Various Things

Well, first of all, I discovered that Richard Brautigan was a pretty slap-dash writer with very, very little to say. I can't understand why anyone who ever read one ever said anything good about one of his books. I will never attempt reading one again.

I did finish reading Bruce Guernsey's collection of poems New England Primer. Really good poems. Check them out.



I also started reading The Sportswriter by Richard Ford, as recommended by John Augustine, the best-read man in the tri-counties. Ford is quite the story teller. And, there's a hopefulness in the character and story that's just hard to find in contemporary writing. The highly-broken character who is slightly less broken by the end of a story is SO tired. In any case, that's not what you'll find in Ford's book. Check it out:



Something else to check out, especially if one is from Michigan. It's called Mittenlit: All about books and authors with a tie to Michigan. What a wonderful site to see. Check it out.

http://mittenlit.com/

Finally, if you've come looking for my new novel, Landscape with Fragmented Figures (and, of course, I hope you have), please buy it directly from the press.

http://smithdocs.net/WorkingLiveshomepage2.html


Also, I had a poem accepted for publication with Oak Bend Review: http://www.oakbendreview.com/

Check them out . . . and, at the very least, read the interview with Gregory Orr.

A Midwest Novel Competition

Bottom Dog--the press that published my novel, Landscape with Fragmented Figures (http://smithdocs.net/WorkingLiveshomepage2.html)-- is helping to sponsor a competition for novelists.

Find out more: http://smithdocs.net/GreatLakesNovelPrize.pdf

More Nice News

I just received an email from the fiction editors at Existere, and they are going to publish a story of mine entitled "Sleeping Deeply."

Here's the opening sentence of the story:

"After Julia Pomaville’s dinner party, Bruce Hunter quietly battled a bout of insomnia, which led to him discovering a man in his basement."

It's kind of a slipstream story, and I hope you think of subscribing to Existere so you can read the rest: http://www.yorku.ca/existere/

Existere published another slipstream story of mine a while back entitled "The Neighborhood Division."

Well, It's Official

I have copies of my novel, Landscape with Fragmented Figures, in hand. They came by UPS on Wednesday. Here's my deal . . .

You can get Landscape with Fragmented Figures and my first novel, Into the Desperate Country.

or

Landscape with Fragmented Figures and my short story collection, Emergency Stopping and Other Stories.

or

Landscape with Fragmented Figures and my full-length poetry collection, Poems New, Used and Rebuilds. . .

. . . any one of those combinations for just $27.00 (which will include shipping)

Drop me an email (jcvandez@delta.edu) and we can work out the details.

Of course, you can also get the novel just by itself . . . that would be $16 (shipping included).

Again, drop me an email.

All the books will come signed . . . or not (up to you)

Just a Little Side Note . . .

. . . to take a break from all of this novel promotion talk. So, yeah, I wrote a new poem this year, and it turns out that it's going to be published in the Spoon River Poetry Review.

That's always fun news to get.

Lots more fun than looking to see how the stock market did on any given day.

The Blurbs

"Jeff Vande Zande's Landscape with Fragmented Figures is about being lost and searching for truth out of longing. On the way you drink cheap beer and pass through some smoke stacks. You are north of Detroit in a mini-metropolis off the I-75 corridor but not quite to God's country. And you find yourself splattered on an abstract canvas, layered with shallow middle class aspirations and working class failures. Haven't we all been there? It's what makes us human; it's what grounds us. At some point in life we all face ourselves - that is if we are willing to take risks."

-Lolita Hernandez, author of Autopsy of an Engine

“Jeff Vande Zande's new novel is a wonderful contemporary working-class story. This crafted story is an engaging page-turner filled with keen detailing and vivid style. Landscape with Fragmented Figures is the real deal--an intense story about real people involved in day-to-day life experiences that readers will identify with and relate to their own neighborhoods. This is a novel full of working-class heart and soul that will appeal to all readers.”

-M.L. Liebler, author of Wide Awake in Someone Else’s Dream & Director of Springfed Arts: Metro Detroit Writers

http://smithdocs.net/WorkingLiveshomepage2.html

Other Developments

Well, Landscape with Fragmented Figures is now available on amazon. (it says that it's not available, but if you order, you'd have the book in a few weeks.)




