Reader Meet Author

Mary Hamilton

In a city filled with writer's there has to be plenty of stages. This is where a writer can try out new pieces, and get instant reactions and feedback. Who better to set that stage but a fellow writer. They know how to let the reader to get the full experience. One of the more original series in town is called Quickies, and it is co-hosted by Mary Hamilton and Lindsay Hunter. What makes the series unique is its rapid pace brought on by time restraints and size of the pieces. It is a different type of challenge for the reader and that is what makes it so exciting.

Aside from her work with Quickies, Mary Hamilton's work has appeared at Thieves Jargon, decomP, Pindeldyboz, Word Riot, and many more journals. She writes with wit, humor, and a rhythm all her own. She is a strong advocate for Chicago's literary scene, and always wears the most fashionable glasses since she is an optician at Eye Spy Optical.

Recently, she was kind enough to answer a few of our questions.

Orange Alert (OA): So how did the idea of Quickies come about? Are you happy with how the series is going?
Mary Hamilton (MH): The series is great! It's beyond all expectations.

We're pulling together our AWP Spectacular! right now. The readers are all booked and it's blowing my mind just thinking of hearing all of these amazing writers in one night. We always book a few months in advance. Even though my focus is on February, part of my brain is thinking about April. So thinking about the future of Quickies! is pretty invigorating.

Quickies! came about when my co-host and co-founder, Lindsay Hunter and I found ourselves really bored at readings. Not that we didn't love the authors, but I know I have a really short attention span and, as good as the work was, I was bored. So we set a time limit and got victims (er...readers) to join us. We also wanted a showcase for the beauty of very short fiction (I was really annoyed by so many people thinking short shorts were either practice for longer work or a sign of being a lazy writer). And, to be honest, we needed to practice reading out loud.

OA: As a co-founder of a reading series, what is your opinion of the lit scene in Chicago? Is Chicago a good place to be a writer, or does it really matter where you live?
MH: Chicago is an amazing city to be a writer. Not only is the lit scene here really strong and active, but there are so many other sources of inspiration in this city, it blows my mind. But lit scene, yes, very active and, most importantly, extremely supportive. In January alone I think I have 8 readings to attend in my calendar, and two more that I'll be missing because they've been booked on the same night as other readings!

OA: I've heard that some publishers strongly recommend that their writer's maintain a blog. Do you feel that blogging has become an important part of being a successful writer?
MH: I have a blog. I update it about twice a month, but I do enjoy the blogs of other writers and I wish I blogged more. I also think a blog is a fantastic place for a writer to make their work available, especially those of us who publish mainly online. It's a great one-stop resource to find expanded work. In my opinion, the point of writing stories is for people to read them, so why not tell the people where to find your work? Right?

OA: You have been published both in print and on-line, do you feel that one is more legitimate than the other?
MH: To be honest, legitimate is a gross word. My print work was back when I wrote music reviews and the print was freely distributed in urine-scented train stations so it may have really been less "legitimate" than my online work.

I think online journals are a place where writers can be free to experiment and where a huge population of readers can find work. Not all bookstores carry all lit journals but pretty much every Internet goes to the lit websites. This essay by Jason Sanford spells it out pretty well.

OA: Do see the Quickies reading series doing anything in print, an anthology perhaps?
MH: Maybe....

OA: What's next for Mary Hamilton?
MH: Well, I was just noticing that my inbox hasn't had a rejection in a while and then I realized that I don't have anything in the submission process so I guess I'll hunker down and send some work to the wolves. Other than that, I'm trying to pull together a couple of chapbooks (one is dedicated to Theodore Huxtable and the other is a long palindrome) and working on Quickies! which is constant work. I am also going to bake some bread after finishing this email.

Bonus Questions:
OA: If you could sit down to coffee with any other than Theodore Huxtable who would it be?
MH: I have several friends in many corners of the world, so I would like to get them all together for a big group hug. But let's talk famous people: I am sure that if we ever met in real life, Mos Def would realize that he loves me and so I would have to say Mos Def.

OA: What type of music do you enjoy and who are a few of your favorites?
MH: This is a dangerous question. It's like asking me to choose my favorite child.
I am going to make a list:
The Frames, Tricky, Josh Ritter, Girl Talk, Belly, Morrissey, Harry Nilsson, lovers, France Gall, Dr. Dog, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, Dresden Dolls, Eric B. and Rakim, George Harrison (my favorite Beatle), Jason Anderson, King Khan, Prince, Mason Jennings, T.Rex, Mos Def, Say Hi to Your Mom, Akron Family, Big Digits, and Mic Christopher, Ted Hawkins and old Weezer stuff. I'm also not ashamed to say that I love pop music, bad radio-friendly pop music, so very much. My favorite band/musician at the moment is Soltero.

For more information on Mary Hamilton you can visit her blog.

Reader Meet Author

Kate Duva

For many writers, musicians, and artist, these creative endeavors are their passion, but not their full-time jobs. So there may come a time when a line has to be drawn between personal and professional, but where does that line begin and end? When do you stop being a lawyer or teacher or accountant, and start being a writer or artist? What is more important than what you called yourself and when you are known as that is how the things you publish and who it is seen by can impact your full-time job.

Chicago's Kate Duva is a writer, blogger, and collage artist, but she is also a teacher. I always find it interesting to talk with teachers about their creative output because they each seem to have a different take on the limits they may or may not be implied. Kate's work has been published at the2ndhand, Fugue and Flashquake, and she was kind enough to talk with us today.

Orange Alert (OA): Last year you had the opportunity to read with Elizabeth Crane and
Spencer Dew. What was that experience like, and do you enjoy participating in readings?
Kate Duva (KD): It was great. It's a challenge to read out loud, and pause and give weight to every word –you discover the truth about your piece, whether it's bullshit or not. You can hide on the page, but a voice never lies.

OA: Do you feel that Chicago is a good place to be a writer? Are there opportunities out there for writers? Does is it even matter where you live these days?
KD: I was born here – I have no concept of what Chicago is, just as I can't see my own bones. I will say that the cold makes hermits of us, which encourages getting down to work. And when you finally do get out, the fantastic variety of weirdos makes for good material.

OA: I've heard it is almost required by publishers that their writers create blogs. Why did you start blogging and do you feel like it helps you as a writer? Does it help you connect with readers on a different level?
KD: I did it purely for attention, but I can't keep up with it. Promoting yourself is such drudgery. I'd rather spend my time rewriting my stories thirteen times, until they sing. I'm too slow for blogs.


OA: You are also an artist. Is the creative process different when creating visual art as opposed to writing?
KD: I'm lazy about visual art, so it's less of a process for me than a splay that represents a single moment in time. But I think the process for everything is essentially the same, it just unfurls in
different rhythms. It all comes from the Lord.

OA: I've read that you are a teacher. Are you cautious about what you publish as a result?
KD: I'm not cautious about what I publish, but I am cautious about who I tell about my secret life. A century ago schoolmarms had to obey decrees forbidding them from keeping company with men, leaving the house after six p.m., or going out without their petticoats. I know a teacher whose principal "let her go" in 1968 for being pregnant – she was married and this was a public school – and she accepted it as protocol! That pressure to be meek and sexless remains in public
schools, it's just unspoken. So no, I do not bring to the teachers' lounge my stories about hermaphroditic chinchillas and threesomes with cabbies.

OA: What's next for Kate Duva?
KD: Radio! I've done a couple pieces for Vocalo and I'd like to expand on that. As a child I recorded shows with a toy piano, a gong and a cat – I squeezed the cat for sound effects. I'd like to play more with sound, although I have a tiny baby at home who is eating me alive. It's going to be a slow year.

Bonus Questions:
OA: If you could sit down to coffee with anyone (dead or alive) who would it be?
KD: I'd squat down to coffee with my ancestors. I'm fascinated with my ancestors. Or I'd choose my dearly departed dad, although he'd insist on cocktails. I'd take him to karaoke, watch him get sloshed and sing "Everybody Loves Somebody Sometimes."

OA: What type of music do you enjoy and who are a few of your favorites?
KD: Balkan music, especially Turkish or gypsy-inspired: it's the best dance music on the planet! Motown, bachata, bhangra, monk music, and anything psychedelic and high-pitched and melodious. I can dig a little Neil Diamond, some Ol' Dirty Bastard. My children cry when I sing lullabies, incidentally, but are mesmerized by ODB.

For more information on Kate Duva please visit her blog.

Reader Meet Author

J.A. Tyler

No matter how long you have been writing or painting or making music, even creative outlets require disciplined attention. You need to set goals and limits as you shift your focus perhaps from hobby to profession. It's true that you can not schedule inspiration or creative, but you can focus harder at certain times or place yourself in a setting to create each day. The important part is that you work on your writing or painting each day regardless of the outcome.

