Launch Day - And what the hell is a slipstream?

My new collection, Ethical Aspects of Animal Husbandry, launches today on Amazon.

I am excited (obviously) to gather this particular group of stories into a book. When I look over my work, I know I write in a number of different genres. This is reflective of how I read. I love the challenge and depth of Delillo, Ford and Carver - and at the same time I love the great crime fiction writers (Joe Lansdale and Elmore Leonard would top this list - with James Crumley thrown in for good and noir measure). I read classics like Moby Dick, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and most of what Hemingway wrote. I had a serious obsession with Vonnegut, which has now been replaced with George Saunders. Oh man, George Saunders. (If you read woofreakinhoo, you know what I am talking about.) Recently, I need to add Jennifer Egan - I recently read Emerald City, and was blown away.

This range of writers is reflective in my work - and sometimes, I have to admit - it has made it hard for the Big 6 publishers to say "yes" to it. In another post, I'll tell the tale of how Correction Line almost made it to the bigs. But today, is Launch Day - exciting for any writer.

In the intro to my description I talk about the "slipstream" bubbling up. This is a fairly recent term, or in my estimation, and it replaces a term I used to use to explain this sort of work: Magical Realism. In my above list of influences, I neglected to mention a big one: Gabriel Garcia Marquez. One Hundred Years of Solitude (one of my top 5 reads of all time), showed a style of writing to me that I went, "Yeah, that the stuff I love!". Marquez and other South American writers had a significant influence on Correction Line. Zoom ahead in my reading history and I came upon Neil Gaiman. After reading Neverwhere and American Gods, I was reminded of my love of Marquez - yet this was something different. The style was linked to fantasy, yet not, mystical, funny, dark - was there a new term for this? Reading Gaiman led me to Tim Powers, and I said, okay what is this stuff?

Slipstream.

Great name, what is it?

I found this definition, which says it well:

Slipstream describes fiction that falls between "mainstream" literature and the fantasy and science fiction genres (the name itself is wordplay on the term "mainstream"). Where science fiction and fantasy novels treat their fantastical elements as being very literal, real elements of their world, slipstream usually explores these elements in a more surreal fashion, and delves more into their satirical or metaphorical importance. Compared to magical realism the fantastical elements of slipstream also tend to be more extravagant, and their existence is usually more jarring to their comparative realities than that which is found in magic realism. 

Yeah, that's the stuff I love!

The stories in Ethical Aspects definitely have elements of the Slipstream - notably the De-Organization of Bob and Subject:time - and it is there in the background of others as well. Of course, I couldn't stick with one genre, because all those other writers tend to sneak in there.

As usual.

Pick up Ethical Aspects of Animal Husbandry at Amazon.com today.

Ethical - A description

Still in the editing process of this - but wanted to give a peek at the description of the collection. Trying to describe a book in summation has to be one of the biggest challenges for a writer (see: query letters).

But here goes - the first draft of it anyway.

Ethical Aspects of Animal Husbandry

A collection of short stories where the humour runs dark and the slipstream bubbles up.

In these 14 tales, you will meet a pair of office workers who wager that they can drive a too-perfect coworker over the edge, a barroom prophet who can predict more than rain, a modern-day yojimbo confronts the loss of his wife his mentorship of his nephew, and a man who receives some important advice from a pound of butter. Ethical Aspects of Animal Husbandry is inhabited with characters that are obsessed, confused, and sometimes just plain miffed. In the title story, a man seeks revenge on a neighbour who allowed a canine dalliance with his purebred Bichon. In Cappy, a man hears a name in a dream and ends up in the backyard of one of the pioneers of LSD. In Broomstick Limbo, a trio of young boys play a game a limbo with a unfortunate end. In Subject:time, a pair of siblings wonder why time is moving in opposite ways for both of them.

If you’ve read Correction Line, you will recognize Craig Terlson’s sharp dialogue and crafted storytelling — it’s Raymond Carver meets George Saunders and Joe Lansdale, and they all go drinking with Neil Gaiman.

