The Dying Horse Is Unleashed

Today, January 24, The Dying Horse is officially released. I've heard of copies making their way into the world. Don't have your copy yet? Buy it here. Want to help me out? No? I didn't think so, but you can by spreading the word via Facebook, Goodreads, Google+, Twitter, telegram, etc. 

Too cheap to buy one? No problem: I'm giving away five copies via Goodreads. 

The Weight Is Over

This quarter I'm again teaching one section of English 151: Writing and Rhetoric I, but instead of meeting daily for fifty minutes like we did last quarter, my new class meets twice a week for two and a half hours. I'm enjoying the scheduling change; meeting every weekday was a real chore. Modifying the syllabus to fit the new time slot has its challenges, but I'm glad I taught the same material last quarter. In other words, no more trial and error.

As for my classes, I'm taking a fiction workshop with Joan Connor and a nonfiction workshop with Dinty W. Moore. In Moore's class we're reading essays from John Jeremiah Sullivan's Pulphead. It's been good, and what's cool is that Sullivan was born in Louisville.

This past week Porter Shreve, who directs the Creative Writing Program at Purdue, visited OU as visiting writer in residence. The university gave me a copy of his latest book, When the White House Was Ours, and I liked it. The fiction writers met him for lunch on Thursday, and I had a one on one workshop with him a couple hours later, which went well. He read that night from a new, forthcoming book, and the fiction writers had a colloquium with him on Friday morning about novel writing. 

One thing I got for Christmas that I'm loving:

I'm trying to refrain from being glued to my DROID RAZR, but I'm fond of the apps I've been using: Angry Birds, Blogger, Dictionary, Facebook, Fruit Ninja, Gmail, Goodreads, Google+, IMDb, Yahoo! Mail, Onion News Network, Roller, ScoreCenter, Scrabble, Tetris, The Weather Channel, Twitter, UNO, Wiki Encyclopedia, Word Search, YouTube, and so forth. Having never played Scrabble as a kid, I'm finding out that I suck at it. Still, aside from the many fun timesuck activities the phone provides, it's nice to have access to the Internet all the time, plus I like being up on technology. 

I'm dieting now. I haven't lost any weight yet, but I'm eating healthier and exercising regularly, so I'm optimistic that I'll at least improve my day to day life. I've been home both weekends since the quarter started, however, and that has screwed over my diet because I can't seem to resist the food lying around. I guess I'm also treating my weekends home as a time to binge before I return to Athens, where I haven't been buying unhealthy foods. No more Coke Zero, sadly. I'm still buying chocolate, though. I can't deal without chocolate. 

The Audition

I first met Ryan W. Bradley at an audition for the part of Casey Jones in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990). Needless to say, we failed to get the part, because Elias Koteas bested both of us. Now Bradley has written a book titled Code for Failure, due out on March 27, 2012, from Black Coffee Press, that is available for pre-order for only $12.95.

Best (and Worst) Books of 2011

I feel that no matter how many books I read per year, I still won't consider the total enough. Nonetheless, I think I read a good amount, even though classes prevented me from doing much leisure reading during September, October, and November. As I've said, my Goodreads is the best way to keep up with what I'm reading and what I think of books I've read. My 2010 list is here, my 2009 list is here, and my 2008 list is here. In the words of The Joker: "And here we...go."

Best Novel

Kevin Wilson - The Family Fang - Ecco

Last year I noted that no novel truly floored me. There were some good ones, but none I'd consider great. This year, however, I read a few novels that impressed me to the extent that I'd feel comfortable awarding each the top slot. Kevin Wilson's The Family Fang wins it, though, with likable characters, an intriguing plot with tension, good dialogue and descriptions, humor, and all-around great writing. In other words, every facet of this book is praiseworthy. The fact that one of the characters is a writer may irk some, but that's a minor complaint. 

"But Jason," you may say, "didn't Kevin Wilson blurb your forthcoming novella The Dying Horse? And doesn't that make you biased?" Yes and perhaps, but keep in mind that I asked Kevin for a blurb because I enjoy his work. I asked for the blurb prior to The Family Fang, and I wasn't prepared for just how good it is. 

Honorable Mentions: Chris Bachelder's Abbott Awaits (Yellow Shoe Fiction), Mel Bosworth's Freight (Folded Word), T. J. Forrester's Miracles, Inc. (Simon & Schuster)

Best Short Story Collection

Ryan Call - The Weather Stations - Caketrain

While several novels could've garnered top honors this year, there wasn't a collection head and shoulders above the rest. Even so, there's a lot to like in Ryan Call's The Weather Stations, which features imaginative, fantastical stories about people dealing with weather. The book's striking cover and pleasing layout add to the value.

