This Book Will Change Your Life - Here Is How It Happens by Spencer Dew.

We are sitting on a beach. There is heat and skin. Everyone is inked. The skies are boundless and possibility is everywhere. People will get laid soon enough. Words will be consumed. Conversations had. And relationships will continually form and self-destruct like small stars with every moment that passes. We are in a world which is both that of Spencer Dew and not. It is too sunny here, and there is too much joy. It is summer and we are all surface. And that is not Dew. But the rest of it, or the possibility of it, is all Dew. He is a chronicler of relationship and the decay and mire contained there in. Loss and paranoia rule, sharp dialogue abounds, and a sense of structure permeates the work. And his latest, Here is How it Happens, is no exception. It is a novel of place, small town America at its all-night, greasy diner dreariest, and space, the heads of the barely adult, whose every thought seems so very important to them, and every word drips with implications and confusion. Dew knows these places and spaces so very well and captures them in aching fashion. More than that though, he knows what it means to feel trapped, trapped in your small town, your head, your ideas, and your relationships, and to be too young to realize that you are not trapped at all, there is a road, a door, and choices, right there, if you can just discover them. But that of course comes with age and experience and all the things these characters have yet to obtain. All of which is quite foreign as we sit stretched out on a beach rife with words and skin and ink, and yet one more reminder, that books, this one, that one, and the one we'll read next can change your life, if even only for a moment at that. 

Here is How it Happens by the Spencer Dew, yes that Spencer Dew, is very much pre-order now.

So do hit it, post-haste, it just might change your life.

"Tanzer’s books have haiku moments at their core." My Father's House gets decomP magazinE'd. And likes it. A lot.

Really honored and appreciative for the incredibly thoughtful and kind words about My Father's House, not to mention, okay we are mentioning, the ongoing support and championing of our work by the stellar decomP magazinE and the inestimable Spencer Dew. Drinks on us for sure when next we meet.

"The goal of Tanzer as a novelist, the gem at the center of his work—is not solving the problems or untangling the knots but coming to some still points of transcendence, moving beyond all the 'unresolved shit' and assorted questions and bad behaviors and normal behaviors and façade of day-to-day bullshit 'mellowness.'”

"Such an engaging, entertaining read." You Can Make Him Like You gets decomP'd. And likes it. A lot.

We promised a double-dose of decomP and here it is, with a most kind review of the You Can Make Him Like You, and much thanks to reviewer and TBWCL, Inc. favorite Spencer Dew. Drinks on us brother when next we meet.

"The set-up for all of this is familiar enough. Keith has a distant father, his wife gets pregnant, he deletes her texts informing him of every time the baby kicks, sneaks a joint with a buddy, wrestles with how trapped he feels. Even Jeff’s psychological summation has a whiff of MacGuffin to it: “You’re human Keith, deal with it. Confront it, don’t run, don’t tell a good story, just confront who you are and what hurts you, and scares you and makes you sad. Those are normal reactions to everyday life. You’re human. But You Can Make Him Like You is such an engaging, entertaining read precisely because of this suggestion. Tanzer doesn’t just want to tell a “good story,” he wants to put something real on the page and have it hit his readers right in the heart, the balls, the tear ducts."

This Book Will Change Your Life - Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres by Spencer Dew.

Travel. Read. Repeat. Endlessly. And we have been travel and we have read and today we are Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres by Spencer Dew and we should say right upfront that Spencer Dew is not only a long-time TBWCLY, Inc. favorite, This Zine Will Change Your Life contributor and This Podcast Will Change Your Life podcastee, but he is also one of our favorite Chicago writers and live readers, regardless of where he may be living these days, and a big part of that is his voice, both the literary and literal, the twang and precision, the paranoia and anxiety, the sex and interaction, the focus on relationships, and the endless precision of it all. And its all present in Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres in some form or another, but there is something else as well, the presence of death, or more accurately dieing, and more specifically the dieing of a parent, and what that looks like at the end as it moves along incrementally and painfully, slowly and sadly, and yes, this book is beautifully designed, and big props to Another New Calligraphy for that, and yes, there are the connections to Henry Adams and gothic architecture, and this all good, but ultimately what makes us happiest, is that this feels like the work of someone stretching their voice in new directions and grappling with new themes and this is to be applauded, especially when they write like Spencer Dew and especially when there will be more to come.

