Good friend and fellow Blacksmith for Literary Progress Tim Hall hit a bit of a milestone this week: his own imprint, Undie Press, turned five-years-old. Quite an accomplishment, especially when you look at the quality of the books Tim’s released in the past five years.
I can still remember sitting in his apartment in Jersey City and hearing him say, “Undie Press, get it?”
Tim looked at me with excitement, mouth open, waiting for my positive reaction.
I stared at him blank faced, as in the dark as I always was to the inner workings of Tim’s genius.
“Underground and Independent,” he finally said.
“Oh yeah, I get it now,” I replied.
“And my logo will be a pair of underwear,” he then added.
“Underwear?”
“Yeah, get it, Undie.”
Thus a literary empire was born.
And Tim never stopped. Five years, four books. That’s a pace most lit writers can’t match. Every book was different and interesting, with his heart, soul, and blood on each of the pages. When I finally got off my ass to write and release my first book, Tim’s approach to underground publishing was the inspiration for the whole damn operation. I always admired his drive in finding a way to bring his art into the world, by any means necessary, with that distinctive mad genius that is Tim.
So to celebrate, I leave you with a bit of Undie Press history: a signed first edition of my still-favorite UP release, Half Empty.
Good friend and fellow Blacksmith for Literary Progress Tim Hall made an appearance last week on Chicago Public Radio for a segment titled, “I’ve Only Had To Call The Police On A Family Member Once.” The title says it all. Needless to say it’s an eerie tale, but Tim does a great job telling it.
The Blacksmiths for Literary Progress will have our own table at the 
It was a hell of a time on March 22nd. A nice crowd of people and the rest of the Blacksmiths For Literary Progress joined me at 
What more could you ask for: booze, used books, and four bastardos a-readin’. I’ll be celebrating the release of my new short story collection, 
“If The Velvet Underground’s debut had been a short story collection, it may well have read like The Love Book.”
“When Ken decided to shut down Bully, I wondered what he was going to do. The Love Book is part of the answer to that. Ken has transformed himself in the last several years from a Menckenesque curmudgeon, hilariously skewering all aspects of pop culture, to a serious short story writer with a truly original and refreshing vision. These are stories that actually dare to be about things—that is, they have characters who are invested, committed, or otherwise trapped in certain strange or absurd lives who are looking for freedom and release. It’s the basis of all great fiction, imo.” 
I had a great time particpating in the first Meet the Authors event in 
I’ll be reading an excerpt of “The Fabulous Omar” from 
