Ken Sparling Reissues from Artistically Declined Press there are.

So do hit it, fast, now, yes, please, thank you, it will certainly change your life.

This Book Will Change Your Life - Bones Buried in the Dirt by David S. Atkinson.

You are looking for a guy. This guy writes books, but you don't know exactly what he looks like, much less where to find him. As you look for this guy, you meet another guy. That guy writes books too. You don't know him or his work, but there is swap, and Bones Buried in the Dirt by David S. Atkinson, sits there, waiting, looming, possibly beckoning, and you still know so little about it. But then you read these sparsely and beautifully written stories about childhood sexuality, violence, and terror by this guy you now know. Stories that derive so much power from their ability to capture quotidian moments, that you are reminded of Hush up and Listen Stinky Pooh Butt by Ken Sparling, another book that found poetry in the nearly real time moments that make for a life. All of which is to say, that you were looking for a guy, you found another guy, and that guy's book, once looming, now read, changes your life. Pretty cool that.

We are You Can Make Him Like You Hush Up And Listen Stinky Poo Butt ADP Fatherhood Bundle. And we feel fine.

Quite fine. And quite cheaply at that. Here.

An Artistically Declined Press sure to change your life Labor Day sale thing.

Yes, wow, so awesome, through Labor Day, Artistically Declined has decided to take 25% off its backlist books, which includes not only You Can Make Him Like You, but a series of titles sure to change your life, to the river by Rose Hunter, Hush Up and Listen Stinky Poo Butt by Ken Sparling and Prize Winners by Ryan W. Bradley. It may go without saying that we think you should hit this now, like right now, but just in case it doesn't, why not hit this, like right now. Good work. And thanks.

This Book Will Change Your Life - Fathermucker by Greg Olear.

Travel. Read. Canceled flights. More read. We almost feel guilty about the fact that Fathermucker by Greg Olear isn't even coming out until October, because you will want to read it, and we hope you will. We also are struggling with what to write that doesn't give anything away, or the wrong things away, but what is that, and what would those things be? Not entirely sure, so here's what we will say, there is a father, a writerly, somewhat faux writerly, yet still writerly father none-the-less, who works at home while doing most of the parenting duties. There is a long day, and yes the book covers just one day. A day full of play dates and arguments, discipline and crackers, butt wiping and playgrounds, and all the things we do when we are caring for little kids. There is also anger though and frustration, even the threat of violence, and real emotions, all of which rarely gets captured on the page when it comes to describing the quotidian and nightmarish, yet still somehow joyous, most of time, some of time, experience of parenting. And that's something to be applauded, just as Hush Up and Listen Stinky Pooh Butt by Ken Sparling, was to be applauded for all of the same reasons. There is also humor, however, lots of it, and pop culture, lots of that too, and the storytelling is propulsive and welcoming, and it's all very good, and fun, and yet, even with all that said, we want to pause to pay homage to a moment that comes when much of the day has passed, and following a run-in with the police, and the protagonist who has a work-related goal he wants, maybe needs, to pull-off, an interview with a local celebrity, and we won't ruin that by saying any more, but when he finally has a moment with said celebrity, we were struck more than at any other moment in the novel, how hard it all can be, the intersection of parenting and wanting to be an artist, but not quite getting there, or being there, wherever there is, and realizing maybe that maybe you won't ever be there, and that you might have to embrace that your parenting skills may be the best thing about you, despite the work you put in and the anxiety and the scrapping to be something more, and at that moment we thought about our own resistance to trying to be that guy, mostly artist guy who leaves his regular paying job to try and be much more of an artist guy and dad, and our own discomfort with all that, and what it means about masculinity and the struggles of our own dad with this very thing. The moment felt so real and piercing and knowing and timely that we started to cry at the recognition of it all, and that's something, because we don't ever remember quite seeing that in print, and when that happens, when you experience such a graphic display of your own needs, and pain, and wants, it's a gift, and why we read, something we haven't been driven to note here recently, maybe not since The Road, another story about a father, but there it is, and was, and sit tight until October, but then get on it, because it just might change your life.

