Well, little friends, plenty has happened since our last blog update. We could be cute and cloying as usual, but honestly: who's got the time anymore? Let's get down to business.
First order: Daddy's. We're two weeks from dropping our hottest title yet. Ya'll seriously don't know what's coming. There's a taste up now, in the form of a Mini Book. But it's only gonna start the jonesin'. For real relief, you need your own copy. First/best place to pick it up? Lindsay's Book Release Party, where it's included in the price of the admission. Someone's getting scarred on August 30th:
If you've been to Quickies! you know: Lindsay Hunter is as sweet as pie, but she's got one mean dirty mouth. Watch her work it out in celebration of Daddy's, featherproof's fall release. She'll be joined on stage by her dad, whose pride will turn to horror as he hears the nastiest thoughts that Lindsay has ever thunk. Will he break down? Someone will. Facebook Invite here.
Another reason you know this'll be a doozy: it's the culminating night of Quickies! The Gathering, a Midwest tour of pretty complete magicness. Led by Lindsay Hunter and Mary Hamilton, including featherproof stalwarts Blake Butler and Amelia Gray, as well as Dollar Store veterans Jac Jemc and Aaron Burch, and new blood John Jodzio reppin' Replacement Press. Whatever you're thinking about this tour: we can guarantee that you ain't wrong. St. Paul, Iowa City, Madison: details on the calendar.
Are you looking at your calendar yet? Because you probably just noticed it's Scorch Atlas's birthday coming round the bend. In honor of said event, we announce the:
SCORCH ATLAS BIRTHDAY DESTROY CONTEST
Once upon 2009 we decided, since Scorch Atlas was a destructive force, to offer destroyed copies on pre-sale, to the brave few who would let us mangle their copy. That looked like this:
We got a surprising amount of requests for mutilated books, and happily complied. Blake was so happy he got hungry and started to eat the book. That looked like this:
Despite a few protests from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Everything, the idea spread. Mike Kitchell exploded one:
Sean Lovelace shot some arrows at one:
And it became clear. The only way to truly finish Scorch Atlas was by destroying your copy. Thus: we propose a new contest. Destroy your copy. Better than any has destroyed before you. Smash it smear it, pepper it with flak, and digest it thoroughly. We want you to do your worst. Also acceptable: creative methods of destruction that don't necessarily destroy the book physically but endanger it, terrify it, or brutalize it. Like humiliating the book in public, or changing the text, or reading it aloud to your grandmother wearing a gas mask.
Post your video to YouTube or Vimeo. Let us know you did so at
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
by September 9th, 2010 (Scorch Atlas's birthday.) Then we'll pick a winner based on criteria of Risk, Bloodlust, Derring-do, Internet research, Smarts, and Pheromones Released.
ONE GRAND PRIZE WINNER will receive: the complete featherproof fiction catalog of books, including a signed, first edition (blackened edges) Scorch Atlas, in clean/perfect/mint condition, Ever by Blake Butler, both issues of No Colony, a t-shirt that says 'Knife That', mini-books, Kristina Born's One Hour of Television, stickers, a packet of Blake's hair, a book that Blake loves destroyed just for you, and a drawing he made in his sleep. It sounds like a joke, I know. But this grand prize package is SO NOT A JOKE. It's for real.
FIVE FIRST PRIZE WINNERS will receive a signed, first edition (blackened edges) Scorch Atlas, in clean/perfect/mint condition. To replace the one you mangled.
THE REST OF THE LOSERS just fucked themselves.
Have at it.
What can you do while waiting to see if you destroyed good enough? Option one: read some mini-books of course. We've got two new dollops of foldable dew:
Option 2: Check out some book design work. Zach's design site Bleached Whale was just updated with all the book design he's done in the past year. He'll be giving a big fat slideshow at Public Works all about featherproof design stuff this Friday, August 20th at the Andrew Rafacz Gallery. More details here.
“Each tiny, diamond story—precise, comic, poised at the edge of surreal—contains one brutal life force tearing itself off the page. You can hold Daddy’s in your hands and feel it breathing.” —Deb Olin Unferth, author of Vacation
September 2010. You ever fed yourself something bad? Like a candied rattlesnake, or a couple fingers of antifreeze? Nope? You seen what it done to other people? Like while they’re flopping around on the floor you’re thinking about how they’re fighting to live. Like while they’re dying they never looked so alive? That’s what Daddy’s is like. In this collection of toxic southern gothics, packaged as a bait box of temptation, Lindsay Hunter offers an exploration not of the human heart but of the spine; mixing sex, violence and love into a harrowing, head-spinning read that’ll push you a little further toward flopping.
Lindsay Hunter lives in Chicago, where she is the co-host of Quickies! This is her first book. Read her blog at lindsayhunter.com
“I didn’t meet Lindsay Hunter; so much as her fiction ran me over. ” —Three Guys One Book
“In Daddy’s, babies mean blood and nipples are like “lit match heads.” Lindsay Hunter transgresses where others fear to tread.” —Terese Svoboda, author of Pirate Talk
“Each tiny, diamond story—precise, comic, poised at the edge of surreal—contains one brutal life force tearing itself off the page. You can hold Daddy’s in your hands and feel it breathing.” —Deb Olin Unferth, author of Vacation
“Lindsay Hunter won’t be caught lie-telling in the name of nice. The miniature stories in Daddy’s are fierce and unapologetic. When the We’s she voices say the axblade was bloody with dirt, what they mean is the neighbor’s swingset creaked and moaned next door and we heard a child’s voice say Never ever. When I’m looking again for my next undoing, I’ll crack open Daddy’s, and get the true news they tell us we’d be better off not hearing.” —Kyle Minor, author of In the Devil’s Territory
“Each tiny, diamond story—precise, comic, poised at the edge of surreal—contains one brutal life force tearing itself off the page. You can hold Daddy’s in your hands and feel it breathing.” —Deb Olin Unferth, author of Vacation
September 2010. You ever fed yourself something bad? Like a candied rattlesnake, or a couple fingers of antifreeze? Nope? You seen what it done to other people? Like while they’re flopping around on the floor you’re thinking about how they’re fighting to live. Like while they’re dying they never looked so alive? That’s what Daddy’s is like. In this collection of toxic southern gothics, packaged as a bait box of temptation, Lindsay Hunter offers an exploration not of the human heart but of the spine; mixing sex, violence and love into a harrowing, head-spinning read that’ll push you a little further toward flopping.
Lindsay Hunter lives in Chicago, where she is the co-host of Quickies! This is her first book. Read her blog at lindsayhunter.com
Remember when you would spend countless hours playing in the sprinkler, and fresh cut grass stuck and dried to your ankles? The adrenaline that surged through your veins when you heard the ice cream truck was enough to power you through the house and tirelessly beg your mother for a couple dollars so you could wave down the truck before its song became silent. Let’s not forget about the simple excitement that was involved in a slip n’ slide. Sunburn was a good price to pay for an entire day outside, getting sticky with sweat and melted popsicle.
Speaking of hot, Christian TeBordo’s ears must be burning. He’s getting a lot of love, so we want you to get in on this steamy action. The Big Other has shared their love, check out this sweet interview by Ryan Bradley and learn a little more about how “The Awful Possibilities” was conceived and birthed. decomP gets it. And Largehearted Boy mixes it up.
There’s nothing like a Happy Ending. Get what you want at the Happy Ending Music and Reading Series. It’s one of New York’s best shows with consistently good moves. Our friends Amelia Gray, Shane 'Shank' Jones, and Audrey Niffenegger will be gracing the stage, so get your ticket and get their early before it sells out! If you’re in NYC July 7th, get over to Joe’s Pub 425 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10003.
Why are we so sentimental lately? Because in these oil-filled, troubled times, we need to seize the last drops of goodness. Even the Mayans say it’s over in 2012, and that’s a hot minute away. Get yourself to a good party and soak up your possible last moments. We happen to be goin’ to a banger on Friday July 9th at 7pm at the new Green Lantern! We're teaming up with them and Ampersand in our sweet new digs. Come check it:
Speaking of darkness, Monsters and Dust are big and scary. We're obsessed.
Here’s a quick list of things that are small, yet awesome: Jelly Beans, those new dollar coins, zip drives, sea shells, origami, and the new minis available on featherproof! There are two new ones out, The Miniature version of The Universe in Miniature Miniature by Patrick Somerville and Foxes by Mary Miller. So don’t forget to get yourself some joy in a small packages, you deserve it!
The Miniature version of The Universe in Miniature in Miniature by Patrick Somerville
Foxes [new] by Mary Miller
Mary Miller is on the for real list of Writers to Watch over at Dzanc, which also includes Amelia Gray, and Blake Butler! They write good books. Dzanc makes good lists.
We're straight sweatin' in this summer fever. HuffPo almost called us feisty. Zach almost cracked NewCity’s Lit 46! And we're hunkering down to get our fall books almost finished. Look for a new cover on that Daddy's soon!