As I look through print and on-line journals the one name that I see more often than any other is that of J.A. Tyler. In 2008, he had 139 stories accepted for publication, and I can only image that number will continue to grow this year. His short fiction is captivating and refreshingly original. In addition to that he runs the lit journal Mud Luscious and ML Press. He is also a web editor for Pindeldyboz, a reviewer for Rural Messengers Press, manager of The Trench: A New Play Development Series, & an editorial intern for Dzanc Books.

Recently, J.A. Tyler was kind enough to answer a few of my questions.

Orange Alert (OA): The word prolific really doesn't even begin to describe your activity in 2008. You clearly have no problem getting published on-line and in fact you run an on-line journal yourself, but do you feel their is still cache or validity to getting a story or poem in print?
J.A. Tyler (JT): Absolutely. I am honored to be included in any journal, but there is a special thrill to holding the printed page, opening the mail or breaking the binding. cache and validity, most definitely.

OA: How often do you sit down to write? I don't have nearly as much going on as you do, but I have to be very structured with my time. Do you find time management and writing coincide?
JT: I have a word count I try and attend to on a daily basis, 1000 – 1500 words, and I do it basically whenever / wherever I can. between things, before things, after things. if it is a heavy editing day, on the cusp of ml press design proofs, a new mud luscious issue, or other editorial reading, I sometimes push the writing off, but I double it the next day and move ahead. I also teach, so the summer is particularly nice, allows me to structure and manage my time a bit more concretely, several hours in the morning and then on to everything else.

OA: I love the cover of your new chapbook on Achilles, Everyone In This Is Either Dying Or Will Die Or Is Thinking of Death. How did you get involved with Barry and Achilles, and what has the experience been like? Any thoughts on Sam Pink in general are also welcomed?
JT: I had a flash posted with his dogzplot site, and then a short story later on. we emailed and talked writing, and he happened to mention the arrival of paperhero press / the achilles chapbook series. and of course as any good writer does, I read up. I liked the look of what barry was doing, and he liked my work enough to invite me in. from that point on it has been a great collaborative effort – barry has checked in with me on all aspects of editing and design, and he has worked tirelessly to promote and publicize the collection.

as for sam pink and his brilliant cover, I saw the artwork originally posted on his blog and suggested to barry that it would be a fantastic fit with the book. sam ended up creating several for us to choose from, but in the end this original ‘angela lansbury in decay’ was the one.

in terms of sam pink the writer, I am excited to watch his future moves. ml press recently published his piece BE NICE TO EVERYONE and he was a delight to work with – accepting of edits and completely punctual and professional in terms of design. his work has a twist that not everyone enjoys, but I feel that he grows with each new piece he publishes – YUM YUM is more scattered in terms of focus than I AM GOING TO CLONE MYSELF – and no doubt his next extended work will be even greater.

OA: What can you tell us about Someone, Somewhere? I don't see anything on the Ghost Road Press site, when is it scheduled for release?
JT: SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE will be one of two novellas published by ghost road press in 2009. for me, it was a work intended as the biography of a man who hasn’t done anything, accomplished anything, or even lived, but as it grew and expanded it became the story of how lives intersect and connect, how families and their words exist, doubling and re-doubling back on themselves. its official release date is july 2009.

OA: How are things with Mud Luscious? What is the biggest challenge of running an on-line lit journal?
JT: In all honesty, there is no challenge with my work on mud luscious. submissions grow monthly and the pieces we are getting test and push our concepts of language with every issue. and we have now expanded to print with the ml press series – single author, unpublished works of less than 1000 words in a small chapbook form, run in a single limited printing of 50-75 copies each, and released three volumes per month. this has allowed us the phenomenal opportunity to work with and contribute to the writing of such tremendous authors as michael kimball, blake butler, norman lock, brian evenson, shane jones, peter markus, ken sparling, david ohle, and a slew of others. very exciting stuff, all of it.

OA: What's next for J.A. Tyler?
JT: I have two full-length projects finishing up now: GIRL WITH OARS & MAN DYING, a short novel written in flash segments and focusing on last breaths and loss, and MOTHER FATHER BOY GIRL GIRL, a longer novel centered on the strength of a woman who, while building life on the kansas prairie, watches her family members nod in and out like daily sun and wheat. both of these works are in the final stages of writing / re-writing and have excerpts up in several journals (linked at http://www.aboutjatyler.blogspot.com/).

on the editing front I stay busy as an intern for dzanc books, a web editor for pindeldyboz, a reviewer with rural messengers press as well as keeping up with quarterly issues of mud luscious and looking forward to the next six-month stretch of ml press. hectic and good in all aspects.

Bonus Questions:
OA: Coffee? If yes, where can you find the best cup in your area?
JT: yes, yes, yes. the eco-friendly bean cycle here makes a fantastic cup. and the alley cat is open 24-hours a day, so you are never left wanting.

OA: What type of music do you enjoy and who are a few of your favorites?
JT: I am into a little of everything, but right now I am hooked on say hi to your mom, great lake swimmers, jukebox the ghost, kaiser chiefs, kevin devine, and cold war kids.

For more information on J.A. Tyler please visit his website.

Reader Meet Author

Corey Mesler

Growing up I had always heard the phrase "Support the Arts". It was typically associated with funding for the more creative programs in school, or possibility it meant attending a school play instead of a the football game. At the time it seemed like a choice that had to be made, a decision to do one thing or support one thing instead of another. Over time my understanding of support has changed, and a new word has been added to the phrase, independent. In a way it is still about choices, but most of your life is about choices. Supporting the independent arts is more about searching, caring, and desire to feed the most creative aspect in everyone.

Corey Mesler is not just an independent writer, but he is also the owner of an indie bookstore. Now more than ever, owning an indie bookstore has become a noble and foolish venture. Yet, Corey runs an established store in Memphis called Burke's Book Store, and like all other indie store he relies on patrons choosing his service and knowledge over the mega-chain or Amazon. Basically, supporting the independent arts is about thought, making a conscious effort to buy from local shops, directly from the publisher, or the artist. The keyword word, no matter when you go, is support.

Recently, the prolific writer and book store owner Corey Mesler was kind enough to answer a few of my questions.

Orange Alert (OA): Every week I skim through a long list of on-line literary journals and more times than not I see your name. Is there a trick to getting published? How often to you submit to one given publication?
Corey Mesler (CM): A lot is luck, of course. And the rest is writing poems that other people might want to read, which is like a conjurer's trick. It's hardest when it looks easiest. I have my favorite sites to submit to which I do probably 2 or 3 times a year. Also, I am always looking for new venues, new audiences.

OA: Do you feel that there is still more legitimacy attached to print journals? Are there certain types or lengths of stories that you submit to print journals as opposed to on-line journals?
CM: Yes, I think print journals still have more cachet. I'm a paper and glue man myself so I understand it. That being said, there is a lot of adventurous and exciting publishing being done on the internet. There are smart and creative editors working for literary webzines and I appreciate them. The landscape is changing and soon web publishing will be as highly regarded as traditional print publishing. A good sign this year was Dzanc Books' Best of the Web anthology. Of course it was published as, you know, a book.

I don't have a set of criteria that helps me decide which pieces to submit online and which should be print. Like most of what I do I do it on a whim and a prayer.

OA: The Agoraphobe's Pandiculations was printed by Lulu. How was your experience going through Lulu as it compares to your previous novels and chapbooks?
CM: I didn't go through Lulu, my publisher did. What I mean by that is that my two Lulu books are not self-published. They were accepted by Christine Laine's wonderful Little Poem Press and she uses Lulu, I imagine for the convenience. And that's about all I know about Lulu. Unless you wanna talk about the cute singer who had a hit with "To Sir with Love."

OA: This collection confronts the condition that you have lived with for a while now. Has its publication been freeing in any way?
CM: In a way, yes. I am still plagued by agoraphobia and still write about it. When that chapbook appeared my therapist said, let this be the last time you write about being an agoraphobe. What he meant was that I identified too much with the debility. I see his point but that's not how my writing mechanism is wired. I write about what I write about and a lot of that centers on how I am feeling. I guess I am a poet who is trapped in his own body. Its contours haunt me and feed me and wake me in the middle of the night with pains in new areas and sometimes with small poems, small middle-of-the-night poems.

OA: The media has made sure that every one is aware of the struggles in each industry in America. How is the book business? From what I hear from the local shops in Chicago is that the regulars are still the regulars, and that things have been fairly steady.
CM: Business sucks. I can't sugar coat it. We struggle. The fact that we are still here astounds me and all credit goes to my wife who is smarter than the average bear. This economy is trying to kill us and all small independent businesses. What a world it would be if people only had Barnes and Noble and McDonald's and Walmart and Amazon to choose from. Frankly I don't wanna live in that world. Help your small locally owned independent businesses; that's the message. All that being said, I have great faith in our newly elected president. I have never been this optimistic about the political climate and direction of our country. Wait, what was the question? How did I turn so pontifical?