Ethical Aspects - the Cover

Presenting... the cover. I have been very excited to show off the cover for my new collection. I worked with a wonderful designer friend who was very (very) patient with a picky writer (who also happens to be a designer).

I wanted someone else to design this cover, as opposed to the ones I've done myself in the past. The reason being, that I am sometimes too close to the work to see it from a new reader's perspective. I was interested in seeing how another designer would interpret the stories, and what kind of mood would emerge.

Basically, I think she knocked it out of the park. The cover illustrates the title story, but as well captures the overall tone of the collection. I won't say much more about it, or what tone she captures - would love to hear your comments (on twitter, facebook, or here at woofreakinhoo).

Once again, many thanks to the stellar work of designer Karen Allen. She has a website that is in process, and you can be sure I will link to it when it is up and running.

Please let me know what you think.

The book is near finished the formatting and final polish before its release. I'll have a definite date this week.

A trailer for a book?

If you have been on youtube lately (okay, that's a given), then you may have seen a lot of trailers for big movies, small movies, indy movies, even recut classic movies (check out Stephen King's recut of The Shining to make it play as a romantic comedy.) Another fairly recent phenom is the book trailer. Now, I know what you're thinking, trailers are film, and books are print (in pages or electronic) - does that even make sense?

Truthfully, not really. But I have seen a few of them that i really liked - notably, Gary Shteyngart's for Super Sad True Love Story - which basically mocks the idea of a promotional vid for a book. The trailer made me buy the book.

Anyway, being a film geek for most of my life, I wanted to give it a shot.

The budget was low (non-existent), the players wre related (as in my son and one of my daughters - both actors), and the passion was high (mine). Mostly I wanted to capture the feeling of the novel, which I think it does quite well.

Have a look and tell me what you think. It's not appearing in the Cannes festival anytime soon - but this wannabee Coppola had a helluva lot of fun making it.

Collections and such

Reading a lot of s.s. collections lately (writer hispter short hand for short stories) and loving them even more than usual. The general reading public, as in my neighbour, says the short story is coming back. Did it ever go away? And it isn't just him, trickle down literary theorey – much more interesting than Reaganomics - suggests that people are going, hey, these stories are shorter than novels! And damn, they're pretty good.

That last statement is not supposed to be a jibe - as us hipster reader/writers/thinkers know, the short story has long been the keeper of the cool - but I am celebrating, doing the hippy-hippy shake over s.s. collections finally getting their due. George Saunders Tenth of December is my bet for one of the top prizes this year (thinking Pulitzer or National Book award), and I just finished the astonishingly good Emerald City by Jennifer Egan.

The whole novel in stories thing has been bopping along - Egan again with A Visit from the Goon Squad (Pulitzer Winner - and maybe future HBO series?) But I still love the plain old, unadulturated s.s. collection. See Carver, Munro, Hemingway, O'Connor, and Richard Ford... especially Ford. reading Egan's Emerald City, I wondered about the connections in the stories - there were some overlaps, but the premises and characters were diverse. I'd have to think deeply to find a shared theme - maybe loss (but isn't that in everything?)

I do know that when I read a great story, the effect can be transformative. True, also when I read a great novel (See DeLillo). I do read to see life in another way, to observe it from another lens (paraphrasing Richard Ford in a Paris Review interview), and to be challenged to think differently. Jobs and the boys at Apple were talking about desktop machines when they came up with that tagline - but for me, the possibility is in the print. Sort of like the proof is in the pudding.

I am looking forward to releasing my new collection in a couple of weeks. These stories are connected by a stream of dark humour, and a bit of mystic (slipstream) elements thrown in for good measure. Now, it could be said this is just a description of all my work - and it was said, by me, just now. (Very meta as my hipster adult kids say).

Stay tuned. And do go read a good s.s. collection. I suggest Rock Springs by Richard Ford, as it may be the best, ever.