Winter Solstice Small Press Holiday Recommendations.

As previously noted here, the Karen Lillis asked us for three holiday small press recommendations and asked that we limit these books to releases from the last two years.
We stuck to releases from the last two years, but we did not stick to just three, we should have, and could have, but we did not and are happy to report that we were not admonished for doing so, which is always nice.

For a more detailed commentary on our part please do hit the Karen the Small Press Librarian post containing our recommendations, but for those of you who just cannot wait, here's our list, with apologies to many, many others.

(1) Big World - Mary Miller

(2) Hush Up and Listen Stinky Pooh Butt - Ken Sparling

(3) Grease Stains, Wisdom, and Maternal Wisdom - Mel Bosworth

Also, and, somewhat collectively:

(1) Stories II - Scott McClanahan

(2) The National Virginity Pledge - Barry Graham

(3) Songs of Insurgency - Spencer Dew

And finally, because this book just has not gotten enough attention:

(1) The Lost Episodes of Beatie Scareli - Ginetta Correli

Feel the hype. Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres by Spencer Dew.

One-time This Podcast Will Change Your Life podcastee, contributor to This Zine Will Change Your Life and all-around TBWCYL, Inc. favorite Spencer Dew has a new joint out, Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres from the quite stellar local publisher Another New Calligraphy, and we are quite stoked,so stoked in fact, that we want you to be stoked as well, so please do be stoked, please do take a look and if you a moment please feel free to read Spencer's essay on the writing of the book at the decomP, got it, good.

"A portrait of the author as man no longer so young." 99 Problems gets decomP'd. And likes it. A lot.

Old friend, TBWCYL, Inc. favorite and This Zine Will Change Your Life contributor Spencer Dew has written a really thoughtful review of 99 Problems at the always stellar decomP - a literary magazine and we are quite appreciative. Quite.

"There is something diary-like to much of this, yet there is something more here, too; a writer at work, crafting raw experience into product, with discipline and hunger."

How about a crazy, freaking awesome, dude-laden, will quite possibly change your life Orange Alert reading at The Whistler this Sunday, April 18th?

Scott McClanahan. Sam Pink. Spencer Dew. Brandon Will. And TBWCYL, Inc. spokesperson Ben Tanzer. Yeah.

This Podcast Will Change Your Life, Episode Thirteen - Well-Packaged. Redux. And Re-Release.

There is Episode Thirteen. There is Spencer Dew. And there is joy. Massive joy.

The new edition of This Zine Will Change Your Life is live, on fire and full of Spencer Dew. Or something like that

The new edition of This Zine Will Change Your Life is live and on fire. Or something like that. We have a new story, First Things by the Spencer Dew, which we are way excited about, and, as always, photo action from Adam Lawrence, a music selection from Jason Behrends and nomination prose love from Pete Anderson. We hope you enjoy this edition and we appreciate all shout-outs and links. Finally, please note, that we think you are special.

Fiction at Work, not to mention a 55-word dollop of Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine hype and YouTube video love at the QUICKIES! Chicago.

It's true, way back on a balmy October night TBWCYL, Inc. spokesperson Ben Tanzer was invited to a QUICKIES! Chicago fundraiser and presented with the seemingly insurmountable challenge of reading a piece of no longer than 55 words. He not only embraced this challenge, but embraced his contractual obligation to hype Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine at any all times and the result has now been published in the new issue of Fiction at Work along with the work of many fine local writers including but not limited to This Blog Will Change Your Life favorites Mary Hamilton, Spencer Dew and the Amy Guth. Feel free to take a look, and if you are so inclined and/or have hankering for some visual stimulation, please feel free to watch the below video of Ben reading the piece live as well. We would argue that it is beyond scintillating, but you of course can be the judge of that yourself.

