8/29/10

Flowing Release Party

Went really well.

The first print run is in small quantities now, good news.

Thank you to everyone who came out and supported. Thank you to Solar Anus and Beep Beep Gallery for hosting the event.

Wyatt Williams interviewed me for Creative Loafing. You can read the interview online. We talked about my book, my writing process, sentences, Zelda, and a bunch of other stuff.

You can get a copy of Flowing for $12, here.

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8/24/10

J. Bradley Interview

J. Bradley is the author of Dodging Traffic (Ampersand Books, 2009), the author of the flash fiction chapbook The Serial Rapist Sitting Behind You Is A Robot (Safety Third Enterprises, 2010) and the Interview Editor of PANK Magazine.

TSRSBYIAR was released August 20th in a limited edition of 65. You can read an excerpt at Kill Author.


BS: Where did you grow up?

J. Bradley: Like most Floridians, I was born elsewhere (MA to be exact). However, 24 out of my 31 years were spent in Orlando, FL.

BS: Describe The Serial Rapist Sitting Behind You Is A Robot as a collection. How are the pieces connected?

JB: TSRSBYIAR is a halfway point between Dodging Traffic and a short story collection I'm working on now. Some of the pieces were written while I was still married, while others were written during my divorce. It's a sign of things to come as I return to fiction after a 15-year hiatus away from it. There is birth and there is wishing for death at the end with an interesting middle, creamy or meaty depending on what you are into.

BS: TSRSBYIAR is a departure for you because it's the first time you've written prose poetry. How did/ does that feel?

JB: It feels awesome when it comes to writing fiction again. I've been involved in slam and poetry for so long, I needed a change. I realized I can get away with more in fiction than poetry. You can be poetic in fiction but there should be a good beginning, middle, and end.

BS: Is your approach different when writing prose poetry versus writing traditional forms of poetry?

JB: Poetry is delicate and powerful. There's not a lot of room to fuck up in poetry so you have to be careful. Fiction allows me to explore some really fucked up concepts that poetry has no room for.

BS: Who was the last person you made cry?

JB: Myself. I write less poems because of what I'm still healing from. When I write a poem, it takes a lot out of me emotionally because of the raw honesty in the poem. I write more fiction now because of it.

BS: You're widely published. What literary journals are doing a good job?

JB: Anyone that publishes my work is doing a good job.

BS: What is your favorite sentence in the book?

JB: "It didn't take long for Paul to turn my wedding band into a bullet."

BS: Do you have a favorite robot?

JB: Optimus Prime

BS: What are you reading right now?

JB: Laura van den Berg's What The World Will Look Like When All The Water Leaves Us (DZANC Books, 2010).

BS: You do a lot of traveling for readings and recite several of your pieces from memory. Can you explain the emotions that are involved with your delivery of words in different locations, in front of new faces?

JB: When I was touring in support of Dodging Traffic before the disintegration of my marriage, missing my ex-wife helped me focus my performances. For about a month, there was a time where I wasn't sure I wanted to perform again and my doubts and sadness affected my performance. When I started writing new stuff, I started memorizing it, connecting with it. In my sets now, I do mostly post-separation work and it takes a lot out of me to do it but it's what I'm connected the most with. One day, I won't perform such gut-wrenching work. Until then, just call me the grand marshal of the hurt parade.

8/18/10

Been enjoying THIRD FACE.

1. The Daily s-Press

ran a feature on Flowing today.

2. I'm glad that Pilot Books in Seattle is now carrying BSP books.


3. Submissions are still open for a couple more weeks: editor@bluesquarepress.com

4. If you're a journalist/ blogger that's interested in reviewing Flowing or interested in interviewing me please send a query to the e-mail address above.

The Corduroy Mtn. issue #2

from The Corduroy Ghost

only 7 copies left!



"Corduroy Mtn. once again unleashes the beast this time under the cloak of darkness and fog. Wrapped up in a blanket and left on your doorstep after a nine month wait, our second print issue, filled with an array of eclectic luminaries we've come to adore and respect, springs from the basket and attaches itself firmly to your bosom. Will the moon rise? Will the earth give way? Will lava spill on the carpet? Will there be a third issue? We shall never say never. // contributors: jeff alessandrelli, ivy alvarez, eric amling, peter berghoef, jimmy chen, jennifer denrow, sasha fletcher, emily kendal frey, garth graeper, matthew hittinger, judson hamilton, charles lennox, john madera, nate slawson, ben spivey, j.a. tyler, john dermot woods, brennen wysong,

5.5" x 8.5" Chapbook. Printed text and hand-stamped images, brown bag covers with black ink. Printed on high quality linen paper. Music score end paper. Printed in an initial run of 100.