In the meantime, the hang out don't stop. Check out Stop Smiling Books' second release, by Sam Weller, appearing all over the map this weekend. And we'll be experimenting heavily at The Science of Obscurity, put on by the awesome Chicago Underground Library. They are blogging down to The Printers Ball, which we can hardly wait for. But we will wait, until July 30th. There'll be a special edition of The Show 'n Tell Show, with a radical line-up.
Summer is the time to soak up the vitamin D and catch up on some much needed reading. Be sure to synchronize your planner with the goings on here at featherproof. It will be wet and wild this summer, and you are totally invited to the pool party!
You invite your ex-boyfriend to visit. Then he is in your apartment,
hunched over his laptop, which has to be kept very still or else
it will crash, and you are on your couch, eating Easter candy...
KFC has been getting a lot of slack lately for its infamous Double Down "sandwich," which can be described more accurately as a chicken-bacon-cheese goopfest, frat house pantry staple, or nemesis to the human artery. Weighing in at 145 milligrams of cholesterol, 1,380 milligrams of sodium, and 32 grams of fat, the DD is packin' about half your daily allowance of just about everything. But hey, one person's junk food is another person's model of digestive efficiency.
One thing we know for sure -- If Featherproof's recent haps had a caloric value, they'd definitely surpass your recommended daily intake. Diets are way 90's, so let's dig in:
We've got new lit for you voracious readers. We're doubling down with two great new stories with as much grease, grit, and secret sauce as any joint boasting a SuperSize menu option. Natalie Edwards makes Waffle House mystical in "Crop Milk" and Mickey Hess makes Colonel Sanders a tragic hero in "Life Story," so don't pass on these minis.
We'll be back in our Midwest nest for another edition of the Show 'n Tell Show on June 6th, and folks, this one's gonna be a doosie. For the uninitiated, Show 'n Tell is a live talk show where designers, photographers, illustrators, and poster makers gab about their work and geek out about what they love: design. The show is FREE and will take place at the ever-accommodating Lincoln Hall, so no fear, you won't have to troll the web to score tickets like you did for Conan O'Brien at the Chicago Theatre. More on the event page.
Finally, our moms may not approve of our eating habits, but they love the recent praise that Christian TeBordo's been getting for The Awful Possibilities :
"The nine stories of Christian TeBordo's first collection are ambiguous and creepy. Sheer delight for connoisseurs of nongenre strangeness." --Booklist
"The stories of The Awful Possibilities inhabit the thrilling, hazy space between high art and bullshit." --Stockyard Magazine
Right on!
That's all for now, Featherproof junkies. A lot to take down, but boy is it tasty. We won't remind you that swimsuit season is just around the corner.
Dadgummit! Ever since I was seventy-four and got paid two million dollars for my fried-chicken franchising business folks has been hounding me to write my...
A-well-a everybody's heard about the bird B-b-b-bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word. And the word is that Featherproof will be all up in AWP this coming week! So much to see and do in Denver!
Come visit our table at the book fair, the doors open 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM, Thursday through Saturday. We will be at space E17 sampling our wares, better get here early to get your hands on the hot ticket items. We will have copies of Christian TeBordo’s, The Awful Possibilities, just released this week! It is so hot right now; you could get a tan off it! A death tan. Check out the amazing things that have already been said! That's right, we left stars in Publishers Weekly's eyes. Because we punched them in the FACE. With a BOOK.
And did someone say free preview items for the up and coming fall books? We’ll have hand rolled ciga-stories for Lindsay Hunter’s Daddy’s. We’ll also have A Miniature Version of the Universe in Miniature in Miniature by Patrick Somerville, for the low-low price of… free! And if that’s not enough to lure you in, we’ll even throw in free stickers, buttons and whatever else we can bequeath to you in our book bodega. With so much wealth to share, you better get here early to reap the benefits. The early bird catches the lit swag!
You didn’t think we’d go to AWP without going to a few mixers or box socials now did you? Of course not! Only this year we’re going to the non-AWP Shots N Shorts party at Skylark Lounge, Friday April 9th starting at 7pm. There will be copious amounts of shots that need consuming, shorts that need wearing and reading, and to tie it all together we’ll throw a wheel in to keep us all mesmerized. Get this down on your social calendar for a guaranteed good time!
Summer, AWP, Drinking, Denver. Put 'em together and what do you got? Shots 'n Shorts! Featherproof Books and Green Lantern Press are joining forces to bring you spinning wheels, shots, and shorts (the clothing as well as the story version) in a fabulous AWP Off-site event.
A fabulous line up of authors will be displaying their gams and literary prowess at Skylark Friday April 9th at 7pm. Each storyteller will step up to spin Nicolette Bond's Wheel of Drunken Shame, determining which shot they will take or what fate they will endure before reading their short short. With returning authors from the national Dollar Store Tour, you can bet your sweet bippy this is going to be a gratifying night.
Leggy Ink Slingers include:
Nicolette Bond
Blake Butler
Zach Dodson
Amelia Gray
Mary Hamilton
Lindsay Hunter
Jac Jemc
Caroline Picard
Aaron Plasek
Patrick Somerville
Christian TeBordo
Jess Wigent
The juicy details:
Friday April 9th 7pm
Skylark Lounge
140 S Broadway
Denver, CO 80209
We’ll also be reppin’ heavy at Make/ACM party Friday April 9th at 8pm located at 901 W 7th Ave Denver, CO in the Secret Gallery. (Secret) Gallery is a great big space that they will saturate with video and audio recordings and live performances. Word on the street is that this event is BYOB and IZZE will also be providing soda. And rest easy, there is a King Cobra retailer near by.
So we’ll be out strong in Denver soon! With so much talent we gotta split up and share the wealth of our awesomeness.
In addition to the two parties Amelia Gray will be reading Thursday April 8th at 1:30pm, HTMLGIANT Table, AWP Bookfair Bust Down the Door and Eat All the Chickens Elevator Reading Series. Thursday night at 7pm she’ll be at Mercury Cafe, 2199 California St, VERMIN ON THE ROCKY MOUNT, Hosted by Richard Nash and Jim Ruland
Blake Butler will be at Stella's Coffeehaus Thursday, April 8, 2-4pm. Then he’ll be hitting Orbiting Salt: A Quarterly West/Western Humanities Review/Barrelhouse/Versal Reading, Scheduled Time: 4:30 PM to 5:45 PM Thursday April 8 and Thursday, April 8, 2010: 9 PM - A Reading: Northwestern University Press, &Now Books , and Artifice Magazine The Celtic Tavern at 1801 Blake Street, THEN Indie Mags: Publishing Outside of MFA Programs and Other Institutional Support, Friday, April 9, 12:00 PM to 1:15 PM, 108 - CCC w/ Aaron Burch, J. Wang and others
Back in Chicago, hungover? Come to the MOTHER LOVIN' Release Party for Christian TeBordo’s The Awful Possibilities April 26th at the Whistler 2421 N. Milwaukee. It starts at 8 and is free! Once this book is released you’re gonna want to pounce on it, so get over here to get some sweet release action!
Featherproof books is releasing The Awful Possibilities into the world. We're calling it 'Pandora's Book' because once it's opened, nothing will never be the same. "Bizarre and biting, these tales leave a mark!" says Publishers Weekly (with stars in their eyes). Come watch Christian TeBordo crack it wide open. He'll be joined by Jeff Parker, Lindsay Hunter, Adam Levin, and Tim Kinsella, all releasing their own ills upon the world. Who'll bring the hope? Our money is on DJ Baby Sloth, rounding out the night with some jams. All this horror can be yours, April 26th, 8pm, FREE of charge at The Whistler.
featherproof books presents
A BOOK RELEASE PARTY
for The Awful Possibilities
Christian TeBordo
Jeff Parker
Lindsay Hunter
Adam Levin
Tim Kinsella
Plus DJ Baby Sloth
The Whistler
2421 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, IL
Monday, April 26th
8pm FREE
Well now a every body knows about the bird! No excuses, see you guys there!
If you’re applying this avian idiom to the literary news in your life, then good news lads and lassies, we have much for your calendar this month. You won’t even care for the possible bush because featherproof is shoving birds into your hands, arms, purses, carry-alls, and other storage containers.
Big things come in small packages including our new mini-books. Available right now, as in, this second is ss Attacks! , a sample of
Christian TeBordo’s The Awful Possibilities (Which you will be able to get your hands on this April at AWP. We'll be there!) Leaky words on 3 Guys 1 Book.
According to
Jeff Parker, Author of Ovenman, Christian TeBordo’s newest collection is-
"Quentin Tarantino on short story juice. The violence and depravity ride the surface, where I like them, and the heart is a lyrical heart. Add to that creepy postcards with cryptic messages and this collection attacks from all sides."
You’d be silly to not check it out! Goofy!
Then we have a great art mini from Chicago illustrator Rachal Ann Duggan. It’s called Dads (don’t confuse with Daddy’s) and her portfolio complete with illustrations and bio is available
here. It's rad. Those are also her initials. Both these beauties were laid out by Brad Nagle. He's come on to help with design, and these are awesome hints of good things to come.
