In which a long, lost Four Fathers interview the Dave Housley and we did magically appears for your reading consumption and we are forced to ask ourselves whether its sudden appearance qualifies as a holiday miracle or more accurately is merely something we just didn't know had in fact been published?

So confusing. All good. Excerpt? Word.

Linda (For Ben): Your stories, collected as “Puzzles,” show the process of figuring out each child. “Lies” epitomizes it, how you have to be a cultural translator for the whole beginning of their lives. And “Loud”—I so get that, where the parent’s version of cool is so very different than the child’s. Talk if you will, a bit about using these very specific vignettes to get at the larger idea, and managing to avoid sentimentality.

Ben: The larger idea for me, though I didn’t consciously think about this when I was working on these pieces, is that as a parent, and especially when your children are younger, you’re always in a scramble, work, writing, wiping noses, picking-up socks and dishes, overseeing baths and brushing teeth, getting your children to sleep, and on and on. And while so much of it is automatic, or done on autopilot, you’re not an automaton either, you’re tired, and confused, and frustrated, and some times, even much of the time you feel real anger. You don’t quite understand how you got into this, and why there are moments that you feel so much rage. But then there are these amazing jolts of happiness and awe. They’re like slivers or little diamonds, and that’s what I was interested in, the jolts and the slivers, and all stories for me start with that. Not unwrapping a story, but wrapping the layers around an idea. The thing with flash fiction is that you need to nail the one idea, kill it, wrap it more tightly, and blow it up. So, not a conscious effort to tell any larger idea per se, but capture the endless small ones. Which are not small in the moment, they’re everything, and all you can see and feel, yet, ultimately, and inevitably, also reflect something larger, even if you don’t know what it is when you start.

Linda (for Dave): I don’t even know where to start. Self-medicating father, Bieber Fever, neighbor in a downward spiral, rage, a baby on the way. In “Everything is Getting Worse,” everything is getting worse, but one presses on. You’ve thrown all of it on this character Burns, who doesn’t quite seem like he’s up to the load. I’m wondering whether we (or I guess I mean, I) feel for this guy, who in some respect made his own chaos, because he is a father? Or are we really rooting for the son?

Dave: I hope you do feel for him! He’s my only recurring character, actually—he was the protagonist of a story called “Ryan Seacrest is Famous,” which was the title story in my first collection, and a story called “Toyota” from my next one, Commercial Fiction. I believe at one point I tweeted “my only recurring character is a terrible asshole.” So yeah, he’s kind of a terrible asshole who mostly obsesses over what other people have and how easy it all looks, about the choices he’s made and the fact that he can’t unmake them and they didn’t lead to him being a lead guitar player, or a news reader, or a shortstop. They didn’t lead anywhere his eighteen-year-old self would have thought was cool. They led to the normal places and he has all this resentment and self-loathing about that. He’s terrible but in my mind, at least, it’s mostly self-loathing.

I really tried to put pressure on him in this story. A lot happens in terms of plot, especially for “literary fiction.” I pictured the progression of the story as this magnifying glass that was shining light on him, getting hotter and hotter, backing him into a corner, until he either has to figure out what’s important to him or just lose it altogether and in the process lose everything he still does have. I hope readers feel for him because you can tell that beneath his stupid, pill-popping, wine-drinking, selfish facade, he really does want to do the right thing. Or, he wants to want to do the right thing.

There’s a thing that happens at a Justin Bieber concert, and I don’t tend to love moments of my own writing, but I’m still pretty happy about how the turn happens there, and after that I hope you can see him acting in a way that’s more worthy of our sympathy or feeling.

I think the son is going to be okay. Or at least, I hope at the end of the story you feel like there’s been a movement toward a place where Burns is actually going to change and by the time the son is old enough to wonder what all of that was about, Burns will have it together for good. 

"Like slamming into a brick wall of incredulous love and wonder." Some quite kind, and most appreciated, Four Fathers love at Atticus Review.

Quite kind. Most appreciated. Excerpt? Word.

"The rhythmic, poignant sections of Tanzer’s prose pack overwhelming punches. Each moment is different, evocative: the thrill of running with one child, the humor of another in puberty growing “penis hair,” the inevitable sting of rejection when the kid snubs his father’s music, the intimacy of a pretend parent-teacher conference. The full force of these moments hits the speaker, the craziness of fatherhood; even the reader can feel it like a wave, or like slamming into a brick wall of incredulous love and wonder."

Dave Housley is Steph Post interview.

And like right here at that. Excerpt? Word.

