Gordon Small: Composite version
When Brian Joseph Davis decided to create his Composites project, generating police composite photos of literary characters (read more about it in The Atlantic here), the first thing he did was test the program with a description of my character, Gordon Small, from my 2010 novel Heaven Is Small.
His skin did seem remarkably translucent above the three-day beard that lent him the air of a yellow Easter rabbit. “You should stand a little closer to a razor, son,” the Whoopsy’s franchise owner had perpetually told him. In its usual fashion, Gordon’s blond-brown hair was combed half over his forehead to hide the recession and shagged out behind his ears. His lips were still full, red and rubbery, not unlike those candied wax lips he had bought as a child from a bin for a quarter, chewed on, and then spat out. His eyes were like dark cracked marbles, but if they hinted at his mortality he suspected it was no more than they had during his life. His nose still hung with the bravado of a large appendage….
There are some perks to being Mrs. Composite. We collaborated, and it was an uncanny process — to see the man come to life. I didn’t think the character I had created was an awkward version of Ryan Gosling…but here we are.
You can’t have it all
“You Can Have It All” by George Mccrae is a great disco track, but in reality it’s just not true.
I’ve been juggling the arrival of my infant son, and the edits of my novel with Doubleday. I learned I was pregnant and began calling my son “The Boho Baby,” long before he ever arrived. Yes, it was the year I would crank out a kid, a novel, and travel. But…
If Tina Fey has trouble juggling career and motherhood, I guess it’s okay to admit that I do too. I’ve since begun to refer to my son as “The Saboteur,” so frequently does he interrupt my grand plans—sometimes because I’m dazzled by his beauty and just want to sit and hold him, other times by his amazing vocal range and volume. I have tried my best. I got back into my skinny jeans quickly, and I literally nursed him at my breast while flipping pages on the edits of The Blondes last fall. But…
All this is to say that baby has pushed the The Blondes a few weeks later and for those waiting patiently, I appreciate your patience. It is now set to arrive in the world on July 24.
Even if I can’t have it all, I am still attempting to have as much as possible within reason. I will, for instance, be reading at my neighborhood hangout Word Bookstore in Greenpoint, Brooklyn this week: Wednesday, February 8. If you’re familiar with the neighborhood, you might enjoy the Joyland Guide to Greenpoint.
I’ll also be minding the Joyland table at AWP in Chicago at the end of February, and helping with a Joyland/Dzanc event night at Quimby’s on March 1st (readings by Jeff Parker, Kevin Chong, Megan Stielstra, Eugene Cross).
A vital thing I’ve realized: disco songs make great lullabies. Because of their repetition, you don’t forget the words.
All out of Joy puns
Some friends have pointed out that the final shot of this video by Sean Ohlenkamp includes two of my novels, Joyland (rerelease edition) and Heaven Is Small, positioned on either side of the title card. If you watch closely, I’m sure you’ll see a lot of other favorites. I don’t know Ohlenkamp, but I love Type Books where the video was shot, so it’s exciting to see The Joy of Books vid getting so much internet buzz (1.6 million views on YouTube as of this moment). People sometimes think that those of us involved in digital projects are against print—but as much as I love the internet I also love a small edition that will fit in my purse and ride alongside me throughout my travels. When I have a good book in my hands, it is like a little romance.
Speaking of buying print books in local shops, the Joyland Retro anthology is now available at Librairie Drawn & Quarterly in Montreal, Type Books (Queen West location) in Toronto, and McNally Jackson in New York City. And of course from Joyland.
In other news, the National Post included my upcoming novel, The Blondes, in its 12 Most Anticipated Books of ’12. And Quill & Quire, which I mentioned in my last post, posted their preview of it online as part of a slide show. There’s also a hat tip from Canadian Bookshelf as part of their most anticipated list.
12 Links of Christmas
Things got away from me a bit at the end of 2011 (see previous post). But apparently motherhood means I now blog in bulk. Here are some wrapping-up-the-year highlights, and some looking-ahead links.