Guess what else cats and kittens! You can get your paws on stories whenever you want, wherever you be. 20 brand, spankin-new stories are available live on the TripleQuick app now featuring great writers like: Sam Pink,
Natalie Edwards,
Gretchen Kalwinski,
Ryan Markel,
Brian Costello,
P.H. Madore, and
Terese Svoboda!
TripleQuick Fiction is available in the iTunes app store NOW! TripleQuick.com
So get your read, review and write on. The best liked story will receive the coveted Golden Egg. Kate Axelrod is currently the holder of this recognition for her story "Someplace Bright and Sweaty" you can read it here now!
OK, events. Get your planners out…
Tuesday March 9th, 7:30pm at The Innertown Pub Quickies! will be putting out prose. Bring your lit love and your short attention span. Free beer, so: duh!
March 17th come and get your free panel discussion during the University of Illinois Early Spring Literary Festival on Independent Publishing with featherproofer Zach Dodson. It’s all taking place at the Authors Corner, Illini Union Bookstore, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Come to the next Show 'n Tell Show March 28th, featuring graphic novelist Anders Nilsen, and local short-story-silhouette-magic-sister team Jill Summers and Susie Kirkwood. Check out their mini book
here before you skip off to
Lincoln Hall, new home of the Show 'n Tell Show.
Also, we're digging this new show: The Paper Machete. Check out that chop!
Come back, and come back often to fill your body and your social calendar with literary sustenance! And your bush with birds! Yikes.
Imagine you’re planning your own school shooting. Imagine you have
good reasons, and it’s none of that I-play-too-many-video-games-and-
listen-to-Marilyn-Manson-because-no-one-likes-me bullshit...
ss Attacks! [mini-book exceprt]
by Christian TeBordo
Rules and Regulations in Lamination Colony.
PERFECTLY BANAL: Postcards (throughout the book!):
A short story from the book:
The Champion of Forgetting
Here is a list of failures.
I was staying in a hotel room with some people. I didn’t know their names. I wasn’t their friend. Not the kind where you say hi my name’s and hi my name’s and then you call each other names.
Before I was staying in the hotel room I was walking down Market and they snatched me into their van so I was kidnapped.
What’s that called after you’re kidnapped. When you’re just staying in the hotel room.
There wasn’t tape on my mouth or chains. On my wrist or anything. You could walk around in it and watch television. You could go for ice so the door wasn’t locked. From the inside.
The first time I went for ice I had to knock to get back in. That was when we made up the idea to put a thing in the door when I went for ice. Or somebody else for something else. A shoe or ashtray.
One of the men slipped the metal chain from the wall between the door and the frame. That was the only chain unless it was a metal bar. The girl had failed the test anyway. It was a good hotel room. My first.
It wasn’t the only hotel room. Sometimes there were others. One at a time. It looked like the other ones we lived in. Two men a woman and me. Four. And yes there was sex.
Sometimes there was sex in the other hotel rooms. On either side of us unless we were on the end.
Sometimes when there was sex in another hotel room a man said a woman’s name or a woman said a man’s.
Sometimes in our hotel room a man said a woman’s name or the woman said a man’s. Sometimes when there was sex. Sometimes when there was not. I don’t know if it was the real names. Sometimes they were different. Sometimes they were the same which was not often. Or I don’t remember because I was the champion of forgetting.
When we got to the hotel room. The first time I got to the hotel room. After I got kidnapped. When I wasn’t kidnapped anymore. When there wasn’t tape on my mouth. When I was in the van there was tape on my mouth but not in the hotel room.
At first there was tape on my mouth and my wrists. That’s when the man who was our leader then said not to say my name. And the woman said better forget your name.
If you don’t say your name you don’t forget your name and you always want to say it. This is how I was for a while. When the tape was on my mouth. Sometimes I said my name because who even knows what you’re talking about with tape on your mouth. But when there wasn’t any more tape I bit my tongue. It hurts to bite your tongue.
When you forget your name you don’t bite your tongue. Why would you. You don’t want to say it and you don’t say it. If you do you don’t know because it’s forgotten. It’s suddenly somebody else’s and you’ve forgotten their’s too.
This is the way that it works.
One time when it was my turn to register for the hotel room. They give you cash from the box of cash and you say you would like a room for your name and give the man or woman at the desk the money they gave you and the man or woman gives you a key. A key is a symbol of a room to them.
I said I would like a room and the man. I don’t remember his name. The man behind the counter said what is your name. I didn’t remember my name because I had forgotten it. I gave him the money but he didn’t give me a key.
When I got back to the van the man who was our leader then. The leader gives you money from the cash box and says what hotel to drive to or what hotel you are driving to if you ask and whose turn it is to drive and who to kidnap and who’s turn it is to register for the hotel room. Also some of the sexual things. That time it was mine.
The leader said that it was a test and I had failed the test.
I almost never knew when I was getting tested. Especially when I was first kidnapped and for the time after that I don’t know what to call. An example of this is the first test. The first test they said was a test.
The first test. What I think of as the first test they did not say was a test. One of them said do you think she’s a screamer and another one said there’s only one way to find out. The one who said the second thing. She was the woman. She dug a little corner of the tape away from the skin of my face. Then she pulled off the whole tape.
I didn’t scream. The girl said see she didn’t scream but not that I had passed a test.
The first test that they said was a test. There was a needle and the needle went in my arm. I didn’t scream but that was not this test. Blood came out of my arm through the needle and filled up the tube of it.
While I was not screaming but there was still blood coming out I said what are you doing. The man who was doing it. The leader. He said it’s a test.
When the tube was full he gave it to the woman and the woman took it to the bathroom. I asked if the test was over but it was not. I got nervous about the test because some of it was happening in the bathroom where I couldn’t do anything about it and I didn’t know how much of it was happening where I was so I let him put a wad of cotton over the spot on my arm that the blood came out of and apply gentle pressure.
It felt good until the woman came out of the bathroom with a look on her face. The pressure became more than gentle for a second.
The woman said her blood is wrong and we can’t do sex to her right now.
The man let go of my arm and walked out of the hotel room. He forgot to leave a shoe in the door, so I went and did it for him. Then I took a nap for loss of blood or to forget about the failure.
There were more tests but they only admitted it sometimes. Only when I failed except once.
"Quentin Tarantino on short story juice. The violence and depravity
ride the surface, where I like them, and the heart is a lyrical heart.
Add to that creepy postcards with cryptic messages and this collection
attacks from all sides." —Jeff Parker, Author of Ovenman
April 2010! A girl masters the art of forgetting among kidney thieves. A motivational speaker skins his best friend to impress his wife. A man outlines the rules and regulations for sadistic childrearing. You’ve heard these people whispering in hallways, mumbling in diners, shouting in the apartment next door. In brilliantly strange set pieces that explode the boundaries of short fiction, Christian TeBordo locates the awe in the awful possibilities we could never have imagined.
Christian TeBordo has published three novels. This is his first collection of short fiction. He lives in Philadelphia. Read his blog at awfulpossibilities.com
STARRED REVIEW "Nine caustic stories by TeBordo find screeching ironies in rhetorical absurdities and writerly subversiveness. Bizarre and biting, these tales leave a mark." —Publishers Weekly
"The nine stories of TeBordo’s first collection are ambiguous and creepy. A dire surrealism roils beneath their superficial naturalism. Sheer delight for connoisseurs of nongenre strangeness."—Booklist
"Christian TeBordo shows that it is possible to be, simultaneously, a wise old soul and a crazed young terror." —George Saunders
"The Awful Possibilities of Christian TeBordo put me in mind of Quentin Tarantino on short story juice. The violence and depravity ride the surface, where I like them, and the heart is a lyrical heart. Add to that creepy postcards with cryptic messages and this collection attacks from all sides." —Jeff Parker, Author of Ovenman
"I would say, take a bit of Alan DeNiro’s Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead, mix it with Tarantino and a dash of a scientist with a lab full of words and you might make it close to the stories that inhabit TeBordo’s awe-ful world."—Ryan W. Bradley, The Big Other
"Throughout The Awful Possibilities, TeBordo plays with subtle time and point of view shifts that bring out a surprising depth to what could be, at first glance, sensationalistic or exploitative themes. Where tables are turned, where prisoners become keepers, where memories are real, imagined, or continuously reconditioned into new realities."—Dell Smith, Unreliable Narrator
"TeBordo is clever, and his cleverness, above all, tells him that communication is impossible except as something erratic, scatter-shot." –Spencer Dew, decomP
"We are pushed out of these stories, we are kept at bay, we are thrust into their own miscommunications, we are turned back and on our backs, we are shipped away in fragments. This is a book that you need to read with your own eyes."—J.A. Tyler, elimae
"Readers looking for answers will find this collection lacking. There are no morals here, only possibilities."— TriQuarterly
""To read The Awful Possibilities is to be shaken by the collar and commanded to recognize TeBordo’s bravery, because these stories ardently inhabit the thrilling, hazy space between high art and bullshit."—Stockyard Magazine
"Why, for example, does “The Champion of Forgetting” start where it starts and end where it ends?" (Why indeed?) –Publish Chicago
"…the love child of Samuel Beckett and Dorothy Parker." —Jerome Ludwig, the Chicago Reader
"Quentin Tarantino on short story juice. The violence and depravity ride the surface, where I like them, and the heart is a lyrical heart. Add to that creepy postcards with cryptic messages and this collection attacks from all sides." —Jeff Parker, Author of Ovenman
April 2010! A girl masters the art of forgetting among kidney thieves. A motivational speaker skins his best friend to impress his wife. A man outlines the rules and regulations for sadistic childrearing. You’ve heard these people whispering in hallways, mumbling in diners, shouting in the apartment next door. In brilliantly strange set pieces that explode the boundaries of short fiction, Christian TeBordo locates the awe in the awful possibilities we could never have imagined.
