Month: August 2010

Check out the teaser trailer Sarah Melville put together for the anthology that I’m curating, called Sex Scene. Great, great stuff.

I’m not one for book reviews…generally. At least not the grand, sweeping kind. I believe that, generally, people should read things themselves and make their own informed decisions—I may love something, you may hate it. But I had to share the fact that I recently finished Dan Holloway’s novel, Songs from the Other Side of the Wall, and…well, it is absolutely brilliant. Dan is an unbelievable writer who’s recently started his own publishing house called eight cuts gallery, and is one of the big brains behind Year Zero Writers (which I’m part of).  Dan is also contributing a wonderful short story to Sex Scene, the anthology I’m curating.

Here’s the official synopsis of Songs:

After her mother walks out and returns to England when she’s just a week old, Szandi grows up on the vineyard in Hungary that has been in her family for 300 years. Now 18, Szandi is part of Budapest’s cosmopolitan art scene, sharing a flat and a bohemian lifestyle with her lover and fellow sculptress, Yang. She has finally found her place in the world. When she discovers that her father has only weeks to live, Szandi must choose once and for all: between the past and the present; between East and West; between her family and her lover.

Songs from the Other Side of the Wall is a coming of age story that inhabits anti-capitalist chatrooms and ancient wine cellars, seedy bars and dreaming spires; and takes us on a remarkable journey across Europe and cyberspace in the company of rock stars and dropouts, diaries that appear from nowhere, a telepathic fashion mogul, and the talking statue of a bull.

And honestly, it really is an exquisite piece of writing from beginning to end (the ending floored me…in the best way possible). The characters are real, and the book held my attention from beginning to end—I actually found myself caring about these people, bummed out when it ended. (Honestly, since I finished the novel a few days ago, I’ve been thinking about it constantly… To me, that’s the mark of a good book, something that sticks with you for days like that.)

Again, I don’t want to go into too much detail about the plot, so you can all go in fresh and just enjoy the hell out of it, but Songs is definitely worth your time and money and I highly recommend it (assuming my opinion matters to you).   Dan has made the book available a myriad of ways (I downloaded an e-version of it), all of which you can find right here.

Enjoy.

Check out the review right here.

So, my good friend Jesse Young is one talented musician.  He’s expecting his first child this coming January, and wants to take the time to record his first ever full-length album before the due date.

Check out his project on Kickstarter right here, and pledge whatever you can (even $5 goes a long way).

Go, team!

So, I’m finally ready to give details about the anthology I’m putting together (I also have a story in it as well), called, appropriately enough, Sex Scene: An Anthology.

Rather than have me prattle on, I figure I’ll give you all a little blurb to digest. The book won’t be available to purchase until end of August/early September, with more details to come as I get them. Also, PDFs of the book will be available…for FREE. So that’s pretty cool, I think.

Okay, here you go:

It is all around us—inescapable, unavoidable—and every person in the world has an opinion of it (good, bad or otherwise), regardless of culture, race or creed. But one thing is for certain: Sex is absolutely a part of being human.

With stories written by twelve of the freshest, most talented writers working today, this anthology aims to decontextualize sex, asking the reader to look at the act itself as not only a form of art, but also as the very basest of animal urges.  The result is a cacophony of unique perspectives, cultures, styles and scenes, from soft and romantic, to deranged and hardcore, that invite you to leave any hang-ups behind and actively engage in conversations about the all-too-often taboo topic, perhaps realizing that we are not all so different after all.

Featuring stories by:

Sabina England
Penny Goring
Dan Holloway
Sara Lippmann
Kirsty Logan
Sarah Melville
Leah Petersen
Jeff Pfaller
Remittance Girl
Scott C. Rogers
Robert James Russell
Cherise Wolas

And if you missed it before, check out the awesome cover designed by John Vestevich right here.

A new short story of mine titled “Not to Be Reproduced” is up over at Year Zero. Check it out right here.

So, I’ve secretly (or, perhaps, not so secretly) been working on putting together an anthology called Sex Scene: An Anthology.  The idea came to me out of nowhere earlier this summer: Get some uber-talented writers together and have them write their version of a sex scene. That’s it, no other guidelines. See what vastly different writers with vastly different voices/styles come up with.

Needless to say, it is going to be so, so awesome.  Right now I’m busy getting everything in order, and expect to have the book ready to release by early September.  There are eleven ridiculously good writers taking part, all of whom I’ll announce in more detail as we get closer to the release date, as well as more details about the book, where you can get it, etc.  For now, though, I wanted to give a taste of what’s to come with the cover of the book, designed by the talented John Vestevich – check out his artwork here and here.

Enjoy and stay tuned for more updates!