Ani DiFranco (2020) Reading Challenge

I really love reading challenges because of the way it stretches your reading comfort zone, but I've always sucked at actually completing them.

In 2015, here at Goodreads, we kicked off our most outrageous challenge ever, borrowing The Beatles Reading Challenge from another group I was a part of, which had turned their songs into reading tasks. And 2016, we whipped up The REM Reading Challenge. (I really sucked at this one. I couldn't even complete one album, but man was it fun trying!). And then to honor David Bowie's passing, in 2017, we pulled together the Bowie Reading Challenge! IN 2018 I decided to take a break from our music theme and challenged everyone to read whatever the fuck they wanted in our RWTFYW challenge. The only rule was that there were no rules : ) And then this past year I spread my love of Guster around by taking their discography and turning it into reading tasks!

There's just something about reading challenges right??? and so..... because I am glutton for punishment, here we are again!

For 2020, I struggled when it came to deciding which musician to feature. Maybe someone celebrating 20 years of music? Or someone I discovered in my twenties and had loved ever since? But then I thought, hang on, I haven't really featured a female yet, so without another thought, I began building reading tasks for Ani DiFranco's songs. My discovery of Ani's music was an interesting one. I was in my late teens, flipping through cassettes and CDs in a Gallery of Sound store, when I noticed the album cover for Dilate. It looked gritty and grungy, which is what I was into at time time, so I asked the guy behind the desk about her, and he offered to play a couple of her songs for me before I decided whether to buy it or not. A few chords into "Untouchable Face" and I was sold!

Whether you know and love Ani DiFranco, or this is the first time you are hearing of her, what I think is most cool about these kinds of reading challenges... is that you don't even have to be a fan of the musicians to participate. You just have to be a fan of READING!!

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The Ani DiFranco (2020) Reading Challenge

(follow the link to create yours!)

So here's how this works:


*The goal is to cross off as many of Ani's songs as you can throughout the course of 2020.

You can challenge yourself to complete one entire album, focus on completing one decades-worth of albums, or build your own challenge by hitting your favorite song titles... it's totally up to you!


*You cross off the songs by reading a book that meets the criteria listed after each song title.

If the book meets multiple reading tasks, cool! You can apply it to multiple song titles, OR you can make the reading challenge more challenging by limiting yourself to one song title per book.


*There is a built in redundancy with some of the tasks.

They are repetitive on purpose, to give you an opportunity to read more than one type of book and still get credit for completing a task. (Sneaky, I know!)


*Please copy and paste the entire list, or your customized challenge list, into your own thread in this goodreads folder and strike through the song titles as you complete them, OR, you can simply copy and paste each song title and its criteria from the master list here as you complete it. (obviously put your name in the thread title so we know whose challenge it is).


*Do not add your list directly to the main thread.

*YOU MUST LIST THE BOOK TITLE AND AUTHOR that coincides with the song as you complete it for the challenge so we know what you read!



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An example of a completed song title task in your Challenge thread would look like this:

““This Bouquet” – Read a book that features flowers on the cover - The Distance from Four Points by Margo Orlando Littell

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Aaaaannnnnnnddddddd here's the list

Broken down by album, in the order of their release

Ani DiFranco (1990)

“Both Hands” – Read a book that prominently features a body part, or has a body part in the title
“Talk to Me Now” – Listen to an audiobook
“The Slant” – Read a book that presents its subject in a unique way
“Work Your Way Out” – Read a book about working out, or that features a gym/weight loss/exercise
“Dog Coffee” – Read a book with an animal in the title, or that prominently features an animal
“Lost Woman Song” – Read a book written by someone who identifies as female
“Pale Purple” – Read a book with a color in the title
“Rush Hour” – Read a book during your commute (or on your lunch break)
“Fire Door” – Read a Fantasy book
“The Story” – Read a book solely because of its description
“Every Angle” – Read a book in multiple formats (electronic, print, audio) – BONUS POINTS if you read it in all three!!!
“Out of Habit” – Read a book in which the protagonist is struggling with a habit/addiction
“Letting the Telephone Ring” – Avoid the hype! Read a lesser known/small press published title


Not So Soft (1991)

“Anticipate” – Read a book you have been anxiously anticipating
“Rockabye” – Read a book in bed / at bedtime
“She Says” – Read a book that features a female protagonist
“Make Me Stay” – Read a book that you’re on the fence about
“On Every Corner” – Read a book in which the protagonist can’t seem to catch a break
“Small World” – Read a book that takes place in the City/Town/State you live in
“Not So Soft” – Read a hardcover
“Roll with It” – Read a book that someone recommended to you
“Itch” – Read a book in a genre you just can’t get enough of
“Gratitude” – Read a book someone has gifted to you
“The Whole Night” – Read a book in one sitting
“The Next Big Thing” – Read a book that you can’t stop gushing about
“Brief Bus Stop” – Read a collection of flash fiction
“Looking for the Holes” – Read a big buzz book you’ve been skeptical about


Imperfectly (1992)