Christian TeBordo has published three novels. This is his first collection of short fiction. He lives in Philadelphia. Read his blog at awfulpossibilities.com
Wow, long time no blog, eh? I guess we're going to blame hibernation. Birds do that, you know.
Most birds. Why is it that cardinals only appear when it's snowing? Not after, or before, but while it's snowing? It's disturbingly Dickensian. But we're asking, seriously. First (or funniest) person to answer wins the featherproof eBook of your choice. Take that, romantic winter scenery. (Just @ reply to featherproof on twitter. Contest ends Jan. 15.)
Might we suggest Scorch Atlas, which 3:AM Magazine named 2009 Novel of the Year. Or perhaps AM/PM, by Amelia Gray, now officially a genius.
Anticipating the long winter, we've buried some delicious stuff that we plan to dig up in 2010. First in the spring, The Awful Possibilities by Christian TeBordo promises to fill your mind full of twisty. You can peek at the cover on our site now. In the fall look out for Lindsay Hunter and Patrick Somerville. It's going to be a killer year.
Also, if you've been checking your TripleQuick App as often as your Facebook and Twitter, we'll have relief for you soon. Next week look for new super shorts from Natalie Edwards, Gretchen Kalwinski, Brian Costello, and other awesomes.
Our re-emergence from hibernation is not just figurative. So come hang out. Zach has some prints from 'boring boring' up at the Dittmar Gallery now.
Sunday night marks the first Show 'n Tell Show of the new year, showcasing some fine book-makers. The Show 'nTellShow is a late night-style show where the guests are the city's most dynamic designers, photographers, illustrators and poster-makers. They each present a single project in a lively evening full of drinks, laughs and design. The show is hosted by designers Michael Renaud and featherproofer Zach Dodson. But they would never show without SpokesMom, the spokesmodel that is also your mom. She provides clueless commentary and blind encouragement to the guests. Newcity just named her the Best Comic-Relief Sidekick in Chicago!
But the best part of the show are the show offs. The next show is our best yet. Guests include:
The details: January 10th, 8pm Schuba's 3159 N Southport Chicago, IL ALWAYS FREE
Then, on Tuesday, Jan. 12, go see Quickies! They have a really great lineup this month, and a new format. Also, they rule the school.
On Thursday, Opium's Literary Death Match rolls back into town. We're sending our prize fighter James Kennedy down to bloody some knuckles. If you've ever seen him read, you know that for James, it's always a Death Match, and if there are children in the audience he will scream wordy insults at them. This is not a joke. Fists will fly. Come cheer him on:
When: Doors at 7, show at 7:30, afterparty: downstairs at 9) Where: Upstairs atFizz, 3220 North Lincoln Avenue (map) Cost:$10 (includes a free copy of Opium9, cover price of $12)
We've been talking it up, and now it's finally here. Featherproof Books' most whiz-bangy thing-a-ma-jig yet. The TripleQuick Fiction iPhone app.
What's that you ask? Well, simply put: stories by some of today's most exciting young writers delivered straight to your iPhone or IPod touch. With the TripleQuick Fiction app you can download new stories in seconds and read them on the go, wherever you are.
And we're not calling it TripleQuick just cause we like how it rolls off the tongue. These short-shorts are only 333 words long. That's just 3 iPhone screens. You can read one in 3 minutes or less. They were written with the mobile attention span in mind. All the featherproof goodness you've come to know from our online downloadable mini-books, in a third of the time.
We've got some great writers included with the app's launch, including web favorites like Shane Jones, Matt Bell and Michael Kimball. There are featherproof novelists like Blake Butler, Amelia Gray, Lindsay Hunter and Patrick Somerville flourishing within the new form. You've never seen so few words pushed to such limits. Paul Fattaruso's story uses only the 100 most common words in the English language. There are some sample stories on the website: TripleQuick.com
Another exciting feature of TripleQuick is the ability to compose and submit your own stories, right on the iPhone. Those with writerly inclination can just type in three screens of their best work, type in a bio, even take an author photo using the iPhone's camera, and submit the story to the featherproof editors. When inspiration strikes, don't go hunting for a paper and pen, just send it to us, on the double. Or rather, on the triple.
We're pleased to announce Mary Hamilton, co-host of the awesome Chicago reading series Quickies!, is our TripleQuick editor. If there's one thing she knows, it's flash fiction. And she has zero tolerance for boring. So your iPhone stories are in good hands.
Sure you can get all sorts of eBooks and stories on your mobile device these days, but let's go over what makes the TripleQuick Fiction app from featherproof exceptional:
- A short-short form made just for reading on the go - Exciting young talent from rising lit stars and underground web geniuses - New stories all the time, when YOU want them - A rating system, allowing you to find the best stories we've got - A submission feature allowing you to compose and upload your own stories for publication - The high quality content that distinguishes featherproof books So, what more could you want? Oh yeah, an iPhone. Well now you have the best excuse yet: great literature compressed for the digital age.
TripleQuick Fiction is available in the iTunes app store NOW! Submissions are open to users of the app. And web-wide submissions will open shortly.
Let us know what you think! We're really excited about this one!
Chicago lost the Olympics. And we here at featherproof are going to personally make up for it by holding spectacle events of our own. Like, next week.
First up: book-eating at the Chicago release party for SCORCH ATLAS by strong man Blake Butler. This full length fiction debut has received piles of praise, and Blake is making his way to Chicago for a night of reading, celebration, and general debauchery.
Amelia Gray, author of AM/PM, will also fly in to join him. And if you saw, heard rumors about, or viewed pictures from this summer's Dollar Store Super Tour you know that when these two get together to read, shit goes down. Like fortune-tellin, hair-humpin, baby-eating, bicycle birthday shit. These two will be joined by the power of Sam Pink and Kathryn Regina. Who will win the gold medal for crazy? We don't know because by then we'll be rocking out to Tiger Bones and DJ Butch Cassidy. So bring your crazy flags and your baby flasks. This ain't your mom's book club reading.
Scorch Atlas Release Party:
When: Monday, 10/12, 7pm
Where: No Coast Collective
1500 W. 17th St, Chicago
Cost: FREE!
Remember the bender that was this summer's Dollar Store Super Tour? What did we learn? DON'T STOP DRINKING. That's right, we're going to slide from late night Monday right into more whiskey decisions on Tuesday night. You're gonna have to call in. Get your shift covered now. Mary Hamilton did. Check it:
Each reader has five minutes to read a complete work of prose. No poetry. No excerpts. No cheating.
Tuesday, October 13 at the Innertown Pub in Chicago (1935 W Thomas). 7:30 in the PM.
featuring: Beth Wylder, Ben Tanzer, Richard Thomas, Tim Racine, Casey Bye, Amelia Gray, Aaron Burch, Blake Butler, Jac Jemc, Caroline Picard, Zach Dodson (and also, prizes).
In fact Lindsay and Amelia just won a round of doubles over at: Three Guys One Book! They said this: "Lindsay Hunter writes like a Yeah, Yeah, Yeah's song", and then also, this: "Amelia Gray is already operating like a seasoned pro. (AM/PM is a) deceptively big book wrapped in a small package."
Also, Vroman thinks we're cool. We think they are cool too. Kind internet words have given our team a continual pep talk. We're also training for our newest event: the TripleQuick iPhone app. Coming very very soon. At the moment we're still high from this victory:
Scorch Atlas remixes by: Brian Evenson, Matt Bell, Elizabeth Ellen, Chris Higgs (who remixed the whole book by erasure), Matthew Simmons, Marcus Whale, J.A. Tyler, Catherine Lacey, Andrew Borgstrom, John Madera, and Jon Cone.
Hope to see you on the victory lap. We've got a high-five with your name on it.
