Books

Dear Target Demographic,

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My publisher Steve Lafler and I recently had the chance to sit down and talk about writing novels. Our conversation went something like this:

Steve Lafler: Ben, in your debut novel Lucky Man, you take a unique approach—the story is told from the point of view of four friends. Gabe, Jake, Louie and Sammy each get a crack at the narrative from their own point of view. In part four of the book, Sammy’s version of the story brings a crescendo and a sort of denouement to the book. I’d like to know what inspired you to structure Lucky Man this way?

Ben Tanzer: Steve, I was thinking about how friends of a certain age or circumstance can become so close that their thoughts and experiences begin to merge, like they have one brain, and I really wanted to run with that. I also wanted the characters to be somewhat distinctive though and so they not only get to tell the same story from their perspective, but the novel is divided into four sections, with each section highlighting one of the characters and their struggles. I always knew the fourth section would be focused on Sammy and so I crafted his story to come to some bit of closure at the same time as the overall story. What I would like to know is what inspired you to tackle your new graphic novel in partnership with someone else? I could see where that might be an experience that’s both more creative and more frustrating.

It's all doom and gloom these days isn't it? Today's Chicago Tribune reports that Women and Children First, Chicago's stalwart feminist indie bookshop is teetering closer and closer to shutting its doors.

Last week, the two women, who founded the store in 1979 in Lincoln Park, thought long and hard before deciding to renew their lease for the three storefronts at 5233 N. Clark St. But, buffeted by competition from the Internet and huge chain stores, they only did so after their landlord said he wouldn't raise their rent -- and they only committed to a single year.

Check out Manx Media's invasion of The Press Club in Portland, OR (2621 SE Clinton Street) next Tuesday, April 17th at 7:30pm. There will be juggling, RSS feeds, pinwheels, sitars, thinking outside the box, clowns, a live performance by Foreigner, visioning and futuring, and readings by Ben Tanzer and Steve Lafler from the novel Lucky Man and graphic novel 40 Hour Man respectively.

Ummm, well, I've been kind of busy lately so I totally forgot I had something in the AMAZING new book edited by Josh MacPhee and Eric Reuland just out from AK Press: REALIZING THE IMPOSSIBLE: ART AGAINST AUTHORITY (http://www.akpress.org/2007/items/realizingtheimpossibleak).

I got it in the mail the other day, and it's a pretty amazing handbook for activist cultural producers, so if this sort of thing interests you, you should check it out. If It had existed when I was 15, I don't know how cool I would be right now, I think it is pretty hard to imagine actually.

Additionally, my essay in there is practically a rough draft (although, OK, VERY rough draft) of UNMARKETABLE, so if you don't feel like reading a whole long book by me LATER, you can just get this one NOW.

Check out Manx Media's takeover of Quimby's (1854 West North Avenue - Chicago) next Wednesday, March 7th at 8:00pm - http://quimbys.com/events.php?m=03&y=2007. There will be interpretive dance, claymation, PowerPoint presentations, origami, puppetry, dog training, blood donation, political debate, tightrope walkers, yodeling, agenda setting, and readings by Ben Tanzer and Steve Lafler from the novel Lucky Man and graphic novel 40 Hour Man respectively.

"The old-fashioned bookstore was a charming place, but charm alone will not solve the problem of modern book distribution. . . . Hard though it may be to face the fact, the bookstore of today cannot primarily be a place for those who revere books as things-in-themselves." - R.L. Duffus, Carnegie Report, 1930 as quoted in Reluctant Capitalists, Laura Mller.

It's a bad sign when I have to judge a book by only its cover and a quick glance through the first two chapters before handing it off to a real book reviewer, but that i decided to do anyway with Emily Pohl-Weary's STRANGE TIMES AT WESTERN HIGH, because any chance a girl gets to talk up this book, she should probably take.

A little bit HARRIET THE SPY, but slightly older, and a teensy bit Nancy Drew, if Nancy were a zinester, Natalie Fuentes is a snappy but reluctant girl investigator who would far prefer to publish her zine MY VERY SECRET LIFE than deal with the latest crime.

Pick it up if you like the genre or know a kid who does; I promise you'll have a hard time passing it along. I know I am.

It started with Hop on Pop. The copy I have is the one I read as a child. Sometimes Henry gets into it and wants to read it over and over, although he often ignores it. He's actually memorized some sections. Anyway, one evening as I read it to him, I noticed the character Mr. Brown introduced with his wife. We then follow Mr. Brown through various events but wife never returns -- he doesn't even bother to invite her to his snack soiree with the hirsute Mr. Black! Must have been a business lunch.

And then there's the generic family of Mother, Father, Sister, Brother and Other Brother featured at the end of the book. Sister praises the reading prowess of her brothers and her father but never mentions her own or her mother's ability to read. Eh?

Dr. Sketchy's Book Release and One Year Anniversary Extravaganza
@
The Slipper Room
167 Orchard St

December 6, Wednsday
8-10 pm
FREE (so buy a book!)

www.drsketchy.com

Come celebrate the release of Dr. Sketchy's Official Rainy Day Colouring Book and the one year anniversary of Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School with a night of debauchery.

Hosted by the World Famous BOB, it's a night of
cake, vaudevillian music, book signing, gogo and burlesque performed by lovely people of both genders. Dr. Sketchy's authors Molly Crabapple and John Leavitt will be available to write scandelous things in your book, while Amber Ray, Darlinda Just Darlinda, The White Boom Boom, Tangerine Jones and Lady J shimmy onstage. Old timey music by the Two Man Gentleman Band