SP: If I Knew the Way, I Would Take You Home has much in common with Commercial Fiction- your style is immediately visible on the page- but there is a seriousness bubbling under the surface of these stories, a bittersweet nostalgia, that lends weight to the stories. How was your mindset different in writing this collection?

DH: Thanks for saying that! I think the best compliment I ever got was from Steve Almond, who said “I bet people tell you all the time how funny these stories are, but they’re really sad.” I like to think I can make anything really sad, even a Wiggles concert or a Budweiser ad. The stories in If I Knew the Way have a lot of what a friend called “father/son shit” happening in them, a lot of reckoning with getting older and the disappointments and limitations that might bring. I tend to write maybe five years behind where I am in my life. I guess I process things slowly.

"Slayed me." Four Fathers, yo.

For real. Here. Or here. Totally.

From now until Christmas, you can get EPUB or PDF versions of Four Fathers and BLACK KRIM, yes that Four Fathers, and that BLACK KRIM, from Cobalt for $4.95.

Here and here. For real. Now do hit it. It just might change your life.

"Emotional, vivid, and compelling." Four Fathers. InDigest. Bam. And such.

So much such, and endless appreciations. Excerpt? Word.

"There’s some fine writing in Four Fathers: emotional, vivid, and compelling. This book isn’t just someone showing you snapshots from their wallet, instead being an examination of how particular people manage to live in their particular, individual worlds. It’s good stuff, completely separate from any interest in fatherhood."

"Real and often hilarious." Four Fathers. Small Press Reviews. Yes.

Quite yes. And so endlessly appreciated. Excerpt? Word.

"Tanzer’s flash pieces each hit on a single element of fatherhood, which is an effective way to approach the experience and give the little things, both funny and serious, their due. This series of stories reminded me a little bit of Abbott Awaits by Chris Bachelder, a novel about fatherhood in flash-style vignettes. The stylistic similarities are easy to see, but the mix of wit, humor, and sensitivity to the sometimes paradoxical nature of fatherhood is what makes Tanzer’s work stand up there with Bachelder’s."

Housley. Williams. Pawelek. Tanzer. Rejoice. Buy. Read. Hype. Share. Storm the gates. For Four Fathers release day it is. And far and wide at that.

Release it is indeed. So do hit it, it just might change your life.

"Hilarious and poignant." Four Fathers. MONOLOGGING. Indeed.

And most appreciated. Excerpt? Word.

"Cobalt Press’ first book is beautifully designed, weaving an intricate collaboration between talented authors. Four Fathers is filled with hilarious and poignant moments. Told in episodic soul-searching movements, many unique voices emerge inaugurating experimentation in diverse literary forms. The stories contemplate genetic bonds, adult disguises, and parental identity crisis. Bookended by tales of sons becoming men, the collection invites readers to consider their own family dynamic, especially with regard to father-son relationships. It is a medley that will resonate."

Four Fathers is in the house, yo.

Shameless, albeit much appreciated, Brian Gresko Four Fathers Tweet hype. And big thanks to the Brian Gresko for that.

Congrats @keatingnation & @bentanzer on FOUR FATHERS. Literary dads unite! http://t.co/sCyQ4UlwpR
— Brian Gresko (@briangresko) May 21, 2014

"Rarely have I been exposed to literature that offers a glimpse, let alone several different perspectives, on how men feel (I mean, really, deeply, in their heads and hearts feel) about the roles and responsibilities that come with bringing children into the world." Four Fathers. The Tin House. What We're Reading. Beautious.

Most beautious indeed. And more here yes.

Wherein we are Writing Is Revision panel with the quite amazing D. Foy, Dave Housley, Rae Bryant, and Jessica Anya Blau at the Conversations and Connection conference on April 5th in Washington, D.C. and look forward to seeing you there thank you cool done.

Totally. More here. Workshop description excerpt? Cool. Done. Yes.

"For those of us not touched my magic, writing is less about “connecting with the muse” than it is about elbow grease. Get the words on the page, then go back and delete most of them, change others, move them around, repeat, drink coffee, repeat, drink bourbon, repeat, go to sleep, repeat, repeat, until maybe you have something that’s headed towards working."

This Book Will Change Your Life - Commercial Fiction by the Dave Housley.

Truth. It is so Commercial. So Fiction. And so released today. It is also so blurb. So please do hit the Commercial Fiction, all post-haste and such, it just might change your life.

"In Commercial Fiction, Dave Housley demonstrates his gift for literary sleight of hand, first drawing us in with his satirical skewering of corporate branding, before cutting us off at the knees with his nuanced tales of desperate lives, dead-end jobs, and diminished expectations."

Wherein we engage in paternal patter, or palaver, if that's your thing, and FOUR FATHERS KICKSTARTER hype, with the Dave Housley at TNBBC's The Next Best Book Blog.