Looking Back at 2011
Joyland Magazine received several Distinguished Mentions in Best American Short Stories 2011 for works by Elisabeth Harvor, Erica Lorraine, and Maggie Shipstead.
In one of my favorite interviews of the year, our latest Joyland eBook author Megan Stielstra interviewed herself on the Nervous Breakdown. As the editor of Megan’s collection, Everyone Remain Calm, I’m obviously quite familiar with the stories, but I think her decision to give the real-life inspiration behind each piece is brave. It’s a simple idea but lends itself to the kind of intimate portrait one wants from fiction—the dish on what is real and what is fabricated.
In the early fall ECW Press put out a new edition of an old book, my very first novel, Joyland, which is where that other thing got its name. Designer Ingrid Paulson gave the book a gorgeous new look while still making use of the original art by Nate Powell. (Again, clearly I am biased.) This novel is a video-game framed coming-of-age story yet I felt very grown-up to see it being re-released five years after its original publication.
Looking Ahead to 2012
This past week, Now Magazine in Toronto gave some pre-love to The Blondes, which releases in May this year.
I was ecstatic to see that the new issue of Quill & Quire (print edition) features a spring preview of the book as well. They say that it “looks to be an extension of the author’s signature mix of quirky postmodernism and biting satire” and who am I to argue?
As part of our fundraising, Joyland Magazine releases its first print edition, the Joyland Retro, featuring fiction by James Greer, Roxane Gay, Scott McClanahan, Kevin Wilson, Zoe Whittall, and others. It’s kind of a “Best of” from the past three-plus years. If you want to help support what we do and keep the site running, buy a copy here. Or if you want to just read about it, Steven W. Beattie interviews co-publisher Brian Joseph Davis about the project over here.
Busy
Apologies for the lack of posts. As you can see, I’m working through the final edits of the new book The Blondes (to release this spring ’12), and also working through the first days with the new baby (released this fall).
“The Blondes” is coming…
Yes, it’s grammatically awkward, but I can’t help tipping my hat to the campaign Alfred Hitchcock used with The Birds. My new novel, The Blondes, is indeed almost here. I saw today that Random House/Doubleday has officially posted the cover! And you can read more about it on the publisher’s page.
“It could be the most terrifying book I have ever made.”
“OK” Computer
And this is what my computer looks like after one novel has been written, rewritten, then edited and rewritten again on it. So far, I seem to be averaging about one laptop per book. As you can see, I wore off 5 of the letters and, like my mind, this thing is just a mess. But I’ve finished a whirlwind spree and am almost ready to hand the novel back in to my editor.
The toils will be on display in book form in the spring (2012) when The Blondes releases from Doubleday Canada–although I can guarantee the product will look much prettier than the machine on which it was created.
Books by women all men should read
I would be remiss if I didn’t blog about this here, on my author site, as it seems to be tearing through the internet world — the past day or two at least. Over Memorial Day weekend Esquire posted, or rather re-posted, a list of 75 Books All Men Should Read, containing a sole female author. On Joyland’s Facebook and Twitter, Brian Joseph Davis and I wondered if we could crowd-source 75 books or more by women that both men and women felt men should be reading? Many other writers, readers and editors jumped to the cause. Here is that response.
It has since been picked up by The Atlantic, LA Times, The Huffington Post, Book Forum, The New Yorker Book Bench and Entertainment Weekly. Who knew this off-the-cuff thing could pick up such steam? A few final thoughts of mine are here.
My first reading at 2nd Draft
Please join me for my first New York reading of 2011…
Wednesday, May 11, 2011, 7:30 pm
The 2nd Draft Reading Series
Roots & Vines Cafe, 409 Grand St (@ Clinton), Manhattan, New York
Readers: Emily Schultz, Fiona Maazel, Amanda Stern
Visit the 2nd Draft Series Facebook page for updates or more info, or their blog.
