Hey, look.  I'm blogging again.  Kind of.

A few things:

An Age of Monsters and Broken When We Got Here, my two latest books, are now distributed through Tree Killer Ink.  All the other great Epic Rites titles are there as well.  Go ahead, indulge:

http://www.treekillerink.com/product/broken_when_we_got_here

Also, the weekend of April 20 I will be in Cleveland, Ohio with a lot of amazing folks for an extravangant weekend of poetry events.  If you're anywhere near the area, come on by:

https://www.facebook.com/events/425123404229219/


Okay.  That's it for now.  More soon, really.

On a soon approaching weekend in July (7th & 8th), I will be reading at both Beast Crawl and Zyfez California.  This is very exciting.  Click the links for more info.  I thank you.

Once, on the way to Oregon, I stopped at a California winery to get free wine from the tasting room.  Just at that time a tour was starting so I decided to go along.  A young  man of about 23 was the guide and began that strange kind of language guides use, almost a chant:…and on the left a 1500 gallon redwood barrel containing Burgundy kept always at the temperature of…and then he said Whose kid is that?

            The force of whose kid is that caused everyone to pay attention to the real moment we were all in.  A small child was about to fall in a very deep vat of wine.

            I vowed, at that moment, that every statement in my poems should at least have the force of whose kid is that.

            It is an impossible standard, but a good one.  Few really bad lines can stand against it.

            The guide was chanting remembered lines to a vapid audience.  The distance between his Mind, our Minds, and the subject of wine-making simply was not being bridged.  But the endangered child called words to his mind which were immediate and un-premeditated—it was organic, as a leap would be if one were frightened by a truck.

--Lew Welch

I really love this passage, and find it helps to keep it in mind while writing both poetry and prose.

An Age of Monsters now available to pre-order!

An Age of Monsters, my first collection of stories, will officially be released on Oct. 31. It is now available to pre-order from Epic Rites Press. The book has been a long time in the works, and I'm very excited about it. It contains fifteen stories and features the amazing images of San Francisco photographer Julie Michelle.

Please feel free to order a copy here. (Scroll down to the very bottom of the page to buy.) It's a beautiful book, and I'd like to think you'll enjoy it.

There will be an official release party and reading at The Space Gallery here in San Francisco on Nov. 17. Lots of wonderful folks will be involved. More info. soon.

Also in San Francisco, Litquake is currently underway! I'll be reading as a part of the Litcrawl this Saturday, Oct. 15 at 6 p.m. in the fabled Clarion Alley with Julie Michelle and her I Live Here: SF crew. if you're in the area, come and check it out. It's gonna be a lotta fun.

I Live!

Look here, I'm updating my blog thing and I recently bought a laptop AND a cellphone! The end times are indeed nigh. But while waiting on the Rapture, feel free to read about recent, current and upcoming events in my silly little world:

Some neat photographs and a story of mine are currently featured on Julie Michelle's wonderful website, I Live Here SF.

The story and images were also recently featured at Jonathan Hirsch's Tenderlogues site. I'll be reading at the next installment of the Tenderloin Reading Series in early July.

I'm excited and proud to be reading at the upcoming installment of the Quiet Lightning Reading Series here in SF at the Minna Gallery on June 6th. I'm reading with some amazing people, and it should be a big crowd. if you're in the area, please consider checking it out. It really should be a grand evening.

What else? A new poem was recently featured at the PigeonBike site and my short story, The Bastards Were Everywhere and Would Endure has been listed among the storySouth Million Writers Award Notable Stories of 2010. That's purdy dern cool.

Okay. That's all for now. I promise to update in a more regular and timely fashion. Really. Did I tell you I have a new laptop?

Stuff!

For those kind souls who may be interested, some recent and upcoming happenings involving my work:

I was recently the guest on the Tree Killer Ink Radio show, brought to you by Epic Rites Press. Listen in and hear me ramble on about random things with hosts Wolfgang Cartsens and Rob Plath. In the midst of it all I manage to read a few poems and discuss some upcoming projects. It was a grand time.

Click here for the podcast.

And... Tree Killer Ink # 6 is now available. I'm the featured writer of the issue which contains 25 new poems that have not appeared in book form. The first 25 people who order a copy will receive a free broadside from Epic Rites, which is pretty dern cool. Take a moment and check it out. You'll be doing a bit to support a really amazing and hardworking independent press.

A selection of the broadsides can be found here.

Beat The Dust, the wonderful litzine out of the UK has devoted its current issue to Epic Rites authors. Stop by and watch a video of me reading some of my lame Allen Ginsberg wannabe poems.

And, lastly, a recent review of my latest poetry collection, The Hunger Season, can be found here.

Thanks and Love.

New Broadside And Other Random Whatnots...

Yossarian Universal News Service's Broadsider magazine has seen fit to include one of my poems in the new broadside series which will officially be relased at the end of the year. Other writers in the upcoming series include Diane Di Prima, Billy Collins and many other talented folk. The entire set of 30 signed and numbered broadsides will be available in December for $100, I think.

I currently have signed (limited to 100)copies of my broadside, "Some of Us" available for $5, which includes postage and whatnot. If anyone is interested in getting a copy, lemme know. I think it turned out rather well, and I'm proud to have my work included in this project.

Other cool things:

Talented Bay area composer Jack Perla has put my poem We Would Fall to music. Here is a video of it being performed by Thomas Glenn. Kinda neat.

I recently took part in The New San Francisco Underground Press and Book Fair. It was a great event, and an article and videos from the evening can be found here.

Last, and certainly not least: If you somehow missed it, here is my performance as Bill "The Hammer" Taylor in the premiere episode of Record Store In Space (A True Story).

I think that's it for now. Thanks so much for indulging me. O, and it's like 92 degrees in San Francisco, which just ain't right.