SATURNs for sale / MASTERWORKS

I thought it was worth letting you know here that, if you like, you can buy copies of SATURN—my collection of David Bowie stories recently out from Spork Press—directly from me. Right now, they are $12 (including shipping). Obviously I will sign all of them and additionally include a ripped-out page of a Bowie biography from the era of your choosing. If you’re interested, give me a shout, and prepare to divulge 1) your preferred color (slime or blue, see previous post for evidence), 2) your favorite Bowie era (to determine the biographical excerpt), and 3) mailing address.

In other news, a smallish piece of fiction called “Accession” was published in Everyday Genius earlier this month; it’s kind of about utterly defacing famous works of art, and is a part of the book that I’m working on (thanks to Dolan Morgan for picking this piece up). In case you’re tracking these things, another death-focused part of this book appeared in the latest issue of Forklift, OH, but you’ll have to go to print for that one. (If you do, it comes with a packet of seeds; it also comes with Ben Kopel’s “Sad Punk Sutra,” which you wouldn’t want to miss a word of.)

Since last we spoke (and in direct and pointed contrast to defacing works of art), I’ve also started writing MASTERWORKS, a recurring flash fiction series featured every month in the Paper Darts e-newsletter. It’s about reenactments of famous works of art. Sign up for the mailing list here, or peruse the three installments that have been published so far:

•       The Death of Marat, by Jacques-Louis David.
•       The Garden of Earthly Delights, by Hieronymus Bosch.
•       Witches’ Flight, by Francisco Goya.

It’s all paintings as yet, but this month (November) it’s going to be a monolithic stone object, which should be fun. These stories are mostly ornate little echo-boxes, and it’s probably the most fun I’ve had writing in a long time; basically I want my stories to be the written equivalent of this song. 

Let me know what you think, or if you have any artworks you would like to recommend. I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS.

As always,

I remain,

Simon

SHAMELESS

Here is a selection of the colors in which SATURN is now available, alongside commentary with what movie I was watching when I learned that these covers existed, basically:

1) Red: I am pretty sure that I watched The Skin I Live In the same night that I received these (it was very rainy), which is potentially appropriate because that movie is all about masks, costumed invaders, abuses of the ultra-rich, dastardly medical procedures, and Marisa Paredes (so often does life become an erotic thriller). (Did you ever see The Flower of My Secret? It is EXCELLENT.)

("gory," "blood" version);

2) Silver: when I saw these, I think I was reading The Dream of Doctor Bantam, by Jeanne Thornton, which is a book that I love and which I would recommend to virtually any reader. Here are no. 2-6 on the itemized list of “things that I loved about this book,” as written enthusiastically in an email to its author (no. 1 was incomprehensible even to me):

2. the sentence on p. 91 in which Julie wraps herself up with a sheet "like a human pita";

3. the canoe scene, specifically on the rocks;

4. when Julie bums a cigarette from the 'patch-and-hemp' kid and thinks, "I do not want to take this cigarette from this person. I hate this person. I despise this person for his weakness," and then takes it anyway;

5. when Patrice asks Julie if she's proud of her for being the youngest Unbound;

6. the whole freaking opening scene, pants, ihop and all.

Holistically, it kinda reminds me of a World/Inferno Friendship Society song.

(my mother's favorite version of the cover, because it's "less gory" and "less clear what is going on"); 

3) Green: I don't remember what I was doing here. Do you? 

(Speaking of which, I would like to point that there is a Beach Boys song (pt. 2 of "California Saga"), which includes the very traditionally un-Beach Boys-like lyric: "spilled down the hill, a wagon-load of bodies lay scattered.") 

(I call this the "poor little greenie" version, Spork: "Slime and Gilded Blood Edition," which is somewhat more ornate);

4) Blue: I think I saw these on the same day as was released the full cover of David James Keaton's The Last Projector, which comes out Halloween of this year and will probably be the best book about movies ever written. (If you have ever read this blog, you have read of DJK - he wrote a zombie novella, a short story collection called Fish Bites Cop! whose decorative murders rival Nick Cave, and is the subject of an 8,000-word interview that remains unpublished, where the topic that takes up the most space is the physical consistency of blood across several movie-decades.)

(Spork: "summer bluez"; I prefer "cosmic").

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SATURN has gotten a pretty exciting amount of attention lately - I'll spare you all the grisly details here (you can check the special SATURN tab above for links to pretty much everything including reviews in The Rumpus and NANO Fiction; clicking virtually anywhere on this blog will send you places to buy it), but I am very grateful to everyone who's bought it thus far. If you've done so, let me know what you think! I may have a special surprise for you.

Have a pleasant night (watch a movie you fruitcake),

Simon

ON SELLING OUT

SATURN officially launched at AWP in Seattle last weekend. Here is a photo of SATURN on the Spork table, at the beginning:

R3

It sold out. All 50 copies, gone.

