Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Author Interview, Blog Tour, Entertainment, Guest post, J.W. Nicklaus, Shameless Self-Promotion, The Light The Dark and Ember Between, Writing on November 30, 2009| 2 Comments »
Only 24 more shopping days, my fellow capitalists!
I hope you’re here to begin my second blog tour with me! One of the fun things about doing these is I get to be surprised along with other readers. For instance, I don’t see the book reviews until they’re posted, so it’s something of a mild anxiety thing to know there’s one coming up, and this tour has seven of them.
Today’s activity includes two stops:
• An interview to start things off at Pump Up Your Book!. New questions and fresh answers.
Be sure to comment and leave your e-maill address if you’d like a chance to win a copy of my book. It’s a one-day-only affair, so comments must be posted by 11pm EST on Dec. 1 to qualify.
• A guest post I wrote about my memories of Christmas past, at As The Pages Turn.
Hope I see you there :^)
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Author Interview, Book of Rants, Jim Rising, Rant, Tribune Books on October 22, 2009| 9 Comments »
Those everyday annoyances and head scratchers: bounced check fees, stupid drivers, escalating gas prices—or perhaps something not as common but equally as maddening, like mailing packages during the holidays.
Blogging offers us an outlet, a vehicle for getting those things off our chest which most likely afflict the rest of the blogging community. We comment on them, and in a sort of virtual ripple effect manage to impart at least the mere vestige of a catharsis upon lots of anonymous readers. However, some of us can’t help but let slip a written tirade once in a while—or most every day in Jim Rising’s case.
Mr. Rising has bundled his own take on the stalwart rant into a book entitled But Then Again I Could Be Wrong – The Book Of Rants. I saw “Rant” in the title and immediately knew I had to see what was up.
Rising’s rants aren’t nearly as acerbic or embittered as my blatherings. They approach the rant from a more entertaining perspective, sprinkled with humor and humanity. I was fortunate enough to have his publisher send me a copy of the book and to have Mr. Rising available for an interview as well.
I hope you’ll take a few moments to enjoy my interview with Jim Rising, and perhaps even leave a comment for him as well!
JWN: I’d like you to go waaaaay back, and recall your first rant. What was it about?
JR: In my senior year in high school we moved from Burlington, VY, which was flowers and beads and hippies in the trees to Barre, VT, which was (to my mind) hard scrabble, carhart wearing, tobacco chewing nowheresville. The first day we had an anti-drug assembly and I wrote 1,000 words on it about how much I thought the Principal looked like an EVIL Telly Savalas. To my utter amazement they printed it in the school newspaper. Mostly because I think the editor had a crush on me.
JWN: Was this crush to be the now regionally famous “long suffering wife”?
JR: Nope. To be honest I’m not sure what her name was…LSW is my second wife. Met her after 11 years of marriage # 1 and have been with her now for 25 years!
JWN: WOW! That’s highly commendable, respectable, and a slew of other “ables” I’m sure. That is, as you are keenly aware, no small feat. My genuine congratulations to you and the LSW for your marital longevity!
JWN: Have you always had a hunch that you were the ‘soapbox’ type? When did you first have an inkling you were prone to fits of written or verbal browbeating?
JR: I chose a career in radio where you could make fun of people with very little fear of reprisal. Being an avowed pacifist (read: Coward) this worked well for me.
JWN: I’m a big fan of the rant because I believe it showcases us wrapped in our passions about whatever the subject matter. Some don’t care for it, prefering the staid, logical approach to argument. While that may be the more academic and/or learned approach, I think it fails to completely bring across the raw power of a solid rant. Using empirical datum as a carrier to make your argument is respectable, yes, but let those same thoughts piggyback upon a wave of emotion and I think it more solidly connects with more people. You can always (and should always) question facts, but being passionate is something most folks can really dig their teeth into.
Having said all that, how deep and varied are the colors you use upon your rant canvas?
JR: I like to think that I use very dispersant styles according to subject material. It always goes back to my radio days—that is, when I write I have clearly in mind what the voice will sound like when it’s read out loud.
JWN: Do you write (or rant) every day, or just when Catharsis taps you upon the shoulder? Do you have a routine you stick to?
JR: When I did a daily radio show I wrote a rant a day for that and one extra for my newspaper deal. Now I only write weekly (Weakly?) for the newspaper. It doesn’t much matter where or when. I have written some pretty good ones IMHO with my thumbs, on my handheld, on a plane.