This Podcast Will Change Your Life, Episode Thirteen - Well-Packaged.

Today we bring you Episode Thirteen of This Podcast Will Change Your Life, titled Well-Packaged, and starring none other than TBWCYL, Inc. favorite Spencer Dew, author of the most excellent short story collection Songs of Insurgency. After some initial awkwardness regarding TBWCYL, Inc. spokesperson Ben Tanzer's abject fascination with Spencer's sartorial inclinations and Spencer's abject disinterest in discussing said inclinations they go on to discuss a wide-range of subjects including but not limited to Madonna, paranoia, Kathy Acker, speech therapy and Adrian Tomine. Enjoy.

The TBWCYL, Inc. 2008 Top Ten Lists are coming and today you get our Top Ten Books. No for real, you do. Just look below.

It is Top Ten time here are TBWCYL, Inc. and our plan is to roll out lists on books, movies and music as we did last year and maybe add one on television this year as well. As we have also done in the past, we are not limiting our books list to books released in 2008, though we will do so with our other lists. On the other hand, we are quite pleased to say that we have done some kind of review on everyone of these books during the last year here at This Blog Will Change Your Life, and while we may be terribly biased in our reviews and choices, something that bothers us not in the least, we are happy to say that we have also had the opportunity to connect with everyone of these authors in some capacity, which frankly is quite cool, for us anyway, the experience for them may have been something else entirely. That said, here we go (including the hyperlink to our previous reviews):

(1) Breaking it Down - Rusty Barnes
(2) The Lost Episodes of Beatie Scareli - Ginnetta Correli
(3) Black Flies - Shannon Burke
(4) Half-Empty - Tim Hall
(5) The Heebie-Jeebies and CBGB's - Steven Lee Beeber
(6) Songs of Insurgency - Spencer Dew
(7) Sunbeams and Cigarettes - Nick Ostdick
(8) The Love Book - Ken Wohlrob
(9) Unmarketable - Anne Elizabeth Moore
(10) When the Leaves are Falling - Kelly Moran

Honorable mention: I Call This Flirting - Sherrie Flick, Unlucky Lucky Days - Daniel Grandbois and My Inflatable Friend - The Confessions of Rollo Hemphill - Gerald Jones.

Please note, that all of these books are self-published or released by independent presses, something that pleases us to no end. Also, we honestly believe that all of these books will change your life, though to be honest, even if they don't, your patronage and support will certainly help change the lives of the authors and their publishers.

Frequently hilarious - Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine gets madorean slingshot'd. And likes it. Well that, and a list.

We were quite thrilled to see the kind and super thoughful review of Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine at madorean slingshot, blogging home of writer P.H. Madore. And while we thought he was a little harsh regarding his comments on the crew at Szostek Design, we are quite appreciative, so many thanks sir and as always the next round of drinks are on us. We are also quite thrilled and honored to see that Most Likely... was included as one of the notable books on the Gapers Block 2008 Chicago Fiction in Review list, especially since we get to share it with so many writers we admire including, but not limited to the Spencer Dew and the quite awesome Elizabeth Crane, long time muse for This Blog Will Change Your Life. So, many thanks to our newest and maybe bestest friend ever Veronica Bond as well, who not only compiled the list, but who you may also recall just wrote a very generous review of Most Likely... herself. If you do not recall it, that doesn't hurt us, but please do feel free to revisit it. Or not, its totally cool either way with us. Really.

Orange Alert Press reading love, Songs of Insurgency and Joey Ramone.

Much awesomeness to touch on including, but not limited to the fact that last night was the inaugural Orange Alert Press reading at The Whistler and it rocked, big time, and for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was the killer line-up - the great local writer and terribly handsome Robert Duffer who read a new piece he's working on, the quite cool Stephanie Kuehnert author of the awesomely well-received novel I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone, read from her forthcoming novel Ballads of Suburbia, and maybe our favorite local live reader Spencer Dew read a new piece as well called Why I am a Catholic. So yes, quite happening, and yes, much newness going on, but we also want to take a moment to touch on two additional and not so tangential topics. First, we have finished engorging ourselves on the killer paranoia driven near tales of love lost, crushed and stroked that comprise Spencer's short story collection Songs of Insurgency and loved it to say the least, so go buy it, please, it just may change your life, and two, our book review/interview with Jew Punk Steven Lee Beeber author of the most excellent Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB's and editor of the wonderfully tortured insomnia anthology AWAKE! which is titled If I could sleep, I would dream about Joey Ramone - you see the tie-in, right, nice - is now live and begging to be read, so we would be thrilled if you chose to read that too. Though no pressure or anything, we're just saying.

Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine Spencer Dew love.

It is no secret that we here at TBWCYL, Inc. headquarters are big fans of the Spencer Dew, author of the short story collection Songs of Urgency, and so you can imagine how thrilled we were to see his most excellent and wholly awesome Dew-like review of Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine on Amazon - which if you are so inclined you may read below. Many thanks Spencer, drinks are definitely on us at the Orange Alert reading at The Whistler on November 18th.

One day you are no longer passing notes in gym class. You are an adult, of sorts. Your father is telling you that marriage is a stale social convention and you, somehow, are arguing against him. Sex has ceased to be consistently thrilling, or even pleasant, and, worse, you realize sex was never consistently thrilling or pleasant, and you find yourself nostalgic for snippets of a half-imagined past, having more and more conversations about old television shows, old television commercials, and more and more conversations about loneliness.

Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine charts a bruised path toward love, through ordeals of courtship, family relations. Words are spoken in public like this: "`Dude,' says Bob the bankruptcy restructuring guy, `four days is the minimum. One day makes you seem too eager, and two days makes you look like you were aware of the fact that calling her on the first day would have made you look too eager.'" Yet words are thought, in private, like this: with a woman sleeping, in overlap, across his body, Geoff "thinks he should enjoy this, wallow in it, and hold onto it as best he can, because something will go wrong, something has to go wrong, it always does."

Check this out - there is now an official Orange Alert Press reading series debuting on November 18th at The Whistler. Please join us, won't you?

And did we mention the kick-ass line-up, present company excluded of course? Don't get us wrong, we love to hype ourselves here at TBWCYL, Inc., but still even we have some limitations. No, it's true, we do, they're fairly minor and we tend to ignore them, but we have them, just look at the by-laws.

So not quick, or how not to rock QUICKIES! Chicago.

We so didn't rock the QUICKIES! Chicago last night. We really wanted to and when we read "Daddie Dreariest" during lunch yesterday it only seemed to take about five minutes, the time limit for all QUICKIES! readers. Apparently though we horribly miscalculated because with one page still to go we were viciously whistled off of the stage by our otherwise awesome QUICKIES! co-hosts Mary Hamilton and Lindsay Hunter. While it was quite embarrassing to say the least, we persevered with the support and love of a number of friends populating the reading, including but not limited to Nick Ostdick, who read his excellent THE2NDHAND horoscope piece, Horoscope for the Morning After, Amy Guth, Spencer Dew and Jill Summers. Having recovered we went on to record the latest episode of This Podcast Will Change Your Life, Salsa Music and Smoke, with Mary and Lindsay, who way rocked it to say the least. And then late night we hit the Beachwood with La Guth and Dr. Ostdick to talk Lucky Man with new best friend Kelly, a.k.a Salsa Switchblade, who stumbled onto a copy of the book there and had some questions. Overall, it was quite a good night, right? Way right.

Crazy awesome Orange Pulp madness.

We wanted to be sure to draw your attention to the first ever What To Wear During An Orange Alert mix tape. It is titled Orange Pulp and it is a fantastic compilation of Orange Alert's favorite writers and musicians. While we are thrilled to have been involved in this project, we are especially excited to see so many writers on this CD that we so absolutely love and admire - Jill Summers, Nick Ostdick, and Spencer Dew just to name a few. Orange Alert will be passing these out in Chicago and New York City throughout the summer, but if you cannot wait, or cannot get to these fine cities, please visit the link above and let them know that you need a copy now, right now, and we have no doubt that they will be happy to take care of you.