We're pleased to announce that it's all come true. Here's the debut eBook title for our newest project: featherproof remixes. Those are short story collections wherein awesome writers rearrange, rewrite, redefine and reimagine a work just as it’s getting out into the world. We're publishing each remix as an ebook, downloadable to your computer or mobile device. We’ve kicked it off with Blake Butler’s Scorch Atlas, our fall title, because it seems so perfect for the project.
Here's what happened. A boatload of awesome writers downloaded Blake's story "Tour of the Drowned Neighborhood," and took it apart. Some wrote a story using just a few sentences, some rearranged all of the sentences, some deleted bits of the entire book to create a completely new story. Nick Meccia remixed the design into a pure froth of crazy. We asked other writers to try their hand at the game, and even held an open contest. Blake was the judge, and the winning story was remixed by Krammer Abrahams. Congrats Krammer!
But he's not the only one winning a prize. This puppy is free for you to download here and now, so dive in to a remixed Scorch Atlas, aka:
Scorch Atlas remixes by: Brian Evenson, Matt Bell, Elizabeth Ellen, Chris Higgs (who remixed the whole book by erasure), Matthew Simmons, Marcus Whale, J.A. Tyler, Catherine Lacey, Andrew Borgstrom, John Madera, and Jon Cone.
This eBook is free! Download it now to read on your computer or portable reading gadget.
If you like the book, and
you'd like to support our small press, feel free to donate whatever you see fit by use of the
paypal donation button below:
In other news, the latest edition of the Ninth Letter podcast, features a reading of 'The Gown from Mother's Stomach' (a story in Scorch Atlas) spoken by Jennifer Bradford.
Also, Vroman thinks we're cool. We think they are cool too. We don't have a list of 5 awesome bookstores, but if we did, they'd be on it.
And keep your eyeballs peeled for the TripleQuick iPhone app, coming very very soon.
Hey gang, nice to see you here. SO. You may have noticed, our little shopping cart went away. We were being flooded with mail orders, and our warehouse couldn't keep up. We've decided to kick it out to Powell's, the pros when it comes to mailing you books. In honor of that we're staging:
A LITTLE CONTEST.
"Have you read AM/PM? Cleverest review on Powells.com or Amazon.com
in the next 48 hours wins the featherproof novel of your choice!"
You have 48 hours from now, 9/22, 4pm, to do it. So do it!
Also, exciting news:
We are just wetting ourselves about the Chicago release party for SCORCH ATLAS by Atlanta-based writer, book-eater, and internet destroyer, Blake Butler. This full length fiction debut has received piles of praise, and Blake is making his way to his publisher's hometown for a night of reading, celebration, and general debauchery.
Amelia Gray, author of AM/PM, will join him. And if you saw, heard rumors about, or viewed pictures from this summer's Dollar Store Super Tour you know that when these two get together to read, shit goes down. Like fortune-tellin, hair-humpin, baby-eating, bicycle birthday shit. These two will be joined by the power of Sam Pink and Kathryn Regina. And then we'll all rock out. So bring your pig mask. This ain't your mom's book club reading.
Scorch Atlas Release Party:
When: Monday, 10/12, 7pm
Where: No Coast Collective
1500 W. 17th St, Chicago
Cost: FREE!
In brilliantly strange stories that explode the boundaries of short fiction, Christian TeBordo locates the awe in the awful possibilities we could have never imagined.
Coming April 2010! A girl masters the art of forgetting among kidney thieves. A motivational speaker skins his best friend to impress his wife. A man outlines the rules and regulations for sadistic childrearing. You’ve heard these people whispering in hallways, mumbling in diners, shouting in the apartment next door. In nine brilliantly strange set pieces that explode the boundaries of short fiction, The Awful Possibilities will twist you in nine awe-inspiring directions.
Christian TeBordo has published three novels. This is his first collection of short fiction. He lives in Philadelphia. Read his blog at awfulpossibilities.com
This book was originally part of a little experiment we were cooking up, called paper egg. But we realized this book needs to reach everyone who has eyes. And our best chance is with our full distribution, so we're doing it proper. If you ordered this book via paper egg, you'll still get it, head over to papereggbooks.com to find out how to lock that down.
The great news is you'll be able to see Christian read in person, with Blake Butler, who's out on tour in support of Scorch Atlas, which is a hot cake. Blake reads tonight in New Jersey, tomorrow in Birmingham, then watch out: Sunday in Philadelphia, with Christian TeBordo. Click on events for all the info. These readings will melt your face off. If they don't just approach Blake afterwards, and he will personally melt your face off.
HEY: Exciting times we're living in.
Well, it only came out yesterday, but already people are crawling all over themselves for Scorch Atlas. Check out the kind words that are filling up the internet:
"Butler is an original force who is fearless with form... The design is appropriately disarming, an apt part of the overall barrage by this inventive and deeply promising young author." —Time Out New York
"Scorch Atlas doesn't make its point with narrative arc or character development or paragraphs or even the lovely, terrible sentences. Instead, it's the heaping of words — mauled bubbled clods knotted clogged rot foam mold growth cragged bugged curdle boils lumps ooze gunk stung and on and on — that press on you, as if you were being buried, drowned, dissolved, as if you were about to swallow your tongue." —The Boston Phoenix
"Scorch Atlas is a fine example of experiment with purpose, of world building, of decadent, detailed and innovative writing. This is a book that should be read, and widely." —Pank Magazine
"Blake Butler has been doing great work... I've been looking around at people who publish smaller more personal books, things outside the mainstream, and totally original. Blake's one of these people. " —Three Guys One Book
"Butler excels at forcing the familiar through the a sieve of strange until it is stripped clean of its everyday banality, until it is once again made so fresh you can smell the decay it contains, until you can taste the despair that threatens to destroy not just his characters but also the dangerous worlds they inhabit." —Matt Bell
Get it the cheapest and specialist from us!
Keep your eye here for the results of the Scorch Atlas remix contest!
Prefer a broken spine?
JUST ONE DAY LEFT! To pre-order Scorch Atlas. Why would you want to do that? Now is your chance to get the limited 'edition' Scorch, i.e. the one that is beaten, kicked, tossed, razed, burnt, smushed, peppered, blasted, dinged, bbq'd, scraped and generally pulverized. Also, strangely enough, still perfectly readable.
Over here at featherproof we have minced the words of Blake Butler in an extra special way. The technique was perfected in Atlanta, outside The Dollar Store tour van, when we were all 8 days drunk. One more time, this is what it feels like:
Today is that last day to order your mangled copy. After this, you'll have to do it yourself.
Don't forget to indicate in the comments section of your order whether you'd prefer a destroyed copy or a pretty one. Last chance, sucka.
Also, go see Amelia Gray read at Powell's tonight!
Suzanne Burns and Amelia Gray
Four-time Pushcart Prize nominee Suzanne Burns's latest poetry collection, Misfits and Other Heroes (Dzanc Books), reveals "a keen observer of the wretched and wonderful human creature" (Gina Ochsner, author of People I Wanted to Be). An intermittent love story as seen through a darkly comic lens, Amelia Gray's AM/PM (Featherproof Books) mixes poetry and prose, humor and hubris to create a truly original work of fiction.
Monday, August 3rd @ 7:30pm
Powell's City of Books on Burnside
1005 W Burnside (800) 878-7323
We all have a little sad face over here because The Dollar Store Summer tour is over. And going back to real life is hard. It was fun, it was wild. There is video evidence. For example, check this clip out of Blake Butler and his new book, Scorch Atlas.
A bunch of drunk writers, you might say. And you wouldn't be wrong. But here's the rub: we're actually working. That's right, we need to destroy copies of Scorch Atlas because the text itself demands such action, not to mention that we've promised hand-destroyed copies to everyone who pre-orders the book. It's true. SCORCH ATLAS IS ON PRE-SALE NOW! And you can get a copy that looks like it has been through exactly what the book describes. A lot of fucked-up shit.
Blake Butler is so excited he has decided to eat an entire copy, one page a day. This is also not a joke. Again, I refer you to the video evidence (more of which will be accumulating at Blake's blog).
Want your own bit of book wildness? Miss the D-Store crew? Then we've got some funs for you. In Chicago, this Tuesday, check out Aaron Burch, the Dollar Store's own Snack Pack, launching an awesome issue of the awesome Hobart with some great writers. Bookcellar, 6pm. Then, next Friday is the all-powerful Printers' Ball, where Quickies Queens, and D-Store vets Mary Hamilton and Lindsay Hunter will be presiding over the Blood Sport of writing events. We'll be hosting a mini-book folding table. Check that. If you're in Oregon in the next week, you can see The Dollar Store's Yaky Pony, Amelia Gray, in Portland or Eugene. Check her blog for details. She and The Dollar Store's principal Zach Dodson will be hanging out at this. And maybe in some hot springs.
When it comes to these events, you don't need to hesitate or second guess, because we've proved how much fun featherproof
books can be. The Dollar Store Summer
Tour of Awesomeness lived up to its name. Thanks to all who
read with us, and all who came to experience the cheap magic! 5153
miles, 7+ writers in a van, 59 dollar store items, 11 cities,
14 days, and the biggest bottle of whiskey you've got. Photos
of the madness can be found here.
