tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61166228167827555692024-03-18T20:05:59.071-07:00The Thing About ThingsAndrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-71445270069884663412014-12-20T17:54:00.002-08:002015-02-17T13:24:47.161-08:00I'VE MOVED<a href="http://andrewnathanhood.com/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">andrewnathanhood.com</span></a>Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-48165463181716968282014-08-10T18:57:00.006-07:002014-08-10T18:57:47.490-07:00I'M FAT AND NOBODY LIKES ME<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reading <i><a href="http://www.vehiculepress.com/q.php?EAN=9781550652321">Pardon Our Monsters</a></i> for book club but haven't gotten around to actually reading the stupid thing? Good news! A couple kids hanging out cross-legged on the grass summed that rotten chestnut up in a fussless, mussless two minutes and forty-seven seconds.</span> </div>
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Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-8290687072326656082014-08-04T18:19:00.002-07:002014-08-04T18:19:40.497-07:00SHIT YEAH<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAIGPUiIvvPyx0vlGYPBffCmf-Vyr4YZ8BAl7aKWV5N-kdg5Br7XbXmBtW_JgZw0AuNG_s-mdD5dKApdqaNbY4ic9CHbIukRkoQBPbzfwcr86Q2inLfgSibBghAC3jxVoKY-ceCz7w-VU/s1600/McCuen+WNW.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAIGPUiIvvPyx0vlGYPBffCmf-Vyr4YZ8BAl7aKWV5N-kdg5Br7XbXmBtW_JgZw0AuNG_s-mdD5dKApdqaNbY4ic9CHbIukRkoQBPbzfwcr86Q2inLfgSibBghAC3jxVoKY-ceCz7w-VU/s1600/McCuen+WNW.JPG" height="640" width="420" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The original release of Jim Guthrie's <i><a href="http://jimguthrie.bandcamp.com/album/a-thousand-songs">A Thousand Songs</a></i> in August of 1999 was accompanied by an incredibly fresh Lyric Picturebook, featuring visual realizations of Jim's jams by a cadre of Guelph artists. The above articulation of the song from which the forthcoming Jim Guthrie Tell-All takes its name comes courtesy of Steve McCuen. (The Bonus Funny Strip is a nod to the first song, "Baby Where'd Ya Get That Heart," off Jim's first tape--1995's <i>Home Is Where The Rock Is.</i>)</span><br />
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Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-62017127741471311282014-07-31T05:20:00.001-07:002014-07-31T05:20:26.886-07:00BECAUSE IT'S DONE DOES NOT MEAN IT'S GOOD.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, it's not <i>done</i>-done. But after a year and about fifty subjects interviewed, I've got a bunch of pages I can pinch together with a binder clip.</span><br />
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Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-72253601027830915652014-07-17T10:02:00.003-07:002014-07-17T10:32:51.309-07:00A CUPBOARD FULL OF DISHES AND A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I know you complete strangers worry, but don't. I'm getting enough to drink. Plus, I'm managing to get some work done in there somewhere, too. If there's a god in heaven and a beer in the fridge, I'll have a new book loose in the stupid world by Spring 2015.<br />
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If you're familiar with my previous writing, you'll know that I've mostly addressed how terrible everything and everyone is. Which is all well and good and sometimes true.<br />
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But this new book I've got loaded in the chamber addresses how awesome some things and some people are. It's a book about <a href="http://www.jimguthrie.org/" target="_blank">Jim Guthrie</a>--the musician, not the race car driver. Over a twenty year career, Jim's been a key propellant in a major local music scene in my hometown, a contributor to the indie rock renaissance that took hold in post-millennium Toronto, and most recently revolutionized video game scores. Jim's an awesome dude, and everyone he's helped and been helped by his whole life are awesome people, and this book--"Jim Guthrie: Who Needs What," a member of Invisible's <a href="http://invisiblepublishing.com/?cat=6" target="_blank">Bibliophonic Series</a>--may be awesome, too.<br />
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One of the guys I interviewed for the book turned that interview into a podcast, which you can hear <a href="http://vishkhanna.com/2014/05/15/ep-100-andrew-nathan-hood-interviews-me-about-jim-guthrie/">HERE.</a> Might give you a good idea of what this is all about.<br />
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If this book comes out, you'll just want to spend the rest of your life listening to Jim. So how about you start now:<br />
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Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-43061248396869268042013-05-28T13:01:00.002-07:002014-12-12T21:36:26.861-08:00"Not a Scratch on Him"<style>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He spent his last nights on the roof of the house he was losing, drinking and looking at the Santiago Canyon Fire. The smoke was some muscular, see through chest of buff and jonquil with this beating tangelo heart inside. Was the fire more or less beautiful when he considered everything it was destroying, everyone it was displacing? He’d come down off the roof and there those people would be on the news, their befuddled zombie staggering, saying “We’ve lost everything.” The next night he’d clamber back up and decide that beautiful is beautiful, even if the beautiful thing was taking fucking everything from fucking everybody. <br /><br />On his final day in Orange County, he phoned in an anonymous tip ratting himself out for the fire—just to see if anyone would come find him. He went to Arizona, moved in with his step-brother Chad and his family. They had a place in the Catalina Mountains that was a perfect size for just them. A month in, Chad’s five-year-old Grayson told him he hated him and wished he’d never moved in.<br /><br />“I hate you, too,” he told the kid, then gave him a shove. The kid went over without resistance and he was fine. Not a scratch on him.</span>Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-41815380780662326612013-05-28T13:00:00.004-07:002013-05-28T13:00:59.900-07:00"A Killer on Energy"
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<span lang="EN-CA">There
was light on in this guy—so to speak—but there wasn’t necessarily anyone home.
It was a lambent look he had, like—if he was a house, like I’m saying—a lamp
had been left on as salient proof to a home invader that someone may be there.
