Apr 30
Craft, writing Craft, style 7 Comments
I realized long ago that I have a specific voice; a style. That style has evolved over the years (I think that I have gotten better as a writer, but then who am I to judge). I also tend to revisit the same themes in a lot of my writing (I try to stretch to get to other things, but we all have our obsessions).
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Apr 27
Web Goodies noah cicero, philosophy, stealing time back from the man 4 Comments
noah cicero laid a pretty heavy thing down here
one part i smiled at was:
…as Writing Two professors tell us, “You should always pretend like you are convinced of what you are saying.” Which is a strange thing to tell another human being, because I’ve never met anyone my whole life completely convinced of what they were saying. Oh yeah, I have met some and they were always annoying.
i did find typos and i hereby offer my proofreading eyes to anyone who wants them although i must warn you my official education is lacking.
i read noah’s nietzsche essay on the clock at work and not on my lunch break. i am also posting this on the clock at work and not on my lunch break. i am such a deficient worker bee.
for shame.
Apr 27
Comics, Literature, Web Goodies, poetry, writing molly gaudry, pank, sam pink, slingshot, south park, the simpsons 3 Comments
On.
Slingshot has Gaudry.
The Simpsons Stand with South Park over censorship.
[Redacted: I'm stupid]
Apr 26
Literature, promotion Ben Spivey, Flowing in the Gossamer Fold, Nick Antosca 3 Comments
That’s not Ben Spivey. I just found that image on an search using his name. I like to think it is him though, or some version of him that existed way before us all. That small Spivey of the past had a debut book too.
Flowing in the Gossamer Fold, is now up for pre-order from Blue Square Press and it should be noted that it is very much worth your hard earned money (link has an excerpt). Okay I haven’t read it myself but I’ve heard the Atlantain writer read from it; holy shit the language will cut you down. Be ready, it feels like lotion.
Here’s something someone else said:
“Malcolm Blackburn (motivational speaker, estranged husband of a bird with orange pubic hair, and lover to a mannequin) has a voice that throttled me from the first page, while Ben Spivey–an extraordinarily talented and shockingly young new writer–demonstrates that his own voice is versatile, vivid, funny, and trenchant. I read the book in one eager sitting. Flowing in the Gossamer Fold is a bizarre and genuinely exciting debut.”
- Nick Antosca, author of Midnight Picnic and Fires
Apr 25
poetry Pasckie Pascua, poetry No Comments
TWAK presents a poem: Nomads by Pasckie Pascua
Apr 25
Web Goodies allison power, cremains, leah bailly, nadine jarvis, pank, pax americana, pencils, web No Comments
Writers should consider having themselves made into pencils when they are dead. It’s a fitting end to a fitting end.
Allison Power blows my mind.
Leah Bailly at Pank.
We are all on fire
Apr 24
Music, Uncategorized Damien Jurado 1 Comment
The best way to describe Damien Jurado is that he is inspired by fire. I read that somewhere, at some point in my own obsessive following of the folk singer since his more cutesy debut in ’97.
Damn what a year, such innocent times. There was maybe four thousand of us that knew that word emo: it was a dazzling descriptor of sonics that meant sparse production mechanics and kinda angry songs, but most of it was sexual and everybody smelled rather good. Jurado got that tag in his early days until he became a story teller and a showman with an acoustic guitar, long past cheap the symbolism of birds and trees.
Fast forward to this goddamn moment. Jurado has his craft; it’s complicated but it brings a craving for a touch, some pen ink, and smokes.
This is a great interview with Mr. Jurado. He mentions a book.
His new album Saint Bartlett comes out next month. Each song is its own book.
Apr 24
We demand a literature unconscious of itself, a literary spasm in favor of health and wealth; a structure through which all may benefit and none be left cold. There can, of course, be no master plan. But we’re not waiting until they grow up.
Apr 24
Interview, poetry Interview, journalism, Pasckie Pascua, poetry No Comments
We are proud to present and interview with Pasckie Pascua
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Apr 22
Literature, poetry book review, Jeanann Verlee, new book, Write Bloody Publishing 1 Comment
(Written with John Hancock. First Published in The Legendary Issue 16.)
Well, we’re late. This should have been posted days ago. But, see, we needed more time with Racing Hummingbirds. We 
needed more time to understand the complex love we feel for Jeanann Verlee’s amazing, terrifying, healing accomplishment. It’s the kind of love that makes us bite our nails, chain smoke, and contemplate deep dark places inside.
New from Write Bloody Publishing, Racing Hummingbirds is a masterful first collection from Jeanann Verlee. It contains several of the best poems we’ve ever read, and has absolutely taken over one of the top spots on our favorite book list. It’s also one of the most painful reads we’ve ever had the pleasure of enjoying. This book bites, with sharp pointed teeth. It punches in the gut, claws your eyes, steals your breath; and you will love every bleeding, sobbing minute you spend inside its pages.
It begins with “Communion”.
“I know a boy who called his girlfriend’s body a “crime scene”. Dad, my
body is a crime scene. My body is lint and gasoline and matchstick. My
body is a brush fire.” …
Yes, Verlee’s book really did make us cry and need hugs.