The TBWCYL, Inc. 2010 Top Ten Lists are coming. Here. Now. Books.

We will be Top Ten lists for the rest of the week, because really when you think about it, its time, like now, has to be, and today will be books. To be clear, well, straight up, we do not limit ourselves to books published in the year we are covering, just anything we read, we also readily embrace the fact that we are not objective, we virulently, even violently tilt towards indie releases, and to be honest, and we do believe in that, honesty that is, we are often influenced by the fact that the authors we dig may be acquaintances, or people we would like to be acquainted with, and/or based in Chicago the home of TBWCYL, Inc. headquarters. With that in mind, here you go, though please note, that despite all we just said, we are opening with a non-indie, non-Chicago author, and no, we can't totally explain that, but to say, this first one really knocked us out, big time.

(1) The Road/Cormac McCarthy

(2) Hush Up and Listen Stinky Poo Butt/Ken Sparling

(3) Stories II/Scott McClanahan

(4) Beautiful Piece/Joseph G. Peterson

(5) Grease Stains, Kismet, and Maternal Wisdom/Mel Bosworth

(6) Slut Lullabies/Gina Frangello

(7) Working on a Dream - The Progressive Political Vision of Bruce Springsteen/David Masciotra

(8) Sweet Charlotte's Seventh Mistake/Cori Crooks

(9) Chasing Pigeons Make Me Feel More Powerful/Kendra Grant Malone

(10) Tales of Woe/John Reed

Some additional 2010 literary love sure to change your life (albeit in no particular order): One Damn Thing After Another/Tim Hall; When We Make Our Dinosaur/J.A. Tyler; We Know What We Are/Mary Hamilton; Old Men, Gods, And Monsters/Peter Schwartz; Twenty Stories/Kristin Fouquet; El Vocho: Love at the Twilight of Oil/Steve Lafler; Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago/Mike Royko, Charactered Pieces/Caleb J. Ross; Ryan Seacrest is Famous/Dave Housley; Red Ivy Afternoon/Mark Brand; Lambs of Men/Charles Dodd White; Some Identity Problems/Corey Mesler; The Sagging: Spirits & Skin/Jason Fisk.

Also, the two books we never quite got our hands on, but plan to, because not doing so is a terrible oversight and pains us to no end: Daddy's/Lindsay Hunter and Baby & Other Stories/Paula Bomer.

And, how about a 2011 sneak preview of sorts? A number of books have come in over the last few months just as our ability to make time for reading has slowed dramatically, so books we are geeked for as the new year is upon us (and again in no particular order): Cardboard Gods/Josh Wilker; Sophomoric Philosophy/Victor David Giron; Fight For Your Long Day/Alex Kudera; Cloud and Other Stories/Jason Jordan; Songs of Vagabonds, Misfits, and Sinners/Ken Wohlrob; Chasing the Runner's High/Ray Charbonneau; Mont-Saint-Michele and Chartres/Spencer Dew.

Finally, for your retro viewing pleasure:

TBWCYL, Inc.'s 2009 Top Ten Books List

TBWCL, Inc.'s 2008 Top Ten Books List

TBWCYL, Inc.'s 2007 Top Ten Books List

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

This Book Will Change Your Life - The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

We know that it is merely coincidental that there was a bomb scare and a police lock down in our neighborhood this morning that we had to wade through to get one of the kids to camp just hours after finishing The Road. We also know that you can't compare the father-son journey in the post-Apocalyptic world of The Road to our walk this morning, and yet that doesn't mean this morning's journey wasn't scary, and it doesn't mean you can feel all that safe dropping your kid off anywhere near potential violence no matter how safe it seems. Neither does it mean that it wasn't sort of eerie watching droves of people being re-directed out of the neighborhood, and away from public transportation, forcing them to walk to who knows where exactly, because at least initially you weren't quite sure where to go or how to get there. Further, we know that it is coincidental that we read The Road so shortly after reading Hush Up and Listen Stinky Poo Butt by Ken Sparling, that there was no conscious plan in terms of themes, and yet we did. We also know that comparing the somewhat quotidian horrors, frustrations and intermittent bursts of joy and awesomeness of parenting on a day-to-day basis in a non-post Apocalyptic world are not ever going to be truly comparable to that of The Road, and yet, both novels are written in sparse, at times electrifying prose, both involve anger, fear and small doses of happiness, and both possess a level of dread, you sort of know what's coming, but aren't quite sure, and maybe don't know want to know anyway. Which is not so different than parenting in any world, post-Apocalyptic or not. The Road makes you hope you never have to face any of the things captured in this story because you know that you cannot and will not be able to do so, and yet, again, it seems so possible and so real, you almost wish you didn't have to read it. But you do, because as we wrote about Hush Up and Listen Stinky Poo Butt, we read, we don't have choice, and we want to feel something when we read, we have to, and The Road ensures that we do.