OA: What's next for Corey Mesler?
CM: I have a new chapbook of poems due out any second now. I have a book of short stories, Listen, due out in March 2009 from Brown Paper Publishing, a book of dialogue pieces I am proud of. And I have another novel, called Following Richard Brautigan, from Livingston Press, in the pipeline scheduled for sometime in the dim time-to-come. I have another novel finished which I hope to sell soon. And, finally, and perhaps most importantly, I am making notes for another novel. I love the long haul of a novel and so hope to begin anon.

Bonus Questions:
OA: If you could have coffee with anyone (alive or dead) who would you want to sit down with?
CM: Martin Luther King, Jr., W. B. Yeats, James Joyce, John Berryman, Kurt Vonnegut, Frank O'Hara, Iris Murdoch, Ingmar Bergman, Alfred Hitchcock, Groucho Marx, John Lennon, Leonard Cohen (because I think he would be less intimidating than Mr. Dylan), David Markson, Zooey Deschanel.

OA: What type of music do you enjoy and who are a few of your favorites?
CM: Mostly 60s pop-rock with a special appreciation for psych-pop.
Dylan, Beatles, Lennon, Mr. Cohen, The Zombies, The Animals, The Rascals, The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, Fever Tree, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, Jethro Tull, Big Star, Captain Beefheart, The Monks, The Monkees. In jazz, miles of Miles.

For more information on Corey Mesler please visit his website and don't forgot to check out Burkes Books here.

Writer's Corner

Brandon Scott Gorrell

"i am asking the walls, "what can i do?"/i am whispering to the walls, "i can't think of anything i can do" - from Alienated Afraid of Furniture in Bedroom

What most young writers don't understand, as they sit in class or in the candle lit corner of their room and read Burroughs or Hemingway or Lowell, is that the most important part of being a writer is marketing. It is a business just like any other, and networking, promotion, and buzz, are three very important words. It all seems so romantic when read in a historical context, but with all of the talented writers surfacing each day what is going to set you apart?

Aside from the dominating nature of his hair, what will set Brandon Scott Gorrell apart is his ability to capture the raw and powerful emotions that he feels while tempering them with humor and a casual indifference. A good example of this would be his recent e-book, "Alienated Afraid of Furniture in Bedroom". He addresses fear, boredom, panic and near hallucinations, but in a way that is direct and descriptive. His forthcoming collection on Muumuu House, Durning My Nervous Breakdown I want to Have a Biographer Present, addresses similar issue but with an added element of Science Fiction.

Over the last year Brandon has been published quite a bit, but he has also shown a desire to publish and discuss others. He (with Chelsea Martin) recently published a literary journal called 'Great', and back in August he coordinated the writer/blogger crosstalk event that resulted in a day writers blogging about other writers. This is why I am happy to have him as my first interview of 2009.

Orange Alert (OA): You are among a group of young writers who seem to be building a persona through the internet. In several cases these persona's have translated well into print with a substantial number of sales. Do you feel blogs and on-line journals are valid ways to build a fan base? Do you feel that the on-line lit culture will supplant print at some point?
Brandon Scott Gorrell (BSG): If, by 'valid' you mean 'functional' then yes, I think blogs and online journals are valid ways to build a fan base. If, by 'valid' you mean 'appropriate' or something, then I don't know. That doesn't feel important to me. Maybe it does. It feels, I think, more important, in terms of building a fan base (the type of fan base I want, at least) to do 'inappropriate' things. 'Inappropriate' things probably generate more publicity.

I do not know if the online lit culture will supplant print at some point. I don't know enough about the history of print culture to really talk about that and I'm unsure about the terms you are using. Hemingway was getting published in literary magazines and reading literary magazines and noticing the names of the authors he liked that regularly appeared in those publications, probably, then sometimes meeting them, maybe, arranged by letter via post. Bukowski exchanged letters with a number of different writers who he liked and would sometimes meet them at readings and other places. Now there is email. Diane Williams, the editor of NOON, emails Tao Lin about edits she made to his submission or something. The AWP has a website. People order Blake Butler's book by reading his blog and using Paypal.

Print things have not stopped happening. I don't know if print things will stop happening. Right now everyone still just wants to have a book. Including me. I want a book. And to be in NOON. Also I want to be in the New Yorker and other places that will drastically affect the size of my audience.

OA: Speaking of print, you recently helped put together a magazine called "Great". What was it about this process that you enjoyed?
BSG: Most of it was hard and stressful. We wanted to get it completed and I felt pressure to complete it quickly because we solicited some contributors early in the process. I dislike when I get solicited for a magazine and then give them something and then it comes out 6 months later (as opposed to like a month later). So I didn't want to do that to anyone. But Chelsea and I had to send like 100 emails and Gmail chat for like 100 hours to decide on everything. That was difficult. I liked designing the pages. Designing the pages was easy, and a positive experience for me. I felt good while designing the pages. I liked talking to Chelsea on Gmail chat. A lot of the time we didn't talk about Great, we just talked about feeling bad, which I like doing. Also, I think I felt good putting the magazine together. I also liked to email the contributors, it made me feel professional or more important.

OA: You seem to work well with Chelsea Martin. Have you ever met her is person? What does she bring to your projects?
BSG: Yes, I have met Chelsea Martin in person. We like each other in person and online. Chelsea Martin is my friend. Chelsea Martin brings her viewpoint to our projects, which is different than mine. She has a good viewpoint.

OA: You have a collection of poetry coming out in June on Tao Lin's Muumuu House. What can you tell us DURING MY NERVOUS BREAKDOWN I WANT TO HAVE A BIOGRAPHER PRESENT?
BSG: My poetry book has poems I wrote from May 2007 to, I think, January 2008. It is about severe feelings of low self-confidence, alienation, and loneliness. It makes a lot of science fiction references. I think it could be a powerful seller in the 15 - 17 year-old-high-school-student-going-through-an-identity-crisis-market. It is 62 pages in a Word Document. I have designed the book jacket, and will do page design for it as well. It will be, physically, I think, the size of Matthew Rohrer's A GREEN LIGHT. It will be published in June 2009. I am unsure about the specifics of distribution. You can preorder it here.

OA: From the pictures I've seen your hair is very nice, but how will it defeat me?
BSG: We will be walking on the sidewalk on Capitol Hill in Seattle and two perfectly dressed hipsters will pass. They will compare my hair with your hair. Then one will machete your arm off. "Haha," I'll laugh.

OA: What's next for Brandon Scott Gorrell?
BSG: I have like 60% of the poems I want to use for my next poetry book in a Word document, unedited. I work on that like once every two weeks but more often write little things which I expect will go into there. I have a lot of a novel written and work on that 3 - 6 times a week. I wrote a 4,500 word story that I like a lot. I don't know what else. Probably the novel is the main thing.

Bonus Questions:
OA: What type of music do you enjoy and who are a few of your favorites?
BSG: I like WHY? I hardly listen to anything else. If I am not listening to WHY? then I will most likely be listening to Odd Nosdam, cLOUDDEAD, Boards of Canada, Nick Drake (The CD called Fruit Trees), Jens Lekman's first CD, or classical music.

OA: If you could have coffee with anyone (alive or dead) who would like to sit down with?
BSG: Right now, that person would be my girlfriend.

For more information and an excerpt from Brandon's new book please visit his website.

Reader Meet Author

Andy Riverbed

"My thirst is quenched by the flavors of cinematic waters."

The word experimental can mean different things to different people, but essentially it means to test what you know. To experiment is to make an effort towards discovery. In his debut collection, Damaged, Andy Riverbed experiments with several different styles. What he discovers is an ability to convey a idea regardless of form. The ability to creatively express his experience thus far.

Andy Riverbed is a young poet with a punk mentality. His debut collection is being released by Coatlism Press on January 1st, but it is available for preorder now. Recently, Andy was kind enough to answer a few of my questions.

Orange Alert (OA): What does it mean to be experimental?
Andy Riverbed (AR): In context to Damaged, I think my being experimental only means that I was young and I was obsessed with certain aesthetic principles. Some poems from that collection are from when I was obsessed with French Symbolist poets, others are all about letting it all out, and then there was a while I wanted the poem in print to look exactly like the poem I had written on paper, or wherever it happened that I wrote the verses on; so, then if I crossed out a word in the hardcopy, there’d be a representative space for it on the printed version. Then there was me being obsessed with saying a lot with nothing, and that created some nice experiments as well, I think. Now experimental doesn’t mean much to me. Now I’m all about people understanding me. I’m all about connecting.


