3. Getting booked on the same show as Mad Men’s Rich Sommer
2. Sitting in the very studio where legendary DJ Alan Freed first coined the term rock and roll
1. Being called a spry young man by the building’s security guard
A special thanks to host Dee Perry and “Around Noon” producer Dave DeOreo for inviting me on the show and letting me ramble on about werewolves and Sith Lords.
To check out the full NPR interview from last Thursday, click here.
Very excited about a couple of readings/book signings coming up.
The first is at the historic Baldwin’s Book Barn in West Chester, Pa., at 3 pm April 14. Built in 1822, this five-story treasure is filled with warm cozy nooks, stone walls and even a wood-burning stove. As the folks at Baldwin’s say, “it’s just not a bookstore… it’s a step back in time.” Hoping for a nice crowd, and wine and cheese to boot!
Another upcoming appearance I’m pumped about will be at Mac’s Backs-Books on Coventry in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, April 21. It’s another charming old venue, and in a great walking neighborhood near Cleveland’s museums and Case Western Reserve University. I’m reading with local poet and Vietnam War veteran Vladimir Swyrnski, whose new book of poetry, Church of the Backyard Fire, can be found here.
Two days before the reading at Mac’s Backs I also will appear as a live studio guest on “Around Noon” on Northeast Ohio Public Radio 90.3 WCPN. For those not in the Cleveland area, you can listen live online April 19 through this link.
A big thank you to Kenneth Hines, Suzanne DeGaetano, Dave DeOreo and the good folks at Bona Fide Books, as always, for making this all happen!
Small Press Distribution, the biggest distributor of independent literary publishers in the United States, is now working with Bona Fide Books to put Mud Cakes on shelves in mom and pop and chain bookstores, university and college bookstores, libraries, and other brick and mortar shops across the country.
Founded in 1969, SPD is currently the only distributor in the country dedicated exclusively to marketing small press books. In 2010, SPD sold 105,502 books, with sales topping $1.2 million. Sixty-percent of these sales comprised books of poetry.
My deepest gratitude to Kim Wyatt, Clay Banes and everyone at Bona Fide Books and SPD for believing in this book and giving us little guys a chance out there.
You can learn more about SPD and view its catalogue listing for Mud Cakes here.
Heading back to Lehigh Valley, Pa., my home for nearly, gulp, 20 years, and where I went to high school with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (who I often shook down for lunch money; what a wimp, that guy) on Feb. 6 to appear on “Lehigh Valley Arts Salon” on NPR affiliate WDIY 88.1. Here’s hoping the show is on five-second delay.
For those outside the Valley, you can listen live here at 6 pm: http://www.wdiy.org/.
And if you’ve never been to the Valley, let me recommend starting your trip with a visit to Merchants Square Mall in Allentown, where for years I spent my Saturday mornings once a month bidding on wax packs of Rocky II and Happy Days bubble gum cards at the silent auction and thumbing through overpriced KISS albums in a smoky shop run by a former Go-go dancer. Cap the afternoon off with a hamburger deluxe at City View diner, and then go on to Bethlehem to visit my dear friends at Dreamscape Comics for an “immense and diverse” selection of comics, trade paperbacks, toys and other cool nerd boy stuff or simply for warm and friendly conversation with owners Nick and Jeannie, the real authorities on all things, past and present, Lehigh Valley.
The first reviews are coming in for Mud Cakes, and one of my favorites is from Jendi Reiter, Vice President of WinningWriters.com, who has listed it as one of the best reads of the year. Hailed by Writer’s Digest as one of the “101 Best Websites for Writers” for for the past seven years, WinningWriters.com previously awarded my poem, “For Wile E. Coyote, Apetitius Giganticus” Honorable Mention in the 2010 international Wergle Flomp Free Poetry Contest.
Here’s what Ms. Reiter has to say:
Winner of the 2010 Melissa Lanitis Gregory Poetry Prize, this quietly powerful autobiographical collection chronicles a Midwestern Gen-X boyhood, where exciting dreams of Star Wars and movie monsters give way to the more drab and painful struggles of his parents’ divorce, and the losing battle of his Catholic conscience against teenage lust. Schossler narrates the essential facts of a moment that stands in for an entire relationship, allowing the reader to make the connections that his childhood self couldn’t see.