Personally, I leave the TV on. It’s a killer on energy, but I’ve never been
robbed. Plus, I hate coming home to a silent home.</span>
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<span lang="EN-CA">A dim
ruse or no, this nitwit had been leaving weird messages on my friend’s daughter’s
answer machine. Apparently he’d recited deals from that week’s flyers, but for
some reason in a sexy voice. I’d gone to where he worked at the pharmacy to get
an idea about him. Asking after stationary, he’d sent me to family planning
aisle. I went back for him, but he was gone.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">The
Internet got me to his house. When he saw me on the porch, he turned and ran
into a tree. I stood over him, smacked him once. Then a second time.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">“I’m
sorry!” this nitwit yowled.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">“For
what?” I asked him.</span></div>
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he could answer, a light came on in the house across the street. I cuddled into
the kid and hid behind the trunk and waited. Soon a couple came out of the
house, locked the door, and drove away.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">“I’m
sorry for fucking everything,” the nitwit simpered into my ear, our faces
pressed together. He was bleeding a lot, but not on account of anything I’d
done.</span></div>
Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-8311267695379067662013-05-28T13:00:00.001-07:002014-12-12T21:35:12.900-08:00"Overwhelming Loveliness"<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She was a terrible speller, so why should she have improved for her note? She had hanged her decision on overwhelming loveliness but we were all sure she’d meant loneliness. Kayla had been overwhelmingly lonely. Too, we’re guessing didn’t feel lust in life as much as she did lost in life. She wasn’t incorrect, exactly, just sloppy. Kayla was one of those people who hid her terrible spelling with even worse cursive. <br /><br />“I feel like we should maybe correct this, maybe type it up,” one of us suggested, holding up her note. “Other people and her parents are going to read it.”<br /><br />“Kayla was probably in a hurry, or not thinking clearly,” another one of us submitted. “I’m sure if she’d had the time or wherewithal she would have put this stuff down right.”<br /><br />“But she never cared about getting it right before,” I said, snatching the note away, accidentally ripping it a bit. “Why would she care about it now? I feel like she didn’t care because she always trusted she’d be understood.”<br /><br />In the end we agreed that one of us should be over the shoulders of Kayla’s parents or the other people when they read the note, just in case they needed clarification. Just so we could tap at her terrible handwriting and say something like, “I don’t think she actually means love here.”</span><style>
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Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-42033931389744190212013-05-28T12:59:00.002-07:002014-12-12T21:34:12.711-08:00"Dick Stones"<style>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Within the first week a coyote made off with Devito, the family pug. The next week, a deer hopped the fence and drowned in the pool. The twins had come home from school and found it. They poked at it with the skimmer before deciding to just play dumb when their dad made the discovery. The deer stayed there two days. The twins suspected their dad was waiting for them to declare it. <br /><br />The twins didn’t like Arizona, hated Sierra Vista. They got nosebleeds and heard the heat gave you dick stones. <br /><br />Bored one weekend, they borrowed the car and grabbed a bat for mailbox baseball. But there were no mailboxes in the neighbourhood. The mail went to these many-slotted monoliths at the end of the block. So they settled for dragging the bat out the window for the sparks.<br /><br />Sometimes they hated the desert more than they missed their mom and brother.<br /><br />Two months in, there was a story on the news about a hunk of charred rocket ship garbage falling out of orbit and landing on a ranch nearby. This wasn’t supposed to happen, but it had. The twins rode their dirt bikes out to look but didn’t get past the string-thin cattle fence, scared it was electrified as well as barbed. They spent forever daring each other to crawl under.</span>Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-85326936407041208952013-05-28T12:58:00.001-07:002014-12-12T21:33:09.286-08:00"Not For Lack of Love or Want"<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before the baby there were things to learn, shit to get deft at and master.<br /><br />"Buying stuff is not the same as doing stuff or learning stuff," the girl he loved who he'd babied-up said. "Remember."<br /><br />At the guitar shop he demurred over banjos, figuring furrowed indecision would pass for knowledge. In the end, he bought the third most expensive. "I'd get the Gibson," he assured the clerk, "but there's a baby on the way."<br /><br />At home he put a finger pick on each finger, made cat claws.<br /><br />"I think that's too many picks," the girl with the baby in her said.<br /><br />"We'll see," he said, as he tried to figure out what was wrong with the internet so he could get on and prove her wrong.<br /><br />Over the months, he ruined two good pots trying to make chocolate, cut off the tip of his finger buzzing wood for the crib, and his left arm still smarted sometimes from the shock he got putting another light in the nursery.<br /><br />After the baby came out of the girl's body, he didn't like holding it. Not for lack of love or want, but a certainty that he would drop and kill the thing.</span>Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-58754699712424643872013-05-28T12:52:00.001-07:002014-12-12T21:31:58.344-08:00"Nine More Years and He Can Get Drunk About It"<style>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cowboy Buck wiped icing onto his socks as inconspicuously as he could. The RSVP’d kids had gone to a hockey game instead, but Buck had been paid for the full afternoon and the horse trailer wouldn’t be back until four. The birthday boy’s dad and Buck talked housing prices and factory closures and ate birthday cake in the living room while the kid sulked in the den and while the cat watched Buck’s horse Buttermilk stand and blink in the backyard.<br /><br />The cat joined the men in the foyer, but the kid didn’t come when called to come say goodbye to Buck. “Tell him to hang in there for me,” Buck told the dad. “Nine more years and he can get drunk about it.”<br /><br />A squeaking noise came out of the cat. And then another, raspier report. The cat tried to back away from what it was choking on but Buck corralled it. With one hand he forced its mouth open and with the other pinched down into its throat. Out came a wet elastic from an unused birthday hat. <br /><br />“Here,” Buck said, handing the elastic over to the dad like it belonged to him.</span>Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-84969315082126876162013-05-28T12:50:00.002-07:002013-05-28T13:17:31.551-07:00Postcards From the Solemn Nation of Procrasti<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEtZKn_D0hWfpVJostZRDX6C-JvGR9AwZycRHePFvYTVL5d-cR_gmUcRgSd_CY0Pn0htJPbndXn1B0keVWaL43Vc3MlWQlwlvUqasXqzpDVldn11H7q5TMGXGb3AeiDDM7M2m1tiI2tYo/s1600/mrbingohatemail7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEtZKn_D0hWfpVJostZRDX6C-JvGR9AwZycRHePFvYTVL5d-cR_gmUcRgSd_CY0Pn0htJPbndXn1B0keVWaL43Vc3MlWQlwlvUqasXqzpDVldn11H7q5TMGXGb3AeiDDM7M2m1tiI2tYo/s320/mrbingohatemail7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The fucker about working on a novel, I'm finding, is you go forever without finishing anything. To misquote <a href="http://camppepper.com/" target="_blank">a friend</a>, self-hate does bloom. But back in December, I was asked to contribute my suspect talents to a fundraising campaign for the local university <a href="http://www.cfru.ca/" target="_blank">radio station</a>. The deal was, listeners like you could get a story from a writer like me for however much money. And you got to sort of call the shots: I had to use three words of your choice. I don't know what ever happened with those stories, so I figured it had been long enough that putting them here would not be stepping on anyone's toes.<br />