“What if No One’s Watching” – Read a book that would be considered a guilty pleasure
“Fixing Her Hair” – Read a book by an author you hard core crush on
“In and Out” – Read a book that you can dip in and out of (poetry, flash, short story)
“Every State Line” – Read a book in which the character(s) travel or take a road trip
“Circle of Light” – Read a book you think is under-appreciated
“If It Isn’t Her” – Read a book that’s written under a pseudonym
“Good, Bad, Ugly” – Read a book that’s received a ton of mixed reviews
“I’m No Heroine” – Read a book about an anti-hero / that features an evil protagonist
“Coming Up” – Read a book that left you gasping for air
“Make Them Apologize” – Read a book by a song writer / a book about a musician
“The Waiting Song” – Read a book that’s part of series that hasn’t been completed yet
“Served Faithfully” – Reread a favorite book
“Imperfectly” – Read a used book, the more banged up the better


Puddle Dive (1993)

“Names and Dates and Times” – Read a book that features a nameless narrator or that takes place in an undisclosed place and time
“Any Day” – Free Read – read whatever you want, whenever you want and take credit for it here
“4th of July” – Read a book that takes place on a holiday / features a holiday
“Willing to Fight” – Read a book on a topic you are very passionate about
“Egos Like Hairdos” – Read a book that’s outside your norm / try reading something different
“Back Around” – Pick up a book in a genre you haven’t read in a while
“Blood in the Boardroom” – Read a book about a working stiff / pencil pusher
“Born a Lion” – Read a book that’s got a big bite
“My IQ” – Read a book that made you feel stupider for having read it
“Used to You” – Read a book by a favorite author
“Pick Yer Nose” – Read a library book
“God’s Country” – Read a book that features religion


Out Of Range (1994)

“Buildings and Bridges” – Read a book that takes place in a city or features large architectural structures
“Letter to a John” – Read a book that features prostitution / sex
“Hell Yeah” – Read a book that absolutely blew you away
“How Have You Been” – Pick up a book you had previously started and never finished.. then finish it!
“Overlap” – Read a book that’s hard to place into one genre
“Face Up and Sing” – Read a non fiction book that tackles a tough or important topic
“Falling is Like This” – Read a romance novel or a book that heavily features love
“Out of Range” – Read a book that was just a little too “out there” for you
“You Had Time” - Read a book and if it hasn’t grabbed in the first 50 pages, DNF it!!
“If He Tries Anything” – Read a book about best friends
“Diner” – Read a book about food or in which food is prominently features


Not A Pretty Girl (1995)

“Worthy” – Read a book that won an award
“Tiptoe” – Read a book that you’re hesitant about
“Cradle and All” – Read a YA / Children’s book
“Shy” – Read a book that takes place in or features a motel
“Sorry I Am” – Read a book that everyone loves but you didn’t
“Light of Some Kind” – Read a book in which the world seems to be ending
“Not A Pretty Girl” – Read a book with a bad cover
“The Million You Made” – Read an NYT best seller
“Hour Follow Hour” – If you read a book and it felt like it took foreeeeever to finish, take credit for it here
“32 Flavors” – Read a book that features food on the cover or in the title
“Asking Too Much” – Read a book that didn’t live up to your expectations
“This Bouquet” – Read a book that features flowers on the cover
“Crime for Crime” – Read a crime/mystery book
“Coming Up” – Read a book by an up and coming author
“Untitled” – Read anything and take credit for it here


Dilate (1995)

“Untouchable Face” – Read a book that features unrequited love
“Outta Me, Onto You” – Read a book and write a ranty review about it
“Superhero” – Read a book that features superheroes / read a comic book
“Dilate” – Read a book that creates an unexpected reaction in you
“Amazing Grace” – Read a book that features an adjective in the title
“Napoleon” – Read a historical fiction or history book
“Shameless” – Read a book that you’d be embarrassed to be caught reading
“Done Wrong” – Read a book with a weird twist you didn’t see coming
“Going Down” – Read a book that doesn’t live up to its hype
“Adam and Eve” – Read a book that’s been co-authored
“Joyful Girl” – Read a book that makes you feel good


The Past Didn’t Go Anywhere (1996)

“Bridges” – Read a book that could be considered a “bridge”, or a good introduction, to a specific genre
“Nevada City, California” – Read a book that takes place in, or is written by an author, from this state
“Korea” – Read a book that takes place in a different country
“Anarchy” – Read a dystopian novel
“Candidacy” – Read a book you believe should be considered for an award
“Bum on the Rod” – Read a book with a nonsensical title
“Enormously Wealthy” – Read a book from a Big 5 Publishing House
“Mess with People” – Read a book that’s told in a unique format
“Natural Resources” – Read a “cli-fi” book
“Heroes” – Read a book in which the lead character does something remarkable
“Half a Ghost Town” – Read a scary story / a book that features ghosts
“Holding On” – Read a book that you kept considering DNFing but didn’t


Little Plastic Castle (1998)

“Little Plastic Castle” – Read a fairy tale
“Fuel” – Read a book that gets you all worked up
“Gravel” – Read a book about the end of a relationship/friendship
“As Is” – Borrow a book from someone, and return it in the same condition
“Two Little Girls” – Read a book that features a child as the protagonist
“Deep Dish” – Read a book that’s over 400 pages long
“Loom” – Read a book in which the tension builds slowly / something big is looming
“Pixie” – Read a science fiction book
“Swan Dive” – Read a book that features birds or has a bird on the cover
“Glass House” – Read a book that features or deals with hypocrisy or in which one of the characters is a hypocrite
“Independence Day” – Read a book about, or that features, aliens
“Pulse” – Read a horror book / a book that scares you silly


