Tag Archives other writers

The Millions recently posted a list of 2010 books forthcoming from literary giants. I'm looking forward to quite a few on that list. But, I think we are due a list from literary midgets, too, right? So here they are (the ones I can think of right now, anyway. I reserve the right to add more): Sawako Nakayasu's Texture Notes and Travis Nichols's Iowa from Letter Machine Editions. I only recently heard about Letter Machine Editions, and, other than a few excerpts from the above titles, I have no reason to think these books are worth anticipating. But I like the press's simple webpage and their equally simple book design. I never said the lit midget list had to be supported by my knowledge of a press or its authors, did I? Noah Cicero's The Insurgent from BLATT Books. Lot's of people don't like his stuff. I do. Will I…

Tom Waits stands as one of the most innovative artists alive, mixing crooner piano tunes, industrial percussion, and all the styles between in a way that compliments, though dissonantly, his abrasive voice. Woven throughout his catalog, there's hip hop, too, from when hip hop was beat poetry. Take 1978's "Step Right Up" from his Small Change album: Step Right Up Then, as Waits fell in with (helped create?) the garbage clank-boom crowd, he upped the percussion, giving his hip hop styles more "edge:" Top of the Hill Dog Door But, during last night's Sonic Spectrum show with Roger Moore (a program I love, by the way), I heard a Tom Waits track that clearly marks the man's furthest stretch into hip hop: Though my initial reaction was one of disgust. Not because Waits had further adopted hip hop (I like hip hop) but because he had done so to such…

Gordon Highland is not Drew Ballard. Though, to know the former after reading the latter, one might not recognize a distinction. Ballard, the protagonist of Highland’s first novel, Major Inversions, has much in common with his author: 80’s tribute band member, check; film scoring history, check; unending wit, check. Film set drug dealer…no. After reading Major Inversions, I sat with Gordon to ask him a bit about these parallels (as well as a couple especially interesting others). Check out the video interview, the first of what I hope to be a series of author interviews called Beer und Questions Asks. Buy a copy of Major Inversions online at Amazon.com. I recommend it. Further reading: My review of Major Inversions at Outsider Writers Collective Gordon Highland homepage