OA: I really like how you had William Joyner do illustrations for Damaged. Where did that idea come from and how did you decide on Williams’ work?
AR: My first desire to make a collection was to get into the Jack Micheline Memorial contest. I thought that with drawings by William, I’d win, but that didn’t matter because it was a contest judging poetry. Just me being young and retarded. But William is a great man. I met when I lived in West Palm. I worked full-time as a bookseller at Barnes & Noble. William, at the time, was homeless. From my understanding, he’s been that way since the 80s. He was there every morning when I worked, reading and drawing, so I made a connection with him. We’d talk about everything; I’d tell him my problems, how shitty I felt, my jonesing. We’d talk about anything. He’d come over and smoke pot and eat with me and once we watched I (heart) Hukabees, and he made a comment about there being no black people in the movie. I told him that wasn’t true, that in the movie there was a man blacker than he (William) was. A couple months later he called me laughing, telling me I was one of the funniest people he’d ever met, because he saw the movie again, and he told me, “Yes, you were right; the black man in the movie is blacker than me. He’s from Africa!” I laughed so hard that day. I think it was a sad day too. Maybe it was cold that day. Maybe I felt alone. That happens a lot. William kicks ass, and how could I not decide on a man like him. I think working with William, and knowing him, is, in my opinion, one of the most important and fulfilling occurrence of my life.

OA: Speaking of Damaged, what has your experience been like thus far with Coatlism Press?
AR: At times working with them is awesome, at time it’s very problematic. There’s a lot of distance between us. All interaction is done through email. It’s faceless; there’s a lot of room for misunderstandings, and I think at times egos jump up and fuck shit up. This is my first time working with a publisher, and I have learned a lot. It’s been a good experience and I’m glad I’ve gone through it.

OA: I saw a video of you reading at a punk show. What was that like? Do you feel your work works well in that setting?
AR: You need to understand that I’m a punk rocker. I feel traditional readings are too tame. They can be boring, except when it’s Pete Dexter. Now that’s one funny motherfucker. Punk rock shows are spontaneous. Shit gets fucked-up. Sometimes I go to MFA readings and look at people’s faces, then I fall asleep with my eyes open and smile and fall on my face. I think some of my work goes better than other works. It depends on the crowd. I’ve read for a variety of crowds. When it’s folky-punk or indie-pop stuff, then the crowd tends to be more into it. Once I read before Battle! and all the kids were being obnoxious, so I read with a lot of attitude. Some kids were funneling beer, I think it’s called a beer pong, I don’t know, seems a very disgusting way to consume any liquid, let alone shitty, cheap beer. So, point is, I slapped the fucking thing out of their hands and kept on reading, and the kids started shouting, and people were asking for Battle!, so I just got through two pieces, and half-way through the third, I left without saying anything. But while I was reading, till then, I was being as annoying as possible.

OA: You have an interesting title over at Thieves Jargon. What is your actual responsibility with them and what are your thoughts on the "winding down" that Matt has mentioned?
AR: My responsibility is to read certain works rejected by the editors and to respond to them, giving that submission a personalized, creative rejection, as opposed to the standard, “I’m sorry but you work just doesn’t fit in here. Thank you! –faceless editor you shall never connect to.” The reason why the editors choose one work to send to me as opposed to another is a secret I do not know and have spent many hours, while creating these messages of light (as I like to think of them), trying to figure out. I read the work and if I see that some aspect of the piece held it from getting into the Jargon, I will exploit that and try to make it as clear to the writer that that was (or at least was partial) the reason they got rejected.

Here’s an example:
Submission:

A Cold Lunch
The jukebox held nothing but old metal. The kind that scared parents back in the early 1980's. Every album cover depicted a cheesy demon and fire ensemble. It was enough to make one throw up which is why there was most always a trashcan next to the jukebox filled with puke.

Rejection:

Andy Riverbed

Ambassador of Occasional Sorrow
Thieves’ Jargon Rejection

The kids came after school every afternoon and took the trashcan with them. They always knew what to do with things like that. They were creative and efficient, the bartender thought, and he allowed them to take the trashcan full of puke. Now he didn’t have to deal with the stench, and the drips. What they did, he did not know, probably something to help the environment. They were always talking about this thing called “Global Warming.”

But the victims knew. The kids, between themselves, would tie a rope to the trashcan and lift it up to varying roofs of the neighborhood. On the roof, they’d roll up blunts and open cans of dollar beer. They’d feel buzzed and begin shouting obscenities at people. Their victims of choice were frat-boys, but at times a good citizen would suffer; and maybe at times a pretty girl, one of those hipsters with a trendy haircut, a nice jacket, and a cool, neon purse, would have the trashcan full of puke fall on her.

About the winding down: que sera, sera. I’m being moved up to co-editor soon. I might still be the Ambassador if need calls.

OA: What's next for Andy Riverbed?
AR: I’m trying to get my BAs and move to a big city, maybe out of the country. Till then, I’m going to keep on doing what I’ve been doing: living, writing, making art with my friends here in Gainesville. I want to do more translations. I’ve been inviting people. I want to distribute indie lit too. I volunteer at the Wayward Council, a D.I.Y. volunteer-run record store, and have some stuff on consignment (Delphine) there. I want to expand this and get more stuff down here. I also want to get connected with some more Hispanic writers. I’m trying to do shit with homeboys of mine from Puerto Rico. I want to come out with a story collection next year, and I’m planning on getting a whole bunch of similarly themed pieces into one and come out with a novel or novella, whatever it turns out to be.

Bonus questions:
OA: What type of music do you listen to and who are a few of your favorites?
AR: I love punk rock, indie-pop, postpunky shit, ambient-noise; I like bebop jazz. I like a lot of shit. If it’s good and not sell-out contrived bullshit, I’ll probably be into it. I like that dance-punk shit too. Records I can’t stop listening to lately: No Bunny, “Slippery Subject” – the Bananas, Elliot Smith (anything), “Disconnected” – Stiv Bators, “Ten Rapid” – Mogwai. I’m at the library now, and my records are at home. I’m also an affected boy, so therefore, my memory lapses. “Soy una punk” (song) – Aerolineas Federales.

OA: Beside your own, do you have a favorite chapbook of 2008?
AR: “Down where the Hummingbird goes to Die” – Justin Hyde
“Gravity’s Rainbow/Mason & Dixon” – Shane Jones & Chris Killen
“Cognitive Behavioral Therapy” – Tao Lin
“Hey, Baby” – anonymous
“Yum, Yum, I can’t wait to Die” – Sam Pink

I think I have some more, but like I said with the other question, my good shit’s somewhere else and I got a shitty memory.

For more information on Andy Riverbed and Damaged please check out this website.

Reader Meet Author

Jeffrey Kuczmarski

"The sun was bright and terrible on my face so I took a healthy swig of whisky before I fully opened my eyes." from Max Find (found in Danger City)

From the first line of Jeffrey's hard-boiled short story about a drunken and dangerous detective I was hooked. It has that Maltese Falcon, old fashion sense of romance. No not the man and woman type of romance, the style and era and genre that Jeffrey revels in has this nostalgic charm, but still pushes and explores towards something fresh and exciting. There is danger and drinking and action, that is what draws people to pulp or hard-boiled fiction, but it is the quality of the writing that will keep you reading Jeffrey's work. Jeffrey is not only a writer, he actually attended the Art Institute of Chicago and makes relief prints. In a way they are just as shadowy and intriguing as his writing.

Recently, Jeffrey was kind enough to answer a few of my questions.

Orange Alert (OA): Is there a certain formula for writing pulp fiction?
Jeffrey Kuczmarski (JK): The hardboiled variety of pulp fiction is an attitude, a lens, through which characters view the world. Crime is the one certainty and acts as the fulcrum which sets the characters in motion. Location is essentially irrelevant. Unless it's a locked room farce, it doesn't matter if Boris was stabbed to death in the throat on the crapper or at the theater. Boris was murdered and that's a catalyst for character interaction and it's that spark between characters that's the sweet spot for me. The characters need to make decisions and what they do or don't do, determines outcome. If the interaction is good enough it won't matter whether Boris was a Russian godfather's nephew or the trash collector as long as the story which unfolds is compelling and has the momentum to rocket the reader down the investigation freeway. Whiskey, goons with shoulder hair to spare, scantily clad dames in distress and a stiletto in the eye are a distinct possibility. Donkeys are optional.

OA: I really enjoyed "Max Find", and as I read I couldn't help but hear the voice of Sam Spade. It feels like it is written in a classic style. How long have you been fascinated by detective stories?
JK: Thank you. Although it's an honor to be thought of in the same room or even down the hall, there was no intention to evoke Sam Spade specifically

I did, however, intend to tip my hat to the hardboiled style, tone and rhythm of speech of the general era and ratchet that up a notch and create an exaggerated reality.

Here's a formula for you: Art = obsession. I was an odd kid. Instead of money, I'd ask for Mickey Spillane paperbacks. And now I read everything I can get my hands on, but I have a weakness for crime fiction. I like girls with guns, especially when they're naughty.

OA: What is the market like for Pulp right now, and do you plan to write a full-length novel?
JK: It's an exciting time. There's been a resurgence and a renewed interest in the craft. The best spot online to get your fix for excellent hardboiled is Todd Robinson's Thuglit. Todd's really busted his butt to make this a top-notch site and he's also a damn fine writer himself. His own work and those of other authors on the site have been nominated for some prestigious awards. And I am both fortunate and proud to have a story featured under my pen name, Jeffrey Bangkok, in the first Best of Thuglit anthology which includes one of the modern masters, Ken Bruen.