Honorable Mentions: Roxane Gay's Ayiti (Artistically Declined Press), Karl Taro Greenfeld's NowTrends (Short Flight / Long Drive Books)

Best Chapbook

Justin Hamm - Illinois, My Apologies - RockSaw Press

When I think of Justin Hamm's poetry, the following words come to mind: authenticity, bleakness, blue collar, genuineness, hardworking, honesty, rawness, sorrow. Besides the poems--each is of high quality and many are emotionally evocative--the overall package conveys just how much time, effort, and care went into the production of this fine chapbook. 

Honorable Mentions: None

Best Literary Magazine

Hobart - Aaron Burch - Editor

From year to year, Hobart is consistently one of my favorite literary journals. They publish monthly online issues, and this year they published Hobart #12, a welcome addition to the journal's print legacy. Likewise, I always enjoy reading the month's (dis)likes, and the editors recently added a Tumblr. Not to be overlooked is the journal's press Short Flight / Long Drive Books. Unsurprisingly, each SF/LD release is good--I especially like Adam Novy's The Avian Gospels and Michelle Orange's The Sicily Papers--and each is worth owning. I'm eager to find out what 2012 holds in store for Hobart. 

Honorable Mentions: Dark Sky Magazine, > kill author

Worst Book

Justin Taylor - The Gospel of Anarchy - Harper Perennial

I bought Justin Taylor's The Gospel of Anarchy based on its premise and cover. The first few pages are promising, but that's about it. I didn't like any of the characters, and the plot lacks adequate tension, important stakes. Further, the novel fails to convincingly establish the reasons why the story takes place when (1999) and where (Gainesville, Florida) it does. Because I didn't like the book enough to keep it, I passed it on to Spencer Dew, who panned it in his review. So, based on Spencer's review and various Goodreads ratings/reviews, it appears I'm not alone in my distaste. 

I hope you enjoyed reading about my favorite books of 2011. What are yours? 

They Bend Their Tongues

Been off the blogosphere this past week while I was home, and have yet to catch up on my blog reading. Aside from the Thanksgiving festivities, which were good, I watched my brother play a lot of this:

I also watched this:

Though I was sad to see Michael go, I'm confident the show will remain good. After all, if the writers and cast are almost the same, everything should still click. I wait to watch the episodes until the season DVDs come out, so I haven't seen any of the Carell-free episodes yet. For now, my love of The Office is intact. 

Now I'm back in Athens and ordering more books:

Roberto Bolano - 2666

Tim Kinsella - The Karaoke Singer's Guide to Self-Defense

Mickey Hess - The Nostalgia Echo

Justin Sirois - Falcons on the Floor

John Jeremiah Sullivan - Pulphead

I need a book-buying intervention. With the rest of my downtime, I hope to get some work on decomP done and write some stories. 

If You Pre-order "The Dying Horse," I Will...

Did you know that I have a novella titled The Dying Horse coming out on January 24, 2012, from Main Street Rag, and it's available for pre-order for only $6? You didn't? You must not surf the Web, watch TV, read magazines or newspapers, or listen to the radio, because it's been featured on all major news and gossip sites and shows. Anyway, for every copy of TDH you pre-order, also choose one of the following things I'll do:

• beat your arch enemy to death with a tire iron
• make Criss Angel's teeth disappear by giving him a well-deserved punch in the mouth
• reinstate Joe Paterno as head coach of Penn State  
• subject myself to Loutallica's Lulu
• go back in time to stop the Star Wars prequels from being made (offer also good for The Godfather: Part III, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, etc.)
• end the NBA lockout
• read and watch the Twilight saga and write a 1,000,000-word apologia
• pepper-spray some occupiers
• go forward in time to see if Sarah Palin serves a second term as president
• solve a murder mystery (see first bullet point)

Choose wisely. Drug habit preventing you from spending a measly $6? (I understand, because I regularly abuse caffeine.) There's always the Goodreads giveaway:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Dying Horse

by Jason Jordan

Giveaway ends February 24, 2012.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Water Through Fire

Recently I ordered PANK 6, featuring work by Frank Hinton, Lindsay Hunter, Kat Lewin, Andrew Roe, Helen Vitoria, and many others.

 

I also ordered Karl Taro Greenfeld's NowTrends from Hobart's Short Flight/Long Drive Books, whose designs always impress me. My cover's the one on the left.  

This week I've been eating too much of:

This week I've been playing too much of:

I no longer consider myself a gamer, but from time to time I'll play Tekken Tag Tournament on my PS2 or Mario Party 5 on my GameCube. But, recently I got the urge to start a new game of Super Mario Sunshine. I beat it a long time ago, but forgot most of it. I enjoyed this time through despite the maddening camera. Playing SMS makes me want to get a Wii and the Super Mario Galaxy games. I don't have an interest in gaming anymore beyond Mario--the star (pun intended) of the first video game I owned. My favorite Mario game? Super Mario 64.