So here's
what I should be doing: I should be in New Hampshire right now with my wife and
daughter. I should be getting ready for a lovely day of sightseeing and the
usual touristy whatnot that goes along with westcoasters visiting New England
in the fall. (yeah, leaf watching.)
But
here's what I'm actually doing: I'm huddled on my living room couch, my comfy
blue blanket around my shoulders, a small stack of books on the coffee table
along with the tv remotes. I've got Oldboy on, and I'm planning on watching the
entire Vengeance trilogy through out the day.
I'm also
hacking my lungs out.
I also
have a low grade, but diminishing fever.
I also
have a constant, throbbing body ache which makes normal activities, such as
typing, kind of physically taxing.
I have
walking pneumonia and this is how I'm spending my first vacation in nearly a
year-and-a-half.
I sent
the girls out east, because I didn't want my little illness to shit in
everyone's punch bowl, and I'm spending my now abundant free time catching up
on my "just for fun" reading.
And I'm
blogging.
But I'm
just not blogging about my pal walking pneumonia, I'm blogging about books,
specifically an anthology project my pals Jimmy Callaway and Matt Funk are involved
in called
Uncle B's Drive-In Fiction.
Here's the skinny on the anthology:
"Six
low-budget novellas by Jimmy Callaway, Alec Cizak, C. J. Edwards, Garnett
Elliott, Matthew C. Funk, and David James Keaton. Featuring cover and interior
art by Sarah Hailey. Edited by Elisha Murphy.
Remember
rolling into the drive-in, elbow out the window, hand squeezing the wheel of
your dad's Ford, hoping to find a spot in the back row of cars? Remember
watching some B horror, cheapjack action or western flick, trying like mad to
get to second base? Edited by Elisha Murphy, six pulp writers join forces in Drive-In Fiction to conjure up those dark,
sweat-laced back seats lit only by the glow of the big screen. Within these
pages are six down and dirty novellas all written in the spirit of those films
from the golden age of the drive-in. Inside you will find:
The
Shunned Highway by Garnett Elliott
When a
group of unwitting bikers, the Crusty Losers, pick the wrong gothic mansion to
throw a party in, they release a highly contagious alien fungus. What follows
is a leather-clad hellride through 70's America, with rogue CDC agents in hot
pursuit. Who will survive the fiery showdown in post-hippy San Francisco? Read
The Shunned Highway and find out.
A Woman
And A Knife by Matthew C. Funk
A
ruthless killer stalks Jenny Childs across the wretched territory of central
Ohio, and a haunted cop races against a failing mind to save her. But young
Jenny holds a twisted secret that could doom the men on her trail.
SUCK by
C. J. Edwards
Indianapolis
PD Rookie Homicide Detective Rae Simmons has been assigned a case nobody else
wants, the torture and murder of a young prostitute named Cherry. What she
doesn't know is that someone else is hunting the killers too. With her victim's
body missing, gang bangers turning up dead, and a Catholic Priest telling her a
demonic force is out for blood, Simmons must track the killers and face down
dark powers beyond her comprehension.
Lupo
Danish Never Has Nightmares by Jimmy Callaway
Organized
crime produces few heroes. Lupo Danish is not one of them. But in this case,
he'll just have to do. He often sleeps, but Lupo Danish never has nightmares.
National
Trust by Alec Cizak
Tommy
Doyle has his hands full navigating the minefield of his surrogate family of
small time Irish-American gangsters. Set during the Watergate scandal, Tommy
gears up for a final bank heist to settle some scores. "Who the hell
dresses up as Nixon for Halloween?" he asks. Exactly.
Tap Tap
Tap (Snap Snap Snap) by David James Keaton
A porn
director in the twilight of his career becomes increasingly delusional as he
begins to notice sexually transmitted tattoos infecting his "talent."
Even his imagined relationship with the Virgin Mary statue down the street
can't stop an inevitable showdown between him and the wannabe stuntman he
accidentally spit on and his plot to either kidnap a police dog, detonate the
local drive-in where the latest porn epic will debut, or detonate a police dog,
whichever comes first."
Sounds
pretty awesome, right?
The
biggest issue with selling books in this day and age is with so many of them
coming out week-after-week is it's pretty tough to gain attention for your book. So what the
always luscious Jimmy Callaway is doing to help gain some attention for Uncle B's is he offered
to buy
a comic book of the readers choice if they buy and review
Uncle B'sDrive-in Fiction.