Up Up Up Up Up Up (1999)

“Tis of Thee” – Read a book that features, or is written in, a unique or made-up dialect
“Virtue” – Read a book with a one word title
“Come Away from It” – Read a book that has a huge influence on you
“Jukebox” – Read a book that features music
“Angel Food” – Read a book that features angels or religion
“Angry Any More” – Read a book that pisses you off
“Everest” – Read a book that takes place in an unusual environment
“Up Up Up Up Up Up” – Read a book that contains the same word more than once in the title
“Know Now Then” – Read a book from your TBR that you should have read a long time ago
“Trickle Down” – Read a book that features blue collar workers
“Hat Shaped Hat” – Read a book that turns out to be exactly what you thought it would be / totally predictable


To the Teeth (1999)

“To the Teeth” – Read a book with a political bent
“Soft Shoulder” – Read a paperback
“Wish I May” – Go buy a book off your wishlist and read it
“Freakshow” – Read a bizarro book
“Going Once” – Ignore everyone’s advice and read a book people warned you you wouldn’t like
“Hello Birmingham” – Read a book with a city name in the title
“Back Back Back” – Read the oldest book in your TBR
“Swing” – Read a book that messed with your emotions
“Carry You Around” – Carry a book around with you and read it whenever/wherever you can
“Cloud Blood” – Read a book that takes place mostly outside
“The Arrivals Gate” – Read a book that takes place in or features an airplane/airport
“Providence” – Read a book that features or is about divinity / spirituality
“I Know This Bar” – Read a book that takes place in, or prominently features, a bar


Reveling: Reckoning (2001)

“Ain’t That Way” – Read a book that’s a spin on another book
“OK” – Read a book that you were just meh about
“Garden of Simple” – Read a book that takes place in the summer
“Tamburitza Lingua” – Read a book that’s been translated
“Marrow” – Read a medical thriller
“Heartbreak Even” – Read a book that you gave three stars to
“Harvest” – Read a book that takes place in the fall
“Kazoointoit” – Read a book that makes no sense at all
“Whatall Is Nice” – Read a book that makes you feel warm and fuzzy
“What How When Where (Why Who)” – Read a self help or motivational book
“Fierce Flawless” – Read a book and give it all the stars
“Rock Paper Scissors” – Read a book that features some kind of game
“Beautiful Night” – Read a book that takes place mostly at night/in the dark
“Your Next Bold Move” – ask someone to pick a book off your TBR list and then read it
“This Box Contains…” – Read a book as soon it’s been delivered to the house
“Reckoning” – Read a book with a word that ends in “ing” in the title
“So What” – Ignore your chores and plop down to read a book, and take credit where when you finish it
“Prison Prism” – Read a book that takes place in a prison or features someone who was in jail
“Imagine That” – Read a book that really surprised you
“Flood Waters” – Read a post-apocalyptic novel
“Grey” – Read a book with a grey colored cover
“Subdivision” – Read a book that is broken into “parts”
“Old Old Song” – Read a Victorian lit novel
“Sick of Me” – Take a sick day and read a book
“Don’t Nobody Know” – Read a book that has no, or almost no, reviews or ratings
“School Night” – Read a book that takes place in school and/or features students/teachers
“That Was My Love” – Read a book that uses flashbacks, or takes place in the past and present, to tell its story
“Reveling” – Read a book that you just can’t stop thinking about
“In Here” – Pick a new reading spot, and read one book there, then take credit for it here



Evolve (2003)
“Promised Land” – Read a book that promised more than it delivered
“In the Way” – Read a book that you had trouble finishing because you keep getting interrupted
“Icarus” – Read a book about a mythology or that features a mythological character
“Slide” – Read a book in a park
“O My My” – Read a book that really impressed the hell out of you
“Evolve” – Read a book that features or hinges itself on evolution
“Shrug” – Read a book that was just alright
“Phase” – Read a book in a genre or on a topic that you’re currently obsessed with
“Here for Now” – Read a book you’ve borrowed from the library
“Second Intermission” – Read the second book of a series
“Serpentine” – Read a book that features a snake or lizard on the cover or in the title
“Welcome To” – Read a brand-new-to-you genre



Educated Guess (2004)

“Platforms” – Listen to a podcast or a read a book in a different format than your used to
“Swim” – Read a book that takes place in, on, or around water
“Educated Guess” – Read a book that you chose solely for the title
“Origami” – Read an instructional, DYI book, and make/build/do the thing
“Bliss Like This” – Read a really sappy love story
“The True Story of What Was” – Read a book based on a true story
“Bodily” – Read a body horror novel
“You Each Time” – Read a choose your own adventure book
“Animal” – Read a book with an animal on the cover
“Grand Canyon” – Read a book while you’re on vacation
“Company” – Read a book while family is visiting / you’re visiting family
“Rain Check” – Read a book instead of following through with your plans for the day
“Akimbo” – Read a book that will give you nightmares / make it hard for you to fall asleep
“Bubble” – Read a book that you were super excited to start but that let you down terribly


