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Episode #008 of The Velvet Podcast is now live! You don't have my handsome voice to fluff your ear chubs this time, but I promise you won't be disappointed by the talent here. Featuring three brand new voices to The Velvet Podcast. Make them feel welcome. Writers Richard Thomas (Transubstantiate), Nik Korpon (Stay God), Pela Via and Nic Young grind out the topic of sex and violence in fiction and their complex relationship to sadistic bedfellows, love and shock.. Please, give it a listen. Subscribe via Feedburner, Podcast Alley, or iTunes.

Chuck Palahniuk Caleb J Ross

Mr. Gordon Highland and I took in a Jonathan Franzen reading this evening at the Kansas City Unity Temple (presented by Rainy Day Books). Franzen read from the same stage on which I met (re: awkwardly shook hands with) Chuck Palahniuk a few years ago. I bring these two authors together here not just because of their temporal-turned-spacial bond, but because the association allowed me to ponder their very different approaches to the live author reading. Via a video posted on August 14th, Franzen noted his “profound discomfort” in having to make promotional author videos, basically, to me, implying that any promotional discussion taken place off the page stands in contrast to the intimate nature of a novel… I get that. In fact, I may even sometimes agree with that.  So I was glad when one of the audience members during the night’s reading asked a question that allowed Franzen…

It has been a long time coming, but one well worth the wait. Tim Hall's book press-turned-lit mag is now live and looking amazing. I respect Tim Hall, both as a writer and a person, at a level that few others have been able to reach. Not that I'm picky about whom I worship, but of all the gods in my life, Tim is one of the platinums. I met Tim through the Outsider Writers Collective a couple years ago. As a newbie to the site, I was embraced immediately by everyone there, but Tim seemed to reach out just a little further. He's taught me so much about book promotion, relationship building, and being cool (though I've got a lot to learn about that last item). Everyone should abandon this blog post right now and head over to the revamped Undie Press site. I plan on spending some time…

Quick, before they are outlawed. Inhale, inject, and/or read these recently-legalized vices el pronto: A Mel Bosworth is worth a follow-up story chapbook called Grease Stains, Kismet, and Maternal Wisdom. Street date of NOW! Mine is on my way. Based on Mel’s previous work, I can expect some glorious toilet time in the near future. 1 Ben Tanzer will run you 99 Problems (that was an easy conversion). This book is a collection of essays about running. I’m no runner. Write a book called 99 Pastries, and I’m all over it (though I am all over 99 Problems, too; I finally bought a copy today). Want a taste? Meet a guy named Jason Behrends over at the Orange Alert Podcast, episode 27. Tell him “Compulsions” sent you. Word is Craig Wallwork will net a cool collection of recent blog posts. You ever tried Pela Via? What about Plagiarism? Ease into…

Just when you thought you had over a year before getting offended by a book from me (I Didn’t Mean to Be Kevin, November 2011), I go and do something crazy like sign with another publisher to release a novel in March 2011. Stranger Will, a noir story of apathy and abortion, is coming early next year from Otherworld Publications. Otherworld Publications is a young publisher, but one with an impressive drive to promote its authors. This fact is not the sole reason I signed with them, though. This press seems to have acknowledged something that I, and the below authors, have known for a long time: The Velvet and The Cult are cesspools of untapped talent. Of the 11 current Otherworld authors (some noted on the Otherworld site, others not yet public knowledge), 5 have grown up at The Velvet and/or The Cult forums. I think we have Mr.…

It's official. Negotiations have been negotiated. Signatures have been signed. Bells have been sleighed. I Didn't Mean to Be Kevin will be published in late 2011 by Black Coffee Press. I'll keep this announcement short and tidy; there is plenty of time for me to drone on about how proud I am of this book. For now, just make sure your nutting pants are clean. Perhaps not coincidentally, I do drink my coffee black. Black Coffee Press has a quite a list of books lined up for 2011-12. Some I am especially looking forward to are: A Shiny, Unused Heart by J.A. Tyler (2011) This guy is everywhere. J.A. Tyler is one of those names that materializes on every lit site, from the smallish to the giantish. Sometimes I theorize these appearances are simply to make me feel inadequate. Well done, sir. Code for Failure by Ryan W. Bradley (2012)…

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