Well,
I've decided to up the ante and make this offer: If you buy and review Uncle
B's, Jimmy will still buy you a comic of your choice, but I'll also send you a
copy of
Shotgun Honey Presents: Both Barrels. I'd appreciate it if you reviewed
Both Barrels, too, if you're so inclined.
But wait,
there's more....
If you're
not into writing a review, but are still down with getting some free stuff, if
you simply buy a copy of Uncle B's Drive-in Fiction and send a proof of
purchase to Callaway or myself (BTW, gang, the proof of purchase has to be from after
today.) I will send you a copy of one of the following novels:
Hating
Olivia by Mark SaFranko (Great novel, particularly if you're into Bukowski or
Dan Fante.)
Shatter
by Michael Robotham
Cliffwalk
by Bruce DeSilva
and last
but not least,
Big Maria
by Johnny Shaw
That's a
lot of good writing there, folks, particularly Big Maria, which I'm now in my
second reading of. Mind you, with these books, Jimmy's not going to buy you a
funny book and all that's required is a proof of purchase, but once again,
honest, responsible reviews are always welcomed. If you're up for it, you can e-mail me your proof of purchase yo rawsonkeith(at)gmail dot com or you can contact Jimmy Callaway right
HERE
Okay, one
last thing before I let you go.
As most
of you know, I'm a hired geek over at LitReactor, but on top of being a kick
ass online lit mag and community, it's also an educational website where
writing intensives have been taught by the likes of Christa Faust, Stephen
Graham Jones, Craig Clevenger, David Corbet, and Jack Ketchum, just to name a
few.
Well
recently, Johnny Shaw, (Dove Season, Big Maria, and editor of Blood &
Tacos) joined the ranks of LitReactor's instructors. Here's the dope on Shaw's
first class:
CLASS
DESCRIPTION
Writing
is rewriting.
People
say it all the time, and it's true. Your first draft, it's like a big block of
stone. Huge and unwieldy, but full of hidden possibility. The true art of the
process comes from chipping away at the stone--the extraneous sentences, the
non-essential characters, the navel-gazing tangents--and finding the story.
Your
story is the sculpture inside the rock.
And we've
recruited Johnny Shaw to help you find it. He has an MFA in screenwriting and
has lectured at Santa Barbara City College and UC Santa Barbara. He's the
author of two highly-praised novels. One of which, Dove Season, was lauded by In the Woods author Tana
French for "a smart, fluent rhythm and crackle that pull you forward, and
it’s
full of sharply observed and often very funny details. The author is excellent
at creating a sense of place with a few deft strokes..."
Shaw
knows how to edit his work down to a fine point--to find that sculpture inside
the block of stone--and he'll show you how to do it too, in this four-week
course that focuses on the skills necessary for a successful edit.
WHAT THIS
CLASS COVERS
Week 1:
Writing is Rewriting
- Now that
you have the stone, it’s time to sculpt
- Don’t change sentences in chapters
you will eventually cut
- Expanding
and exploring themes to their fullest potential
- Integrate
the parts of your story to make a cohesive whole
- Pacing
& clarity
Week 2:
The Craft of Story Structure
- Know the
rules before you break them
- Traditional
dramatic three-act structure
- Aristotle.
That’s
right, I said it. Aristotle
- Seeing
the story from a distance; how the parts make a whole
- Structure
as a tool for the pacing and momentum of your story
Week 3:
The Scene is the Thing
- Three
minutes is a long scene (and whatever the equivalent is in a novel)
- Finding
the conflict and focusing in on it
- The
writer’s
objective vs. the characters’ objectives
- The
function of the scene as it ties to the whole and the theme
Week 4:
Character and Dialogue
- People
doing stuff, not characters in scenes
- To be
original, make the characters act like real people
- Don’t get cute with the dialogue
- Read it
out loud. Have someone read it to you
- Good
dialogue illuminates what that characters aren’t saying
- It can
always be faster, it can always be funnier (even if it’s dramatic)
GOALS OF
THE CLASS
- A clear
and concise knowledge of traditional three-act story structure, and the ability
to create and use that structure to go beyond that tradition.
- Essential
tools for scene construction and pacing, that help to imbue each moment in a
scene with conflict and momentum, using clear objectives.
- Keys to
developing characters and writing dialogue that illuminate what the characters
aren’t
saying, as well as what they are.
- Finding
the thematic strengths of one’s story and getting the most from the themes and getting to
the heart of the most important question you face as a writer: Why the story
exists.
The class
sounds all kinds fun, and you're learning straight from a guy who has 20-years
of experience at the art of re-writing, so if you're interested in finding out
more about the class or to register, click right
HERE.
Anyway,
time for a nap. Good night, y'all.