JWN: I suppose the larger question there is: Would you, could you, write it in a box? Would you, could you, with a fox?
JR: Yes.
JWN: Is this your first book? If so, have you any plans for future tomes?
JR: Yup-first and only one that will get published probably, although I am writing romance novels under a pen name. The problem is they all end Stephen King like with the hero and heroine being killed in a blood bath. Lots of rejection slips there. I wonder why?
JWN: I’ve heard it said that romance is overrated. You’re just putting a little more intrigue into it; I see nothing wrong with that!
JWN: Ever considered a full-length novel, perhaps ‘inspired’ by your fist-in-the-air ramblings?
JR: See above. There is a novel in everybody. Most people should keep it there.
JWN: Rough guess: How many times have you been wrong?
JR: I wrote once about the Silly String company not helping out the troops in Iraq. I got a note from the President of Silly String who told me how wrong I was. I wrote a retraction.
I also wrote about Budweiser taking over Rolling Rock and got an email from a local Bud rep telling me how I knew nothing about beer. I suggested a tour of the brewery so he could teach me (Free beer!) but he never responded. To my knowledge those are the only times I have been wrong…but then again I could be…well you know.
JWN: Out here, at our County and State Fairs, a huge must-have when you go is the Indian Fry Bread; awesome with honey on it! I don’t believe I’ve ever seen funnel cakes out here; are those high on your list when you are carb-loading?
JR: OMG—as the kids text—YES! At the Bloomsburg Fair here they fry anything that will stand still long enough to dip into the oil. You have not lived until you have had a deep fried Oreo. Each serving comes with a free Heart Attack.
JWN: My brother (who lives in Arlington, TX), wrote to inform me that the big culinary thing this year at the Texas state fair is—and I swear I’m not making this up—deep fried butter. Would you consider trying such a delightful morsel?
JR: How do they deep fry butter? Freeze it first? I think I would have to try it just to say I did.
JWN: Admittedly, I am new to you and your rants. I know you’ve been involved in radio for quite some time, and still do a stint on 102 FM – The Mountain. I’m curious as to how your rants are received by your listeners.
JR: I actually have been off the air for about two years. I got a lot of positive feedback from what I did, more so in person when people recognized from my voice. “Oh you were the guy who got his lawnmower stuck all those times, right?”
JWN: A lot of people probably have no idea that you collect transistor radios, on the cheap if possible. Tell me the story behind the coolest, cheapest one you have!
JR: It wasn’t cheap (at the time it was probably $50, and this was in 1969) but it was a Sony 6F-21W, I was 15-years-old and it was the radio I first heard “Progressive radio” on—WBCN in Boston. It put the hook in me deep and I dreamed about being able to work at that station. My last job in radio—The Mountain—was my homage to that format.
JWN: I’d bet you get this question all the time since the book came out: Is that your silhouette on the cover?
JR: Nah-I’m the old fart on the back. If you look close at the back cover photo you will see the wine bottles are labeled “Ye olde paint thinner” in honor of my taste for cheap wine. Also the page in the typewriter reads “All work and no play makes Jim a dull boy” over and over again. A nod to Stephen King and “The Shining.”
JWN: In your book you tell a story about two disparate yet indirectly related obituaries. I won’t ruin it for those who might read it, but amidst all the daily junk life hands us (which you call to question) you find the smallest wrinkle upon the larger canvas, and yet that wrinkle gives the entire painting a more profound life. So the question is odd, yet I’m truly curious: Which do you find more personally gratifying, the cathartic rant or the poignant?
JR: I like it when I can do both. I was a big fan of O’Henry in my youth. I love to turn it around at the end. I like to think that, at my best, I can make someone think. But you have to do it in a manner that doesn’t cram it down the throat.
JWN: What is your favorite food/drink item to have at your side as you write?
JR: H2O by the gallon. Tea. I don’t drink alcohol when I write. I also don’t really eat. I am very messy and it gets the keyboard all sticky.
JWN: In your book you state all the proceeds from sales will go to the Hoyt Library in Kingston. The majority of folks who read this blog aren’t from that area, so could you explain what happened.
JR: We had a big snowstorm and it collapsed the roof, pretty well destroying almost all the library and ruining most of the books.
JWN: That’s gotta be a whole lotta snow. For those of us who like the golly-gee-whiz kind of figures, do you recall how much snow was on the roof, preferably weight-wise?
JR: Dunno…It was probably a few feet but I think it was very heavy wet stuff and then froze.