So cool to know Jendi and the staff at WinningWriters are fans. As for “Wile E. Coyote”? A reworked version of it is showing up next in an upcoming all-fiction edition of Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader series: Flush Fiction. I find this a deeply satisfying honor. I mean, the “Leaves of Grass” is a good read. Don’t get me wrong. But do people take it into the can?
Curious what my favorite article of clothing is? If I prefer flowers over chocolate? Which celebrity I’d gay marry? It’s all here in my new interview with Dan Nester on We Who are About to Die. Wondering now if I shouldn’t have admitted to that part about using Good Looking Hair.
http://wewhoareabouttodie.com/2011/12/16/getting-to-know-jason-schossler/
The Mud Cakes book tour has been one hell of a good time so far! I’m happy to announce that we’ve added several dates for 2012, including an April 14 stop at the historic Baldwin’s Book Barn in West Chester, Pa. (http://www.bookbarn.com/about/), and Mac’s Backs in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, on April 21 (http://www.macsbacks.com/).
My special thanks to Kim Wyatt, Erin Bechtol, Suzanne Roberts, Frank Kovac, Ben Arnold, Lake Tahoe Community College, South Lake Tahoe High School and Wooster High School for hosting me during what was a fabulous book launch in October.
For those of you who are curious, check out this link from my Oct. 7 visit with the students at South Lake Tahoe High School: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X95f2AQpngQ
Here also is a review from Lake Tahoe News of my Oct. 7 reading at the community college! http://www.laketahoenews.net/2011/10/poet-brings-childhood-to-life-in-words/
And how can I talk about Lake Tahoe and not give a plug to the otherworldly and beautiful vacation house that my family, friends and I called home for those five glorious days? Kim, what can I say? You certainly know how to make a poet feel at home. Take a peek: http://www.tahoestonehenge.com/tahoe.html
I also would like to thank John Harvey, Laura Valeri and everyone at Georgian Southern University for a wonderful visit earlier this month. Sharing my work with such a wonderful community and student body was a very moving experience for me! For some video highlights of my Dec. 1 reading, click here!
Lastly, a final big thanks for the gracious invitation extended by Editor-in-Chief Gracie Kessenich, editor Kayla Hurley and the staff of GSU’s literary journal, Miscellany: Magazine for the Arts (http://gsumiscellany.wordpress.com/), to guest judge an upcoming poetry contest. I feel honored by the offer, and look forward to working once again with the talented folks down in Statesboro.
Next up: Mud Cakes: A Poet’s Journey. Directed by Ryan Beacher and featuring an original score by music producer Brad Huff, this four-minute trailer highlights yours truly and all things Mud Cakes. Can’t wait for the release!
To be continued!
Grist: The Journal for Writers, has selected me for its 2011 Emerging Writer feature. Founded by the graduate students in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Tennessee, Grist is an annual literary journal featuring more than two hundred pages of stories and poems, as well as interviews with writers.
The Emerging Writer award includes the publication of three new poems in the print edition of Grist #4. The journal’s Web site also features several reprinted poems, along with my interview with Poetry Editor Darren Jackson in which I discuss the role of nostalgia and pop culture in modern poetry, my day jobs, and of course, my love of Star Wars and KISS, among other things. I also manage to sneak in a tip or two about how to play Scrabble at an artist colony.
Read my interview with Grist: http://www.gristjournal.com/issues/emerging-writers/jason-schossler-interview/.
The 2011/2012 Book Tour for Mud Cakes kicks off on the West Coast on Oct. 6 at University of Nevada-Reno, followed by a reading at Lake Tahoe Community College on Oct. 7. Both appearances will include a reading, question and answer session, and a book signing.
Check back for specific dates for other confirmed West Coast readings and appearances in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Santa Clara, Spokane, Wash., and other cities and venues.
For additional information about the LTCC Writer’s Series, see http://www.ltcc.edu/about.asp?area=Article&artID=176&iefix=738162.
My first book of poetry, Mud Cakes, has won the 2010 Melissa Lanitis Gregory Poetry Prize and will be published by Bona Fide Books this fall.
For more news about the poetry prize and Bona Fide, check out http://www.tahoeculture.com/art/lt-writers/bona-fide-books-announces-the-melissa-lanitis-gregory-poetry-prize/. And if that isn’t enough, try: http://www.bonafidebooks.com/contests/.
Here, also, is a sneak peek at one of the poems in the book! http://bonafidebooks.squarespace.com/between-jobs/.