Another more traditional venue is Hard Case Crime which runs a monthly book club, reissuing long out of print books from past heavy hitters and publishing new greats.

Yes, I wrote a Max Find novel, twice as twisted as the original story and three times the fun, and it keeps me awake at night moaning for a publisher.

OA: You have created a series of black and white prints featuring a variety of figures. What is the process for these prints?
JK: I started making relief prints when I was in graduate school at the Art Institute of Chicago. It's a labor intensive process of drawing a backward image onto wood or linoleum, carving out the image, inking the block and pressing the image onto paper. When I tire of leering at models in lingerie catalogs I make prints at my kitchen table. I love how visceral the process is and that in the end I've created a physical object. And in our increasingly virtual world there's nothing more gratifying than when your hands ache from working with wood and steel.

OA: Can your prints be purchased on-line?
JK: I'll be placing them on Etsy in the near future.

OA: What's next for Jeff Kuczmarski?
JK: Miniskirts and world domination.

Bonus questions:
OA: Coffee? If yes where can you find the best cup in your area?
JK: Yes, Metropolis on 1039 West Granville is the best in Edgewater and the one of the finest in the city; the staff is great and they roast their own beans onsite.

OA: What type of music do you enjoy and who are a few of your favorites?
JK: I'm eclectic. I listen to Beethoven, The Beastie Boys, Pink Floyd, Pasty Cline, the White Stripes and Lavay Smith.

For more information on Jeffrey Kuczmarski please visit his website.

Reader Meet Author

Dominique Holmes

The essence of creativity is exploration, and Chicago's Dominique Holmes has explored so many avenues of creativity that is was difficult to know where to feature her on the site. She has worked with book art, film, painting, and drawing, but the first place that I saw her work was on THE2NDHAND as writer. She is full of creativity and is trying to experience everything life has to offer. The most exciting aspect of her work, in any platform, is the way she searches through images and words, figures and shadows, hoping that she is conveying the message. It will be fascinating to watch her path and see how she grows and where she goes.

Recently, Dominique was kind enough to answer a few of my questions.

Orange Alert (OA): You work in several different mediums, but you recently participated in the 2ndhand's mixtape reading. Do you enjoy reading your work? Does Chicago seem like a great place to read?
Dominique Holmes (DH): I do not enjoy reading my work. I never have. Every part of me shakes, and it's not something I can control. My tongue turns rubbery and I lose the ability to enunciate. At some point, each one of my teachers has interrupted me and said, "Do you think you could speak up just a bit?" or worse, "Can anybody hear her?" at which point my compassionate classmates would look at my sweaty radish of a face and lie. All things considered, Chicago is a great place to read. The people who go to these readings are wonderful, often multi-talented individuals who are genuinely interested in hearing stories. There is a sense of perpetual productivity, and it's contagious.

OA: Is there a medium that you focus on or feel more comfortable working in then others?
DH: Drawing, probably. It's intuitive, and as much about solving problems as it is about telling stories. I enjoy following artists and seeing their work develop because they all seem to go through phases of experimentation and questioning which implies that they don't know what they're doing any more than I do. I love that the difference between a large, labored drawing, and a quick rudimentary scribble is slim. The response is immediate. Still, there's no way to predict what that response might be. Art is subjective. I am partial to work with a narrative, whether that narrative is vague or clearly depicted with no room for speculation.
This answer confuses me, especially since I focused on filmmaking for my bachelor's degree.

OA: I really like the poster you did for Kaspar Hauser, do you see yourself getting more involved in rock posters? There is a really productive poster art scene right now.
DH: Thanks, I had a great time with that poster. Music and drawings have a way of complementing each other. When they're together, the drawing has a sound and the music has an image. This is basic, but thrilling. I intend to continue melding the two, be it through posters, films, adorning websites, CD designs or really anything I can get my hands on. Also, it helps to validate my art by giving it a purpose, using it as a means of communication.

OA: I have always been fascinated by altered books in all of there various forms, and it only grew whenI got to talk with Brian Dettmer a year ago. How did you get invovled in altered books and what approach did you take with your project?
DH: Books are great. The book-reader relationship has a lot to offer. It's one thing to look at artwork on the walls of a gallery or on pedestals, but it's a completely different experience to touch it, pick it up, hold it, and turn the pages. Comforting, I think, and less glorified. I started getting involved in altered and artists' books when I took a bookbinding class at SAIC and was encouraged to dig through the Joan Flasch artists' books collection at the school, which is basically a gold mine. It's amazing.

For the Fractional Horsepower Electric Motors project, all I did was cut into a book I was never going to understand and turn it into an object I could appreciate. I got rid of most of the text to reveal the diagrams and photographs layered inside the book. There was no rearranging or pasting, but I did pick and choose which images I wanted to see emerge. The end result is simple—from the front, the diagrams and text describe the parts of a generator, and from the back, there's a guy working at the machine. Har har.

OA: I saw you mention The Siberian Mouth on your site. What did you think about Chris Bower's latest play?
DH: Fantastic. I am a big fan of Chris Bower's work. He has a singular approach to storytelling—one that might be ridiculous in the hands of someone else. What sets Chris apart, aside from his willingness to explore areas writers generally avoid, is that his writing is both strange and intelligent. I was skeptical when I realized Chris wasn't actually in the play (I love watching and listening to him, creep that I am), but his actors performed wonderfully and handled the material well, surpassing my expectations and embarrassing me for having expectations in the first place. Even though he wasn't physically on the stage, everything I adore about Chris Bower's writing was there. The kangaroo on wheels was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

OA: What's next for Dominique Holmes?
DH: I'm working on a story called Eggplant. It's about a boy named Eggplant, and it takes place on an unnamed island with a non-threatening war on the horizon. The story is full of Nuns, weather, scavenging dogs, fondling, and dead people coming back to say hello. Also, I'm finishing up a painted 16mm and super-8 film, which has taken me three years, but which will probably only end up being about seven minutes long. Plus, more drawings, possibly featuring buffalo in striped pyjamas.

Bonus Questions:
OA: What type music do you enjoy and who are a few of your favorites? Do you have a favorite Chicago band right now?

DH: All types, but I love going to concerts and I hate crowds, so my favourites tend to be bands that play at smaller venues. A few: Hauschka, The Thermals, Explosions in the Sky, The Mountain Goats, Liam Finn, Arab Strap, The Books, Pela.
Exceptions to the rule: Iggy Pop and The Stooges, Television, Johnny Mathis, Édith Piaf, Richard Hell and the Voidoids. Local favourites: Kaspar Hauser, Jeff Harms, Wonderful Flying Machines.

OA: Coffee? If yes where can you find the best cup in Chicago?
DH: No Coffee. Tea. More specifically, Twinings English Breakfast tea, but that's not what you asked.

For more information on Dominque Holmes please visit her website.

Reader Meet Author

Andrew Madigan


In order to write you have to experience, you have to travel, you have to move outside the structure of your life. Well, perhaps you don't have to, but through experiences and challenging situations the writer can easily find things to draw upon. A story and situation that I always find compelling is the American that finds himself in a new land and is forced to learn a new culture. The first story I had read by Brooklyn's Andrew Madigan was called "Buying Beer in Cairo", and it was a graphic account of his first day in Cairo. I really enjoyed it, and came to find out the Andrew was living with his family in a Hilton Hotel in Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates. I was fascinated by the possibilities of the situations and decided to ask Andrew a few questions.

Orange Alert (OA): You left Brooklyn to travel to Dubai to teach, and that is a life altering decision. What factors did you way in making that move?
Andrew Madigan (AM): I actually lived in Dubai from 2000-04; now I’m in Al Ain, about an hour away from Dubai. My wife, 2 daughters and I like to travel. Moving is an adventure game for us. We were about to settle down, after living in South Korea, Tokyo, Okinawa, Dubai and other places, but the thought of sinking every dollar we had into a grotesquely expensive NY home gave us pause, as did working the same job for years on end. The kids’ school was also quite bad. My new job pays for private education and housing. Now my kids are learning French and Arabic at an international school, instead of watching videos in the American public system. Of course, a housing crisis hit Al Ain, so we’re living at the Hilton Hotel until our home is ready, so things are not well on that front. But at least we don’t have a mortgage. Or a foreclosure. There’ also something about living abroad that makes every day a little bit more intriguing. You’re a foreigner in a strange place and the language is different and everything is just a little bit off. That’s got to be good for writing, if not for the soul. Though of course, my soul is irredeemable.

OA: How has living in Dubai impacted your writing (i.e. settings, plot, etc.)?
AM: I had stopped writing before moving to Dubai, but once I moved I had so much to write about I couldn’t put down the metaphorical pencil. Metaphorical because I use a quill pen and write with my toes. There’s so much stimuli when you move, especially if you move far away. The setting and characters are obviously new, but you also hear different types of stories, which can influence plot. I wrote a novel. Khawla’s Wall, based on what an American woman, who’d married and divorced an Emirati man, told me at work; we were waiting for a student to show up. I have no idea why we were in a room talking, waiting for a student to show up, but I do remember the woman’s story.