Knuckle Down (2005)

“Knuckledown” – Read a western or a book that features a cowboy
“Studying Stones” – Read a book in which the main character or a small group of people live in seclusion
“Manhole” – Read a book that takes place underground
“Sunday Morning” – Grab a coffee and read a book on the weekend
“Modulation” – Read a book whose title begins with the letter M
“Seeing Eye Dog” – Read a book that features a character with a disability
“Lag Time” – Read a book that was written in the last century
“Parameters” – Read a book about someone overcoming / facing their fears
“Callous” – Read one of your friend’s favorite books and tell them that you think of it
“Paradigm” – Read a book that features immigrant characters or is written by an immigrant author
“Minerva” – Read a book with a woman’s name in the title
“Recoil” – Read a book that grosses you out


Reprieve (2006)

“Hypnotized” – Read a book that kept your attention the entire way through
“Subconscious” – Read a book you hadn’t realized you wanted to read until you began reading it
“In the Margins” – Read a used book that already contains marginalia and read the notes too!
“Nicotine” – Read a book about addiction
“Decree” – Read a book your friends have been screaming and shouting about
“78% H20” – Read a book that heavily features science
“Millennium Theater” – Read a play
“Half Assed” – Read a book that you felt had good intentions but was executed poorly
“Reprieve” – Read a fem-lit book
“A Spade” – Read a book that features graves, grave diggers, or takes place in a cemetery
“Unrequited” – Read a book that you wanted to love but just couldn’t
“Shroud” – Read a book about death or dying
“Reprise” – Read a book that qualifies for one of the reading tasks you’ve already used and take credit for it here


Red Letter Year (2008)

“Red Letter Year” – Read a book that’s written as, or features, a series of letters or journal entries
“Alla This” – Read a book that features religion
“Present/Infant” – Read a book that features pregnancy or a woman with a baby
“Smiling Underneath” – Read a satirical book
“Way Tight” – Read a book that’s under 100 pages
“Emancipated Minor” – Read a YA/NA book
“Good Luck” – Read a book about a character that just keeps making bad decisions
“The Atom” – Read a sci-fi book
“Round a Pole” – Read a book with an inanimate object in the title
“Landing Gear” – Read a book with an uneventful ending
“Star Matter” – Read a space opera


Which Side Are You On (2012)

“Life Boat” – Read a book that takes place on a boat or island
“Unworry” – Read a book from a genre you’ve avoided until now
“Which Side Are You On” – Read a book that keeps you thoroughly confused the entire way through
“Splinter” – Read a book that is told in multiple or fragmented perspectives
“Promiscuity” - Read more than one book at a time and take credit for them here
“Albacore” – Read a book in which the protagonist has a tattoo(s)
“J” – Read a book written by an author whose name starts with J or a character who is only known by a first initial
“If YR Not” – Read a book about a total fuck up
“Hearse” – Read a book that features a funeral home, death, or the afterlife
“Mariachi” – Read a book that delves into, or features, a culture different from your own
“Amendment” – Reread a book from your past and rewrite your review with a fresh set of eyes
“Zoo” – Read a book that had a word with the letter Z in the title


Allergic To Water (2014)

“Dithering” – Read a book you’ve been staring at for a while
“See See See See” – Read a book that has repetitive words in the title
“Woe Be Gone” – Read a book to escape your blues/worries and take credit for it here
“Careless Words” – Read a book that would have benefited from being much shorter
“Allergic to Water” – Read a book at the beach
“Harder Than it Needs to Be” – Read a book that just tried too hard
“Genie” – Read a book that features magic or magicians
“Happy All the Time” – Read a book that makes you laugh
“Yeah YR Right” – Read a book that features social media / text speak
“Tr’w” – Read a book that starts with a T, R, or W
“Still My Heart” – Read a book that just crushes your heart
“Rainy Parade” – Read a book on a rainy day


Binary (2017)

“Binary” – Read a book that is written in two parts, or contains two separate storylines
“Pacifist’s Lament” – Read a book that was written by a known pacifist or feature pacifism
“Zizzing” – Read a book you find electrifying
“Play God” – Read a book that features cloning, experimentation, or a lead character with a god-like mentality
“Alrighty” – Read a book that you’ve been meaning to get out of the way
“Telepathic” – Read a book with a character who has special powers
“Even More” – Read a book that you wished would never end
“Spider” – Read a book that features insects or has insects on the cover
“Sasquatch” – Read a book about a myth or legend
“Terrifying Sight” – Read a book that is super gory and burns itself into your brain
“Deferred Gratification” – Take your time reading a really good book

Tis the Season For Death Valley Superstars

Duke Haney released Death Valley Superstars last December with Delancy Street Press. 

You can purchase a copy, and purchase a copy you should, here. 

Btw, the Kindle version is just 1.99. I mean, seriously, go get the dang thing!

Though its tone is sometimes comic, “Death Valley Superstars“ is nevertheless a livre noir, and no liquor says noir to me like whisky, whether bourbon, scotch, Irish, or Canadian. Steve Cochran, a noir figure both on- and offscreen and one of the short-lived subjects of “Death Valley Superstars,” had a taste for whisky, as did another of the book’s subjects, Jim Morrison, who sang famously, “Oh, show me the way to the next whisky bar,” while I once passed out on the floor of Morrison’s bygone residence in West Hollywood after a night of drinking—what else?—whisky. This incident, which includes a visit from Morrison’s ghost, is recounted in ”Death Valley Superstars,” but I’m afraid whisky is not typically sold alongside the book. 

