We could tell you all about how much we love the Ryan W. Bradley in all of his sexually obsessed awesomeness. Well, at least the obsessiveness of his characters anyway. Maybe we could just tell you how much we love him regardless of all that. But it's possible the two are intertwined. The personal is the political is the words and the art. Or something like that. We suppose we are ruminating on this because we just read Winterswim and it is one nasty piece of work. Something we say mind you in the most loving way possible. It's a folk tale, and it is obsession and sickness, and as you might expect a book where the reading experience engenders an equal amount of obsession and sickness, if only to see what will happen next, the good and the ill.
However, to say we felt sullied as we read it would not be accurate. To say that we were reminded of Bradley's poetry collection The Waiting Tide, which we hadn't revisited since the MS landed in our inbox some time ago, would be. We re-read it with the film of Winterswim still coating our brain, and to do so, is to see some of the same obsessions, water and sex certainly, spill out across the pages as something else, a love song, and an homage. Which is not to say Winterswim isn't an homage and love song to Bradley's Alaska. It's just that they're different experiences, both possibly warped, but in their own ways. One because love overwhelms everything in its path, and the other because illness and decay does the same. That both find sex and water as a means to the end, as well as, the end itself, only reminds us that authors have their themes, and that when they are good, and even when they are not, they are trying to figure something out, and trying to change lives, if even only their own.
Just because. For real. More here yes.
And you can be too. So please do hit it. While it just might change your life, it will definitely change Edward J Rathke's.
Awesomely big thanks. And love. Much. Excerpt? Cool.
"If you've read Ben Tanzer's work you will understand, perhaps more than
you would otherwise, what a marvel this book is. It is very much a work
of science fiction, but it is Ben Tanzer above all things. The way some
bands become their own genre after decades of making music and evolving
their sound, Tanzer is himself irregardless of the window dressings."
The new edition of This Zine Will Change Your Life
is live and thrilled to be hosting today's blog tour stop for The Waiting Tide, the new poetry collection by Ryan W. Bradley. So, there is new poem, The Waiting Tide by old friend Ryan, which we
are way excited about, and, (almost) as always, photo action from Adam Lawrence, music curation from Jason Behrends and glitchy ACA website prose love from Pete Anderson.
We hope you enjoy this edition and we appreciate all shout-outs and
links. Finally, please note, we are hoping more of you will submit
comix, and music, novel excerpts, and art, and video, yes, video, and
combinations there of. And most finally, D-Rose yo, he's back.
Quite endlessly WordPlaySound we are. And yes, in quite fine company we are as well.
So NAILED it is and all blog tour and such. So hit it. It just might change your life. Excerpt? Word.
NAILED: When was the last time you NAILED it?
BRADLEY: Well, we have been talking about sex and
desire, so why not go there, huh? Like 36 hours ago. Oh, wait did you
mean writing-wise? Well, I just turned in a manuscript to a publisher,
so that was sweet.
For real. Here. Totally. Enjoy. A lot. Nice.
It's true, we are talking Daddy Cool with the Bradley and the Duffer at the THE GOOD MEN PROJECT, it is most beautiful, and we are most appreciative. Excerpt? Yes. Done. Word.
GMP: Why are you enamored with dad writers?
Ben: I think it’s about seeking, or building, a
sense of community when writing can be so isolating. Especially when you
have a day job as I do that has nothing to do with writing. When you’re
a parent, which can be a further disconnect. Community is so important,
connection, reducing isolation, sharing, all of it, and seeking people
who have something in common with you is such a big part of that. For me
that’s dad writers, regardless of what they do otherwise.
Ryan: I ran a children’s bookstore for two years,
and that was my real education in the medium. Until then I was really
dismissive of books for kids. Then the deeper I plunged into fatherhood I
realized nothing I write is appropriate for kids, and naturally I want
to share my passion with my children. I wrote a middle grade novel for
my stepson and then a short story (which will be in Daddy Cool) and I’ve
bandied about some picture book ideas. I think the coolest part of the
idea was that it was a chance for all of us to share our writing with
our kids for a change.
And what he talks about, and how he talks about it, is quite wonderful, and we suppose it adds a different sort of heft to the book for us, makes it realer, maybe, or something like that. But whatever it is, it is wonderful, and we appreciate it. A lot. Now how about some excerpt?
"People often talk about “women’s fiction,” books that speak to women about their lives and mindsets, while entertaining them. Tanzer writes the very best kind of men’s fiction, and I don’t use such a label chauvinistically. Tanzer writes about every aspect of a man, whether flattering or not. He does it with soul, and that’s what makes people gravitate toward his writing and his personality. It’s why his books appeal to both men and women. It is what makes him the best sort of friend and brother from another mother, because What Would Tanzer Do? wouldn’t be a bad credo for any of us as writers or people."
More here. Word. Big word.