OA: I saw somewhere that you are shopping a novel. What can you tell us your novel?
AM: Khawla’s Wall is about all the dramatic changes in the Emirates. The socio-economic climate has changed so much that the country’s traditional values and beliefs are being vigorously challenged. Many would say they’re being destroyed. 40 years ago, the people of Dubai were living in barasti huts made of palm fronds; most of them had no electricity or running water. Now they live in the future, 100 years beyond Tokyo, with 7-star hotels and film festivals and loads and loads of money. Clearly, that comes at a price. My students aren’t allowed to be alone with men or boys not related to them by blood or marriage; they walked around cloaked from head to toe in black silk. But they carry around laptops and cell phones, so they’re not entirely cloistered.

I just wish the literal climate would change: it’s bloody hot here.

Wow, my summary sounds boring. It’s also a love story with mystery and intrigue and involves a local woman in a government office who must work inside a black tower. It contains multitudes.

Gretchen Stelter of Baker’s Mark is representing me. She’s also shopping my second book, Hollywood, South Korea, a serio-comic novel about an American professor teaching on US military bases in South Korea.

OA: You have been published both in print and on-line. Is one more legitimate then the other?
AM: I’ve also taught for both online and onground universities. The answer is the same. There is total crap in the three-dimensional world of print. Paper doesn’t make bad writing good, and electronic mediation doesn’t somehow alchemically compromise the intrinsic quality of good writing. The perception of online publications may be different, though this has changed quite a bit over the last few years. In any case, people tend to perceive things wrong so perception isn’t something that interests me. I’ve been very proud of some of my online publications, but I’ve also raised my eyebrows at the quality of some of the print journals I’ve been in.

OA: Do you find it easier to get published now that you have left New York?
AM: No. However, a few times, I submitted material with Arabic subject matter under Arabic pseudonyms. This material was absolutely published more easily. I attribute this to the reductive, superficial, oddly-biased whims of so many editors and journal referees. As an example, I once published something in a British online journal under the name of an Arabic woman. There was a chat area devoted to the story. Sentences like, “Only an Arabic woman could have told this story” were legion. Previously, the story had been rejected by a journal because “the voice wasn’t authentically Arabic/female.” Indeed! There’s a whole seamy and quite fallacious underbelly of literary analysis that thinks a woman has secret access to every thought of every other woman and a man cannot ever plumb the depths of the female psyche. The same is assumed for race, ethnicity, religion, etc. The truth is that we are all completely separate entities, each human being. No one, man or woman, knows what it is to be me. It’s impossible to see into another person’s mind. Therefore, it’s ridiculous—and, ironically, prejudicial—to assume that it’s any more impossible to see into another person’s mind if that person is from a different race, class, gender, etc. When we worry about trifling, parochial issues like this, we’re wasting our time and keeping our energies away from the real subject—quality. Who cares what gender the author is?

OA: What's next for Andrew Madigan?
AM: I’m writing a novel about a man who moves to Al Ain to teach for a local university and has to live at the Hilton Hotel. I obviously have little imagination.

I also play rugby for the Al Ain Amblers. So I plan to get hurt a lot, perhaps a nice debilitating but not life-threatening injury. Furthermore, I’m looking for another job in Al Ain—anyone interested?—because the people at my present place of employment can’t find me a place to live. I want a home for my children. Americans are so self-absorbed and demanding that way.

Bonus Questions:
OA: Coffee? If yes, where can you find the best cup in your area?
AM: I like these bonus questions even better. Keep ‘em coming. There aren’t many good things about my new job, but coffee is one of them. The university has a woman, the lovely Linda at the end of the corridor where I’m typing this email, to bring coffee and tea. She makes an outstanding Turkish coffee (no sugar). The traditional Bedu way to make coffee is to pound fresh cardamom into a powder and mix it with coffee (and sometimes ginger) in a big samovar. Of course, a Starbucks grande latte has replaced all that: see question 3. Nescafe—sadly, so sadly—is very popular here, as it is in many parts of the world. That’s what really keeps different cultures apart. We need a coffee ambassador to explain the evils of Nescafe, rather than of non-democratic government, to the developing world.

OA: What type of music do you enjoy and who are a few of your favorite's?
AM: If you need a special music correspondent for the website, all you have to do is ask.

I like: Italian opera, especially Giordano; jazz, primarily 40s-60s, especially Miles, Coltrane, Coleman, Rollins and Chet Baker; some crooners and jazz singers; some blues and reggae; country (Cash, Kris K., Willie, Hank, Patsy, George Jones, Bobby Bare); alternative country and Americana (Handsome Family, Ryan Adams, Bobby Bare, Jr., Waco Brothers, Old 97s); classic rock (Beach Boys, Kinks, Who, Stones, Dylan); singer-song-writers (Cohen, Waits, Lucinda Williams, Jesse Malin); and various shades of indie (I Am Kloot, Band of Horses, Destroyer, New Pornographers, Okkervill River); and just plain misc. (Replacements, Lemonheads, Clash, X, Buzzcocks, Thrills, Iggy, Bowie, Neko Case, Palace, Wilco, Beck, Syd Barret, Lambchop, Smog) . I’m getting tired of typing.

For more information on Andrew Madigan you can check out a few of his stories.

Reader Meet Author

Pete Anderson

Promotion, self or otherwise, has been on my mind lately. How do you promote yourself, especially in times like these? First you will have to decide what you have to promote, and to whom this can be marketed. For a short story writer your stories, published or unpublished are your products. Through a blog you can gain a small audience and direct people to where you have been published. It's a resource, a tool, a method to communicate and inform. Yet more than just self-promotion, many writers are blogging about what their friends and fellow writers are doing. They are promoting others and in turn drawing more attention and traffic to their own blogs and ultimately their own work.

Joliet's Pete Anderson is the man behind Pete Lit, which he start back in May of 2003. He started it to share his thoughts and writing and all the randomness of his life. Over the years his blogging and writing has improved and he has gained a fine reputation in both areas.

Recently, Pete was kind enough to answer a few of my questions.

Orange Alert (OA): As a writer and a prolific blogger, why do you feel it is important for writers to maintain blogs, be working, promotion, or anything else?
Pete Anderson (PA): With over 100,000 books published every year, writers have to promote their books on their own, in every conceivable manner, to even have the slightest chance at recognition. And with passionate but cash-strapped indie publishers which have minimal or non-existent marketing budgets, it's even more critical for the author to do so. As a writer it's simply not acceptable to expect your publisher to do all of that work for you.

OA: Your blog is not just about you, but you also promote the work of others. Do you feel an obligation to balance self-promotion with promoting others?
PA: I love promoting the work of others whom I genuinely admire, both because I think they totally deserve it and because they're probably not getting as much exposure as they should. For the most part great literature flies far below the radar of the general public, and if I can reach just half a dozen readers and put in a good word for a book I just read and loved, it's more than worth my time. And in a way, promoting others is in itself an act of self-promotion. Because every time I hype Ben Tanzer, the unspoken understanding is that he'll return the favor. However, though he's been very good about doing so thus far, if he keeps cranking out books at his current pace or gets too big for his britches, I might just have to get our unwritten agreement put in writing by a very shrewd attorney.

OA: The first time I saw you read you read this elaborate historical piece called 'Mercy Day'. How much research went into that piece, and how much time do you typical spent researching before you write?
PA: First off, thanks for recognizing that story, which I never really thought of as "elaborate", though I guess a 3,000-word story with four first-person narrators and a fifth third-person narrator would probably qualify as such. Second, this is the right time to give props to Nick Ostdick and RAGAD, not just because he published the story and hosted that reading, but also because I know he'll return the hype when I most need it. Lastly, the only research that went into the story was my reading of Anthony Hatch's book Tinder Box: The Iroquois Theatre Disaster 1903, which captivated me so much that I was all but compelled to write a story narrated by the disaster's survivors. I try to research as much as I can (although excessive research can easily interfere with the actual writing itself) not because I want to perfectly replicate the historic al record, but because I want it to be just accurate enough to not turn off a reader who may be better educated on a subject than me. As a reader, nothing irritates me more than a fictional story that gets some very basic facts flat-out wrong. A bit of research goes a long way toward avoiding that.

OA: Do you feel there is a difference between being published on-line and being published in print? Is one better or more valid than the other?
PA: The two are equally valid. At first I looked down on online publishing, but after a hundred rejections from print journals I realized that a) online journals publish more often and aren't bound as much by cost considerations, and thus accept a lot more stories; b) online journals have the potential to reach infinitely more readers than print journals, most of which have circulations at best in the low hundreds; and c) online journals accept submissions electronically, which is infinitely easier than schlepping manila envelopes down to the post office to submit to print journals, most of which only accept submissions by mail. For those reasons I've really come around to online journals. But there's still that certain something about seeing your story appear in good old-fashioned perfect-bound print, which is why I still submit to those old dinosaurs every now and then.