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“If it goes by, I’ve always known it was fickle,” Marilyn Monroe once said of fame, an overriding theme in this collection of essays, profiles, and memoir by showbiz survivor Duke Haney. Fame proved faithful, of course, to Monroe, the book’s most iconic subject, while others, like Steve Cochran, a villain in movies and a “hard-drinking, bed-hopping cop magnet” in reality, were widely forgotten before their untimely, often mysterious deaths. Taking an experimental tack in some instances, Haney employs a psychic medium to conduct a séance at Jim Morrison’s former residence and an astrologer to interpret the birth chart of an astrology-crazed film star-turned-bank robber. He attends the funeral of the “next James Dean” who became a raggedy street person, performs a cringeworthy nude scene in a movie produced by “King of the Bs” Roger Corman, and searches for the camper van where funk trailblazer Sly Stone has been reduced to living.

Painstakingly researched and compulsively readable, Death Valley Superstars offers a kind of midnight tour of Los Angeles past and present, highlighting hidden corridors and seldom-heard anecdotes about a few of the many who, fooled by Hollywood’s mirages, found themselves caught in its quicksand.

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"The book is brilliantly sequenced. If you’ve ever wanted to hear scalpel slices of backlot dreams … perhaps nightmares … or Gnosis remarks that refer to Las Vegas and Hollywood … then Duke Haney … with sly wit burning … with unknown and known old-school celebrities … certainly delivers." - Heavy Feather Review

"Haney has produced a fantastic, thoroughly readable book. His unique literary flair and his obvious passion and knowledge makes for a rich and interesting collection, no matter how much or how little you may know about the subject." - Storgy

"I was humbled and dazzled by Duke's writing. It's just so good....one I recommend regardless of whether one thinks they have an interest in mid to late 20th century Hollywood. It is well worth the read just to experience the immense talent of an extremely under-appreciated writer." - Jonathan Dunkle

"...we owe him our thanks for Death Valley Superstars, a dream of a collection." - LARB

" “Death Valley Superstars” forms a kind of homage to a grittier, pre-gentrified Hollywood." - AV Press

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Duke Haney, aka Daryl Haney, has spent most of his adult life working in the movie business, with twenty feature-film credits as an actor and twenty-two as a screenwriter.  He used pseudonyms for some of the screenplays and went by “D. R. Haney” as the author of a novel, Banned for Life, and an essay collection, Subversia. After he was struck by a car in a crosswalk on Sunset Boulevard, a friend claimed he walked like John “Duke” Wayne and gave him the nickname by which most people know him and he has taken belatedly as his pen name. He plans to follow Death Valley Superstars with a novel tentatively titled XXX. 

Tis the Season for Relief By Execution

Gint Aras released Relief By Execution back in October with Little Bound Books. 

You can purchase a copy, and purchase a copy you should, here. 

Relief by Execution: A Visit to Mauthausen goes best with whatever happens to be around, and at the time of this composition, it happened to be around a bottle of Lagavulin 16. It does well beside a bottle of Austrian beer---Gösser, Stiegl or Wieselburger---and it breathes sighs of presence when accompanied by a tall glass of any Lithuanian lager, perhaps Švyturys or Vilkmergė. 

Its soul is similar to Lagavulin’s: equal parts intensity and warmth, equal notes of wood and salted air, qualities of earth and fire, and a finish that provides both invitation and closure. Never water it down. Drink it neat. 

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Between the years of 1996-1999, Gint Aras lived a hapless bohemian’s life in Linz, Austria. Decades later, a random conversation with a Polish immigrant in a Chicago coffeehouse provokes a question: why didn’t Aras ever visit Mauthausen, or any of the other holocaust sites close to his former home? The answer compels him to visit the concentration camp in the winter of 2017, bringing with him the baggage of a childhood shaped by his family of Lithuanian WWII refugees. The result is this meditative inquiry, at once lyrical and piercing, on the nature of ethnic identity, the constructs of race and nation, and the lasting consequences of collective trauma. 

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"A thoughtful meditation on the painful process of self-knowledge." - Kirkus Review 

"This is blistering nonfiction." - After the Pause 

"Aras is sparse with words but big on impact...This is a thoughtful, beautifully written essay that packs in many sharp questions about how people function." - New City Lit 

"Gint Aras’s story is urgently important. We need books like these, full of honest writing, earnest exploration, and profound insight." - Bookends Review 

"...it’s the best meditation on that strange brew of privilege and cultural heritage I’ve as yet had the pleasure to read. " - Untoward Magazine 

"Relief by Execution is probably one of the most poignant nonfiction books I have read in a long time. It unpacks questions of identity, explores curiosities of what it means be a victim, and reflects on the importance of telling your own story. " - Independent Book Review

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Gint Aras (Karolis Gintaras Žukauskas) has been trapped on planet Earth since 1973. His prose considers the constructs that determine our identity, and what impact trauma has on perception. Translations, essays and short fiction have appeared in Quarterly West, Hypertext, The St. Petersburg Review, STIR Journal, Dialogo, Antique Children and other publications. He’s the author of the novels Finding the Moon in Sugar (Infinity, 2009), The Fugue (Tortoise Books, 2016), and the memoir Relief by Execution: A Visit to Mauthausen (Homebound Publications, 2019). A father of two, he splits his time between Chicago, Illinois and Klaipėda, Lithuania.