Despite what people tell you, it feels very nice to be a sellout. If you bought one of the 50 - let me know! Like any narcissist, I'd love to hear what you think of it, or if you want to debate my facts. Since I wasn't in Seattle to endorse the copies for you, I'll propose something similar: if you let me know that you got the book, I will tear out highlighted/annotated pages of the classic 1986 David Bowie biography Alias David Bowie and mail them to you in lieu of a signature. It's definitely much more practical this way.

Right now, Spork has returned home without SATURNs, but they are always busy, and I expect that very soon there will be more books and it will be available to buy on the Spork website. This offer will stand for as long as I can manage it - even if you don't want a scrap of paper mailed to you, I'd love to hear what you think of it. Or if you have any photos or tactile descriptions (as yet, I haven't held a physical copy, so I am interacting vicariously), by all means, send them along. I would like to thank you, at least.

There are over 500 pages in Alias David Bowie. Plenty to gut.

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While Spork continues making books and books and books, a few SATURN stories have made their way into a couple of new journals: first, online, in the inaugural issue of The Knicknackery (brought to you by the very estimable team of Sonja Vitow and Keren Veisblatt Toledano) you can find "David Bowie Sleeps with 1001 Arabian Nights Next to His Bed," which is, of course, about unending stories.

In print, Skydeer Helpking, a new journal put together by Russ Woods and Jeannette Gomes, also just released their first issue, and inside you can find both "David Bowie Approaches Tilda Swinton to Play Him in the Movie of His Life" and "David Bowie Confronts His Digital Self in Omikron: The Nomad Soul." 

Did you ever play Omikron? This is what he looked like:

Finally, in non-Bowie-related news (thank god), I have a small story called "Booties" in the last (!) issue of Fractured West, a print flash fiction journal from Scotland. It's really beautiful and full of equally tiny things.

Once again, thanks for reading,
Simon

ALL STORIES ARE ABOUT HUNGER AT THEIR CORE

SATURN now has a cover and a release date:

The book will be first available at AWP 2014 in Seattle (Feb 26 - March 1), and then from the Spork website shortly thereafter.

If you're in Seattle, stop by table R3 to get one, and meet the team responsible.

Anything at all SATURN-related, let me know.

THE NEW YEAR AND THE NEXT DAY AND A BOOK TO PUT IN THEM BOTH

Today is David Bowie's 67th birthday, which is an especially appropriate time for this announcement:

My first book, SATURN, a collection of David Bowie stories, will be published in early 2014 by none other than Spork Press.

I bolded that. And increased the font size. You bet I did. It's the biggest news we've had around here since ever!

You know Spork, right? The press responsible for such beauties as Colin Winnette's ANIMAL Collection, Joyelle McSweeney's The Necropastoral, and Zachary Schomburg's From the Fjords; handbound, hardback books (they have such sturdy spines), embossed covers, each one of them made with love and sweat and tears and definitely blood beneath the hot sun of Tuscon, Arizona. David Bowie could not be in more loving hands, and I could not be happier.

The book is 19 stories long - I like to call it, very loosely, a latter-day biography of potentiality. There's a lot of trivia in it, a lot of factoids for David Bowie nerds (I know there are a few of them out there), a lot of heart/soul/minotaurs/etc. I think you'll love it. My mother read it and said to my father, "It's amazing, the things he knows."

Earlier versions of a couple of these stories have been published already in places like Everyday Genius and The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review - check them out for a taste!

SATURN will probably be out in February, definitely in time for the Spork table at AWP in Seattle, where you'll be able to go and purchase your very own little piece of All-Simon to take home and treasure forever, along with all of your other David Bowie collectibles.

I won't be at AWP this year, unfortunately, as I will be on the hunt for the ever-elusive Snowy Buffalo.

(yeti)

Rest assured, as soon as SATURN is out, you'll never hear the end of it. There's even a cover now, which is one of the most badass pieces of art I've ever seen; it's not completely done so I can't share it with you just yet, but again: we don't keep these kinds of secrets for long.

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If you investigate the newfangled links at the top of the page, you'll also see that I now have something called a 'mailing list,' which, if you sign up, means that you'll receive cryptic updates from Simonthia about as frequently as I post on this blog, which is very close to not at all. Basically, I set this up in order to send pictures of weird fish to a defined, self-selected group of people, and also because the Mailchimp logo is, obviously, a monkey, and I wanted to support that.

There's also now a page specifically for SATURN, because why not, under which you'll be able to find excerpts, reviews, interviews, etc. as they appear. If any of you invisible readers out there are particularly interested in knowing more about the book or the project, let me know and I'll overwhelm you with information. Thanks for reading! A book, a book, a book.