<br />
Here you go:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://andrew-n-hood.blogspot.ca/2013/05/nine-more-years-and-he-can-get-drunk.html" target="_blank">NINE MORE YEARS AND HE CAN GET DRUNK ABOUT IT</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://andrew-n-hood.blogspot.ca/2013/05/not-for-lack-of-love-or-want.html" target="_blank">NOT FOR LACK OF LOVE OR WANT</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://andrew-n-hood.blogspot.ca/2013/05/dick-stones.html" target="_blank">DICK STONES</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://andrew-n-hood.blogspot.ca/2013/05/overwhelming-loveliness.html" target="_blank">OVERWHELMING LOVELINESS</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://andrew-n-hood.blogspot.ca/2013/05/a-killer-on-energy.html" target="_blank">A KILLER ON ENERGY</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://andrew-n-hood.blogspot.ca/2013/05/not-scratch-on-him.html" target="_blank">NOT A SCRATCH ON HIM</a><br />
<br />
Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-33573383518301709542013-05-07T16:30:00.002-07:002013-05-07T16:30:46.960-07:00...in which your humble bag of shit remembers he has a blog.Oh hi. Let's say this is me just coming around and vamping the cottage after a long, shitty winter. Excuse the rumble in the pipes and the disgusting taste in the water; that'll pass.<br />
<br />
Did you know that Maisonneuve reviewed <i>The Cloaca</i> forever ago? Here's the <a href="http://maisonneuve.org/news/2012/06/18/book-room-issue-44/" target="_blank">proof</a>. It's awesome to be called "one of Canada's most criminally undervalued writers," but how does a guy shake that bad rap? You know, to become one of Canada's most criminally overvalued writers. It's an either/or thing, I swear.<br />
<br />
In other news, May is Short Story Month. Duh. <a href="http://chadpelley.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Chad Pelley</a> over at Salty Ink is doing a story a day. Today he had some hot shit shit to say about "The Price You Pay for Leaving the House." <a href="http://saltyink.com/2013/05/07/short-circuited-for-short-story-month-story-7-of-31-andrew-hoods-the-price-you-pay-for-leaving-the-house/" target="_blank">Check it out</a>. <br />
<br />
So now that the water's turned back on, I'm off to Value Village to find some half-complete board games to fill the cabin that this internet place apparently is now. A dearth of functional pieces just means you get fucked up and make your own rules, so never mind about complete games.<br />
<div style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
The
characters in Andrew Hood’s The Cloaca (Invisible Publishing) are not
happy people. Many of them are failed artists who suddenly find
themselves pushing forty with little to show for it, a leitmotif that
might be tiresome and depressing were it not for Hood’s comic bite. One
sad woman finds comfort in a “queer backyard spandex wrestling league”;
elsewhere, a nude man who’s just been egged by a pack of teenagers
reaches down to “pluck his penis back out of his body.” Despite winning
the Danuta Gleed Award for his previous collection Pardon Our Monsters
(Esplanade Books), Hood remains one of Canada’s most criminally
undervalued writers; lovers of witty, understated fiction would do well
to pick up The Cloaca. - See more at:
http://maisonneuve.org/news/2012/06/18/book-room-issue-44/#sthash.9qXvxqnE.dpuf</div>
<div style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
The
characters in Andrew Hood’s The Cloaca (Invisible Publishing) are not
happy people. Many of them are failed artists who suddenly find
themselves pushing forty with little to show for it, a leitmotif that
might be tiresome and depressing were it not for Hood’s comic bite. One
sad woman finds comfort in a “queer backyard spandex wrestling league”;
elsewhere, a nude man who’s just been egged by a pack of teenagers
reaches down to “pluck his penis back out of his body.” Despite winning
the Danuta Gleed Award for his previous collection Pardon Our Monsters
(Esplanade Books), Hood remains one of Canada’s most criminally
undervalued writers; lovers of witty, understated fiction would do well
to pick up The Cloaca. - See more at:
http://maisonneuve.org/news/2012/06/18/book-room-issue-44/#sthash.9qXvxqnE.dpuf</div>
<div style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
The
characters in Andrew Hood’s The Cloaca (Invisible Publishing) are not
happy people. Many of them are failed artists who suddenly find
themselves pushing forty with little to show for it, a leitmotif that
might be tiresome and depressing were it not for Hood’s comic bite. One
sad woman finds comfort in a “queer backyard spandex wrestling league”;
elsewhere, a nude man who’s just been egged by a pack of teenagers
reaches down to “pluck his penis back out of his body.” Despite winning
the Danuta Gleed Award for his previous collection Pardon Our Monsters
(Esplanade Books), Hood remains one of Canada’s most criminally
undervalued writers; lovers of witty, understated fiction would do well
to pick up The Cloaca. - See more at:
http://maisonneuve.org/news/2012/06/18/book-room-issue-44/#sthash.9qXvxqnE.dpuf</div>
Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-17027175259374775472012-12-24T16:04:00.002-08:002012-12-24T16:04:58.259-08:00I Forgot To Have Best-ofs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1qw1EiFlcjWGsoRLAUuM9IYoKtzPheygqQGWxyUDrf0aIrg3XHb2PD39kNplwSd6Y86smSZJeHAyweYvn6NhyphenhyphenUWkTitOR44-JDUgR5kxUhrNZL3oiDGmQ24cKHe70Qy0dLx-y1PU7ML8/s1600/yetichristmascard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1qw1EiFlcjWGsoRLAUuM9IYoKtzPheygqQGWxyUDrf0aIrg3XHb2PD39kNplwSd6Y86smSZJeHAyweYvn6NhyphenhyphenUWkTitOR44-JDUgR5kxUhrNZL3oiDGmQ24cKHe70Qy0dLx-y1PU7ML8/s320/yetichristmascard.jpg" width="269" /></a></div>
<br />Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-39425132726170167582012-11-15T11:00:00.002-08:002012-11-15T11:00:42.544-08:00Sorry 'Bout All The Cursing, Buds...<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/MUSwRfsjLHM" width="560"></iframe>Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-3475095126987858342012-11-15T10:19:00.002-08:002012-11-15T10:19:30.748-08:00What If Ronnie Corbett and Tilda Swinton Fucked?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghJoOd_Ado7V-LZHq3wtoO-ULYrAlPXKE13vigTvjwmUKtq7zJ2t6BwHOdn9dzlgY7OhFkbCY_AfqtEdL81yUE0bTMdpM5VMcicdi82-vpm0L087G77W354HZ-xrfNcuWOh8d2MVPtLRE/s1600/article-1035690-01F93C5900000578-14_233x423.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghJoOd_Ado7V-LZHq3wtoO-ULYrAlPXKE13vigTvjwmUKtq7zJ2t6BwHOdn9dzlgY7OhFkbCY_AfqtEdL81yUE0bTMdpM5VMcicdi82-vpm0L087G77W354HZ-xrfNcuWOh8d2MVPtLRE/s320/article-1035690-01F93C5900000578-14_233x423.jpg" width="176" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfBcVcFpBLckNmV-bztYuz3UYivTDvvmDGn7pJjRy925qUzGPnvSLZ3kChtjGnM5FjF6X89kYGly-bX-yZSPhmx_cXjxitxhGKa2XIHT4OMLI1H32Vdgp08LlFy5wJK01KqykfAXlAqdA/s1600/Tilda-Swinton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfBcVcFpBLckNmV-bztYuz3UYivTDvvmDGn7pJjRy925qUzGPnvSLZ3kChtjGnM5FjF6X89kYGly-bX-yZSPhmx_cXjxitxhGKa2XIHT4OMLI1H32Vdgp08LlFy5wJK01KqykfAXlAqdA/s320/Tilda-Swinton.jpg" width="296" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://rebeccarosenblum.com/" target="_blank">Rebecca Rosenblum</a> was looking for people to play along with The Next Big Thing questionnaire and I was all like, "Okay!" It's always a risk to talk about a book that you're working on, maybe comparable to announcing a successful pregnancy before it's been brought to term. Or maybe not at all.<b> </b>At the same time, doing the long distance work of a whole book tends to create this blousey pocket full of aether in your personal and mental life, and talking about kind of makes it feel like you're working on something real.<br />
<br />
<b>What is your working title of your book?</b>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>The Kingdom of Reality</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.