Tis the Season for Ghosts Of You

Cathy Ulrich released Ghosts of You back in back in October with Okay Donkey Press. 

Go on and grab yourself a copy here. 

The book goes great with a Black Dahlia....

To drink with "Ghosts of You," I'd recommend a Black Dahlia. I got this recipe from a cheesy TV drama with switched identities and faked deaths and all sorts of goodness!

To make a Black Dahlia, you take three ounces vodka, one ounce creme de cassis and a splash of raspberry liqueur. I usually just pour them straight into the glass, but using a cocktail shaker works great too.

The drink, of course, is named after Elizabeth Short, more famously known by the moniker she was dubbed by the Hearst newspapers after her murder: The Black Dahlia. She's referenced in a story in "Ghosts of You," and she is the epitome of a girl whose death set the plot in motion.

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Ghosts of You is a collection of short stories about seeking the lost and finding the person behind the sensationalism. It examines the tropes of mystery/crime storytelling in which the narrative always begins with the body of yet another murdered woman. They are mothers and daughters, teachers and students, lovers and wives, actresses and extras. They have been taken, but their stories still remain. This is how they set the plot in motion.

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"She tackles moments of intense grief without flinching, and balances them within a kaleidoscope of poignant moments. ghosts of you is intense, but not exhausting. Each piece is as unique as the murdered woman who starts it. Collectively, they challenge our treatment of the murdered woman." - Bookends Review

"Ulrich digs deep to expose and underscore the disposability of women; the way our lives are measured by those we leave behind; they way we only matter as a plot device." - Dianah @ Powell's 

"Like a seasoned gumshoe, Ulrich dirties her hands, digs through sensationalism, and ignores the obvious to search for clues. She opens up the spaces between what the readers think they understand and the truth. " - Heavy Feather Review

"Ulrich’s writing is revelatory, bone-shaking. ...This is flash fiction that will sink into your bloodstream and keep circulating long after the final line." - After the Pause

"Cathy Ulrich is a puppeteer with the short story craft...For fans of literary fiction and murder mysteries, you’ve met your match with this book." Independent Book Review 

"There’s a timelessness to Ghosts of You, and even after many readings, there’s still fresh meaning and details. Ulrich is giving these women their due, breaking open the wounds, bringing them to the foreground and transforming their stories." - Emily @ Smokelong

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Cathy Ulrich is the founding editor of Milk Candy Review, a journal of flash fiction. Her work has been published in various journals, including Black Warrior Review, Passages North, and Wigleaf and can be found in Best Microfiction 2019, Best Small Fictions 2019 and Wigleaf's Top 50 Very Short Fictions 2017 and 2019. She lives in Montana with her daughter and various small animals.

Bronwyn Reviews: Guesthouse for Ganesha

Guesthouse for Ganesha by Judith Teitelman

Publisher: She Writes Press

Released: 2019

reviewed by Bronwyn Mauldin

  

For people of faith, the idea of some kind of supernatural being keeping watch over you every day, I imagine to be both a comfort and a terror. Your needs, fears, and desires are under constant scrutiny. One day you will fail your god. But what if you are watched over without your knowledge? What if the god is of a faith and culture not your own? This is the intriguing starting point for Judith Teitelman’s Guesthouse for Ganesha.

When Esther Grünspan is abandoned by her fiancé on her wedding day in 1923, she flees her tight-knit Polish shtetl and travels to Köln, Germany, to make her heartbroken way in the world. Trained as a seamstress from childhood, she earns her living by her unrivaled skill with needle and thread. As she struggles to survive, to learn language and culture, she hardens her heart to love and friendship. She seems to want to be entirely unseen. Look at my work, her actions cry out, not at me.

A loveless marriage follows, then the Nazis. A network of good people move Esther from home to apartment to boarding house, from country to country. They provide false papers and sewing assignments, everything from simple hems to elaborate gowns. Sewing is both her refuge and livelihood.

Esther’s life expands and contracts across a backdrop of some of the greatest horrors of the 20^th century; we see crimes against humanity play out in the life of one woman. Watching with us is the elephant-headed god Ganesha of the Hindu pantheon. She encounters him in park in Köln, but does not know him as a god. His role in her life as a remover of obstacles is invisible to her. She does not see him give a cookie to distract her fretful daughter so she can finish a gown for a wealthy socialite in time for a party. She does not see him turn a head at just the right moment or move a hand to sign a document that allows her to escape to safety.

Still, like so many gods and superheroes, Teitelman’s Ganesha is not omnipotent. He can soothe a querulous child and save a single life, but he cannot prevent the Holocaust.

In the aftermath of the war, the story of Guesthouse for Ganesha takes a startling turn to fantasy. So, too, did arts and literature abandon the limitations of realism in the post-war period. Esther walks away from a life that has both sustained and constrained her, opening herself to a Hindu god of letters and learning who has, she discovers, watched over her with love and compassion all along.

