Welcome to this week’s Free Book Friday, wherein we give you the best titles in indie publishing for the low low price of nothing. Congrats to last week’s winner SMD for getting a free copy of The Broad Set Quarterly zine from The Broad Set Writing Collective.
This week, we are giving away a copy of Vestments by John Reimringer. Taught a prayer as a boy by his grandfather, James Dressler recites it when he’s tempted by earthly desires. But intimacy is not easily denied. Originally drawn to the priesthood by the mystery, purity, and sensual fabric of the Church, as well as by its promise of a safe harbor from his violent father, James finds himself—just a few years after his ordination—attracted again to his first love, Betty García. Torn between these competing loves, and haunted by his father’s heritage, James finds himself at a crossroads. Exploring age-old and yet urgently contemporary issues in the Catholic Church, and infused throughout by a rich sense of the history and vibrant texture of Saint Paul, this is an utterly honest and subtly lyrical novel. Vestments is an Indie Next pick for October 2010 as well as a Midwest Connections selection for Fall 2010.
This year, if you don’t want to be just another Snookie in the crowd, and are striving for something a little more high brow, try one of these literary costumes.
Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird: Scout’s ham outfit is arguably the greatest costume of all time. Walk a mile in her shoes by securing a combination of chicken wire and cloth. Don’t forget to leave two peeps for eye holes!
Gulliver from Gulliver’s Travels: This one will evoke true fright, since we all know how terrifying it is to be tied down by hundreds of miniature Lilliputians. Use a simple outfit for the base: oxford shirt and slacks pushed up to reveal your socks. Then add the finishing touch by attaching a bunch of little army men to string and pinning them all over your body so that they are hanging down at all levels, ready to tie you up.
Miss Havisham from Great Expectations: Even those who relied on the Cliff Notes version of this classic will be creeped out when they see this costume. Buy an old wedding dress from the thrift store then shred it. Wear a veil atop a serious case of bed head and paint your face a pasty white. Seal the deal by carrying around a mold-infested cake.
Nancy Drew: This one is super-simple and straightforward. Wear a smart, preppy outfit, like a plaid skirt, oxford shirt, and blazer. Add a cloche hat and a magnifying glass, and you’re ready to hit the streets. Just make sure to badger everyone at the party with lots of pesky questions.
Lisabeth Salander from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: You’ll need to channel your inner antisocial punk hacker for this one by donning a spiked dog collar, leather jacket, heavy mascara, pixie-length black wig, and combat boots. Use a laptop as your accessory and, for crying out loud, do not forget the tats. Bonus points for piercings.
Godot from Waiting for Godot: Show up extra late to the party wearing the following: green shirt, white tie, vest, coffee cup, and visor. Make sure to rant and rave sporadically throughout the night, about nothing and everything at the same time.
Lolita: Unfortunately, it’s way easier to go with Stanley Kubrick’s version of the seductress than Nabokov’s. But that doesn’t make it any less fun. Throw on some heart-shaped sunglasses, a short outfit with any kind of ruffle formation, and grab a sucker on your way out the door.
Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter: Sew a bright red ‘A’ to the bodice of your dress, top off with white bonnet and apron. Done and done, ya whore.
Dorian Gray from The Portrait of Dorian Gray: Not sure if you’ll meet many new friends at the party with this one, but wear a really sharp three piece suit and carry around a portrait of yourself all night. Then throw some acid on your face around 11pm for the ultimate party trick.
J.D. Salinger: Take extreme measures to part your hair with the utmost meticulousness. Then don’t leave the house at all.
Welcome to this week’s Free Book Friday, wherein we give you the best titles in indie publishing for the low low price of nothing. Congrats to last week’s winner Zachary Cole for getting a free copy of The Universe in Miniature in Miniature by Patrick Somerville.
This week, it’s ZINE WEEK! We are giving away a copy of The Broad Set Quarterly zine from The Broad Set Writing Collective. The Broad Set releases a quarterly zine, free to those who inquire (so you can ALL be winners this week, in a way). The Broad Set Quarterly features poetry, prose, fiction, and nonfiction from its stable of authors as well as one featured author per issue. Online content will feature weekly podcasts, videos, MP3s, photos & various original material. Monthly, The Broad Set will spotlight one author, scene or magazine whose work exemplifies the imaginative will that they value so highly. Read more »
I am a perpetual optimist, especially on the issue of literature in the digital age. I believe that the Internet presents a number of wonderful new ways to create and distribute literature, and I firmly deny, deny, deny when faced with the all-too-ubiquitous argument that the Internet is killing the book.
One point on which I will concede, however, is that the screen is changing the way we think. After spending eight hours at a computer and simultaneously listening to music, checking Twitter or Facebook (more often than I ought to, I should note), answering emails, editing video, or whatever it is that I’ll end up doing on a given day, suddenly I feel very distracted when faced with an open book. Reading a book can be jarringly simple after a day of multitasking and multimedia; when your brain is trained to process multiple streams of information at the same time, at lighting speed no less, sometimes it can be difficult to focus on just one thing.