On less-than-successful days, </span><i>The Kingdom of Goddamn Fucking Reality</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the three years that I’ve been at it in earnest, it’s
also been known as <i>Traps and Attractions</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
and </span><i>My Shitty Novel</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Where did the idea come from for the book?</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Visiting Arizona in 2005, I saw a news story about a desert
community that wanted a cell phone tower but didn’t want the blight on their
otherwise unsullied dun landscape. The answer was to erect a tower disguised as
a <a href="http://www.nextnature.net/2012/08/arizona-gets-a-cactus-cellular-tower-too/" target="_blank">saguaro</a>.
A day-or-so later, I hit up Sedona, where the major attraction are unseen
energy vortexes. My dad was vocally disappointed that the vortexes were
invisible. A tour guide offered this salve: “Everyone’s so worried about seeing
something that they can’t ever seem to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFyi8U9pIyQ" target="_blank">feel</a> anything.”
The trip ended with a visit to Tombstone, where the OK Gunfight is reenacted
daily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Arizona’s a fucked, amazing
place.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>What genre does your book fall under?</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2012 Conspiracy/Hollow Earth Theory/Stuntman
Manual/Conservation Lit</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Which actors would you choose to play your characters in
a movie rendition?</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For Beryl, the narrator, I’m thinking a mix of Ronnie
Corbett and Tilda Swinton. For Hole, Beryl’s sister, let’s get a sun hardened
Carla Gugino. Lastly, I’m happy to scour the free world to find a perspicacious
little sweetheart to play Hole’s daughter Malice. Her time in the book is spent
with a marker made chin tattoo similar to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_Oatman" target="_blank">Olive Oatman</a>’s.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAJpdhb5crSSl0gJNHgVDOVptpUeCjym4kss9kyVhyphenhyphenNq0yc2owt_grBhUyUQlQlj8lj3gkrSLroOBcoi1WPZwLe7WLWXXXB2g0ssAYV9VyCc259kijHojpda8YSuFPqEGFG38BQ9xoDmU/s1600/olive_oatman_portrait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAJpdhb5crSSl0gJNHgVDOVptpUeCjym4kss9kyVhyphenhyphenNq0yc2owt_grBhUyUQlQlj8lj3gkrSLroOBcoi1WPZwLe7WLWXXXB2g0ssAYV9VyCc259kijHojpda8YSuFPqEGFG38BQ9xoDmU/s1600/olive_oatman_portrait.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Some other places were not so good but maybe we were
not so good when we were in them."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Will your book be self-published or represented by an
agency?</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Agency, if they like it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>How long did it take you to write the first draft of your
manuscript?</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s ongoing. Twice I’ve gotten close enough to the end that
I could’ve slit it’s throat, but both times it turned out not to be the book I
was sent to kill.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>What other books would you compare this story to within
your genre?</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Joy Williams’ <i>The Quick and the Dead</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, Jonathan Lethem’s </span><i>Chronic City, </i><span style="font-style: normal;">J. Frank Dobie’s </span><i>Coronado’s Children</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, Will Henry’s </span><i>McKenna’s Gold</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, and, I don’t know, maybe the </span><i>Popol Vuh.</i><span style="font-style: normal;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Who or what inspired you to write this book?</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like I said before: fake cacti, invisible tourist attracts, and
a ritual performance of slaughter.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>What else about your book might pique the reader’s
interest?</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You mean their interest hasn’t already been crazy piqued?
What if I were to tell the reader that this book is also about the search for
the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Dutchman%27s_Gold_Mine" target="_blank">Lost Dutchman’s Gold</a>?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
* </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, I was supposed to chain-letter five other bloggy people to get on this, but I don't really feel like doing that. The thing is, if you're a writer with a blog and you're reading this and feel like sharing your Work In Progress, then let me know. I'd love to read about it and steal all the good stuff.</div>
Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-18255813063927075412012-11-09T06:30:00.000-08:002012-11-09T06:50:51.063-08:00Chop Wood, Carry Fucking WaterWhat happened is I didn't get the Journey Prize. Neither did Kevin Hardcastle. This guy named Alex Pugsley did for the story he wrote, "Crisis on Earth X." It's a story I like, so I can't even be sore about how shit shook out.<br />
<br />
Here's the thing: a fuckload of money is always nice (kick out the legs of anyone who says otherwise), but at the end of the day (in my case, this was a day where the only thing I'd eaten that resembled food was free and then not-free beer) it's beside the point. Being in writing and publishing is a lot like owning a cat. You put a lot of love and care and time into this thing that could care less about you, and you're happy to do it. But every once and a while that little motherfucker jumps into your lap for snugs and your goddamn heart explodes. Being up for a prize, or having some stranger mention maybe liking or appreciating something you've written or worked on, is a heart exploding cuddle.<br />
<br />
It's hard to be resentful in this industry. In his acceptance speech, Mr. Pugsley alluded to luck's role in the award, and this luck certainly has a lot to do with that shit. But before the luck, all there is is work. I feel really fortunate to have sat awkwardly in a suit in a theater full of hard fucking workers. Writers, editors, publishers, volunteers: these people destroy certain important corners of their whole lives to foist their product on a world that on some days couldn't give less of a shit. And they're all happy to do it, and not even everyone needs to mollify rancorous minds with booze.<br />
<br />
I know some Buddhist said this first, but I like to attribute this quote to a man named Peter Henderson, who's managed to manage the <a href="http://www.bookshelfcinema.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">Bookshelf Cinema</a> for about as many years as I've alive: "Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry fucking water." All there is is work. Any story or book you read is just the placid head of a duck that's kicking like fucking nuts under the water. And the thing about these award things is no matter who wins, everyone goes back to work the next morning. Or, in my case, you ignore the wood and water for a day while all those cans and pints of <a href="http://www.muskokabrewery.com/mad-tom-ipa.php" target="_blank">Mad Tom IPA</a> get tired of punching you in the brain.Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-50657123266803480852012-11-05T13:33:00.000-08:002012-11-05T13:33:19.716-08:00Yak and ForthIn the lead-up to the Writer's Trust foofaraw, Fiction Prize nominee <a href="http://alixohlin.com/" target="_blank">Alix Ohlin</a> and I back-and-forthed about how hard writing can be and how awesome it is when it's over. Read this at the <a href="http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/11/05/the-writers-trust-conversations-alix-ohlin-and-andrew-hood/" target="_blank">National Post</a>, or here's the text:<br />
<br />
<strong>Andrew Hood:</strong> Howdy Alix! Not to get off on a weird foot, but I was in the crowd when you launched <em>Babylon and Other Stories</em>
in Montreal, way back whenever that was. I was in my second year (or
thereabouts) of a creative writing undergrad and can acutely recall
holding onto you and your book of stories as an example of a youngster’s
(I guess I’d qualify as a toddler, or maybe zygote) ability to deftly
boot the door in. You’re four books in and still pretty spring
chicken-y, but do you remember “You” when <em>Babylon</em> came out, or “You” in the time before? Is there writing stuff you’re hip to now that you wish you’d known then?<br />
<br />
<strong>Alix Ohlin:</strong> Hi Andrew! That’s not weird, it’s very nice. Thanks retroactively for coming to my <em>Babylon</em> launch.