Of course, it's better for the press and me if you order directly from the press. (they use paypal)

http://smithdocs.net/WorkingLiveshomepage2.html

And, if you wish, you can send me an email and find out how to get a signed copy.

jcvandez@delta.edu

New Novel Available

My new novel, Landscape with Fragmented Figures, is now available for pre-order from Bottom Dog Press.

I can only say that if you stopped by here, I hope you'll give some thought to purchasing the book in advance.

Thanks,

Jeff

Landscape with Fragmented Figures at Bottom Dog Press:

http://smithdocs.net/WorkingLiveshomepage2.html

Anyone that's inclined to post this link on their own blogs . . . well, feel free, and thanks.

Some Links

Just wanted to mention that amazon has a couple copies of my novel.



Interestingly, they've also restocked some copies of Transient, my first chapbook of poetry. This one is getting harder to get. Right now, I don't even have a copy.



Finally, I'm reading an interesting book right now. . .bit of a murder/mystery thing called The Blue Room by Georges Simenon. This was another one that I picked off the shelf o' books in the basement. It's a different kind of book for me, but it's well written and a page-turner.

Landscape with Fragmented Figures

I am told that I will most likely have my new novel, Landscape with Fragmented Figures, in hand during the first week of February.

Here's the description from the back cover:


"Betrayed by his art and disillusioned by his job as a
professor, Ray Casper finds that his long-time girlfriend has
just left him. At the death of his estranged father, he
links up with his out-of-work brother Sammy, and
things really get complicated. Sammy moves in with
Ray and needs a job; Ray needs inspiration to paint
again, and both have to keep from killing each other.
Landscape with Fragmented Figures unites
academia and working class in a tale of brothers, art,
love, and fathers-sons. It is a tale about what it means
for all of us to live in America in these times."

I would like to make an offer to the followers of this blog. If you preorder a copy of the novel, I'll sell it to you for $14.00 (which includes shipping). The cover price will be sixteen, so you're getting a bit of a deal. Plus, I will personally inscribe the book.

Send me an email (jcvandez@delta.edu), and we can work out how you want to pay (paypal, send a check, etc).

Once I get the book in hand, I'll ship it out to you.

A Brief Year in Review (about my writing)

Overall, it's been a good year. I sold 217 of my various books. I made $1000.00. I had three full-length short stories published, two flash fiction pieces, and two poems. Also, I can't forget that Bottom Dog Press accepted my novel, Landscape with Fragmented Figures (which will come out in early February of 2009).

I did quite a bit of new writing, too. I wrote four full-length short stories, four flash pieces, three poems, a childrens book manuscript, a full-length movie, and two short film screenplays. I was able to see one of the short screenplays, "Sleepwalker" turned into a film that showed at the Hell's Half Mile Film Festival in Bay City.

Most importantly, I did a lot of reading this year. Thirty books! That's quite a few for me. Among my favorites from dead writers were Turgenev's Fathers and Sons, B.F. Skinner's Walden Two, Stegner's The Women on the Wall, Faulkner's Intruder in the Dust, and Zen Flesh, Zen Bones.

Of course, I can't forget David Boyer's Sidelong Glances of a Pigeon Kicker (which I read twice in a row). I don't know if Boyer is dead or alive.

Among living writers, I enjoyed Paul Elwork's The Tea House (originally by Casperian Books, but being picked up by a bigger house), Jarda Cervenka's Fausto's Afternoon (Whistling Shade Press), William Walsh's Without Wax (Casperian Books), John Guzlowski's poetry collection Lightning and Ashes (Steel Toe Books), Dan Gabriel's Tales from the Tinker's Dam (Whistling Shade Press), and the anthology Bar Stories (Bottom Dog Press).

Overall, despite the economy, a very good year. I enjoyed all of that reading. I hope 2009 will be as good. After all of this novel editing and proofreading, I'm looking forward to doing some new writing.

I hope your own writing and reading is good in 2009.