Does Not Love the state of marriage Big Pharma CIA spheres of control James Tadd Adcox the TNB interview.

All of that. And more. Excerpt? Word.

BT: What I was struck by was that within this exercising of control, especially between the FBI agent and Viola, it is tantamount to how torturers deal, and how the FBI agent later deals with Robert. There seems to be a commentary on torture, but how consciously were you making that commentary?

JTA: Pretty conscious. I was trying at all points to walk a fine line between coercion and desire and trying to muddy that. There are a number of scenes in the book where Viola and the FBI agent are having sex and its consensual masochistic sex, but then those are sort of mirrored later in the books in scenes with the FBI agent and Robert and interrogation where it’s definitely not consensual, but it takes a lot of the same forms. It’s an interesting question about Sadomasochism and desire in general. There is always that question about how much is our consent our own? How much agency do we have over our own desire I guess would be another way of putting it. Which is not to say that the current focus on consent as the bright shining line in sexuality and other things is a bad thing, it’s a good thing, but there is a sort of future question of how much are our desires our own, how much agency do we have over our desire? That’s not by any means a legal point, but it is a thing that is worth asking for each of us. But also, and this is only tangentially connected to the question you asked, but with the torture report having come out, just the number of times I have heard people say, the U.S. engaged in torture and it didn’t even produce any useful information. Can we just stop that entirely? It isn’t a fucking question about production, it’s a question about ethics. I do not care if it produced useful information. There’s no world in which it producing useful information makes it okay. And maybe it’s just because I’m becoming more and more Kantian in my old age, but the ends in this case cannot justify the means under any circumstances.

INSTAFICTION resurrects "The Angel of Death." And the interwebs are filled with waves of joy and appreciation. Or so we hear.

For real. The story. The joy. And the appreciation. Here. All of it.

We are OTHER PEOPLE.

And big thanks to the Brad Listi for that.

Michael Czyzniejewski. Pat Sajak. The Nervous Breakdown. Most beautious.

Here. Hit it. Word.

Other People with Brad Listi. Digging it.

Quite digging it really. Other People with Brad Listi is the new literary podcast from Brad Listi, obviously, and The Nervous Breakdown, and it is quite fun indeed. During the weekend when we decided to riff on the Other People today we even thought we might favorably compare it to WTF with Marc Maron, with its interview by way of personal quirks and needs, yet still targeted questioning of interesting writerly types who are more than happy to share once prodded, but apparently those squirelly bastards at McSweeney's went all Inception, entered our brains, and beat us to the punch. So none of that. But digging it, yes. We particularly enjoyed the episode with the Fathermucker himself Greg Olear, but our favorite thus far, the Jessica Anya Blau, for sure, crazy pants awesome that, and her. Meanwhile, this post might be perceived by some as not only celebrating something we're digging, but a sort of sneaky and hidden agenda-like effort to get Brad Listi's attention and somehow score an invitation to be a guest on the Other People. Let's be clear then, we are digging it, a lot, but have not interest in being sneaky at all. We would totally dig an invitation. Good. Done. Though please note, that none of you may have been thinking any of this, hence adding a sort of, albeit, anti-sort of sneakiness to this whole thread. All that said, do check it out regardless, because the Other People is great fun and will most definitely change your life.

"Has some weird type of understated elegance that turns this novella into a road map of the soul." My Father's House gets The Nervous Breakdown'd. And likes it. A lot.

Not unlike TNBBC's The Next Best Book Blog, The Nervous Breakdown has been a most kind supporter indeed of our work, and continuing this pattern of awesomeness, they have some most kind things to say about My Father's House as well. Big hugs to the always sublime Nik Korpon and the whole crew at TNB for their kindness, and drinks, many certainly, when next we meet. Now, how about some excerpt? Word. 

"Though the overall tone is a much more somber one than Tanzer usually brings, there’s a gutting insightfulness to My Father’s House. The characters are flawed and fumble through life, relationships, jobs. They make poor choices and they hurt each other, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. Even when they lie, though, whether to themselves or each other, they’re still telling a version of truth. Their truths are beautiful and painful and sometimes hard to accept, but they’re ones that keep us going, day after day, until the day we’re not." 