JWN: Finally, what sage words of advice would you pass along to any aspiring writer (or rant progeny)?
JR: Nothing succeeds like excess. I write less than I should but the more I do the more I remember how much I enjoy it. For me it’s like breathing; I gotta get this stuff down. Like the flea market conversation I overheard yesterday: He says “It’s original!” She says “Original what?”
Priceless.
JWN:And for those readers who like a good rant every now and again, where can they pick up a copy of your book?
JR:Amazon still has it here , and you can learn more about it from my publisher, Tribute Books.
I would certainly like to thank Mr. Rising for taking time out of his schedule to do this interview with me, and to Nicole Langan and Tribute Books, who provided me with a copy of Jim’s book, But Then Again I Could Be Wrong – The Book Of Rants. If you’re looking for an entertaining read about the everyday things that drive us all nuts, then give Jim’s book a read. As added incentive, all the proceeds go to the Hoyt Library–and we sure could use more of those!
You can also visit Jim’s blog for more of his musings/ranting!
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Author Interview, Book Review, Books, Definition, Entertainment, Short Story, Writing on August 2, 2009| 5 Comments »
One of the reviewers who had, well, reviewed my book, had asked me if she could do an interview with me. “Of course,” I’d replied. So she will be posting the interview this week. Her questions were actually very good!
One of her questions is as follows: “In the spirit of Ten Word Quickie, define ember between”
I know that some of the folks whose blogs I follow like a little story now and again, so I thought I’d share my answer with you.
With the meeting long over, the more social of the scribes collected themselves around the living room, half-empty wine glasses and various notebooks scattered upon the coffee table in a strange kind of artistic still life. Polite murmurs and trailing laughter ebbed and flowed as they’d stumbled from one subject to the next. Somehow the group had managed to hopscotch into a discussion of phrase and word origins.
Jerry had been quietly following it all, mutely darting his eyes back and forth as the verbal tennis match bounced through the room like child on a bed. His eyes fixed on Mel as she explained what she believed was the origin of the phrase “between the lines.”
“As I understand it,” she began, waving her pen in the air like a conductor, “it was largely derived as something literal from early military letters and their writing style. Seems many times correspondence was done in code, for obvious reasons. It was believed that sometimes highly secretive information would be written in invisible ink in-between the lines of text. Eventually the phrase came about as a suggested method of trying to discover coded messages in these letters as recipients—or interceptors—were told to ‘read beetween the lines’.”
Brent leaned forward and onto the edge of the couch. “Invisible ink, you say?”
Wine glass in hand, Mel only nodded, caught in mid-sip.
“I’ll have to try that on my agent next time she asks for an update,” he smirked.
Andi, the most easily excitable of the group, tossed her hand in the air and waved it about. “Oh, oh — what about ‘between a rock and a hard place’?” She glanced around, seemingly convinced she’d tossed a wet blanket on the proceedings. Heads swiveled all over the living room.
“I grew up in southern Arizona,” Kelly began, tossing her long red hair back over her ear. “Actually, it’s a well established bit of history that’s told by families in the area. In the very early 1900’s copper mining was the economic engine that drove business in Bisbee. Apparently the miners, who were being paid pretty low wages for incredibly dangerous work, had formed unions in an effort to muster some sort of leverage with company management. The economy was pretty bleak and the miners picked a bad time to try and improve their pay and working conditions.”
Wide-eyed, Andi interjected. “Was this during the Great Depression?”
“Around that time, yes,” Kelly answered. “Not only did management not cave in, they summarily deported some of the miners to New Mexico. So it’s thought the phrase came about because the miners were caught, literally, between their work in the mines—underpaid and dangerous as it was—or face the prospect of no job at all during a really rough economy.”
Once again, words of intrigued approval floated around the room—”interesting” and “fascinating” easily the most popular. Jerry leaned against the arm of the easy chair he’d been sitting in. He knew what was coming.
Mika, perhaps the most effectual and bookish of the bunch, gently rocked back in her chair, hands clasped in her lap. “Jerry—you’ve been, as usual, very quiet.”
“I assure you it’s not from a lack of attention,” he said.
Mika smiled. “I wouldn’t think it in the least.” Suddenly she leaned her weight forward causing the front legs of the chair to thump against the hardwood floor. “It seems to have escaped the purview of most everyone here that you have a book that has flown in under the radar.” Jerry immediately felt like a dart board, every set of eyes instantly fixed sharply upon him, accompanied by slack jaws and a surprised gasp or two.
