Larry from OF Blog of the Fallen has posted a very positive review here.
Also, Brendan Connell recently finished an interview with me that will be posted at Fantasy Book Spot in the next few weeks.
Category: The Painting and the City
Painting and the City—French Cover
Here’s the cover for the French edition, which uses one of my favorite Jason Van Hollander’s Schuyler journal illustrations on the front.
Ford Introduction
Here’s the introduction that Jeff Ford wrote for The Painting and the City. Also, Jeff is blogging again. Go ye to the Crackpot Palace.
Jeffrey Ford: The Fiction of Robert Freeman Wexler
Like something out of a Robert Freeman Wexler novel, I can’t remember when I first met Robert Freeman Wexler. On the first few brief meetings, he was a very unassuming individual, calm, eyelids one eighth of the way toward a nap, but usually grinning. It was only after I read his fiction that his personality began to cohere for me. His fiction is deep and unique with its own off-kilter, waltz-like rhythm. It’s a tonic to the death-rush of today’s corporate-fueled five cuts per second novelty bazaar. It’s not screaming for attention by trying to be the most anything, but is content to be itself, which is something subtly surreal, contemplative, graceful, and shot through with humor.
A lot happens in his books, more than in most, because whereas many of today’s writers are always mindful of hurrying on to the next big payoff, Wexler is content to linger and give full weight to his characters’ musings and daily routines. They have jobs and relationships and know disappointment and an occasional quiet, solitary triumph. The clarity of his writing style reveals the everyday as being as interesting as an instance of, like in one of his short stories, the clouds taking on mass and tumbling out of the sky.
When these aspects of his fiction came into focus for me, Wexler, himself, came into focus. What I can tell you I’ve learned about him is that he’s in it for the art. That may sound like an outdated, hippie platitude, but for those, like him, who operate from this rare space, it’s a timeless actuality devoid of melodrama. He is not a frantic promoter of himself or his fiction. When he speaks about his work, you can tell he’s given it a great deal of thought. I suggest you seek out some of the interviews he’s given that exist on-line. There you’ll find someone intelligent and honest about the discussion of his own books, someone confident enough in what he’s about to be able to question his own motives and assumptions.
British Fantasy Awards 2010 Longlist
And it is a very long list (95 books in the novel category), but I’m happy to see The Painting and the City there.
[update]
And, it’s also on the long list for the Arthur C. Clark awards, amongst 40 other novels, including one of my favorites of the year, The Babylonian Trilogy.
Locus List
Very happy to see The Painting and the City on Locus magazine’s 2009 Recommended Reading List. Nothing of mine has made the list since In Springdale Town in 2003.
I would have liked to see some other books on there, Marly Youman’s Val/Orson for novella, and Sebastíen Doubinsky’s The Babylonian Trilogy under one of the novel categories…is it fantasy…science fiction…? The list is put together by Locus staff and reviewers “with inputs from outside reviewers, other professionals, other lists, etc.” A work has to receive at least two nominations to make the list. Reviewers generally only have time to read the books that they are reviewing, so if Locus gives a book one review, and the staff and other reviewers don’t read a particular book (or some read it and don’t find it worth recommending), then it takes the outside input to provide the other recommendations. Paul Witcover recommended The Babylonian Trilogy on his blog (and presumably in the magazine as well), but there obviously wasn’t a second vote, which is a shame because it’s a book that deserves more attention.
Zanzibar
Announcing that French publisher Zanzibar Editions has picked up two books, The Painting and the City and Psychological Methods To Sell Should Be Destroyed. Writer and editor Anne-Sylvie Homassel (stories in English in Strange Tales and Strange Tales II from Tartarus Press) has begun translation. P&C should be out this summer…
Chicago Center for Literature and Photography List
I’m pleased to find out that The Painting and the City is on the list Best Experimental Novels for 2009 at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography web site. And also pleased that The Babylonian Trilogy is on the list too.
I don’t think of my novel as experimental, but I’m glad to see someone notice it. He says: “One of my favorite genre authors out there right now, and it’s a shame that he’s not as well-known yet as many of his peers.”
I’m unfamiliar with most of the other authors but will have to look for them.
Emporium Reading
I have a couple of readings coming up, this Saturday and in March, both in Yellow Springs. The first is at Emporium Wines/Underdog Cafe, 4pm Sat. Jan. 9. I’ll be accompanied by Brady Burkett of Starfolk on electric guitar. We did a couple of these in October and plan to schedule more soon. I’ve worked out sections of chapters 1, 2, and 4 from The Painting and the City that work well, and are fun for me to read. I’ll have some books for sale, and Brady will have the first Starkfolk album on cd and vinyl, and the second on cd. I expect there’ll be some wine, too.
PS Three-For-Two Sale
PS is running a sale, buy any two books and get a third free. Even if you already own The Painting and the City, there are multitudes of excellent choices. How about: The Babylonian Trilogy, Everland and other Stories, and Val/Orson? Have a look at the site, and bring your wallet.
The Perfume and the City
I heard a report on NPR recently about the exploding market for celebrity scents. Not the actual scent of the celebrity (which would be much more interesting), and not, say, a scent that means, “Burt Reynolds in his Smokey and the Bandit period,” or “Lou Reed covered with glitter.” These are scents I could appreciate. No, what they seem to be talking about are scents celebrity-endorsed and named, developed for and assigned to a particular media star. How is this any different than celebrity-endorsed flannel sheets or health care plans?
Obviously, no one would be interested in an author-based perfume (not even that Twilight author’s), but what about the scent of a particular book? And not a book that has been transformed into a movie, with movie star identities assigned to it. Just a book. A good story. Maybe, one of my books…?
Being wealthy (like all writers), I’ve funded a research lab to develop some scents based on The Painting and the City. They’ll be available for purchase as soon as I have the shopping cart set up. Meanwhile, here’s a verbal introduction to the initial line of scents.
Lerner’s Studio
Fragrance Notes—an amalgam of earth and metal with a hint of chili pepper and cardamom. It’s charm lies in how it encourages the excitement of submerging oneself in whatever work most suits; for optimal effect, best applied early in the day.
Kreunen’s House
Fragrance Notes—Truffle oil, Hibiscus, Amber, Cognac. A scent that expands with use (or destroys the wearer). It carries no nostalgia or joy; best for any time you need to gain or maintain power over another.
Dapper Marionette
Fragrance Notes—Cinnamon and Adriatic Spearmint softened with hints of Dewy Green Leaves. Sensual and sophisticated, it offers one of the most intense olfactory experiences possible.
I’m sure many other books could provide exceptional scents that would dazzle and amaze. The Divinity Student: Something shocking and musty. The Babylonian Trilogy: A scent that says carnage and erudition. And many others, which will be under development soon.
Laconic Writer 