$7.00 free shipping in USA/Canada. Everyone else, add shipping.

THIS BOOK IS FREE WHEN YOU BUY TWO OTHER GREYING GHOST TITLES!!



Order here.



My contribution is an excerpt from my novel Flowing in the Gossamer Fold.

8/11/10

Blue Square Press News

1. The Flowing in the Gossamer Fold book release party in Atlanta is being hosted by the Solar Anus reading series (Blake Butler, Amy McDaniel, Jamie Iredell) and the Beep Beep Gallery. The release is at Beep Beep--there will be a raffle, a DJ, cocktails, beer, a reading, etc. It's from 7pm to 9pm, August 29th. If you are in Atlanta I hope that you attend.

2. Powell's Books is now carrying Flowing. Thank you Powell's.

3. BSP submissions are open until the end of the month.

4. David Peak and I will announce our second book soon. I can't wait. Can you?

5. Peak did a reading for Apostrophe Cast which you can listen to today.

6. Paul Kincaid wrote a review of Peak's novel, The Rocket's Red Glare over at Big Other.
"One of the unexpected delights of writing for Big Other has been the occasional book that has come my way as a result, books that I probably wouldn’t have seen or even heard of any other way.

Two that I have been meaning to write about for some weeks now (except that other things got in the way, sorry guys) were Metrophilias by Brendan Connell (Better Non Sequitur Press) and The Rocket’s Red Glare by David M. Peak (Leucrota Press). Both are excellent, both are well worth reading, and I commend them to your attention without hesitation."

8/9/10

I Looked Alive by Gary Lutz

is being reprinted by Black Square Books/Brooklyn Rail 10/1/2010.


There's a good collection of blurbs/ reviews/ info of I Looked Alive at Hammer Books:

"… From the same school as Raymond Carver and Gordon Lish, with the former's dirty realist landscapes and the latter's playful perversity." —New York Times Book Review

"A playful use of language in the service of a grim vision of contemporary life. There's no doubt that Lutz offers a distinctive, disturbing vision." —Kirkus Reviews

8/6/10

Origin Story: An Interview With David Peak in Knee-Jerk Issue # 14

Not only is David Peak a rad dude, a fantastic writer and friend, but he's also the co-editor/ founder of Blue Square Press. There' s an interview with Peak in the most recent issue of Knee-Jerk that should not be missed--he talks about BSP's inception, independent, literary video games, some of our inspirations, and small press stuff in general.

"Ben and I were both published in a genre anthology a few years back. I read his story--a really taut, visionary piece of sci-fi--and loved it so much that I wrote him an email, telling him so. We stayed in touch after that, eventually started exchanging writing, venting our frustrations/successes with getting published. Now I consider him a very dear friend.

All the while, he had this book he was working on. He'd send me pieces and I'd give him notes. I thought it was incredible, one of the best books I'd ever read. I didn't want to see it slip through the cracks--like so many good books do. So I emailed him one morning and I was like, I want to start a press with you and I think our first book should be yours."


Gary Lutz

An interesting analysis of Gary Lutz's work by Ryan Kamstra.

8/2/10

The Internet is Vast and Infinite

It can be hard to find a place. I wonder where I will be a year from now. I'm applying to MFA programs (a lot of them are not accepting applications for a few more months) but I'm preparing for that. I'm thankful for Atlanta. I am thankful for other places I might visit or live.

A porcelain cat face next to a drawing statue and I can't decide anymore, not now.

-Check out Barry Graham's fictions at Elimae

-At The Velvet podcast Caleb Ross interviewed Blake Butler. Enjoyed the talking about digital books and physical books and design and nostalgia and new stuff. "Central hubs." Indie vs. big publishing house.

I am always fearing a knock. I am waiting for the blood from the floor. The rugs are frayed. There is no mother that can find me here. Smooth glass harbor the night. Falling again in heat.

8/1/10

News

Blue Square Press opened submissions today. The reading period is until the end of the month. You can send submissions to editor@bluesquarepress.com

www.bluesquarepress.com