Others are here. Makes us miss the road.
What could make us feel better? We've got a new special project in the works:
TripleQuick Fiction is a new iPhone app from featherproof books.
All new fiction from your favorite featherproof authors, and many more! We'll be announcing a full line up of stories and authors on this page soon.
TripleQuick stories are specifically tailored to the modern mobile attention span. 3 screens, 333 words, 3 minutes to read. Maybe it's the future, or maybe it's just fun, but we know you'll love the bite sized stories in a pretty little shell.
Our foray into cellular story-telling will also include some awesome interactive elements that we're keeping under our hat for now. We expect to hatch this egg early this fall. Keep your eyes peeled.
Don't forget to keep your eyes on our other egg. Paper Egg is getting mighty warm. Christian TeBordo, our debut author killed it at The Dollar Store shows in both Philadelphia and Albany. We can't wait to unleash The Awful Possibilities on to the world, so subscribe now!
Hey featherproof friend,
We're literally sweating with excitement over here. Why? Because we're using the summer heat to cook up:
The Dollar Store
Super Summer Tour!
That’s right, we’re taking this renowned reading series on the road: packing 7+ of our beloved writers in a van, buying tons of dollar store junk, and hitting 11 cities in 14 days.
For three years, The Dollar Store has sold out its hometown venue with its blue-collar literature, absurdist humor, and a circus of junk. This summer featherproof presents a month long Dollar Store tour that kicks off June 28th, and will cover a lot of ground. Here's who's getting sweaty in the van:
Amelia Gray (AM/PM ,
Featherproof Books, 5
Things Austin reading series), Aaron
Burch (Hobart), Caroline
Picard (Green
Lantern Press, The
Parlor reading series), Zach
Dodson (boring
boring boring, Featherproof Books, The
Show 'n Tell series), Mary
Hamilton, and Lindsay
Hunter (QUICKIES!
reading series), Jac Jemc
(My
Only Wife, Dzanc Books), Blake
Butler (Scorch
Atlas, Featherproof, EVER,
Calamari,
Lamination Colony), Patrick
Somerville (Trouble,
Vintage, The
Cradle, Little, Brown), and of course Jonathan
Messinger (Hiding
Out, Featherproof Books, The
Dollar Store reading series).
We'll also feature great local writers in each stop on the tour. What are the stops, you ask? For a complete list, check the website: dollarstoreshow.com. But first, we're starting with the:
CHICAGO LAUNCH BBQ PATIO PARTY,
Sunday June 28th1-6pm, $8 The Hideout
1354 W Wabansia Ave
Chicago, IL 60642
Improv by: 1, 2, Fag and Hag! (Seth Dodson, Kellen Alexander and Christina Boucher), and An Oak (Neil Dandade and Adam Schwartz)
It's ALSO a big barbeque, and all you can eat drumsticks, and veggie burgers, and fixin's, and corn-on-the-cob, and picnic sides!
Oh, and one more thing: we’re raffling off a custom-built, featherproof-themed bike, compliments of Working Bikes Cooperative.
This afternoon delight will cost $8 at the door, and for $8 you get 8 things:
1. Admission
2. A featherproof mini book
3. Readings by Chicago’s finest and Improv by Chicago’s funniest
4. Hosted bar by Red Stripe 1-3pm! Yum!
5. All the barbeque you can eat
6. Your very own Dollar Store official souvenir pin
7. A Working Bikes bike raffle ticket
8. A shot at a missed connection, and the time of your life.
Buy tickets HERE! NOW!
Food generously sponsored by Eye Spy Optical. Bring old glasses to be recycled! Check out eyespyoptical.com!
Open bar generously sponsored by Red Stripe. Come from 1 - 3pm for beers! Check out redstripebeer.com!
So check out dollarstoreshow.com, or join the facebook event in your city.
It wouldn't be a tour if we weren't bringing you the newness, so here's what's out now:
Two new exciting minis, one by hometown hero Joe Meno, the very guy who showed us that vans + books can = magic. His most recent novel, The Great Perhaps, is without a doubt awesome. We also have a mini from Aaron Burch, mastermind of Hobart, the lit journal we'd die to be as cool as. Aaron's coming on the whole Dollar Store tour, and will have the latest issue available. These minis are free downloads in the Mini Book section now!
We'll have copies of AM/PM on the road, if you're lucky. They're moving fast, thanks to a slate of recent raves. Listen to the word on the street:
"At moments screwy, prickly and pleasantly surprising, Gray’s short shorts deliver youthful snapshots about being nuts in love... A delectable debut."—Publishers Weekly
"Amelia Gray's AM/PM is a collection of flash fiction, stories that create tangible worlds and interesting characters in their 50 to 150 words. More importantly (and amazingly), read together these stories form a cohesive and often surprising narrative through their recurring themes and characters."—Largehearted Boy
"62. AM/PM is a do-it-yourself kit to protect imagination."—John Madera, Word Riot
There may even be some early, leaking copies of Scorch Atlas, if you're double lucky. We've got mini-excerpts of both of those in the Mini Book section now, to whet your palette.
We've also been feeling the heat from Poets & Writers, (check out the latest issue for a great article by Timothy Schaffert), the lovely Lauren Cerand, and Newcity's Lit 50 list. We're swooning.
Someone turn on the AC. This summer is getting hot.
In Chicago, you know it’s summer when Milwaukee Avenue traffic is congested with more bikes then cars and you can’t decide which BBQ you should go to (if you ask us, go anywhere there is free food and beer). Zip up those hot shorts and grease up your bike chain, because this summer is going to be (dare we say) the best summer ever.
We are kicking off our summer with two awesome events. This Friday, at the Book Cellar in Lincoln Square, Jean Thompson, who the Chicago Tribune says ”is a master of dialogue, character, and plot” will be reading from her soon to be released collection of short stories titled Do Not Deny Me. The reading will also feature Featherproof mini-book author Lindsay Hunter, and J. Adams Oaks, author of Why I Fight. We're so excited to team up with our BFF Lauren Cerand on this one, our heads might pop. The event will begin at 7:30 PM. You don’t want to miss it. Here's a flyer Nick Mecci drew for us:
Also in the tradition of Chicago summers, this weekend’s Printers Row Book Fair, kicks off the endless supply of fairs and festivals. From 10-6 on both days, we will be at tables 327 and 329, along with our friends Green Lantern Press and Make Magazine. Stop by. Hang out. Buy a book. Say hi. Seriously, we’d love you for it.
Last but not least, weheard a rumor that will make you drool with amazement. This summer, awesome interview she gave to Tobias Carroll at the site that always makes us smile, The Scowl. Also, please dirtect your attention to the newest review of her book AM/PM. You can also check out the Word Space she just wrote for HTML Giant.
Let's make a point of seeing each other soon.
Love,
fp
YES! [NAME]! Starting this coming weekend, May 17th through the 23rd, The Pilcrow Lit Fest takes Chicago by storm. And, since we are such busy bees (birds, really, but this is not the right time to talk about birds and bees), we have lots of shiny fun, fun, fun planned.
First, on Monday, May 18th at 7:00 PM, our own Zach Dodson reads from "boring boring boring boring boring boring boring" with Gina Frangello, Kathleen Rooney and Kyle Minor at The Book Cellar in Lincoln Square. Boring Nude Girl in the Boring Devil's Territory is part of Kathleen Rooney and Kyle Minor's book release tour and the Pilcrow Lit Fest.
Tuesdays, you'll be at Quickies!, if you're smart. 7:30, Innertown.
Next, we've got The Show 'n Tell Show on Wednesday the 20th at 7:00 PM. In honor of the Pilcrow Lit Fest, this week's show will be a Book Design Special! The Show 'N' Tell Show is always free at The Whistler and will feature Jay Ryan, Paul Hornshemeier, David Barringer, Doug Fogelson, Zach Huelsing and Matt Kessler. Wanna know more about The Show 'n Tell Show? Click here.
THEN, on Friday May 22nd at 7:00 PM at The Hideout, the much acclaimed Dollar Store Show returns to Chicago as part of the Pilcrow Lit Fest. Costing an appropriate $1, The Dollar Store will be hosted by our own Jonathan Messinger and Baby Teeth's Abraham Levitan and will feature Brian Costello, Edward Thomas Herrera and cat lovin' Mary Hamilton!
If that wasn't enough for you, on Saturday May 23rd will be on various panels at at Matlida's/Baby Atlas (3101 North Sheffield). At 1:00 PM, Zach Dodson moderates the Design Panel. Panelists Sally Alatalo, David Barringer, Ezra Claytan Daniels, Doug Fogelson and Jon Resh will discuss book production and design.
In other featherproof news...
Check out the latest issue of Proximity Magazine for a tear-out mini book of our upcoming release, Blake Butler's Scorch Atlas.