I’m always amazed and grateful when anybody comes to an event who isn’t
an immediate family member or old roommate. I don’t know if I feel that
much different now, as a writer, than I did back then. I still think of
myself as someone who’s learning the ropes – if not about publication,
then certainly about writing itself, which is so slippery and intricate a
task that I may never master it. All I can do is keep trying. How
about you? I know your second book came out this spring. Was it a
different experience from the first one, and if so, how?<br />
<br />
<strong>Hood</strong>: That first book came out in an impossible way.
None of those stories had been published before, so they were written
with a real youthful alacrity – I hadn’t gone through that necessary
meat grinder of submitting, you know? From that naivety came this
fleeting feeling that I knew what I was doing. When that first book did
okay, that initial aplomb was pretty quickly replaced by dread. I felt,
and still feel, in over my head. My second book of stories was kind of
written as a reaction to those indefatigable, marrowy feelings of
inadequacy. It’s weird that people like it and that a story in there
might win an award. <em>Inside</em>‘s already got a few nominations
under its belt. How does that slippery, always-trying feeling co-exist
with outside assurance that what you’ve done is tenable? Or does it
even?<br />
<br />
<strong>Ohlin:</strong> Yes, I hear you on the feeling of inadequacy.
Worry is the real constant of my writing life; it’s my companion and my
home town. Compared to awards or other assurances, which are fleeting
and external, the intensity of my self-criticism is exponentially more
powerful. I think this is actually good in a lot of ways; it keeps me
from being complacent and keeps me working hard. It always directs my
focus to the next book, because I hope so very much that it will be
better than the previous ones. That’s one of my favourite parts of the
process, in fact: the dreamed-of perfection of the new thing. I write
towards that perfection even though I know I’ll never achieve it. What’s
your favourite part?<br />
<br />
<strong>Hood:</strong> The best part of writing is totally the idiot
barreling towards a perfection that probably isn’t and shouldn’t be
there. Maybe it’s a nerdy disposition that has every failure (even when
it’s briefly debilitating) feel like an opportunity to try again. But at
the same time, there’s no better feeling than pulling a piece off. A
story working out feels like the end of a heist movie – like you’ve
gotten away with something huge. And it’s a rush that, time after time,
never dulls. I’ve been working on a novel for two years and suspect
that, should I ever finish the thing, the payoff will be an emotional
wallop requiring either a lot of sleep or a lot of beer to recover from.
Do you get this? And if so, how does finishing a short story compare to
finishing a novel?<br />
<br />
<strong>Ohlin:</strong> I like that heist description; I think it’s
apt. And I have had the lucky experience, a few times in my life, of
pouring a story out all at once and knowing right away that it was, if
not done, then set and proper in its outlines. It just felt right. Such a
great feeling! With a novel, unless you’re demented or on drugs, I
don’t think that’s ever going to happen. It’s such a long process with
so many ups and downs built into it. You don’t so much finish as finally
let go. So the emotional wallop is, to me, almost wistful, if that
makes sense. (But sleep and beer are called for, yes, absolutely.) But I
feel like I’m making writing sound more like drudge-work than it really
is, so let me switch tacks and say that I love how funny your story
“Manning” is. As I was reading it, I was wondering if you were cracking
yourself up while you were writing it and came up with the idea of
calling one of the characters a “big pile of human being” and then just
“the pile.” Were you?<br />
<br />
<strong>Hood:</strong> I wasn’t cracking up, but I was certainly
keeping myself entertained. Because – you’re absolutely right – the
work, when it’s going well, is anything but drudgey. I tend to gravitate
to dark and mean-spirited subject matter and I think the humour comes
from having to entertain myself while I’m slogging around in the muck
I’ve chosen for myself. Plus, I have a hard time subjecting readers to
the kind of negativity I’m into without cracking wise. I wanted for the
epigram of my second book a Tony Millionaire comic strip: Guy 1 chuckles
to himself, Guy 2 asks what’s so funny. Guy 1 answers, “The horror of
being alive.” I love that; it wound up in the acknowledgements. Where do
you stand on this, Alix? From <em>Babylon</em> and <em>Inside</em> I
get the sense that you’re very much interested in testing the emotional
and psychological tethers in people, but you’re much better at keeping a
straight face (that’s not to say that there’s not a great deal of
humour in your writing) than I am. Do you set course for these
destinations, or do you tend to get blown there by whatever winds?<br />
<br />
<strong>Ohlin:</strong> Many of my favourite writers combine humour
and pathos (aka the hilarious horror of being alive), so I’m definitely
aligned with you on that. For me, the process of finding the right tone
for a piece—sometimes overtly funny, sometimes less so—has to be pretty
organic. Before <em>Inside</em>, I had written a comic novel and a
number of stories that featured similar narrators, usually a young woman
with a skeptical view on the absurdity of the world. I was interested
in broadening the kinds of characters who appeared in my work, and I
knew that in order to tell their stories in the right way, I might wind
up broadening my style as well. Do you ever think about sameness and
variation in your writing? Or, to put it another way, how and where do
you find surprise?<br />
<br />
<strong>Hood:</strong> There are sort of two phases to how I write:
the first is a rush of opinion, or mood – usually both caustic or
maudlin; and the second, the meat of the work, the editing, is something
like an adjudication of my initial inclinations. I usually end up
disagreeing with that first rush, or get sad that I’d been hemmed in by
something fleeting. This is where that surprise lives. Before I start to
worry about sameness in my writing, I worry about sameness in my living
or in my thinking. And I’m definitely there now. Chock it up to nearing
thirty, maybe. I try to stay out of writers’ lives, but since I’ve got
you on the horn here maybe I’ll ask about your life and your writing. Do
you have an <em>I Love Lucy</em> strip of tape dividing one from the other? Or is the membrane pretty porous?<br />
<br />
<strong>Ohlin:</strong> Do you mean in terms of writing
autobiographically? I think every word on the page betrays something
about a writer’s life – because of how personal the process is, and how
much it derives from your preoccupations and perceptions of the world.