Big thanks to the quite stellar, and lovely,  fiction crew at The Nervous Breakdown, and we do hope the descriptor "lovely" is not pejorative, much less a diminutive, or what have you, is it fiction crew, for running a new piece of ours titled The Angel of Death, which is one of a series of Chicago stories we have been working on that have been popping-up in a variety of stellar literary locations near you, including the Metazen, Fix It Broken and Smalldoggies. Please do take a look and if it works for you, maybe have yourself some excerpt as well.

“Hey!” someone behind me screams.

“Jesus Walks, God show me the way…”

I am lost in the newspaper, headphones in place and walking along the platform at the Damen Blue line stop in Wicker Park.

“Jesus Walks with me, with me, with me…”

“Hey!” they scream again, followed by a playful shove to the back.

I remove my headphones. It’s her and she’s all smiles. I’m still conflicted about whether I think she’s attractive, with her buzz cut, crazy angular features and harsh cheekbones. She could almost pass for a dude, a boy really, but for her breasts which are swelling under an ancient Smoking Popes T-shirt, those hips, just climbing above her baggy jeans, and that ass, that golden ass.

“Where’s your head at, man?” she says smiling, but intense, hungry.

She adjusts her T-shirt. Was I staring at her chest? I need to watch that, but can it really be avoided? I don’t know. I don’t even really know her. I once knew her, sort of, before I was married, though you wouldn’t call it a friendship exactly.

We worked at the same agency and she had been hired to oversee this huge grant, AIDS stuff, before protease inhibitors and before anyone could manage the disease. People died then. That’s all. I don’t even remember what kind of program she was running, what anyone ran back then, hospice and support groups mostly. It was horrible. They called her the Angel of Death. It was mean to be funny, escapist, black humor. But she couldn’t deal.

Some most generous The Nervous Breakdown self-interview and excerpt.

The fine crew at The Nervous Breakdown has already been most kind to You Can Make Him Like You with a much appreciated review by TBWCYL, Inc. favorite Nik Korpon, and they are now running both an excerpt and a Self-Interview, and yes, that does mean Interview Sundays are back. It also means big thanks to the sublime Gina Frangello for pulling all this together. Now, what does it mean for you though? It means enjoyment. We hope. And excerpt. For sure. So please do enjoy, and please do excerpt, and please do keep being you, because we love that about you.

Is it true that you have an amazingly small carbon footprint?

It is if that's not an euphemism for something else.

No, never, this is a family site.

Word. Why do you bring this up then?

I think its good to open with some humor, and maybe even empathy, its more endearing and draws the reader into the conversation. More than that though, I was thinking about some of the commentary on my new book You Can Make Him Like You, which I am supposed to hype, yes?

Totally. Be subtle maybe, don't look desperate or sad and don't be too grandiose despite the initial reviews, but yes hype, must hype.

"The Catcher in the Rye for those who read Catcher when they were Holden's age." You Can Make Him Like You gets tnb'd. And likes it. A lot.

Big, humbling and overwhelmed thanks to Nik Korpon and The Nervous Breakdown for their killer review of You Can Make Him Like You. It left us feeling quite warm inside. And a little weepy. Drinks on us, for sure, when next we cross paths.

"Comparisons to High Fidelity--the film, specifically--are bound to turn up, and they aren't inaccurate. There's the Chicago setting, the good clubs, good bands, good films. But You Can Make Him Like You is, I think, the book High Fidelity could've been, wanted to be. Where Rob Gordon uses all of the references to deflect real life in High Fidelity, Keith fluently speaks pop culture, uses them as a means to find his way through the process of becoming an adult and a father."

Peter Schwartz, The Nervous Breakdown and a Love Supreme. Or not.

We thought you might be wondering how TBWCYL, Inc. favorite Peter Schwartz was feeling about is recent break-up. Wonder no more. No really, you don't have to, just visit The Nervous Breakdown and you will find out near everything you need to know.