pertinent). So for this post, I simply want to take a moment to thank those who have made me feel like a rock star for the past few hours. Writers, in general, don’t get much adoration, and what they do get, trickles. I embrace the few, don’t get me wrong, but we all have hopes, even subdued hopes, of becoming a household name by means of our passions. I realized today, that wide recognition could be cool, but niche recognition definitely is cool.
Thanks all.
I leave you with a message from nature: we are meant to enjoy cigars at the beach. How else do you explain ashtray-shaped shells and sand that can be easily scooped to shield the lit tip from the wind?
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More news on the Charactered Pieces preorder
First, and you’ll get tired of me saying this, thank you to all who have preordered Charactered Pieces.
As mentioned in the previous post, some of you may have been refunded by PayPal. Big whoops on that. I received a list of all the people whose orders were NOT affected by the pre-order fiasco. I sent an email or PM to all of those beautiful people letting them know that they were not affected at all by the mix up and that their orders will ship as originaly promised. So, everyone who ordered should have either received a PayPay refund or an email from me.
If you received a refund, please re-order using the button at the following link (it is the same page as before, but the button has been updated).
http://www.outsiderwriters.org/publications/caleb-j-rosss-charactered-pieces
So, in summary, all is as it was before. Preorders will still contain all the goodies as promised on the order page (maybe more, considering the craziness).
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Xword causes Yreaction when audience = b and author = a
Note: I’m picking on poetry here because of all forms, it is the most elusive. But my following comments could be applied to art in general.
Maybe because I was looking for a reason to give up on what had already proven to be an unfortunate read, but this section of The Book of Lazarus frothed all the ill-will I had toward (most) poetry:
I have seen that there is no predetermined direction to the birth of a word, that words move across the page like beams of random light moving through immense voids of wandering flares. Poems are built like jewels. (pg 434)
Really?
Explaining what poetry is with poetic language is cyclical and confusing. I do appreciate the meta aspect of doing this (truly, I do. See here). But defining an elusive concept with further metaphor doesn’t help to define anything. Yes, the above example is from a fiction text, so the reader should rightfully assume that the definition is more about developing a character than about providing an accurate definition of poetry. However, it seems this flowery style is exactly what demonizes poetry in the mind of the casual (possibly conservative) reader. The common conception of poetry is that it is easy and anyone can do it. There is an “all is right, nothing is wrong, so be yourself” therapeutic hippy aspect associated with poetry. Which is why I don’t count poetry as one of my favorite forms, despite my above understanding of any possible misconception or untruth; the stink is quite potent.
I’ve reached a point in my writing study where I am tired of intangibles (and I’m not the only one). I want repeatable data. I want the art effect to be measurable. I want to know that word x would elicit reaction y when audience = b and author = a. Can art be scientifically approached? I really want to say yes; we simply haven’t the capacity to do so yet. So, in my dream of measured effect, the above description of poetry elicits one thing well: vomit.
Xword causes Yreaction when audience = b and author = a
The first step in a measured effect would be to assign a value to both b and a. This, I understand, is both the first step and the impossible step (impossible, as we currently understand ourselves as a species). The author does not always understand his intentions, and even more-so, does not always know his audience. In a perfect world, an author will come to a story, poem, anything with years of self-awareness along with an understanding of his audience for that specific work. Perhaps this is why most authors get better the more they write, and why most authors don’t peak until middle-age or after.
Matchbook Lit mag has something good going. They require authors to post critical analyses of their work alongside the work itself. An artist’s statement, so-to-speak. This is important. This is likely necessary to keep writing respected in a world where anyone with an internet connection can post any drivel at any time to potentially hundreds of thousands of readers. In other words: just because someone can type and share words, does not mean he should. The artist’s statement proves that there is at least honest intent behind the writing.
The bottom line is this: relying on interpretation makes for lazy artists. The burden of art should never be hoisted entirely upon the critic. Doing so creates a false formula, where a and/or b is missing. The more therapeutic hippy drivel out there, the less respected writing becomes. Simple.
And for all those university professors and doctors out there, who, I know, wrestle with this dilemma daily, think about this: how much easier would it be to acquire arts funding if we were able to rationalize the dollars with measured results?
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CHARACTERED PIECES preorder open!
A few of you know how unbelievably happy I am to say this. The rest of you will likely get tired of me saying this: my story chapbook is now officially available for preorder! Books will ship around November 16th.
All preorders will receive a copy of the book, along with the following:
- A (very) personal inscription. Note the specific name you would like the inscription made out to in the PayPal comments area. Also, note my use of the word “very;” I warn you: you may be disturbed by what I write. If you would rather a flat-signed, or “clean” copy, note that in the PayPal comments area as well.
- A picture of me signing the book (so there are no Antiques Roadshow conflicts 90 years from now)
- As part of the made up LUNGS FOR READERS program, each preorder will smell of delicious ACID cigars. Trust me, even if you don’t like cigars, you’d love the smell of ACIDs. Imagine if cinnamon and Italian food had a veal baby*. Think of this, too: OW Press is mailing these out in the middle of Winter (where I am, anyway), meaning that I have to sit outside, freezing, to bring you the smell of these cigars. My pain, your gain.
- Whatever other fun stuff I can find to cram between the book’s pages
That’s all the bulleted aspects above and 63 pages of some quite fantastic writing. How much? you ask. $7. Seriously, OW Press and I don’t make any profit on this (unless hundreds of copies find their way into the world). You are buying love. Money goes back into making more books.PREORDER HERE, at the OW Press Charactered Pieces page.
For more general information on Charactered Pieces, take a look at my info page, here. Preorder now. I only get to touch the books once, so I can’t personally inscribe after the initial round of inscriptions. Unless we meet awkwardly in public somewhere. Hint: I’m the guy in the trench-coat…
Also, don’t forget to subscribe to my RSS Feed. I don’t only whore myself, as you’ve seen here. Check my archives; I post interesting stuff too.
*Drew Estates (the makers of ACID cigars) don’t endorse me in any way. They goddamn can if they want to, though. This is an official offer: I will become (continue to be?) a Drew Estates whore if I get some free cigars.