But as I get older I’m becoming much less interested in excavating my
own particular experiences. I’m more curious about other people, trying
to figure out what makes them tick, or exploring narrative structures
and events that have nothing to do with myself. I think we’re closing
out on this Q&A, so I’ll ask, how do you handle endings? What do you
think makes a good one?<br />
<br />
<strong>Hood:</strong> As an adult, I’ve yet to really write a
plotted story where the resolution of the animating conflict would be
the end. Writing the stories that wound up collected as <em>The Cloaca</em> (which
“Manning” kicks off) I was aiming for satisfyingly unsatisfying
endings, where the characters don’t really come to understand anything,
but understand that something is there be understood. “Manning” has one
of my favourite endings, with the son and mother managing to create some
meaning from a situation in which they’ve both sort of missed each
other’s point. Ending a short story is tricky, as that traditional
epiphanic moment has become so tired. A bad or expected ending can blow
an otherwise great story all to hell, I find. There’s that old Flannery
O’Connor anecdote about Flan not knowing her bible salesman would steal
Hugla’s leg until it happened. I really subscribe to this. A good story
is usually pregnant with a good ending, and I guess the writer’s job is
to make sure that everyone comes out screaming and hale when the right
time comes. I want to ask you about the ending of <em>Inside</em>, but
don’t want to give it away. Maybe I’ll ask you this (and leave you with
the last word): did you know how it was going to end when you began? Do
you ever know your endings when you start? Have you ever stolen
someone’s prosthesis?<br />
<br />
<strong>Ohlin:</strong> I don’t tend to go for the completely
wrapped-up ending either. Instead, I cross my fingers and hope that
there’s enough resolution – usually thematic or emotional, rather than
plotted – for readers to come away with some sense of what the story is
about, while leaving room for them to bring their own interpretations.
With <em>Inside</em>, I didn’t follow the characters all the way home,
so to speak, but I tried to show how they were headed there. I don’t
like to know the exact ending before I start. But I often think of
writing as if it were a piece of music, and I know, in a general sense,
the kind of note I want to finish on: the big swelling crescendo, the
fade away, a major chord or a minor one. I imagine that note lingering
in the reader’s mind, and aim for it. And I have never stolen a
prosthesis, though I have come into possession of an abandoned one. But
that’s a story for another day.Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-21654382210368317672012-10-30T05:14:00.000-07:002012-10-30T05:14:16.383-07:00Comedy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjffbHxHZ1Yl6VteCPK9A-4RFureplK1PiYoEbPLBvF9F9vR4Eq7I1pG7Rg9pFQ_zkywReKNvp4erdI1sM7fETJEozTygNUeQJiVs0Z28i7H6cJuChHIE9ndvHgu_DHZpAEGtjL-MNiem8/s1600/Emo-Candid-Web1-300x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjffbHxHZ1Yl6VteCPK9A-4RFureplK1PiYoEbPLBvF9F9vR4Eq7I1pG7Rg9pFQ_zkywReKNvp4erdI1sM7fETJEozTygNUeQJiVs0Z28i7H6cJuChHIE9ndvHgu_DHZpAEGtjL-MNiem8/s1600/Emo-Candid-Web1-300x300.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Horse walks into a bar.<br />
<br />
Bartender asks, "Hey, Horse. Why the long face?"<br />
<br />
"Because my life is terrible," says Horse. "Beer, please."Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-557334140415931902012-10-27T07:01:00.000-07:002012-10-27T07:04:26.459-07:00Dumpster Driving<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XkQRwttlHFM?fs=1" width="480">No</iframe><br />
<br />
Now watch this video with the sound off, and imagine <a href="http://krisbertin.blogspot.ca/">this man</a> is explaining how to break a sassy dog's spirit, or is describing an hilarious crime he witnessed, or trying to understand how the robot warrior he built went astray. Then go read his story <a href="http://joylandmagazine.com/stories/montreal_atlantic/gorilla_painting_26_x_32_acrylic_canvas" target="_blank"><b>Gorilla Painting 26' X 32' Acrylic On Canvas</b></a> at Joyland. Once you're through with that, track down the rags he's previously stained--one awesome one made it into the <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/The-Journey-Prize-Stories-24/dp/0771095864" target="_blank">Journey Prize</a>. And once you've read all there is to read, just sit there and wait for him to deign to publish a book.Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-8349938351354691702012-10-15T11:15:00.002-07:002012-10-15T11:18:07.950-07:00Totally Something Worth Leaving Your House For<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkpHzVx7l8poAbIPJgqMb8HxuVDB6JCvZF2IbYiO5CgOcVhQ6DtykTVqZ6AU6kKZAIh5nkruGxRod9RmgY9QcrANWtWLxkU1cyWOdbnDcTqTmM6v8VUxSrFUnGaH9aMWqSsHHub8mMLAY/s1600/Wild_Writers_Poster-662x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkpHzVx7l8poAbIPJgqMb8HxuVDB6JCvZF2IbYiO5CgOcVhQ6DtykTVqZ6AU6kKZAIh5nkruGxRod9RmgY9QcrANWtWLxkU1cyWOdbnDcTqTmM6v8VUxSrFUnGaH9aMWqSsHHub8mMLAY/s320/Wild_Writers_Poster-662x1024.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>
<br />
So I don't know who you are, let alone where you are. But let's say you're a person in the Waterloo, Ontario, Canada region who's into writerly things. If that's the case, then holy shit do I ever have good news for you. In both your very own backyard and in your very own wheelhouse, there's going to be a writer's festival. And even holier shit: I'll be there!<br />
<br />
Throw some pants and a cleanish shirt on on November 3. I'll be yakking it up in chairs and maybe behind a table with <a href="http://www.biblioasis.com/alexander-macleod" target="_blank">Alexander Macleod</a> and <a href="http://www.thomasallen.ca/site/Author.aspx?AutID=12966" target="_blank">Tamas Dobozy</a>. I've never met Mr. Dobozy, but musclebound <a href="http://krisbertin.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">Kris Bertin</a> has nothing but nice, non-violent things to say about Mr. Macleod, so I can only assume this panel will be the best thing ever, totally worth leaving your house for.<br />
<br />
Find out more about the Wild Writer's Literary Festival <a href="http://www.tnq.ca/wildwriters/" target="_blank">HERE</a>, whoever you are.Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-36339651611388921592012-10-13T09:11:00.000-07:002012-10-13T09:14:00.987-07:00"I Can't Get Out of This!"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaBrlfjb7Smo2ej34_nrsFElwfgG2oG8sDpgftppuBVtJFH-KfA5ivQyIHLiU3la1giP84Zh4h5XTq4lImwSW0pX9mFfke6T9cZsPK7oCKeVYiqaeGiSAAo5WQn156Mypdxl6_arJdXF4/s1600/elden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaBrlfjb7Smo2ej34_nrsFElwfgG2oG8sDpgftppuBVtJFH-KfA5ivQyIHLiU3la1giP84Zh4h5XTq4lImwSW0pX9mFfke6T9cZsPK7oCKeVYiqaeGiSAAo5WQn156Mypdxl6_arJdXF4/s320/elden.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I killed this past June in Arizona, where instead of finishing my novel, I changed the thing completely. When I got this Journey Prize questionnaire, I was staying in a KOA Kabin in Flagstaff, beering more than I was writing, hiking up Mt. Elden in the day and at night reading Whitley Streiber's <i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6dHtLMXdAc" target="_blank">Communion</a>. </i>Thinking and talking about old writing while sweating new stuff is not always a good feeling, let me tell you... <br />
<br />
<br />
<ol id="internal-source-marker_0.6082280198044319" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What was your reaction when you found out your story had been selected for </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Journey Prize Stories</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">?</span></li>
