Tag Archives: The Love Book

Gritty Literature eBook Sale: Get Vagabonds… for $2.99 and The Love Book for $.99

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Calling all eBook and lit enthusiasts: you can now get the eBook versions of both of my short story collections for just under $4. That’s right, my new collection, Songs of Vagabonds, Misfits and Sinners, is on sale for $2.99 and my previous collection, The Love Book, is available for the low, low price of only $.99. You can get them for your favorite reading devices including Kindle, iPad and iPhone, and Nook.

This is a bit of an experiment (for a limited time) to see two things: (1) are literature and short story readers as price sensitive as genre readers, and (2) are genre readers — many of whom champion independent authors in mystery, paranormal romance, and crime fiction — willing to jump out of their typical reading list. I don’t expect to hit any bestseller lists, but I suspect it might yield some interesting results (or prove me yet again to be a blasted idiot).

Click on the links below to get your ebooks. And it goes with out saying, if you like the stories in either book, be sure to post a review on the site you got it from or on any of the book sharing sites such as GoodReads, Shelfari, or LibraryThing.

Buy Songs of Vagabonds, Misfits and Sinners eBook
Amazon Kindle | iBooks | Barnes & Noble Nook | Smashwords | Scribd

Buy The Love Book eBook
Amazon Kindle | iBooks | Barnes & Noble Nook | Smashwords | Scribd

Outsider Writers Plugs The Love Book

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Caleb J. Ross, author of the fantastic collection Charactered Pieces, just posted a nice review of The Love Book by yours truly on Outsider Writers. If I had to pick my favorite line from the review, I’d roll with this:

Perhaps The Love Book is the memoir of every damaged soul who has ever asked, selfishly or not, for such a simple thing as love.

Most impressive is that these characters are able to repeatedly dodge indefinite depression to end up, if not happy, at least with a more thorough understanding of what could bring that happiness.

You can check the rest of the review here. And if you haven’t read the dark, gritty tales in The Love Book yet, what the bloody ‘ell are you waiting for?

Get The Love Book on iPhone’s Kindle App

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Now that you’ve jumped hip deep into the pool of iPhone enabled e-book reading, courtesy of Amazon’s new Kindle app, go ahead and download a fantabulous collection of gritty, dark, and funny short stories: namely, The Love Book by yours truly. Consider it a value impulse buy. The Love Book is only $7.99 in the Kindle format, saving you $8.00 over the printed price (and it’s under Amazon’s recommended $9.99 e-book price).

Way back in January 2008, when The Love Book was released, one of the things I made sure of was that it would be available in the Amazon Kindle format. Having already seen the first edition Kindle at that time, I knew it would have an impact on the book buying market. As I write this, the web (blog posts, tweets, news articles) has been lit up with talk of the Amazon Kindle app and now, B&N’s move to purchase FictionWise which works with Stanza.

Indie & Small Press Book Fair Recap

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My fellow Blacksmiths for Literary Progress and I had a hell of a time at the 21st Annual Indie & Small Press Book Fair here in New York City this past weekend. We’ve always been big fans of the fair as it attracts an interesting mix of presses from more well known names like Akashic, NYRB, and Soft Skull to obscure one-woman-armies like B. Rugged Needless to say, it was an honor to have a table at the event.

Brian Cogan (Encylopedia of Punk), Mike Faloon (Go Metric), and myself were on hand to represent the cause, with a special appearance by honorary member Richard Leck (Memory Hair) who kept us entertained with the best of W.C. Fields and Groucho Marx. Tim Hall (Full of It), Karen Lillis (The Second Elizabeth), and Ben Tanzer (Most Likely You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine) couldn’t make it to town, but their books did, much to the pleasure of those that snagged a copy.

We were lucky enough to be in a good corner on the balcony next to the good folks at Microcosm and Manic D Press which allowed us to meet a bunch of brand new friends and readers. We shook hands, introduced our work to the people, and even signed a few books. I was especially happy to sell all of the copies of The Love Book I had on hand, each one signed and personalized for the good person who plucked down their hard-earned cash.