The author of our latest release, Amelia Gray, has been doing very well for herself! Her collection of short fiction, Museum of the Weird, just received the Fc2 Fiction Prize, and we've got some audio of her reading in Tucson (or really, she has the audio...) right here. Don't worry, that's not her man-voice there at the beginning; give the file a few seconds and you'll hear her! She begins with a lovely, bell-like giggle. AND her book, AM/PM is for sale on this website only! The first five people to order today get a FREE minibook bundle and CD!
Don't miss our events this week, OR the Pilcrow Lit Fest, little birds!
Hey Spring Chickens,
April showers bring May flowers, right? Turns out sprung isn't the only thing springing (did we get that one right? All this rain is mixing our metaphors)- featherproof is coming out of hibernation.
Beginning this weekend, May 1st through the 4th, at the NEXT art fair, we've got a GOFFO booth with super-friends Green Lantern Press. For those of you located in or around Chicago, NEXT art fair is located in the Merchandise Mart, 222 Merchandise Mart Plaza, 7th floor. Come check us out! Booth number 7-7136. It's the one with crocheted boobs and dinks. Fertile!
And if you're looking to avoid all your clean springs, check out this boring review of Zach Plague's "boring boring boring." Fresher still is this review of Amelia Gray's AM/PM, and this thunk piece where Ryan Manning and Amelia Gray hatch a plan.
While you're waiting for our eggs to hatch, be sure to enter our remix contest! Deadline is May 1st. Check out Blake's remix of his own story here.
And the mystery of life can be discovered in Take The Handle's latest Mystery Issue. So flip it.
But seriously, don't forget to come check out just how green the newly sprouted grass is on our side at the NEXT art fair this weekend!
So fresh, so clean, featherproof
Four years ago today, featherproof flew the coop!
Yes, friends and fowls, it’s our 4th birthday today. Our wings are strong and we’ve even got a few (paper)eggs of our own these days (wouldn’t the old bird be proud?).
Paper Egg Books, our newest and shiniest little egg, is still offering our special bonus book, for, like, five more minutes: Subscribe now and receive Amelia Gray's spanking-new AM/PM as a lovely little bonus!
But we don't pick favorites! Our other little fledglings are just as shiny! We've got some new minis on the site. The first is Colleen O'Brien's Saints,which makes us feel proud that we're not the kind of mom who wears heels on the basketball court. You'll see why. The second is an excerpt of Amelia's AM/PM, in case you want a sample before you take it home. Both are free for the taking!
We've surely mentioned this little peep to you before, but it's just so wonderful, we've got to remind you: We're starting something called featherproof Remixes, "short story collections wherein awesome writers rearrange, rewrite, redefine and reimagine a work just as it’s getting out into the world." The remixes will be published as ebooks. We're starting with our fall title, Blake Butler's Scorch Atlas. More details are here.
Check out our flickr page for photographic evidence of the success and awesomeness that was Patrick Somerville's release party for his lovely new novel, The Cradle, published by Little, Brown. Everyonefreakin'lovesit.
You want to wish us happy birthday in person? Of course you do. So come see us out and about. No presents please:
This Friday the 27th, if you live in Austin, and are just coming out of SXSW hiding, ready to live again, check out Five Things, Amelia's awesome reading series. She'll have the book on hand, and there's music, and great readings, and beer, and one more thing, but you'll have to come to find out what the fifth is.
Saturday the 28th, Zach will boring boring bore an audience of book artists at the Joan Flasch Artists' Book Collection as part of the Southern Graphics Council.
And then, on Sunday the 29th, he'll try and excite everyone with the Show 'n Tell Show. People are already talking about the suits, so if you're into design, come on out to The Whistler, at 7pm. He'll be crowning America's Next Top Graphic Designer.
If you are in Chicago next Friday, the 4th, come see Jonathan read at... we're just gonna say it... Fuck Storms. That's a reading at Ray's, hosted by the turbulent, prophetic Chris Bower. Wear your rain coats.
And as always, follow us on twitter! We have plenty to tweet about, cause, you know, the whole bird thing. And it's our birthday.
Mini-book author Tobias Carroll chats with Jonny Mess today about paper egg, burning out, and the batttle of digital vs. print (hint: It doesn't exist).
Wanted to let everyone know that we're getting down to the wire with these AM/PMs. There's still a chance to sign up and land a copy for free, which means for $20, you'll get three books in one year, averaging out to $6 and 66 cents repeating per book. A g-durn steal.
"I like the way they think. It’s a fun idea that doesn’t demand that I change my definition of 'book.' And publishing could definitely use some ideas right about now."
It's been a blast, post-AWP, to see Amelia's work getting out there and making readers giddy. Check out Blake Butler's great review at <HTMLGIANT>, and Amelia's distilled existence, told as part of Michael Kimball's mesmerizing Postcard Life Stories.
Late one night, we were struck with an idea for a new project that would allow us to do all the things we always talk about doing, but can’t always pull off: work with more writers, take advantage of new technologies, play around with collaboration, promote our books. To that end, we're kickstarting another new project: featherproof remixes, short story collections wherein awesome writers rearrange, rewrite, redefine and reimagine a work just as it’s getting out into the world. We'll publish each remix as an ebook, downloadable to your computer or mobile device, a few weeks before each book launches. We’re kicking it off with Blake Butler’sScorch Atlas, our fall title, because it seems so perfect for the project. And, we're kicking it off with a contest.
Here's the deal: Download Blake's story "Tour of the Drowned Neighborhood," and have at it. Write a new story using just a few sentences, rearrange all of the sentences, scrap the whole thing and write your own story under that title. Turn it into a goddamned sestina. Do whatever you like, be as creative as possible, blow our minds, your mind and President Obama's sweet, sweet mind. Then, when you're done, send it to contest[at]featherproof.com. Blake will judge. Two winners will be published in Scorch Atlas Remix, along with an awesome lineup of other authors, and both winners will receive free copies of Scorch Atlas (The Original Recordings), when it's available come fall. First-place winner will also receive a free two-year subscription to Paper Egg Books.
Here are the deets, in convenient-bullet-point-rather-than-paragraph form:
1. Download "Tour of the Drowned Neighborhood."
2. Destroy it.
3. Rebuild it.
4. E-mail your remix to contest[at]featherproof.com attached as a word document (.doc).
5. Please put the word Remix in the subject line of your e-mail.
6. Deadline is May 1, 2009.
7. There is no fee, for this is free.
8. Winners receive publication, free books, and more.
9. Is fine.
10. Do it again (seriously, you may submit more than one).
We really hope you'll join us in killing and reviving Blake's fiction. It's going to be fun.
Your pals,
the 'proof
P.S. Any questions, difficulties, etc., just e-mail contest[at]featherproof.com
Whoa whoa whoa!
And one more whoa! Featherproof has just released FOUR new minibooks for your downloading/printing/folding/(maybe stapling)/reading pleasure!
The Diagnosis of Sadness by Jill Summers will help you deal with the aftermath of the unfortunate electrocution of overweight nine-year-olds.
Dear Michael by Margaret Chapman is, indeed, a letter to the Prince of Pop himself.
Download them, enjoy them. They are things that will make you say, “Whoa.”
Speaking of “Whoa,”
That’s what we said as we flung ourselves, exhausted, onto our couches this week after the AWP conference. In no small part because we couldn’t believe how much fun we had! We have to extend some thanks to everyone who stopped by our table waaaaay in the back. And of course, thanks to our writers who came from the far away south to freeze their butts off in the Chicago weather (Blake, Amelia, Todd, Susannah, Christian), and to our friends at Orange Alert, The Book Cellar, Quickies, Make Magazine and Switchback. Whoa. There are so many!
And Special Awesome Stupendous thanks go out to everyone who came to our smashingly successful AWP After Party/ Book Release Event at the Beat Kitchen, and especially to our performers/readers: Abraham Levitan, Todd Dills, Christian TeBordo, Patrick Somerville, Chris Bowers, Amelia Gray, Kyle Beachy, (un)Bound Stems and Serengeti! We had a great time, and we bet you did, too!
Check out some photographic evidence of the awesomeness:
See more pictures on the Featherproof Book’s flickr page. Oh! And if you’re a fellow tweeter, follow Featherproof Books on twitter. We can't believe it's taken our little bird so long to sign up for this.
And: Whoa! AWP opened the eyes of the world to the genius of Amelia Gray’s AM/PM, and praise is popping up all over the place!
Read her life story, as written by Michael Kimball here.
Or check out some early love of the book on HTMLgiant.com, a site so awesome, Zach had to raise an eyebrow. HOW Magazine recently raised their eyebrows for boring boring boring boring boring boring boring, winner in the HOW 2009 Design Annual, on newsstands now.
And don’t forget! Time is running out for our special AM/PM/Paper Egg offer, so sign up here.
