Ramblings of Jeff Somers, author
Just a quick reminder that I’m reading at The L Magazine’s Literary Upstart event tonight:
WHEN: 7pm, Monday, May 17
WHERE: The Slipper Room, 167 Orchard Street, New York, NY 10002-2214, (212) 253-7246
WHY: Because I’ll be there, soaking up free drinks.
Come on by and heckle me until I burst into boozy tears on stage!
Well, blow me down: Our litte video The Electric Church in One Minute has been nominated for a 2010 Moby Award, for “Best Low Budget/Indie Book Trailer”. Hot damn. I’d like to thank all the little people, and Jebus, and … oh, yeah, I guess we have to actually win before we make that speech. To ourselves in the bathroom mirror with tears running down our face, bottle of Jack Daniels clutched in one claw-like hand.
Anyways, here’s the video in question, actually more than a minute (that’s part of the genius!):
SHAZAM!
It’ll be THUNDERDOME!
Or, well, probably not. Those crazy kids what run The L Magazine run this thing called Literary Upstart, where authors submit works and, if chosen, read them live to a bunch of drunks and then a winner gets chosen. Because this sounded like exactly the sort of thing I do for fun (usually uninvited, just standing up on a barstool and starting to read from my tear- and beer-stained notebook), I submitted a story of mine (Rust on the Tongue) and I’ve been chosen to read at the May 17th event. THERE WILL BE NO PRISONERS TAKEN. I intend to win, even if it means performing the Daffy Duck Gasoline Trick that can only be performed once.
WHEN: 7pm, Monday, May 17
WHERE: The Slipper Room, 167 Orchard Street, New York, NY 10002-2214, (212) 253-7246
WHY: Because I’ll be there, soaking up free drinks.
Not sure of the rest of the details, but you don’t need no stinkin’ details, right? I’ll be there. Reading a literary gem. Be there or be square.
One of the biggest kicks of being published is finding your books all over the world. I mean, it’s one thing to find your book in your local Barnes & Noble (I can slip my own books on those shelves any day!) but when your wife is traveling on business and finds them in a bookstore in Stockholm, that’s pretty cool:
Bonus: It looks like The Electric Church was there until recently, too. Score!
Via Boing Boing:
At least not with real live people requesting me to. Sure, I’ve sat alone in my room, weeping, signing my own books for hours – what author hasn’t? – but last night at the Crimes by Moonlight launch I was part of a child-laboresque conga line of signing authors and I think I signed 100 books by the end of the night, between the ones for folks buying the book and the ones the store wanted for stock. MY GOD, the hand cramps.
I had a blast. I got to sit next to the amazing Dana Cameron (who shares my agent, and who is up for the Best Short Story Edgar for her tale “Femme Sole” in Boston Noir) and the uproarious Toni L.P. Kelner, and we were, I think, the raucous end of the table, hatching plots to disrupt the evening and keeping each other laughing. Of course, there had to be a moment of Jeff Somers incompetence; otherwise it just wouldn’t have that Somers flair, you know? So of course, there were multiple instances of incompetence. And that doesn’t even count the fact that everyone I was introduced to asked me why I was wearing pants. That isn’t a joke: Every person I met asked me this. I think perhaps I’ve taken that theme a bit too far.
Incompetence #1: My wife decided she would give a copy of the anthology, signed by all authors, to her mother as part of her Mother’s Day gift. So she hands me a copy and says sign it, and so I proceed to inscribe a delicate love letter to my wife in the book, which, when presented to her mother, might have caused some confusion. The Duchess, amused, made fun of me for the rest of the night.
Incompetence #2: When I sat down at the signing table, Dana Cameron immediately pulled out these beautiful and practical bookmarks to stick in everyone’s book as she signed them. I stared at them, thinking, gosh, that’s a pretty good idea. I did not have pretty bookmarks, but I did have a stack of horrible business cards I’d printed myself a few years ago, so I put that grubby pile on the table and slipped them into the books as I signed. Every now and then I’d glance at Dana’s bookmarks and a wash of shame would flow through me.
But that’s okay – I had a great time and the evening was a success, though The Duchess and I begged off dinner and drinks afterwards due to weariness, gaining some black looks from my agent. Earlier in the day the Uber Agent and I did share a drink in her office, though, contemplating the rather disturbing covers of the German editions of The Electric Church and the rather stunning covers to the audio CDs of The Electric Church. Here’s the latter in all its glory:
Purty, ain’t it? Although I must discover who chose that horrible picture of me for the back, and assault them. I HAVE A BLURRY PHOTO FOR A REASON, DAMMIT.
Just a reminder that I’ll be at the “Crimes by Moonlight” Launch party, posing in authorly poses and trying hard to look pensive when in fact I am trying to figure out if there’s any free booze to be had:
Launch party for the MWA‘s newest anthology “Crimes by Moonlight” at Mysterious Bookshop (58 Warren St, NY, NY). The party will be part of the MWA’s Edgar week festivities. My short story “Sift, Almost Invisible, Through” appears in the anthology.
Come on out and mock me!
The kind folks over at SFSNNJ sent me a neat link encapsulating my appearance at their Face the Fiction event a few weeks ago, with video, pics, and a write up. This was a total blast and It’s great to have a record of such a fun event. So check it out and if you’re in the Northern New jersey area, why not join and then you can start agitating to have me invited back.
http://www.sfsnnj.com/SpecialEvents/Guests/20100410_Jeff_Somers.html
Yes, The Electric Church is now the subject of a Yahoo! Answer:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100417142909AA0qHxE
I am pleased.
Hey kids, guess what came out last week while I was apparently too drunk to notice? That’s right, Crimes by Moonlight, the supernatural noir anthology edited by Charlaine Harris! In which I have a story! No, really.
Gotta start payin’ attention.
Anyways, yes, my short story “Sift, Almost Invisible, Through” is in this sucker, so right there is a reason to buy a copy. And also some other folks you might have heard of: Dana Cameron, with whom I share an agent, Max Allan Collins and Mickey Spillane, Barbara D’Amato, Carolyn Hart, Margaret Maron and many more.
I’ll be taking part in the launch party over at Mysterious Bookshop (58 Warren St, NY, NY) on April 27th, as previously noted. Be sure to buy several copies just in case the world ends and you have to barter for food or something.