</ol>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There
was elation and pride, sure, but later on. The first feeling was a sick
feeling. I think I found out about this whole to-do on the second day
of working full time on the book that I'd gotten some support and quit
my job to write, and those first few days went pretty miserably. What I
like to call The Dread was unpacking it's bags, cuing up episodes of The
Simpsons to watch in lieu of doing anything worthwhile. To get word
that something I'd done a year ago was considered decent by a cadre of
people who should know triggered a kind of panic. What I'd done and
what I was doing had absolutely nothing in common. That was another guy
who did those JP stories. I'll tell what would be awesome: if you could
somehow, impossibly, find out about these nods while you're in the
throws of fret. Future You lands his rigged phone booth into you office
and assures you that the garbage you're working on will turn out okay in
end.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<ol start="2" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Who is the first person you told the good news to?</span></li>
</ol>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I told The Dread first, and it was all like, "Fine. Okay. But what have you done lately?"</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<ol start="3" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What is your story about, and what was the inspiration for it?</span></li>
</ol>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">"Manning"
is about a son and mom trying to sell a split dad's card collection at
basically a flea market. "I'm Sorry and Thank You" is about a drunk we
don't know much about encountering a mother changing her baby on his
front lawn.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">"Manning"
is somewhat inspired by this one time when I was a squirt and decided
I'd sell all my sports cards, which I had been collecting just out of
habit. I put an add in the Pennysaver and that Saturday set up a card
table with my collection splayed out on it. All these fat, sweaty adult
men showed up and got really mad at me because my cards were in no order
and I had no idea what I had.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">"I'm
Sorry and Thank You" comes from a fairly literal source. I was working
in this bookstore and on my lunch breaks I'd go to a bar down the street
and usually drink two pints.This one day, I saw a hippy woman
unwrapping her kid on the lawn of the pub. Seeing the mess, it occurred
to me that a pre-solid baby basically makes a birds mess, and for the
life of me I couldn't remember what the hole that birds have was called.
When it came to me later on in my shift, it was an amazing, troubling
feeling.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<ol start="4" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When did you write it? How long did it take?</span></li>
</ol>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">"I'm
Sorry" was written probably in about the time it takes to read, which
never happens to me and will probably never happen again. "Manning" also
came out quick, but I spent a while tinkering, taking our and adding
curses. Both stories happened sort of simultaneously, at a time where I
was keeping a notebook and forcing myself to meet a daily quota. I'm not
doing that now, and so produce very little it turns out.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<ol start="5" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Did you do any research for the story? </span></li>
</ol>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I was going to ask, "Does beer count as research?" but it occurs to me that I'm nearly thirty and that's sad. So, no.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<ol start="6" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Did the story, its themes, or its characters surprise you in any way? </span></li>
</ol>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Pickle
wanting to keep the Rance Davis card for himself came as a surprise. I
know we're told every character should have a Want, but I don't usually
think of story in these terms, and I think my characters aren't usually
desire-driven. It's sad to admit, but when all of a sudden this
character had a clear Want in the story, I got a bit scared. I didn't
know how to write that.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<ol start="7" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Did you have an “aha” moment while working on the story? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></li>
</ol>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<ol start="8" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What is your favourite line in the story? </span></li>
</ol>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">My
favorite lines are probably the best examples of bad writing. From "I'm
Sorry:" "A bunch of people had died somewhere because of something, he
read." From "Manning:" "Whatever happened, something would happen."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<ol start="9" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What is the best advice you’ve received about writing?</span></li>
</ol>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Trevor
Ferguson once told me that, in the current climate, it's against all
odds that anyone ever will read anything you write, let alone like or
understand it, so you can feel free to write your goddamn heart out. He
said it with a few more flowers though.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<ol start="10" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How many attempts did it take before your story was accepted for publication? </span></li>
</ol>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I detest the submission process, so I rarely submit. With both stories, I got on base with the first swing.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<ol start="11" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What advice do you have for someone looking to publish a story in a literary magazine? </span></li>
</ol>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">At
the time when I was submitting like nuts, I was submitting garbage and
getting raw about it being rejected. Besides patience and sympathy for
the people who have spend their days up to their tits in garbage
submissions, I think a young writer should spend a lot of time honing an
understanding of how publishable their stuff actually is. If a young
writer's going to be a grouch about having a story rejected, then they
should have to back that attitude up with a thirty page essay, with a
works cited, on why they think their story about a young girl coming to
the city from the country and finally knowing what it is to be free
deserves to be published.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<ol start="12" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What do you love most about the short story form?</span></li>
</ol>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There
are a lot of things I don't like about the short story form, but maybe
this isn't the machine to do that particular laundry in. What I love
about short stories that I love is this lie that they tell you. I'm
thinking here about Munro and Hemple and Lorrie Moore. Some people will
tell you that the way to structure your story is with conflict and
resolution, and then put an acetate on the overhead showing a graph of
rise and fall--what I like to call the Stereotypical Male Orgasm Graph.