OA: How do you deal with rejection? We all know it's a part of writing, but what is your trick to coping with it all?
PA: Rejection really used to bother me (in fact, I was genuinely surprised that my very first story didn't win the Glimmer Train contest I entered it in, although looking back and re-reading the story today, I can totally see why - it's an embarrasing piece of crap) but I eventually realized what a numbers game getting published is, and what overwhelming meager odds are involved. So I cope by not worrying about it at all - when I send out a story I usually forget all about it and just assume it will be rejected. Then when the rare acceptance comes, it's a really pleasant surprise. And when a rejection comes, I file it with all the others and move on.

OA: What's next for Pete Anderson?
PA: I'm working on a new novel, The Night, based on the Morphine album of the same name; trying to find a home for my story chapbook This Land Was Made For You and Me, which I might end up self-publishing in a handmade limited edition; and contemplating the fourth draft of my novella Wheatyard. All that, plus remaining gainfully employed and being a good husband and father. Each is equally challenging.

Bonus Questions:
OA: What is your favorite blog to visit?
PA: Why, What To Wear During an Orange Alert? of course! (There's that reciprocal hype thing again.) Some of my favorite litblogs are Bookninja, Bookslut, Ward Six, Edward Champion's Reluctant Habits and the various writer blogs - Tanzer, Ostdick, Tim Hall, etc. All of them are very worthy of the time your employer is paying you for.

OA: What type of music do you enjoy and who are a few of your favorites?
PA: Indie rock in all its various guises. Some of my faves past and present include Morphine (the fact that I'm writing a book about one of their albums only hints at my ardor for the band), Joel R.L. Phelps and the Downer Trio, Tom Waits, the Mountain Goats, Yo La Tengo, the Pogues, the Feelies...

And what, no coffee question? Though you didn't ask I'll answer it anyway - Chicago's very own and very phenomenal Intelligentsia Coffee. I regularly buy their beans and make an Americano at home every day, which is ten times better and ten times cheaper than a certain voracious chain that seems intent on having a location on every street corner in the civilized world.

For more information on Pete Anderson you can visit his blog Pete Lit.

Reader Meet Author

Megan Mercier

It's is almost a battle, writer's vs. bloggers! Okay maybe not a battle, but I heard the questioned posed, "Are bloggers actually writers?". The answer is it all depends on how you blog. Some use their blog to post their stories and poems, others blog about current events, some use their blogs to promote themselves without shame, and some promote others. The root of all writing is expression and writer/actress Megan Mercier expresses herself in several different ways.

What comes through when reading Megan's blog, Rubberneck Whiplash, is a mixture of daily trials and triumphs, political views, personal news updates, and so on. However, a blog can be more then what it appears to be. A blog can keep you writing, keep you thinking, expressing yourself, and keep people reading. You also get a sense of Megan personality, which is undeniably vibrant and a welcomed edition to the Chicago literary scene.

Recently, Megan was kind enough to answer a few of my questions.

Orange Alert (OA): The Neo-Futurists seems like a lot of fun. What has your experience been like with them?
Megan Mercier (MM): Well, I actually haven't started contributing to Too Much Light… yet, although I did streak the stage during the show while I was still an intern with them. I'm not scheduled to start until early January. I spent about five months with them as a production intern for Picked Up this past spring while I was finishing college and I think it was more beneficial to me in dozens of ways than my last semester of classes. The entire ensemble was so welcoming and truly took me on like a member of the family. They are all uniquely brilliant artists who are so constantly aware. The most valuable lesson I've learned from working with them is to be present, engaged, and alert. The rest will come if you can be those things. And simplify. Simplify, simplify, simplify and you will discover the golden nugget of what you are trying to say.

OA: Do you see theater struggling over the next several months as a result of what is going on with the economy?
MM: People are hesitant to spend money on live theater and that's been the case for quite some time. Let's face it---for the cost of a midsize theater ticket you can get at least 3 Jagerbombs on Clark Street. Theater audiences tend to be segregated in a variety of ways, and income is definitely one of them. The average Too Much Light audience member, for instance, is not as likely to pay $60 for a ticket at Chicago Shakespeare Theater as a middle-aged professional. Young people cannot generally afford to see shows in the bigger houses, but affluent adults can. You can go see TJ & Dave at iO for $5. But from a production perspective, when money is tight, you're forced to be more creative than you might be with an extravagant budget. Minimalism can be invaluably freeing. Limitations force you to scale back on extraneous crap and delve into the meat of your purpose. The golden nugget. It makes for stronger work, and if you're lucky a few people may come to see it. I think if theater and its artists know nothing else, they know how to struggle financially. I feel like struggle within theater is more evident in terms of theme, content, & style. My hope is that, with the recent election, theater may begin to crawl out of its sardonic cave and bring some inventive, inspirational work to the foreground.

*I should mention that most houses will allow you to at least usher to see a show for free. some even have a hush-hush pay-what-you-can.

OA: You are a writer who blogs. Why do you think it is so important for writers to keep blogs?
MM: I am torn between great shame and great pride in my blog. Blogs are self-indulgent pockets of reverie, like junk-food journals. Which is precisely why I have one. The accessibility of a blog is comforting, to know that you can feel isolated and publish your personal 'now' into the ether where you may hit another point of isolated contact. The self-indulgent nature of a blog can be a blessing, because when I realize how desperate I sound as a writer, I realize that I am interpreting events in a way that is not good for me. If you use them the right way, a blog can be a good way to keep your attitude in check without censoring your thoughts. I go through spurts where I'm diligent about writing in a journal, at least every night before bed, and I'm at a point in my life where I'm not as able to do that. I think too quickly, and typing allows me to process and arrange my thoughts more to the speed of my brain. Yet when I'm typing in a .doc, it always feels formal and I get too careful. I think blogging can be a blessing for scatterbrained writers. It caters to an inability to focus for long periods of time like a synaptic incubator. You can get away with anything in a blog, especially as an unknown writer. It's immediate, it's pretty amateur, and that lack of formality allows me to cut loose with a creativity that otherwise can feel milked. I'm trying to teach myself how to dive in with less sludge. It's a personal preference for me at this point.

OA: What are your thoughts on the current stage for Chicago literature? Do you attend or participate in any of the monthly readings around town?
MM: I love literature as performance. It's vital. I have seen vastly less than I should have since moving here, mostly small readings at bookstores or open mics here and there, or solo performance showcases. It's truly always been a matter of time constraints. I moved here three years ago to get my theater degree from Columbia, and I was always going to class or working or doing shows and often all three. Now that I've graduated I hope to get more involved in the literary scene. I love David Sedaris and read that Ira Glass discovered him at a public reading in Chicago long before he was ever published, so I have great faith in the scene here. I've seen 2nd Story and I like what they do, so I'll probably submit there. I think Chicago Public Radio has some wonderful things going on from a literary perspective, and I'm a huge fan of The Believer (magazine) which is affiliated with 826CHI. I'd love to work with 826CHI in the near future.

OA: I don't normally touch on politics, but we were both recently moved by the same line spoken over the NPR airwaves. What do you feel will change if Obama is elected? What might happen if he is not?
MM: My mom is flying up tomorrow from Alabama to go to the Grant Park rally with me. I don't think she would have flown up for a Kerry-Edwards rally. If Barack Obama is elected, the world will not come up roses on Wednesday, but he is a compassionate, charismatic, gifted communicator. That is the foundation for a strong leader. He is not the messiah and he is not without flaw, but I trust him. I might have liked to see more of him from a foreign diplomat perspective, but I don't worry for him in an international forum. You cannot acknowledge Obama's story without ignoring his ethnic background, which can integral to our nation re-evaluating core ethics that America was supposedly build upon and never realized. As that NPR quote implies, this journey is a monumental event in American history. My mom gave me a necklace for graduation that says, "the journey is the reward." Win or lose, I will be infinitely proud to mark my ballot and stand in Grant Park regardless.

*since writing this, Obama triumphed. getting my hands on copies of the Tribune & Sun-Times the next day was almost a more exciting journey than the election.

OA: What next for Megan Mercier?
MM: Student loans. Too Much Light. Painting my room. More writing.

Bonus questions:
OA: Coffee? If yes, where can you find the best cup in Chicago?
MM: Oh boy, I'm torn. I love Metropolis up on Granville, especially that French press coffee I had one time (because I am the sort of person who keeps a blog, I must of course indulge the French press), but I am a tremendous fan of Noble Tree on Clark (just north of Fullerton). That place has swell coffee and three floors of comfortably furnished WiFi. Love love love that place. Ask barista Tif to make you a dirty chai. P.S. the guy who owns this place also owns Dollop in East Lakeview and a killer vintage store called Haystack. I got my bedside table there and it was a steal.

