Orange Alert. Writer on Writer. Hyatt. Tanzer. Wonderbar.

It's true, we are hitting that. That being the Orange Alert. The Hyatt. And the Writer on Writer interview thing. So please do hit that as well, and enjoy some excerpt, it does a heart good.

Please tell us five things we need to know about Michigan if we are to truly grasp the goodness that is Birch Hills @ World's End. Also, please note that you are under no obligation to reference Kid Rock or the Fab Five. Really.

In terms of what you should know about the state, well, it has its rough edges and sometimes gets called “Canada’s Alabama,” but it’s a much prettier and more vibrant place than most folks realize. Distance there is measured in driving time. For example, things are 20 minutes away, or an hour north, and so on. Growing up, I assumed every adult knew how to drive and everyone over seven knew how to swim. The fact that this isn’t true for the entire country still messes with me, because two fundamentals of being alive in Michigan are water and cars. The state is home to Vernor's Ginger Ale, called a "regional thing of beauty and unending quality" by Eve Babitz. What else? Alice Cooper and Ted Nugent still get regular rotation on the radio there.That’s five things, I think.

"My Father's House is a compassionate, wise, and fearless book." My Father's House receives some Goodreads love. And is most thankful indeed.

On a day full of thanks, and we at the TBWCYL, Inc. are most thankful indeed for your love and support, we are also most thankful for the most kind words TBWCYL, Inc. favorite Geoff Hyatt has posted to the Goodreads about My Father's House. Big thanks brother and drinks on us for sure when next we meet. For everyone, Happy Thanksgiving, and how about some excerpt? Cool.

"What's wonderful about My Father's House is how the impending death of a loved one brings the narrator's life, with all its beauty and flaws, into sharp focus. Indeed, it is the imperfections of this teller that make him so much more perfected and authentic-feeling--Tanzer isn't afraid to let these characters disappoint one another or themselves, to let failure be part of the organic process of growing into the reality of their own existences."

This Book (and Podcast - "Frothy") Will Change Your Life - Birch Hills @ World's End by Geoff Hyatt.

There are coming of age tales, how we operate and function as boys, and maybe later men, questions of security and safety in the wake of Columbine, and man, it's weird that we never really thought about the parallels in how the country reacted to both Columbine and September 11th before now. There is also having your head buried in a book with all of these themes bouncing to and fro in your head, while on line waiting to get through security at the airport, as we were, and being so lost in the passage you are reading that you try to walk through security even as they are firmly asking you not to, as we did, which somehow reminds you how things change, get warped and molded and yet still always come back to some basic themes, over and over again, love, confusion, safety and risk, finding oneself, being different, seeking individuality, and how these themes are among the many that make for coming of age tales. Arguably though a goal of any coming of age tale is to make it fresh, both familiar and unfamiliar, or more accurately, familiar, yet new, all of which is to say that Birch Hills @ World's End by Geoff Hyatt does much of this exceedingly well. And yes, freshly. Is there another novel set against Y2K and Columbine, and did we remember they happened so closely together? We did not. Birch Hills @ World's End so much more though, and it pushed so many buttons for us about what it means to be different and young and male, being a freak, or geek, bullying and violence, and so there it is, go read it, because it just might change your life. Also though, when you have a moment, and even if you don't, please go listen to the new episode of This Podcast Will Change Your Life - "Frothy" as well, wherein we riff with the Hyatt on all of this, and more. And do it now. There. Thanks.  

"Babbitt in a faded The Hold Steady t-shirt." You Can Make Him Like You gets Geoff Hyatt'd. And likes it. A lot.

You Can Make Him Like You has received some most kind words from local author and new BFF Geoff Hyatt and for that we are most appreciative. We are also buying drinks when next we meet, cool? Awesome. Big thanks bro.

"You Can Make Him Like You is told in an engaging first-person that quietly denies the urgency and agony of feeling one’s identity becoming subsumed by a life as expected as a marketing campaign. It instead explores the bigger fear of not being “good” enough to even make it that far. Fortunately, there is love and fatherhood to bring our hero to something bigger than himself. There’s much to smile about in Tanzer’s latest. After all, if Keith can get it together to look for a sense of personal completion, then maybe there’s hope for all of us."