Feb 28
katiemooreLiterature, Publishing, Review, promotion Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, poetry, Write Bloody Publishing
by: Katie Moore and John Hancock
Review appeared first in The Legendary issue 14.
Cristin’s book, I’m going to read you!
Cristin’s book, who’s going to read you? Me!
Cristin’s book, I’m going to read you!
Cristin’s book, fuck yeah! Cristin’s book is awesome!
Cristin O’Keefe Aptowitcz’s new poetry collection, ‘Everything is Everything,’ from Write Bloody Publishing, offers an insight few collections of verse accomplish; combining carefully crafted allegory, nerd-pop observationalism, and the footnotes you could only hope to find scribbled on the pages of a dusty library history text.
Aptowicz’s sixth release made us read aloud again, in part to share the hilarity with the ones around us as quickly as possible (without handing over the book for fear of not getting it back). Cristin’s word choice and structure also forced our mouths to speak her stanzas, many pieces feeling like a conversation with the author born of a night of drinking and cavorting.
We pride ourselves on our obscure knowledge of history and trivia, yet Cristin manages to teach us things we didn’t know. For example, Carpophorus, referenced in three of these outstanding poems. We didn’t know about that noteworthy Roman entrepreneur. What did he do? He trained wild animals, the big game kind, to rape women. Yup. We don’t know why the history books don’t teach such things, or how Jeopardy has overlooked this as an obvious category choice, but thank the gods for Cristin. Now we know.
This is a fun book, a funny book. It’s about piss-drunk wassailing boyfriends who look like Elvis Costello and profess to sandwiches, dachshunds vs. babies, Taft’s fat ass and sense of humor to match, how eating great food can imprint our brain permanently, and of course Crack Squirrels.
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Feb 28
Michael MartinLiterature, writing Artifice Magazine, Derek Phillips, Genes, jubilat, Language, roxane gay, Shane Book, Word Power Made Easy, World Power
Art as a being. A creative entity intangible and disenchanted with its ethereality. Its need to move from the ethereal to the physical, somehow, through whatever means necessary. Language. Breakdown: credulous comes from Latin, credo, to believe, the same root found in credit (if people believe in your honesty, they will extend credit to you; they will credit what you say)*. –Ous usually indicates full of, so credulous means full of believingness. Words are in our body— the lingual representation of something unaffixed. Joseph Campbell and the Gregorian monk chants, the Ohm— from open to closed sound— More
Feb 28
Nathan TyreeInterview, Literature
If you are an author or publisher and have a book you would like to see reviewed here, email TWAK@DISPRODUCTIONS.ORG. with details. We will find a suitable reviewer for your title and provide an address to send review copies.
Feb 28
Nathan TyreeLiterature, Publishing, promotion, web charles bukowski, chris deal, christopher dwyer, gordon highland, henry miller, kevin sampsell, mary gaitskill, mel bosworth, nik korpon, Oprah, sarah palin, stephen king, stephenie meyer, tao lin, xtx
Shameless pimping here. Caleb Ross and I put together a web anthology called Oprah Read This. It features sexy fictions by Mel Bosworth, Chris Deal, Christopher Dwyer, Gordon Highland, Nik Korpon, Kevin Sampsell, xTx and others. The stories are about Stephen King, Tao Lin, Sarah Palin, Henry Miller, Charles Bukowski, Stephenie Meyer, Mary Gaitskill and others. It is well worth having a look at
Feb 27
P. H. MadoreReview, TWAK b. l. pawelek, caketrain, dollhouse, drift roberts, easter rabbit, joseph young, kim parko, lemony snicket, mike boyle, neil colquhoun, paper hero press, publishing genius, sam pink, spencer dew, thieves jargon, thieves jargon press, tracy lucas
So, by the time forty-five days have passed, we should have the following guest reviews posted (as per this earlier offer):
These reviews should hopefully set the tone and standard for future reviews on TWAK. I’m glad it’s going down smoothly. Thanks to everyone for taking part.
-phm
Feb 27
P. H. MadorePublishing fruitless debates, guidelines, pank magazine, roxane gay, submissions
Pank has done away with submission guidelines. I’m not sure how long they’ve had a submission manager, but apparently their only real guideline anymore is that you must use the manager.
I won’t be doing away with our guidelines anytime too soon. They’re pretty slim. I like the guidelines we’ve got at GwI, but those can be changed if the other associates over-rule me. I think the guidelines Taylor Durden has set forth at Thirst For Fire are also fair. I don’t see anything wrong Josh Kleinberg’s at slingshot, either, while we’re on the subject. They all seem fairly flexible and reasonable. And, after all, they’re still called “guidelines.” That’s not the strictest of terms–we’d call them “requirements” otherwise. There are always exceptions. Of course I always consider people who adhere to the guidelines before I consider those who do not, but I will step off my high horse now and then.
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Feb 27
Nathan TyreeLiterature, writing
I’m an unreliable narrator. Often I write about things from my life, but they never come out true. No matter how hard I try, I cannot stick to the truth. In golf they call it improving your lie. You know, tapping the ball with your foot to get it in a slightly better spot. Well, writers do that all the time.
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Feb 27
P. H. Madorewriting organization, writing
If you’re just starting out writing, don’t be a fool: have your organization system, and stick the fuck to it! Don’t be like me and some five years later just be getting around to getting everything in order. Decide now what will work. Take into consideration the following: expansion, revision, drafting.
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Feb 26
Nathan TyreeFree Books, Literature, writing
A question that has plagued me is: are writers a closed community? That is, is fiction (especially fiction published online) read only by writers? Do average people actually read the great e-zines? How often does Joe Cubicle (who has never written a poem or short story in his life) take a break from his spreadsheets to peruse Thirst for Fire, or PANK, or Poor Mojo’s Almanac(k)? Does it happen at all?
To be fair, I know that my friends and family (many of whom do not write) read my stuff. But beyond that am I being read by anyone who does not write?
Weigh in on this. What do you think about it and why? The person who gives what I judge to be the most interesting answer wins a free copy of During My Nervous Breakdown I Want a Biographer Present by Brandon Scott Gorrell, plus a mystery gift.
Include your email so I can get an address for the winner.
Feb 26
Nathan TyreeLiterature, Review
At the insistence of my beautiful wife I just started reading Germinal by Zola. She has a degree in French, so she studied all the classics of French literature. Germinal is her favorite novel and she has been begging me to read it for years. My reason for holding off has been that the first book she pushed on me was Old Man Goriot by Balzac. Balzac was much too deeply into hyper-realism. His writing is a mind killer. I really did not need to know about the minute details of the pattern on the china in the hutch. I especially didn’t need to know this since that china isn’t important to the story and never even gets used. Balzac is the mind killer.
I gave in yesterday. What made me give in was her saying “You like Celine, you Like Sartre, well Germinal is more depressing and fucked up than either of those”. So I started reading.
Depressing? Yes. Very. It starts very low and descends from there. I’m not that far yet, but so far I’m very impressed by this book. When I finish I plan to share my complete thoughts on it here.
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