OA: What type of music do you listen to, and who are a few of your favorites?
MM: too many to list---I'll offer instead a playlist to sample:




For more information on Megan Mercier you can visit her blog, and also check out her recently piece published by the2ndhand, The Birth of a Nation.

Reader Meet Author

Jac Jemc

Rejection is a natural part of life, and even more so when it comes to writing and publishing. In fact, it is one of the first things you are told when you declare that you want write, “Be prepared for rejection!”. How you handle this rejection will dictate how successful you will be as a writer. The issue is that every story or poem you write is special to you, it has meaning no matter how you claim to detach yourself, and it takes effort and courage just to submit it. When the rejection final arrives even the most accomplished writer is hurt. So, what can you do?

Chicago’s Jac Jemc has taken an interesting (especially for the reader) approach to dealing with rejection. Like many writers she maintains an active blog, and has logged and numbered each rejection she has received. She also mentions where her work is published, but the blog essentially reads like cathartic tribute to rejection. If you start at the beginning of the blog, you can see that as the rejections begin to pile up the acceptances starting to come at a more regular pace. It is an interesting behind the scene look at what it is like to be a writer.

Recently, Jac was kind enough to answer a few of my questions.

Orange Alert (OA): Let's start with rejection. You seem to have taken what for some is the most challenging aspect of being a writer and turn it into a game of sorts. How did you first get the idea to blog each rejection, and what has the response been like?
Jac Jemc (JJ): Well, first I just decided I needed a blog so I could put links to the places my work was going up. I wanted a place that could kind of be the Jac-Jemc-Hub so that if people happened to like my work, they could easily find more of it. But I also knew I needed something else going on at the site so that people might actually check back from time to time. I imagined that the people who might be looking would be other writers, and what do other writers love more than hearing about their peers' failure? I think of the site as self-deprecation as self-promotion.

Also, I really like rejections. Of course, I like acceptances more, but at least rejections show that something is happening. I think sometimes, even if you're friends with other writers and you actually talk shop with each other, you can feel like you're working in a sort of void. Sending work out and hearing anything is encouraging, then. As for response to the blog, it's been good. My blog doesn't get all that many hits in a day: if it goes over 50, I'm skipping to bed that night, but most people say they like it or they think it's clever. A few people have written saying they're just starting out and they appreciate knowing how many rejections you can expect along the way.

One thing I'm always a little nervous about is the fact that I don't ask the permission of the people who are writing the rejections. I don't think I'm breaking any laws, but maybe I am by presenting a private exchange to the public? I try to have a sense of humor about the rejections and I never change what people say. I pretty much quote them verbatim so if someone doesn't like it, he's dug his own grave. Matt DiGangi of Thieves Jargon has been the only reader who responded recognizing that if he rejected me he would be quoted on the blog. And that was terrific. I felt like someone finally read the bio I sent with my submission.

OA: We recently saw the demise of an established literary site, Zygote in My Coffee, and just a week earlier Thieves Jargon announced that they would begin "winding things down". What are your thoughts on on-line journals, their validity, and lasting power?
JJ: Well, first of all I was sad to hear about Zygote in My Coffee and the idea of Thieves Jargon "winding down" breaks my heart a little. Thieves Jargon was a magazine I found in the beginning of my hunting and really led me to a lot of writers I love now, but in the case of Matt D, I believe he'll keep rejecting and rejecting and then rooting for the underdog wherever he ends up. I'm thought I heard he was in school for publishing, is that right? So the course is just altering a bit.

As for online journals in general, I adore them with all of my cold little heart. I think they've allowed a whole new form to emerge and gain validity. I might not know what I'm talking about, I haven't been doing this that long, but it seems to me that short-shorts and flash pieces are recognized as a valid form more and more, and I think that's got to have a lot to do with the attention span of a person reading online. There's a difference between buying or borrowing a journal, holding it in your hands, and browsing a website. I think you're more likely to feel committed to getting through whole, longer pieces of work if its in a solid object in front of you. Online, it's so easy to click away from a piece and never think about it again. I think it makes writers work harder because they know how easy it is for someone to wander away and I think it also gives permission to write really concentrated little narratives that can be swallowed whole even on a glowing screen with eight million distractions.

Validity? I think they deserve more credit. I think they're causing a revolution and opening up a strange, little, experimental world to more people.

Lasting Power? I feel like I can name more print journals that have gone under after one issue than online journals. The overhead is obviously lower without paper and mailing costs.

OA: You have several pieces forthcoming in print journals. Do you feel that print journals are carry more weight or are more respected then on-line journals? Which do you submit to more often?
JJ: I think my answer to this question might be a little like the way I keep thinking, "How could Obama not get elected?" Everyone I know gives online magazines their due, if not maybe preferring them to print magazines. I realize this might not be widely held literary worldview, but I feel like I'm coming from the far left of the writing world, and I think it might be the only part I care about, at least enough to actively participate in.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both print and online publication. I can't deny that I enjoy the little shelf of magazines with my work that's slowly filling up one of my shelves, but if anyone tells me they've read my work or comes to my blog, as far as I can tell, they're all arriving there from online magazines.

I'm not going to bother to do the math, but I probably submit to online mags slightly more because it's easier. If all print journals accepted electronic submissions it'd probably be equal. If I always had the money for stamps and manila envelopes, it'd probably be even more equal (hehe).The response time also tends to be quicker with online magazines which, I must say, I appreciate, and I write at a length that's good for online readers. It makes sense to me the scales should tip in that direction.

OA: You graduated from SAIC. I normally talk to artist from SAIC, and writers from Columbia. How did you decide to attend SAIC, and what was your experience like there?
JJ: I heard about SAIC's writing program at a panel discussion about writing programs in art schools at the AWP Conference my senior year of college. It sounded like the perfect fit. You don't have to declare a concentration; you can work on poetry and fiction and screenwriting and painting words on walls and embroidering words into socks – whatever you want to do. I was prepared to choose fiction over poetry if I didn't get into the Art Institute, but I really didn't want to make that kind of declaration. I knew, even if I joined a program that labeled me a fiction student, I was going to be writing poetry under the covers with a flashlight at night. The Art Institute also has a terrific advising program where you meet with an advisor every week or two and just talk one on one about your work. That undivided attention was the kicker. It was all about me for an hour-plus a week (kind of like this interview). I don't mind workshops and most people at the Art Institute are very open, but I do think politics can get in the way of helping out your fellow-classmates. It was also really wonderful to have all sorts of artist (photographers, sound, drawing students) in classes, too, because their relationship to work was different and it always brought surprising, more expansive ideas into discussions.

OA: What are your thoughts on the Chicago lit scene right now? Do you attend any of the local events or readings? Is Chicago a good place to be a writer?
JJ: Oh, boy. Chicago is where it's at. Am I wrong? I'm having such a great time. Did you not go to the Printers Ball? It was a dream. Really, there's so many people doing extraordinary things. I wish I could get out to more, but every month I go to the series Mary Hamilton and Lindsay Hunter host at the Innertown Pub: Quickies. Featherproof rocks my socks, so I get to everything they put on if I can. I try and get to as many of the Myopic readings as possible and I love the Rec Room when I can get there (I work Wednesday nights). There's a million more I want to get to or have been to once or twice. There is never a shortage of readings and happenings. Also the magazines and presses are the best out there: Make, Bailliwik, The 2nd Hand, The Packingtown Review, Switchback, Chicago Review, Fiction At Work – What more could a girl ask for?

OA: What's next for Jac Jemc?
JJ: I'm actually in a little place I call writer heaven right now – which actually means I'm on a writing residency at Ragdale up in Lake Forest. I get to read and write and sit on a verandah in a rocking chair with a quilt on my lap and look out at the prairie. I feel like Emily Dickinson, but much less refined. I have no idea what I'll do when they release me next week. Keep working, I suppose, but without the servants. I just finished a novel manuscript that I'm sending that out to see the world now finally. I've been working on it for about three years, so it feels great to get it out of my hands.

Bonus Questions:
OA: Coffee? If yes where can you find the best cup in Chicago?
JJ: Coffee! Metropolis and Dollop are my destination coffee shops – I will travel for the beans and atmosphere in these two places. However, because of proximity to my home and workplace, Pause, Chicago Coffee Company and Kopi are the places I frequent most often.

OA: What type of music do you listen to, and who are a few of your favorites?
JJ: I feel like all of my answers are a mile long, but they're all things I care about so much. I'm terrified of how these will be edited down. I will try to list only true favorites: Lou Reed, Cat Power, Leonard Cohen, Conor Oberst, Otis Redding, Joanna Newsom, Lucinda Williams, Feist, Dolly Parton, The Magnetic Fields, Joni Mitchell, Golden Shoulders, Elliott Smith, Patti Smith, Radiohead, Ryan Adams, Sarah Harmer, Talking Heads, Beatles, Jeff Buckley, Andrew Bird, Townes van Zandt, Tom Waits, The Pixies, Edith Piaf.

For more information on Jac Jemc please visit her blog.