This Book Will Change Your Life - Hush Up and Listen Stinky Poo Butt by Ken Sparling.

We have been trying to think about how best to describe not just our great love for Hush Up and Listen Stinky Poo Butt by Ken Sparling, but the emotional impact it had on us as we read it. At first we thought about other things we read this year that crushed us, for example, the short stories Brains for Bengo from Jim Ruland's collection Big Lonesome or An Optimist is the Human Personification of spring from Caleb J. Ross' collection Charactered Pieces, but we realized there was a significant difference in our reactions. These stories struck a nerve because they spoke to unspeakable and irrational fears, pain inflicted on children and a parent's inability to get things right, but Hush Up struck a nerve because of its ability to speak not to our irrational fears, but to what we know, the day to day experience of parenting, the joys, frustrations, anger and pain, and the emotions that come with seeing yourself on the page and knowing the experience itself is so profoundly fraught with emotions at all times you would just as soon not read about it to give yourself a break. Of course, we have to read, and we have to feel things, and because of this, Hush Up is all the more powerful and certain to change your life.

Birthday love.

Inspired by old friend and TBWCYL, Inc. favorite Jason Jordan we have decided to share the birthday bounty acquired by TBWCYL, Inc. spokesperson Ben Tanzer. We are most happiness.

Hush Up And Listen Stinky Poo Butt by Ken Sparling.

Quite excited to check out Hush Up and Listen Stinky Poo Butt by Ken Sparling from our new BFF's at Artistically Declined. And when we do we promise to report back to you like post-haste. In the interim though please feel free to take a look yourself because from what we understand it is most likely to change your life. Finally, in an effort to keep up with the theme of the last several days, please consider reading Ken's quite excellent interview with Sean Lovelace at the Big Other as well, which for your reading pleasure we have kindly excerpted below.

Lovelace: Do you enjoy reading over your own books?

Sparling: Yes. Most of the time. Or, at least, more often than I might ever have expected. What I enjoy about reading my own books, I think, is being surprised by what I’ve written. I don’t ever go and set out to read an entire book by me. Most of the time when I’m reading over some of my published stuff, it’s sort of casual, like an accident. For instance, I hadn’t made any copies of Hush up and listen stinky poo butt for a few years and suddenly a few people wanted copies. When I’m photocopying the master copy, I’ll sometimes read some pages of it at random. I’m usually surprised and happy about what I read at those times.

I’ve read parts of Dad says he saw you at the mall that I’d entirely forgotten and they made me laugh out loud.

I did a little author visit to a teen writers group a friend of mine runs at the library, and at some point one of the teens wanted me to read the boner part near the beginning of Dad says he saw you at the mall. I briefly thought: I can’t read that part to these kids. But I read it and it made me laugh reading it in that context. I mean a good solid laugh that came out of a deep fear and a kind of communion I felt with those kids, just for that moment, as I read what I’d perceived as something outwardly inappropriate. What I think I loved, beyond the content of what I’d written so many years ago, was the boldness of just stepping back into it and not hesitating again after that first hesitation. It’s a bit like the decision I was talking about when you treat what you’ve crossed out in your writing as something dead, something to be walked away from and forgotten. As soon as you make that decision, you need to turn back and step directly back into that sentence and decide not ever to give up on yourself again until the day you give up on yourself again and, by giving up on yourself again, you make a new opportunity for yourself to once again decide never to give up on yourself again.