Bronwyn Mauldin writes fiction and facts, and is creator of The Democracy Series zine collection. Her newest short story appears in the 2019 Gold Man Review. More at bronwynmauldin.com.

Where Writers Write: Alex Myers

Welcome to another installment of TNBBC's Where Writers Write!

Where Writers Write is a series in which authors showcase their writing spaces using short form essay, photos, and/or video. As a lover of books and all of the hard work that goes into creating them, I thought it would be fun to see where the authors roll up their sleeves and make the magic happen. 

This is Alex Myers.

Alex is a teacher, speaker, writer, and advocate for transgender rights. Since coming out as transgender in 1995, he has worked with schools across the country, helping them create gender inclusive policies, practices, and facilities. Alex's essays have appeared in the Guardian, Slate, Newsweek, Salon, and variety of other journals. He has published two novels, Revolutionary (Simon & Schuster, 2014) and Continental Divide (The University of New Orleans, 2019), as well as a third, The Story of Silence, forthcoming from HarperCollins (2020). Alex teaches English at Phillips Exeter Academy.

Where Alex Myers Writes

It isn't pretty. It isn't fancy. But it works for me. What is it? It's my father's old desk with an ikea tv stand on top of it, which makes it the perfect height for me to stand at to type or write by hand. It's a heap of paper and notes, all of it totally messy to an outsider and completely organized to me. 

I've got a window that looks out into a parking lot; the afternoon light is great. I've got two cats who vie to sit on the desk whenever the heat is on (the radiator is right there underneath) or whenever the trash is being picked up in the parking lot (somehow, they think they can take on a trash truck). 

Something you might not notice: the dark stain on the wood floor right in front of the desk. That's where I stand. Where my feet hit the ground. I mostly stand there barefoot, and maybe the mark is a testament to the corrosive properties of my foot sweat, but I like to think that it actually speaks to how much I stand there. Every day. At least for a little bit.

In an ideal world, I could write anywhere, and sometimes I have to. But the truth is, this is my happy writing spot. Everything I need is close at hand; I'm used to the noises the space makes, the light across the desk, the warmth of the room. When I write in the afternoon, I can watch the sunset, and this view is how I mark the seasons; I catch the first yellow-green of spring fuzz on the maple tree; I watch the progress of the shadows across the roof as the sun roams the sky in summer. Then, it's on to New England's gorgeous display of red-orange fall. Arriving at where I am today. Writing. Looking at the window, a cat purring nearby, the branches bare and ready for winter and me, warm and waiting to write.

Indie Ink Runs Deep: Meagan Lucas

Every now and then I manage to talk a small press author into showing us a little skin... tattooed skin, that is. I know there are websites and books out there that have been-there-done-that already, but I hadn't seen one with a specific focus on the authors and publishers of the small press community. Whether it's the influence for their book, influenced by their book, or completely unrelated to the book, we get to hear the story behind their indie ink....

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Today's ink story comes from Meagan Lucas, who's novel Songbirds and Stray Dogs recently released with Main Street Rag Press. 

“Don’t it hurt, doing that?” they ask, and I don’t know if they mean the ink on my skin or the words on my page. Doesn’t really matter I suppose, the answer is the same, “yes.”

For me, writing and being tattooed have been parallel journeys. In my early adulthood, I dabbled in both. Small pieces - easy to hide, easy to forget and nothing I was particularly attached to. My first tattoo was a Celtic knot on my lower back, scratched in the minute I turned 18, and hidden under the waist band of my pants. My first written pieces: a blog I wrote mostly to process my feelings and combat the loneliness of moving to a new country for grad school. Both the tattoo and the blog, as innocuous as they sound, ended up being sore spots. The tattoo was poorly done requiring a lot of touchups - even now almost 20 years later I can find its raised edges with my fingertips. The blog, a vent that I thought was a secret, was found by my boyfriend at the time who was surprised and upset to find out he was not my only boyfriend – a discovery that was painful for both of us and ended that friendship. As a result, I stepped away from both tattooing and writing for a number of years.

In 2011 my daughter was born, and post-partum depression gripped me, although I didn’t know it at the time. All I knew was that I was unhappy, disappointed, and afraid. I found myself writing essays about motherhood. I published on some small blogs. It felt good to express myself, and to create connections, to feel like I was using my education and communicating with adults. In 2013 my son was born, and with a toddler and an infant, I was nearly drowned in depression and anxiety. I gained a lot of weight. I was sad and angry all the time. I know that I was not fun to be around. I saw a therapist. She helped me understand that taking care of myself was not selfish, but necessary. I lost some weight. I began to write more seriously. I discovered two things: 1) that between pregnancy and weight my body no longer felt like it belonged to me, and 2) the essays I was writing were getting more and more personal and I felt like they were becoming unfair to people I loved.   

In retrospect, it isn’t a surprise that I began to work on my leg tattoo project (flowers - symbolizing my rebirth and my love of plants), and my novel (Songbirds and Stray Dogs just recently published) around the same time. I’d discovered that with fiction I could write about the issues that I wanted to under the guise of telling tales – that the lies and stories pointed at bigger truths than my real life experience ever could. And, that I needed a way to take my body back and that a large leg piece would be a start, to reclaim my skin as my own. The needle did for my body what the pen did for my mind.