We really do. And we are very thankful for the opportunity to do so. Excerpt? Cool.

DH: Related to the question above, but something I've been thinking about a little as I edit my piece for FOUR FATHERS: what would you tell your kids if they were sitting down to read FOUR FATHERS? How old do you picture them being when you think about that (if, indeed, it's a thing you've thought about)? 

BT: I have thought about this, and what I would like to tell them is that they will see slices of our lives, sometimes mine, or theirs, and that these slices were spun into something else, things I was trying to figure out, and stories that people can relate to. It also feels like there is a subtext to this question about whether I think they will be offended or upset by what they read. Which I guess is the subtext to my answer as well. I don't think these stories as a whole will be upsetting. They reflect more poorly on the protagonist if anyone, though as I re-read them, they are mostly about confusion and how we communicate, feeling abandoned, coping, and the million small things I constantly think about. And from that perspective, my kids only play a small role in these pieces, significant, but small, despite the content. 

A TNBBC's The Next Best Book Blog Cobalt Press FOUR FATHERS Kickstarter interview series Andrew Keating introduction thing.

Truth. So please do hit it. It just might change your life. Excerpt? Yes. Totally.

"There are few subjects richer than fatherhood. I won’t lie, the first time I heard someone use the phrase fatherhood fiction or dick-lit (it was Greg Olear, a couple years ago when Fathermucker was happening), I snorted a little bit. This, of course, is the reaction of a non-father, of a son who admittedly believes that being a dad isn’t all that complicated. Then I read this manuscript. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, other than that I knew two of the authors pretty well and loved their stuff. So I read, and kept reading, and I laughed, and I felt my chest tighten with anxiety, and I might have even cried. How wrong I was.

Four Fathers, and each of its authors, delivers fatherhood in a multitude of thought-provoking, heartfelt ways: from Tom Williams’ pair of long short stories which define a man by who he is as a son in relation to his father, and who he is as a father in relation to his son; to BL Pawelek’s poetry, dedicated to his daughter, Abbey Road. Then you have Ben Tanzer's flash fiction pieces, which all seem to reflect up on the idea of "I'm a dad…what the heck do I do now?" and Dave Housley's novella begging the Osbornesque question "What the f*** is a 'Bieber?'" There are moments of absolute sweetness, and moments of perversity. There are points where you’ll want to laugh out loud, but you’ll stop once you realize you’re only laughing at yourself, your own fears, your own misgivings about what it means to be a dad."

And then the almighty Keating said there should be waves of Cobalt Press Start-Up/Where You Should Be KICKSTARTER love magic spreading near and far across the land and there was.

   
There really, really was. So please go here, now, to learn so much more. It just might change your life. Really. And thank you.

And then there was the time we all signed our Cobalt contract and joy was felt far and wide across the land.

New joint. Moving. At the decomP.

Quite excited about this we are and big thanks to the Jason Jordan and the decomP crew for that. We are also excited to let you know that this joint is part of a series of pieces from our contribution to a new collection titled WHERE YOU SHOULD BE: Four (Aging, Uncertain, Often Confused, Frequently Terrified) Contemporary Writers on Fatherhood that we collaborated on with stellar dad writers dudes and friends Dave Housley, Tom Williams, and BL Pawelek, and will be released by the Andrew Keating and Cobalt. So there's that as well. Excerpt? Word.

"He’s just walking down the street in front of you. It’s what they do of course, walk and breathe, and all those things people engage in when they’re alive and they grow.

He’s in front of you though, and he’s not holding your hand, or looking at you, and that’s different, new.

You’re not even on his radar.

Did you see when she kicked him at recess? your older son says to his friend all mock serious.

Yeah, she replies, he got treated.

Treated, your son says laughing, that’s not how you use the word treated.

No, she says, what’s treated?

It’s like when you say, your mom is so fat, that when she stands in front of the sun it’s like a total eclipse. That’s getting treated, he says.

And they both laugh."

“So it's sorta social. Demented and sad, but social, right?” We are Dogzplot Flash Fiction - Ben Tanzer issue.

Quite sad. And totally demented. But yes social for sure and very wonderful as well. The always awesome Barry Graham and Dogzplot has gone all Tanzer for its new edition and vast embarrassment aside, it is humbling in its sheer terrificness and we are thrilled about the line-up of contributors, all of whom we find freakishly attractive and sort of love - BL Pawelek, David Tomaloff, Ryan Bradley, Dave Housley, Tom Williams, and yes, even Ben Tanzer himself. Mass appreciations everyone and big love all around.