So for those people, there’s Teleportal Readings, a monthly web video series made for “those who love reading but readings.” Or, I’d like to add, for those who love readings but think that video recordings of them are terribly dull. Watch what a little green screen hoodoo can do for literature:
Welcome to this week’s Free Book Friday, wherein we give you the best titles in indie publishing for the low low price of nothing. Congrats to last week’s winner Cortney for getting a free copy of Daddy’s by Lindsay Hunter.
This week, we are giving away a copy ofThe Universe in Miniature in Miniature by Patrick Somerville. In this genre-busting book from award-winning novelist Patrick Somerville, characters, stories, and stray thoughts revolve around the “The Machine of Understanding Other People,” the story of a Chicago man who is bequeathed a supernatural helmet that allows him to experience the inner worlds of those around him. Through his lonely lens we peer into the mind of an art student grappling with ennui, ethics and empathy as she comes to terms with her own beliefs in a godless world. We telescope out to the story of idiot extraterrestrials struggling to pilot a complicated spaceship. We follow a retired mercenary as he tries to save his marriage and questions his life abroad. Mind-bending and cracklingly new, Somerville’s broadly appealing and uniquely imaginative constructions probe the outer reaches of sympathy, death, and love in a world seen from the inside out. You can print out your own free miniature version of The Universe in Miniature in Miniaturehere.
Welcome to this week’s Free Book Friday, wherein we give you the best titles in indie publishing for the low low price of nothing. Congrats to last week’s winner Marla for getting a free copy of Awkward Two from Awkward Press.
This week, we are giving away a copy of Daddy’s by Lindsay Hunter. You ever fed yourself something bad? Like a candied rattlesnake, or a couple fingers of antifreeze? Nope? You seen what it done to other people? Like while they’re flopping around on the floor you’re thinking about how they’re fighting to live. Like while they’re dying they never looked so alive? That’s what Daddy’s is like. In this collection of toxic southern gothics, packaged as a bait box of temptation, Lindsay Hunter offers an exploration not of the human heart but of the spine; mixing sex, violence and love into a harrowing, head-spinning read that’ll push you a little further toward flopping. You can print out your own mini-book featuring “Peggy’s Brother,” a story from Daddy’s, here.
This weekend, I was fortunate to attend a lecture given by one of my personal heroes, Joyce Carol Oates. Queen of the contemporary American (specifically New York-based) gothic, Oates is as prolific as she is profound.
I finally found my way to The Hilton on 53rd Street and Sixth Avenue after taking 3 subways, a cab and then sprinting on my sprained ankle through the Casimir Pulaski parade on Fifth. Unable to find a seat due to my late arrival, I perched on the table in the back with my journal and a bleeding pen. There she was: the small, pale woman with shiny eyes that haunts the back cover of her books. I was surprised by how, well, sweet she sounded when not discussing evil fetuses and murderous country wives. These are the types of things that get me excited! Call me sick or macabre, but when I’m having a bad day, I appreciate the sound of a chainsaw mercilessly tearing through teenage flesh (on-screen only, I swear).
Though the lecture seemed to be geared towards the casual reader (not the obsessive gothic-loving freak of an English major I am), I found some gems in her speech, or at least some confirmations of my methods and madness. Read more »
The Jersey Shore. It’s one of the most popular shows on TV right now, has single-handedly made MTV relevant again and is constantly in the news – so why won’t anyone admit they watch it?
Not only will no one over the age of 17 admit they watch it, but ragging on the guidos and guidettes that make this show so successful has become a national pastime. A recent article in Vanity Fair is a prime example:
“…which is more than can be said for MTV’s Jersey Shore, a cynical slumming exercise whose carefully chosen cast of lower primates with limited vocabularies would seem to get the last laugh by becoming famous for accomplishing nothing, the new American Dream…”
Okay, so James Wolcott hates The Jersey Shore. Or at least he thinks he does. The reason I’m not sure he actually hates Snooki and the gang is because his description of the show is hardly its reality. In fact, I’d like to wager that most people who turn their noses up at MTV’s newest sensation (Wolcott included) haven’t really watched it. Because if they had…they’d realize the “cast of lower primates with limited vocabularies” are actually just a bunch of people who aren’t afraid of being exactly who they are. Read more »
Welcome to this week’s Free Book Friday, wherein we give you the best titles in indie publishing for the low low price of nothing. Congrats to last week’s winner Wyatt for scoring a copy of Recipes for Endangered Species by Traci O. Connor.
This week, we are giving away a copy of Awkward Two from Awkward Press. The villains at Awkward Press are at it again with Awkward Two, a collection of tales so fiendishly inventive they can barely be contained by the rigid boundaries of their wood-pulp prison. Awkward Two features thirty-three original short works by twenty-five of the modern world’s finest scribes in a package that is at once sophisticated and refreshingly humble. Designed by lauded New York graphics-artistry firm Rumors, Awkward Two is brimming with stories guaranteed to shock and amaze. Step inside its welcoming pages and immerse yourself in cracking-good tales of time-traveling hedonists, sadistic lawyers, tiny celebrities, board-game characters come to life, close encounters of the preteen kind, heartbreaking machines, gallivanting playwrights, and twenty-six other devilishly imaginative scenarios. Check out the book trailer below:
The Jersey Shore. It’s one of the 
