The New York Stories is part of a most excellent line-up indeed on Local Author Night at The Book Cellar on Wednesday, June 17th.

So do hit it. It just might change your life.

Wherein we are "Sound Like Sleep" Lost in Space live at The Book Cellar and in fine company at the WordPlaySound.

Totally. And massively appreciative at that. So do hit it. It just might change your life.

Lost in Space. The Book Cellar. Chicago. Beautious. Totally.

Brand. Cromley. Peterson. Tanzer. The Book Cellar. This Friday. January 31st. 7:00 pm. Local favorites, yo.

It just might change your life. For real.

There will be books.

For real. Many. And thank you to The Book Cellar for that.

Orphans Book Release Party Yo.

It's true we are Orphans release party on November 6th, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm, at the Beauty Bar Chicago and we would like you to join us. There will be a laser light show. Fog machines. Drinks. Many. Books (courtesy of the most awesome The Book Cellar). Dogs and Cats living together. And rock star readers who are sure to change your life:

Joseph G. Peterson - Beautiful Piece, Inside The Whale: A Novel in Verse, Wanted: Elevator Man

Kathryn Born - The Blue Kind

Bill Hillmann - The Old Neighborhood

Patricia Ann McNair - The Temple of Air

Jason Fisk - Hank & Jules, The Salt Creek Anthology

And TBWYL, Inc. Spokesperson Ben Tanzer - Orphans, coming soon from Switchgrass Books and NIU Press, among others.

So please join us. Please spread the word. And please don't stop being you, because we think you are quite awesome at that.

Word.

Fisk. Smolarek. Thomas. Anderson. Duffer. Peterson. Brand. And Tanzer. We are Daddy Cool release party. The Book Cellar. Tonight. Hit it. Yes.

Fisk. Smolarek. Thomas. Anderson. Duffer. Peterson. Brand. And Tanzer. We are Daddy Cool release party. Saturday. June 8th. The Book Cellar.

And quite geeked we are. So please do join us. Bring your kids. Share this with your friends. Buy books. And change lives. Cool?

We Are Hosho McCreesh. We are also "The Vanessa Hudgens Diaries" and The Way We Sleep at The Book Cellar.

And for more on The Way We Sleep and the way we read when we read "The Vanessa Hudgens Diaries" from The Way We Sleep in our "I Am Hosho McCreesh" T-shirt, do check-out the Liz Baudler's account at Chicago Literati. It just may change your life.

And then there's this of course on Saturday night. Join us won't you?

More here yes that sweet thank you.

Beachy. Stielstra. Rowan. Weller. Tanzer. And endlessly massive Hair Lit, Vol. 1 release awesomeness.

We know right? So please do join us at The Book Cellar on January 12th. It just might change your life.

"Tanzer writes his characters... with incredibly depth and honesty." You Can Make Him Like You gets Vouched. And likes it. A lot. Also, photo action.

Really thrilled by these kind words for You Can Make Him Like You from the Vouched and recent TBWCYL, Inc. favorite, and now bestest BFF ever Amber Sparks. Drinks on us for sure when next we meet. As for the rest of you, how about some excerpt, and some photo from the terrific You Can Make Him Like You discussion we had last week with always easy on the eyes pop culture critic and long-time TBWCYL, Inc. favorite David Masciotra at The Book Cellar, who we also owe big thanks to, and will also be buying drinks for soon. And yes we know its a book store, The Book Cellar that is, not David, though we are happy to buy drinks for both.

"What makes the book work so well is the way that Tanzer writes his characters, particularly Keith, with incredibly depth and honesty. Like all of us, they are diffuse and distracted and shaped not only by important events (babies, elections) but also by pop culture, by music and movies and sports trivia and TMZ. Tanzer is willing to acknowledge that sometimes, even during the most difficult moments of our lives, we may be thinking about the most trivial things imaginable–and that it doesn’t mean WE are trivial. It merely reflects our culture, our methods of coping, our way of floating out of the world even while fully immersed in it."

This Podcast Will Change Your Life, Episode Thirty - High Fidelity.

Hey there Caleb J. Ross, did you see it coming, were you waiting breathlessly for the new edition of This Podcast Will Change Your Life, because its here, Episode Thirty, High Fidelity, starring Chicago's own Brandon Will, writer, book seller, puppeteer, Karaoke god and lover of all things Eminem. And its the goods. Well, its something, something beautiful surely, and something that we think just might change your life, maybe even for the good. Maybe.

This Book Will Change (not just) Your Life (but others) - Working on a Dream - The Progressive Political Vision of Bruce Springsteen/David Masciotra.

After a week or so of interviews with TBWCYL, Inc. favorite David Masiotra, here and here, appearances, many thanks again to Suzi T. and The Book Cellar crew, and the actual completion of his stirring new book Working on a Dream - The Progressive Political Vision of Bruce Springsteen, we thought it was time for some reflection.

(1) We are convinced more than ever that David Masciotra is the bastard love child of Lester Bangs and William Julius Wilson.

(2) While we expected a book celebrating Bruce Springsteen and his music, what we didn't quite expect was a celebration of not only how Springsteen's music exemplifies and illuminates the tenets of progressive politics ranging from the need to build community, address isolation, expose the degradation of the working class and strengthen the education system, but a discussion on the array of public policies that support these tenets.

(3) We hope that unlike Fahrenheit 911, for example, this book can serve to activate citizens of all stripes and not just the true believers, and so if you have any ideas about how this can be accomplished please let us know.