“Um, well, I suppose so, Mika.” He hated her in this moment, but only playfully. Her smile did little to curry his favor.
She gracefully swept her hand across the room. “So, given this current discussion, it only seems fitting that I ask you what the origin of ‘ember between‘ is.” He looked around, trying to find the smallest loophole he could crawl through. Focused attention didn’t suit him, at least not here, right now, and loopholes evidently were not to be had. He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath.
“It is the outward consequence of pleasure and pain, the altar upon which we place our sorrows and wishes. It’s the light that noiselessly erases the dark.” He glanced up and caught every stare still affixed upon him.
“It is the station each of us keeps between the stars in the heavens and the tribulations below. The ember between . . . it is us. It is Hope.”
Warm silence filled the room. Disturbingly absent were the gentle affirmations and raised eyebrows of the trivia-fed mind. Yet each face, male and female alike, projected serene respect.
Looking across the room at Mika, Jerry could read her lips as their eyes met—”Well done.”
For those who don’t know, my name isn’t Jerry :^)
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Arizona Diamondbacks, Author Interview, Baseball, Book Signing, Changing Hands Bookstore, No Britney Spears, No Obama, Personal, Reality, Shameless Self-Promotion on July 27, 2009| 6 Comments »
I have made mention before that I consider myself a “Realist,” which could be convoluted, upon occasion, to infer that I am negative at times. Negativity is toxic and punishing—as if life weren’t challenging enough. Life is chocked full of challenges and obstacles, and the Dark swings a big stick.
Sometimes life is just plain ugly.
But sometimes there is basis in fact for “negativity,” although the mere mention of a dark thing based in fact surely falls under the category of Reality. I submit to a candid world two such facts:
One: I am—until such time as I publish again—a first-time author. With such a pedigree comes the responsibility of proving oneself on a number of levels, not the least of which is the hearts and minds of readers. Readers tend to be a little more forgiving of freshman mistakes, but the more critical among the literate turn up their noses at the offensive stench of unproven writers.
Two: My Arizona Diamondbacks are in the midst of one of their worst seasons ever. Individual team members are having a statistically sound year (like my guy, Stephen Drew!). They’ve lost—no lie here—almost a full three-quarters of the home games my son and I have gone to watch at Chase Field.
So going into Saturday, July 25th, 2009, I began the day with the factual deck stacked against me. But as I’d alluded to in a previous post, regardless of the outcome I would spend a day with my son living amongst the comfort of books and steeped in the great American pasttime of baseball.
In all honesty I was quite alright with coming out of the day with an ‘L’ in both columns.
First up, my book signing at Changing Hands in Tempe. They had set up for a full blown ‘talk’ instead of just a book signing. I was under the impression I was doing a simple signing, so I was haplessly unprepared. Fortunately there was a podium I was to stand at while I winged it—fortunate because I think better standing up, not because I’m in any way speech-friendly.
I’ll spare you, kind reader, with all the minutiae, but it went far better than I thought it would. I had no acquaintances or family show up for the speech-on-the-fly, but I did have seven complete strangers sit patiently and listen, then ask questions I could easily answer (phew!).
I signed seven copies of my book, and no, not one to each person. To put that in perspective, a lot of book signing authors I’ve read about have typically sold (on a good day) two, maybe three, copies, after sitting at their table for three to four hours. I was there an hour-and-a-half.
I must also thank the staff, who were unspeakably supportive and accomodating, and a genuine pleasure to work with (thanks Jamie!).
A quick note: Lest you think this was some small-time neighborhood used book store I’ll have you know that Changing Hands was Publishers Weekly number one independent bookseller in 2007.
“So what?” you say, incredulous.
At the end of this month alone they will host J.A. Jance, and next month are hosting Garrison Keillor. In the past they’ve hosted Stephanie Meyers (Twilight series), Christian Lander (Stuff White People Like), and a Who’s Who of other notable and hugely popular authors. Joey Kramer of Aerosmith will even be there next week to sign copies of his book!
What’s not to like about being included with company like that . . . win or lose!
I finished up there, thanked mom and dad for showing up too (yes, they showed up as well, but got hung up in traffic on the way), and then my son and I went to take in the Dbacks vs. Pittsburg Pirates. Now, they’d won the night before, but given their ability to crash-and-burn at will this season I wasn’t holding out a lot of hope for a ‘W’.
Guess what — they WON! And the score . . .
7-0
It’s way too cheesy and coincidental for me to have made up. A day of sevens, and I got two W’s for the day!
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