SEX AND DEATH is quite kick-ass blurb from the quite kick-ass Tom Williams.

"With artful guilelessness and an ability to never look away from the world's miseries and ecstasies, Tanzer has done it again: populated his fictions with people and places and situations so vivid that the pages shimmer and pulse with vitality and purpose." --Tom Williams, author of Among The Wild Mulattos and Other Tales

And more to come.

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."

Among The Wild Mulattos & Other Tales by the Tom Williams there is. Which is most awesome when you stop to think about it.

 Right? Totally, yes, and more here there is.

"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.

Oh hell yes, The Last Original Guitar Riff in G by Tom Williams is at the Cobalt and rejoice we shall.

And you can too, rejoice that is, so please do, here, nice, thank you.

"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.

This Podcast Will Change Your Life, Episode Seventy Nine - Authentic Self, starring the Tom Williams.

And so podcast we are. Not to mention so Tom Williams, Sonny Boy Williamson, Don't Start me Talkin', The Mimic's Own Voice, Chris Mazza, and on and on, yo. So do hit it. It just might change your life. 

Williams. Bates. Olszewska. Horton. Tanzer. Hobart Reading. Literati Bookstore. February 18th. Ann Arbor.

More. More. More. Here. Sweetness. Totally.

Williams. Mazza. Schneiderman. Tanzer. Tate. Don't Start Me Talkin'. Release Party. The Hideout Chicago. Beautious.

Williams. Mazza. Schneiderman. Tanzer. Tate. Don't Start Me Talkin'. Release Party. The Hideout. February 9th.

More here. Here. And even here.

Don't Start Me Talkin'. Yes. Part II.

Talking writing, fathering, and FOUR FATHERS with the Tom Williams at TNBBC's The Next Best Book Blog.

Like for real. Here. And excerpt. Cool? Yes.

BT: Do you think it’s possible to write pieces such as you have for this collection and not think about your own father and you relationship with him?

TW: Right now, at the risk of sounding schmaltzy, it’s the best it’s ever been, my relationship with my dad. But what’s particular to it is that we never had an easy relationship before. Here’s why, I think: My dad grew up without a father and in being my father he had no one clearly to model himself after. Now he’s a grandfather and it’s different: he did have a grandfather (even though that gentleman, my great-grandfather, was born in the 19^th Century). And I’d have to say he’s warmed to the role of grandpa far better than I have as a dad.

But looking forward, and spinning off far from your question, Ben, I’m projecting into a future where my son has a son and how he’s got so much more to look back to for guidance. Not just me, but my dad. His stories. I hope I’m around then. And if I’m not, I hope Finn shares with his son my stories (the ones in this book and the ones I’ve told him), and my dad’s stories.