(4) Bruce Springsteen is venerated by Boomers and Generation X, but his message speaks to Millenials and their interest in social causes, community and supporting the oppressed. This book has the potential then to serve as both a bridge between generations and a blueprint for Millenials seeking both direction and leadership.

(5) David Masciotra may or may not emerge as the poet laureate of the Millenial generation, but we do believe that we are witnessing the birth of a public intellectual in the vein of a Cornel West or Douglas Brinkley and that one day we will say we knew him when.

Masciotra. Tanzer. Springsteen. The Chicago Literary Scene Examiner Interview, Part One.

Robert Duffer and the Chicago Literary Scene Examiner are most graciously doing a two-part interview with TBWCYL, Inc. spokesperson Ben Tanzer and author David Masciotra in advance of our most epic appearance tonight at The Book Cellar. Please do take a look, please join us and please enjoy the brief excerpt from part one below.

EX: How did a guy who dissects political issues through the lens of pop culture hook up with a guy whose characters think pop culture?

DM - I discovered Ben's second novel, Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine, at an exhibit on local authors at the Cultural Center. I was immediately drawn to Ben's book because of the Bob Dylan song title, and the evocative cover. Most Likely... is an insightful, funny, and evocative novel with well-developed characters and nearly flawless dialogue. I emailed Ben to give him my feedback, compliments, and encouragement. We started talking, he seemed very excited about my book, which at the time had just picked up a publisher. I'm thrilled to have his support and friendship. But, I am beginning to regret sharing a stage with the funniest guy in the world

BT - David is way too generous, but this is a friendship I have been thrilled to find myself in. It might be enough if he was only good-looking, smart and contrarian, but what’s especially exciting is his passion with progressive politics, the affects of isolation and his desire to be a champion for the downtrodden and oppressed. It’s really powerful stuff and it’s inspiring to be around. I would add, that I also think that we try to use pop culture in a similar fashion and even seek some of the same answers. While it’s true that on the surface, David may be more focused on politics and policy, while I am more focused on people trying to get laid, we are both trying to make sense of how people connect, or don’t; why people turn to drugs, drink or sex to cope or escape; and how hope can sustain us even when nothing else seems to be working.

This Podcast Will Change Your Life, Episode Eighteen - Lightning and Women starring Scott McClanahan.

The Scott McClanahan came to town. See above. He read. He rocked it, all funny and low-key. And it was good Stuff. We also had La Guth working her Morrissey thing, the Sam Pink, discharging every possible image to ever enter his brain and TBWCYL, Inc. spokesperson Ben Tanzer's mom Judy. See below. And if all that wasn't enough, there was polka and podcasting as well. Wait, did someone say podcasting? Indeed they did, because we podcasted with the McClanahan on the train and in the rain and now you get to listen to it. Yes, right now, go ahead. Will it change your life? We think so. Enjoy.

Guth. Pink. McClanahan. Tanzer? This Reading Will Change Your Life, so please join us July 24th for some Book Cellar reading love won't you?

Yeah, so, we have unabashedly been hyping the Scott McClanahan and his new joint Stories, so imagine how geeked we are to have the chance to read in support of him at The Book Cellar on July 24th at 7:00pm? Now, what if we also had the chance to read with the very awesome Amy Guth, writer, blogger, runner and one time guest of This Podcast Will Change Your Life and, and, the Sam Pink, author of I AM GOING TO CLONE MYSELF AND THE KILL CLONE AND EAT IT and the first writer ever published in This Zine Will Change Your Life. Well we are and we do and we think this reading may very well change your life. Meanwhile, if that isn't enough McClanahan for you, you can also see him on July 26th as part of the ongoing and quite killer Orange Alert Reading Series. Pretty nice, yes? Quite.

The Chicago Subtext interview. Does that sound too serious? Because while talking literature can be serious, this interview, maybe not so much.

New City Lit 50.

The New City annual Lit 50 list is out, with the theme this year being "Who really books in Chicago." They decided not to focus on any straight-up writers or poets this year, which is probably good for our egos here at headquarters, and they sort of ignored the whole blogosphere, for example the fine team at Pete Lit, one of our first podcasts, or the crew at Orange Alert, not to mention the ladies of QUICKIES! and Pilcrow, podcasted here and here respectively, but they still listed a number of friends and supporters of ours who we would argue do not get nearly enough attention otherwise. These include, Oprah (#1), well okay, not Oprah, and no we haven't podcasted with her, yet, but does include among others Suzy T. from the Book Cellar (#34), Gina Frangello from Other Voices' Books (#37) and Caroline Picard from the Green Lantern Press (#45) the latter of whom we did podcast with way back when. Overall, its an interesting list, and mostly comprehensive, and frankly, anyone who wants to take the time to list literary anything is pretty awesome as far as we are concerned, so big props to New City for the support and attention.

A 50 word story, six questions and more RAGAD reading love.

The venerable Nick Ostdick invited TBWCYL, Inc. spokesperson Ben Tanzer to write a 50 word story and then answer six terribly revealing questions for a new segment he's doing on his blog In The Nick of Time called the 50 Word Story Segment. We did our best to make you all proud and we now invite you to take a look.

We also want to take this opportunity to remind you that next Saturday, April 26th, at 7:00pm we will be participating in a very cool Ostdick-led RAGAD reading at The Book Cellar. The theme of the reading is BOOZING: STORIES ABOUT ALCOHOL and there will be a most stellar line-up including Nick himself, Jill Summers, Amy Guth and Jason Jordan. It should be killer and we hope to see you there.