Yes, being beneath a needle for 50+ hours (and more to come), and probing the emotional corners of my soul for story ideas are painful. But it’s a healing sort of pain, like when a broken bone aches as it knits itself back together, or the cleansing pain of rubbing alcohol on a skinned knee. With each chapter and story, and each visit to my tattoo artist (Phil Theoret, Asheville, NC), I am stronger and better and more *me.*

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Meagan Lucas is the author of the Southern Literary Fiction novel Songbirds and Stray Dogs. Her short work has appeared in: The Santa Fe Writer’s Project, The New Southern Fugitives, Still: The Journal, and The Blue Mountain Review among others. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and she won the 2017 Scythe Prize for Fiction. Taylor Brown says Meagan is: “a brave new voice in Southern Fiction,” and Steph Post describes Songbirds and Stray Dogs as a “stunning, startling novel.” Meagan teaches English Composition at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, and is the Fiction Editor at Barren Magazine. She lives with her husband and children in Hendersonville, NC. Read more, or connect with Meagan on Social Media, here: https://linktr.ee/meaganlucas

Bronwyn Reviews: Bright

Bright

by Duanwad Pimwana

translated from the Thai by Mui Poopoksakul

Publisher: Two Lines Press

Released: 2019

reviewed by Bronwyn Mauldin

Bright opens with a slow-motion heartbreak. A father tells his five year-old son, Kampol, to wait here, I’ll be back in a bit, then drives away with his baby brother. You, the reader, know he isn’t coming back. His mother left a few days ago after a nasty fight. Kampol sees his father drive away, then paces back and forth for hours, watching the curve in the road for his return.

The neighbors, residents of a small Thai village, do what they can. Over the course of the novel, Kampol’s basic needs and more are met by an assortment of people with varying degrees of caring and, at times, resentment. He has food, shelter, clothes, toys, and friendship. The village shopkeeper, Hia Chong, makes sure he learns to read. Uncle Dang occasionally asks him to give him a massage by walking up and down on his back. This turns out to simply be an excuse to give Kampol a few baht to spend. Uncle Dum, Aunt Tongbai, Old Jai, Mon, and others take turns stretching their meals to feed him, giving him a corner in their homes to sleep.

The title of this book, Bright, is a translation of Kampol’s family name, Changsamran. The word can also mean “joy,” which might appear as a contradiction of the hardships of this boy’s life. However, as Pimwana has said, “when the readers finish the story, they’ll likely find that the name is not ironic at all, for sadness in a story can be mixed with happiness.”

Pimwana is well known in Thailand for her short story collections. While Bright is a novel, it reads more as a collection of interconnected stories. This book was originally published in 2003, earning for Pimwana Southeast Asia’s most prestigious literary prize, the S.E.A. Write Award. It has only now been published in English by Two Lines Press. In fact, they say this is the first novel by a female Thai writer ever to be published in English.

Pimwana shows, never tells, with her prose. We see Kampol laugh and we see him cry, but we are seldom inside his five year-old mind, or the mind of any other character. This puts the reader at some distance them. We learn the motives of one character from their actions and from what other characters say about them.  

This distance does not dull the heartache we feel for Kampol as he goes about his ordinary days, or when he goes off on adventures like seeing a likay troupe perform, taking a bus to the beach by himself, or sneaking into a wedding with friends to try to cadge a free meal. For example, one day, Kampol announces to his friend Oan that not having parents isn’t all bad, telling him,

“I have more freedom than other people, that’s why. I don’t have to keep asking my mama for money. I can buy all the snacks I want, I can play wherever I want; I don’t have to ask permission from anybody.”  

These stories give a view into the lives of the people who make up a Thai village, and a universal but very particular boy’s life.

Bronwyn Mauldin writes fiction and poetry and is creator of The Democracy Series zine collection. Her newest short story appears in the 2019 Gold Man Review. More at bronwynmauldin.com.

Audio Series: Whispers in the Ear of a Dreaming Ape

Our audio series "The Authors Read. We Listen."  was hatched in a NYC club during BEA back in 2012. It's a fun little series, where authors record themselves reading an excerpt from their own novels, in their own voices, the way their stories were meant to be heard.




Today, Joshua Chaplinsky will be reading an excerpt from his most recent collection Whispers in the Ear of a Dreaming Ape. Joshua is the Managing Editor of LitReactor.com. He is the author of ‘Kanye West—Reanimator’ and the story collection 'Whispers in the Ear of A Dreaming Ape.' His short fiction has been published by Motherboard, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Thuglit, Severed Press, Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing, Clash Books, Pantheon Magazine and Broken River Books. Follow him on Twitter at @jaceycockrobin. More info at joshuachaplinsky.com.  

Click on the soundcloud bar below to listen to Joshua read from his collection:





What it's about: 

The debut short story collection from Joshua Chaplinsky, author of Kanye West—Reanimator. Thirteen weird pieces of literary genre fiction. Singularities, ciphers, and reappearing limbs. Alien messiahs and murderous medieval hydrocephalics. A dark collection that twists dreams into nightmares in an attempt to find a whisper of truth.