A hearty thank you to all those that took the time to stop by the table and even picked up a copy of one of our books.

Here are a few shots for your ocular amusement.

Most Likely You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine Reading Recap

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It was a real honor to get to read with Ben Tanzer this past Sunday at Freebird Books, my de facto home base here in Brooklyn. The reading was an east coast celebration in honor of the release of Ben’s new book, Most Likely You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine (the original release party was held in Chicago).

A good group of friends made it down to hear Ben read from the new book and myself kick a brand new story, “Job in Williamsburg,” as well as an excerpt from “Taking the Happy Bus on Home,” the last story in The Love Book. People responded quite nicely to Ben’s reading, digging on the fantastic sense of humor from the book.

As always, Peter from Freebird Books took great care of us and I can never walk out of the joint without discovering some great new find. In this instance, it was the Mavis Gallant short story collection released by Bloomsbury Classics (imported from the UK). If you’re in Brooklyn, do stop by Freebird and support the cause.

But here are a few shots for your ocular amusement.


A Reading This Sunday, 9/28

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I’ll be joining Chicago’s own Ben Tanzer at Freebird Books in Brooklyn this Sunday to celebrate the release of his new novel, “Most Likely You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine.” We’re going to kick out the stories and have a few drinks with all our good friends who can make it to the reading. Show time is 7pm.

Another great review for The Love Book

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Ben Tanzer and the nice folks at This Blog Will Change Your Life recently posted some nice praise for The Love Book. And I quoteth:

“…while love may be the operative word here, we’re not sure anyone would call them love stories, per se. Now that said, are these stories all about how love gets warped, lost, manipulated, sublimated, twisted, fetishized, tainted and occasionally celebrated? Yes, and more. And so do we think you should you read this collection? Yes, again, for sure, so, go ahead, please read The Love Book, it just might change your life.”

And a gratuitous reminder, you can come on down to Freebird Books in Brooklyn, NY on Sunday, September 28 to see Ben and myself kick out the stories to celebrate the release of his new book, Most Likely You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine.

Support for (and from) the Indie Bookshops

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One of the joys of having a book published is seeing your creation stacked up in the rows of books down at the local bookshop.

Being a more independently-minded soul, I take a certain amount of pride in the fact that my favorite indie bookshops are actually carrying copies of The Love Book.

So if you live in New York City or happen to be visiting, stop by one of these shops and pick up a copy of The Love Book, along with six or seven other titles, to show your support for their good taste in Literature.

Freebird Books
123 Columbia Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Map
St. Mark’s Bookshop
31 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10003
Map
Spoonbill & Sugartown
218 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Map

Meet the Author Recap (or There are days…)

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I had already made two appearances in the virtual reality world Second Life. I figured my third time would be old hat. Alas, the metaverse had it in for me. My scheduled appearance on Meet the Author with host Adele Ward (aka Jilly Kidd) went nowhere near as planned.

To start, Second Life was having rolling server shut downs. So when I attempted to login five minutes before the start of the show, I was blocked out and couldn’t get back in. Luckily I could still dial my voice into the conference line for the audio feed. However, a nice bloke named “Secondo” (a very apt first name) had to take my place on the stage. For the entire first half of the show, the crowd was convinced I had shown up in the guise of an ostentatious vampire complete with top hat, frilly coat, and fangs. I’m a horror fan, but more George Romero than Anne Rice. Continue reading →

The Miami Sun Post Interview

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The press for The Love Book keeps on a-rollin’. I’ve been lucky enough to be featured in the Miami Sun Post’s “Bound” column, written by John Hood (a guy who knows good books and gritty stories better than most critics). My two favorite quotes are:

“The Love Book will stain your soul.”

and

“You’ll dig Ken Wohlrob’s The Love Book, whether you like yourself or not. In fact, if you compare its cavalcade of kooks to you and the folk you call friends, it’ll probably make you like yourself more.”

You can read the full text of the interview here.