When the writing's good, graphed stories like this can be good. But what
I absolutely love about the short story form is it's ability to balk
this structure in a way that novels can't. There'll be the opening
conflict usually--the lie, like I was saying, or we can call it the
arousal--but instead of the story being a machine of resolution, that
climbing rise and fall, a great short story can--to maybe misremember a
Leonard Cohen line--cover its reader with unspecific kisses, can be
about constant, pleasing tension in a way that I have more trouble
tolerating with longer forms.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<ol start="13" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What is your favourite short story and/or short fiction collection, and why? </span></li>
</ol>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I
love Amy Hemple's Collected Stories, and Lorrie Moore's Collected
Stories (which I had to order from the UK). I feel safe when I've got
these books handy.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<ol start="14" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Are there any short fiction collections or short story writers you feel should be better known?</span></li>
</ol>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I
don't know who's known and who's not--it's been a while since I've
travelled in those circles. As an up-and-comer, I love this guy Kevin
Moffett. His first collection, "Permanent Visitors," I really love. I
think he might be better known in the US than he is in CA.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<ol start="15" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What is the last short story or collection that really made an impression on you? </span></li>
</ol>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I
got Kris Bertin (fellow JP nominee) to hand over his manuscript. His
stuff is just thrilling to read. It's hurt and smart in a way that I
crave from writing. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<ol start="16" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What are you working on currently? </span></li>
</ol>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Holy
moly. I'm writing a stupid novel. I tried. I tried so hard to keep the
story a short story, but it wouldn't do it, wouldn't have it. I'm
answering these questions from a cabin in Arizona (and now typing them
out in a bar in town with wi-fi) where I'll hopefully finish the stupid
thing. It's about two estranged sisters who sort of go looking for their
father who vanished in the Superstition Mountains while searching for
the Lost Dutchman's Mine. I think it might also be about what reality
is. I have no idea what I'm doing. The stupid thing might be terrible.
I'll tell you, right now's one of those times when I could really use a
visit from Future Me. In his stead, beer will have to do. Beer and the
urging of The Dread.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/t6dHtLMXdAc" width="420"></iframe>Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-72413301726046297212012-10-12T13:13:00.001-07:002012-10-12T13:13:53.113-07:00Between You & Me, I Sneak Beer Into MoviesHey you cloacas! I know I haven't been keeping this place up to date... There are more sad, personal reasons that I've been a slouch, but also I've been building up a blog for the <a href="http://www.bookshelf.ca/cinema.html" target="_blank">Bookshelf Cinema</a>. Said infidelity can be found <a href="http://www.bookshelfcinema.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
<br />
I don't know if you know this, but <a href="http://www.bookshelf.ca/" target="_blank">The Bookshelf</a> in Guelph is one of the, well... uh... BEST PLACES EVER. And I'm fortunate enough to be from time to time employed by them. Currently, I use the daytime cinema lobby as my office, where I'm currently writing the aforementioned <i>The Kingdom of Reality.</i><br />
<br />
So hang in there. I'm sure there's enough Blog to go around. If not, then this space shall slowly but surely become a source for what's current and coming at the Bookshelf Cinema.<i> </i>Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-22487053068061529042012-09-21T14:04:00.002-07:002012-09-21T14:04:57.577-07:00ErrataIf you (whoever you are) are a functioning human being reading this, then you're probably picking up on a gallimaufry of blunders and boners within these Posts, spelling- and grammar-wise. Just ignore those or whatever.<br />
<br />
Sloppiness might be the only arena in which I might be able to challenge Steinbeck or Fitzgerald. I don't always type so good, and am likewise shitty when it comes to picking up on my lazy mistakes. All I have to say is: pay me and I'll try and do bitter. Sorry: better.Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6116622816782755569.post-32665791507182956502012-09-20T14:21:00.000-07:002012-09-21T14:00:48.334-07:00Journey Prizz (Sadness of the Swamps)Things worked out well and a story I wrote called "Manning"--that the buds in <a href="http://prismmagazine.ca/" target="_blank">PRISM</a> published forever ago--was chosen as one (1) of the three (3) stories in the final running for this year's Journey Prize. The other story in the running can be read at the wicked-fucking-cool <a href="http://joylandmagazine.com/stories/montreal_atlantic/i%E2%80%99m_sorry_and_thank_you" target="_blank">Joyland</a>. Not to be a dick or nothing, but both of these stories can be found in a book I wrote that some other buds at Invisible Publishing published called <a href="http://invisiblepublishing.com/books/19" target="_blank">The Cloaca</a>.<br />
<br />
Here's what the book looks like:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisZnO0aJdb6c91_1_Ab04xfqXvgzeQqcwtXzuUW9YFo2zmp3weKzrbyWcHQLGgprXic4AlDzBMtofivlgPH8F50UxeI1HQN1QLiQ38bth8bYhq1K2_9fi98zUL_Z-fd_y0aFVoEWgifvw/s1600/JPS+24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisZnO0aJdb6c91_1_Ab04xfqXvgzeQqcwtXzuUW9YFo2zmp3weKzrbyWcHQLGgprXic4AlDzBMtofivlgPH8F50UxeI1HQN1QLiQ38bth8bYhq1K2_9fi98zUL_Z-fd_y0aFVoEWgifvw/s320/JPS+24.jpg" width="197" /></a></div>
<br />
If you know (whoever you are) anything about anything, the JP is fairly fucking prestigious, and this is awesome to have happen. However...<br />
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It's kind of a sucky feeling to be separated from the other folks on the JP list. The list is stalwart and true and hopefully the anthology as it's released will act as a platform/spotlight for all the writers and magazines that stain the rag. In particular--and this is just because I somewhat know the fucker--not having <a href="http://krisbertin.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">Kris Bertin</a> around to be in a dead heat with is disappointing. Though me and he turned out to live in the same city, I met him through his nominated story "Is Alive and Can Move," which was a real dick kicker of a story that PRISM also put out. It was the best story I'd read in a long-ish time, <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/The-Journey-Prize-Stories-24/dp/0771095864" target="_blank">for reasons that it will describe better than I can</a>. If it was up to me, he and me would be in a weird pie eating competition (while dressed in suits) that would decide a JP winner. But--as with most cogent disappointments in my life--this was not up to me, and nor should it be. Because I <a href="http://www.garrisonbrewing.com/" target="_blank">Drink</a>.<br />
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Beyond professional awkwardness, this being shortlisted also means that I have to hang out in a room with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_anxiety" target="_blank">mostly total strangers for a night</a> while wearing <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohz8_IafGwE" target="_blank">a suit, </a>and it might take a fair amount of aforementioned Drink to feel good about being corporeal during this whole to do.<br />
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All this snit aside, I'm serious: it's a realdeal honour to be all up in this Journey Thing. I'm for real seriously serious. Seriously.<br />
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EDIT: It's not lost on me how <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asshole" target="_blank">sarcastic</a> this sounds, but hopefully, if you (whoever you are) read this blog, then you'll understand that I'm a bit of a <a href="http://andrew-n-hood.blogspot.ca/2012/07/writings-hard.html" target="_blank">weirdo</a> chockablock with self-loathing. I'm at a loss to really express what an honour being a part of this is without getting caught in the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y688upqmRXo" target="_blank">mud pit</a> of my own issues. Thanks for reading!Andrew Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02406662639338204725noreply@blogger.com0