Some WHOA!s on the Horizon:
Zach pontificates on the existential nature of sit-com fatherhood at a special '80s TV Rec Room, Wednesday March 4th at the Black Rock Bar. It's called "You Give Me Growing Pains, Theodore Huxtable" Guess who's the guest curator? (Hint) There's a bunch of great mini authors representin', including Jac Jemc, Lindsay Hunter, Tobias Amadon Bengelsdorf, Mary Hamilton and Jill Summers. Full event info here.
And then, featherproof everyman Patrick Somerville’s debut novel, The Cradle (Little, Brown) comes out on Monday, March 9th and we’re celebrating at The Book Cellar with readings from Patrick, Jonathan and Colleen O’Brien. If you saw him read at The Beat Kitchen, then you know how much your pet cow will love this book release party. Read his mini in the meantime. Full event info here.
Butler is an original force who is fearless with form... The design is appropriately disarming, an apt part of the overall barrage by this inventive and deeply promising young author.—Time Out New York
A novel of 14 interlocking stories set in ruined American locales where birds speak gibberish, the sky rains gravel, and millions starve, disappear or grow coats of mold. In 'The Disappeared,' a father is arrested for missing free throws, leaving his son to search alone for his lost mother. In 'The Ruined Child,' a boy swells to fill his parents' ransacked attic. Rendered in a variety of narrative forms, from a psychedelic fable to a skewed insurance claim questionnaire, Blake Butler's full-length fiction debut paints a gorgeously grotesque version of America, bringing to mind both Kelly Link and William Gass, yet turned with Butler's own eye for the apocalyptic and bizarre.
You can sample a bit of Scorch Atlas yourself in Blake's mini-book:
A few excepts:
'The Many Forms of Rain ___ Sent Upon Us In
Those Days Before'
@ DIAGRAM
(finalist in DIAGRAM's Innovative
Fiction Contest)
The Passionate Male Prostitute: Blake Butler’s “The Ruined Child,” as Remixed by Blake Butler, @ Barrelhouse
Visit Blake Butler's eye-opening blog, or the collaborative online lit blog of the future he edits HTMLgiant.com, his lit mag Lamination Colony, and print mag No Colony.
At moments screwy, prickly and pleasantly surprising, Gray’s short shorts deliver youthful snapshots about being nuts in love... A delectable debut.—Publishers Weekly
If anything's going to save the characters in Amelia Gray's debut from their troubled romances, their social improprieties, or their hands turning into claws, it's a John Mayer concert tee. In AM/PM, Gray's flash-fiction collection, impish humor is on full display. Tour through the lives of 23 characters across 120 stories full of lizard tails, Schrödinger boxes and volcano love. Follow June, who wakes up one morning covered in seeds; Leonard, who falls in love with a chaise lounge; and Andrew, who talks to his house in times of crisis. An intermittent love story as seen through a darkly comic lens, Gray mixes poetry and prose, humor and hubris to create a truly original piece of fiction.
Amelia Gray is a writer living in Austin, TX. Her writing has appeared in The Onion, American Short Fiction, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, DIAGRAM, and Caketrain, among others. Her work has been chosen as the finalist for McSweeney's Amanda Davis Highwire Contest and the DIAGRAM Innovative Fiction Contest. Check out her website: ameliagray.com.
You can sample a bit of AM/PM yourself in Amelia's mini-book:
"Butler is an original force who is fearless with form... The design is appropriately disarming, an apt part of the overall barrage by this inventive and deeply promising young author." —Time Out New York
"Scorch Atlas doesn't make its point with narrative arc or character development or paragraphs or even the lovely, terrible sentences. Instead, it's the heaping of words — mauled bubbled clods knotted clogged rot foam mold growth cragged bugged curdle boils lumps ooze gunk stung and on and on — that press on you, as if you were being buried, drowned, dissolved, as if you were about to swallow your tongue." —The Boston Phoenix
"Scorch Atlas is quite possibly the most visceral book I’ve ever read." —Identity Theory
"Scorch Atlas is a fine example of experiment with purpose, of world building, of decadent, detailed and innovative writing. This is a book that should be read, and widely." —Pank Magazine
"Blake Butler has been doing great work... I've been looking around at people who publish smaller more personal books, things outside the mainstream, and totally original. Blake's one of these people. " —Three Guys One Book
"I can’t love Scorch Atlas. I think I fear it — its relentless and overwhelming vision, and the power Butler has to drill a hole in my chest with language. But Butler’s strange masterpiece doesn’t ask for your love. It demands your attention." —Eugene Weekly
"Whatever you say, Blake. At least until we all snuff it in one of [your] hideous apocalypses." —Dazed & Confused
"Scorch Atlas is a carefully and meticulously distraught world of language, a trembled and shaken line of thought, a vibrant dead trance of phrasing, the measure of words put together all and in the right ways. Blake Butler has made something enormous here."—J.A. Tyler, Tarpaulin Sky.
"Butler’s decaying worlds resemble the vistas of Steve Erickson in their dreamlike logic and those of J.G. Ballard in their sense of the subconscious eroding restraints mental and physical." —Interview with Tobias Carroll, for Flavorwire.
"Butler excels at forcing the familiar through the a sieve of strange until it is stripped clean of its everyday banality, until it is once again made so fresh you can smell the decay it contains, until you can taste the despair that threatens to destroy not just his characters but also the dangerous worlds they inhabit." —Matt Bell
"In the same way that Infinite Jest, written thirteen years ago, presupposed communication being fragmented via technology, in particular, the internet, Scorch Atlas presupposes a bleak, dystopian future (although let's hope it's farther off than thirteen years from now) where people bloat and grime, the world is a cracked shell of its former self and families do what they must to eke out an existence." —Keyhole Magazine
One of 20 relatively imminent things that [Dennis Cooper] is really looking forward to. —from his blog.
"Scorch Atlas is like The Book of Revelations written in first person." —BSC Review
"The stories, told in prose form, flash form, and longer form, hit a nerve with their explorations of a pain familiar to us all—family dysfunction. Performing as an ashen, crumbling work in our hands, the work urges us to push forward before it—and we—turn to dust." —Nicolle Elizabeth, Brooklyn Rail
"Buy Scorch Atlas by Blake Butler. Rip out your favorite story of the collection. Drop it to the ground and watch the pages flutter like ashen butterflies." —Outsider Writers Collective
"Butler’s prose is precise and muscular. The imagery is unrelenting. It’s gorgeous, and heartbreaking."—Dispatches from Utopia
Blake Butler’s Scorch Atlas is precisely that —a series of maps, or worlds, “tied so tight they couldn’t crane their necks.” Everything is either destroyed, rotting or festering—and not only the physical objects, but allegiances, hopes, covenants. Yet these worlds are not abstract exercises, he is speaking of life as it is, where there might be or may be, “glass over grave sites in display,” and where we will be forced to make or where we have “made facemasks out of old newspapers.” The sole glimmer of light comes in recollection, as in: “a bear the size of several men... There in the woods behind our house, when I was still a girl like you.”
—Jesse Ball, author of The Way Through Doors and Samedi the Deafness
There’s something so big about Blake Butler’s writing. Big as men’s heads. Each inhale of Blake’s wheeze brings streamers of loose hair, the faces of lakes and oceans, whales washed up half-rotten. You can try putting on a facemask made out of old newspaper. You can breathe in smaller rhythms. But you won’t be able to keep this man out once you’ve opened his book. Open it!
—Ken Sparling, author of Dad Says He Saw You at the Mall
I am always looking for new writers like Blake Butler and rarely finding them, but Scorch Atlas is one of those truly original books that will make you remember where you were when you first read it. Scorch Atlas is relentless in its apocalyptic accumulation, the baroque language stunning in its brutality, and the result is a massive obliteration.
—Michael Kimball, author of Dear Everybody Out Now:
Butler is an original force who is fearless with form... The design is appropriately disarming, an apt part of the overall barrage by this inventive and deeply promising young author.—Time Out New York
A novel of 14 interlocking stories set in ruined American locales where birds speak gibberish, the sky rains gravel, and millions starve, disappear or grow coats of mold. In 'The Disappeared,' a father is arrested for missing free throws, leaving his son to search alone for his lost mother. In 'The Ruined Child,' a boy swells to fill his parents' ransacked attic. Rendered in a variety of narrative forms, from a psychedelic fable to a skewed insurance claim questionnaire, Blake Butler's full-length fiction debut paints a gorgeously grotesque version of America, bringing to mind both Kelly Link and William Gass, yet turned with Butler's own eye for the apocalyptic and bizarre.
Blake Butler is the author of EVER, a novella from Calamari Press. His work has appeared in Fence, Willow Springs, The Believer, Ninth Letter, and many others. He is the editor of Lamination Colony and No Colony, two experimental journals of new prose. He lives in Atlanta and blogs here.
A short story from the book:
The Champion of Forgetting
Here is a list of failures.
Scorch Atlas Release Party:
in the next 48 hours wins the featherproof novel of your choice!"
You have 48 hours from now, 9/22, 4pm, to do it. So do it!
Also, exciting news:
We are just wetting ourselves about the Chicago release party for 
Visit Blake Butler's eye-opening 
