Thanks to everyone who has ordered TRUDY SELLOUT so far! Because of you, I’m encouraged to keep clackin’ those keys — and my local post office workers now know to look real busy when I come waltzing in with a stack of envelopes.
Here’s the wonderful Felicia Day with TRUDY at Motor City Comic Con last weekend:
TRUDY SELLOUT features four works of short fiction. Go here to find out how you can get a copy signed, sealed and delivered by me.
oh, danzig
This week several people pointed out that an old video of me talking about Danzig suddenly popped up on their Facebook feeds. I have no idea why, and I must say when I see this image I don’t even recognize myself:
WHO IS SHE??
I *think* I filmed this in 2008 for the Fuse/MuchMusic channel. Back then I made lots of TV appearances on countdown shows — VH1, E!, BBC America, Syfy, G4, etc. — because that’s when people watched tons of cable television. I was never very comfortable on camera, and hair/makeup artists often made me look much more polished and prom queen-y than I was. Still, so much of my work has disappeared that it’s nice to see fragments of these shows survive via social media.
miranda july
After last week’s note about my “signed” copy of Miranda July’s All Fours, longtime reader Michael M. sent me an email saying he just saw Miranda at a book signing, and the two squiggles are indeed her real signature. Ha!
I finished this book in record time — not only is it funny and sexy and very well-written, it felt like it was pretty much made for a 40-something mother in a panicked state about a) getting older; and b) what the future holds. I’d rank it up there with I Heard Her Call My Name as one of my favorite books of the year.
Speaking of new books, here’s a fuzzy photo I snapped at an event for SLUTS, the anthology from Michelle Tea’s new imprint, Dopamine. This sexy paperback is a who’s who of terrific writers, from Laurie Stone to Chloe Caldwell to Gary Indiana to Jeremy Atherton Lin. Follow Michelle for upcoming events.
There’s an interview with poet Alice Notley in the new issue of The Paris Review where she talks about writing in a sort of trance state. (She has discussed this before and has even used it as a teaching technique.) I’ve been thinking about this lately, and perhaps some of you have felt similarly — it can be hard to explain that I don’t just need “alone time” to work, I need an extended period of time alone where I feel comfortable enough to put myself in a certain open, trancelike state of mind.
This feeling is also at the center of Miranda July’s novel, which I swear I’m not being paid to promote. Anyway, I’m currently planning a summer solo writing retreat, so holler if you have ideas!
And this, too:
Vish Khanna has been on a roll with his podcast, Kreative Kontrol. Recent guests include Kathleen Hanna and Steve Albini, who spoke with Vish a few days before he died. Vish is a standout interviewer who leads with deep knowledge and a bottomless well of curiosity.
The Booksellers is a documentary that examines the passionate and peculiar world of antiquarian book dealers. I wish I’d seen it before I went to the Antiquarian Book Fair; right now you can stream it for free via Amazon. (Did you know that Bill Gates paid a record amount for a book? In the 1990s he bought Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Leicester for more than $30 million. Think I could persuade him to dish out 15 smackers for TRUDY SELLOUT? Fingers crossed!)
Talk Easy has a lovely interview with Hacks co-creators/married couple Paul W. Downs and Lucia Aniello. I’ll be bummed when the current season ends.
I wanna see Wildcat, the Ethan Hawke-directed film about Flannery O’Connor (played by Maya Hawke). Here’s a video of the dad & daughter raiding the Criterion closet and making many recommendations:
I also wanna see I Saw the TV Glow. People are talking about how great the soundtrack is, if you wanna fire it up on Spotify.
OK, I am all tapped out. Hot dog, it’s a holiday weekend! Turn this dang thing off already!
yours truly,
bill haverchuck
This is hard to find. It’s Whitney on the Best of the Dr. Who Christmas Specials aired on BBC AMERICA. Impressive list of talking heads on this. Whitney appears multiple times throughout the show.
(I also make an appearance on the ASK A WHOVIAN segment at around the 29 min mark.)
Link on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/LxL8NxkEKWA?si=FD9bhomO-BPtd5i_
That danzig clip is FANTASTIC 🌟🌅