Caleb J. Ross's Blog, page 99

As part of the Charactered Pieces: stories preorder, I promised to fill every copy with the delicious smell of ACID cigars, as part of the completely made up Lungs for Readers program. The experiment semi-failed, as most of the books instead acquired the nasty smell of burnt paper and stale smoke. Lesson learned. Though still, the books are special, containing, in addition to the 'dive-bar' flavor, VERY personal inscriptions, limited numbering, and random bits of trash I've been meaning to...

If any of you caught The Colbert Report last night, you definitely did not see an interview with me about my chapbook, Charactered Pieces: stories. I had been sweating the non-interview for weeks, well-aware of how Stephen Colbert treats his guests (victims?). Claiming fairness and balance, his questions instead aim to further weave his delusional and increasingly erratic conservative narrative. For this reason, I felt an appearance, though in my head entirely, would serve his ego well. I...

I try to keep this site strictly about writing-related matters, but today warrants a break from that mode. Today is Prematurity Awareness day.

When my wife first told me it was Prematurity Awareness day, I thought she was trying to drop a non-so-subtle hint. "But honey, it's because you're so attractive," I was going to say. But then she saved me by elaborating.

Here's what the March of Dimes site has to say:

Prematurity has been escalating steadily and alarmingly over the past two decades. One...

Today, Charactered Pieces officially goes on sale after an absolutely amazing pre-sale period. I can't thank enough the many people who have traded their hard-earned cash for these bound words of mine. Due to such generosity, I have decided not to use the money to purchase a new Lay-Z-Boy for the PETA compound. They will get a used chair instead. The remaining money goes toward R&D for more painful ways to stub toes. It's a cause that is close to my heart.

Charactered Pieces is available to...

Only five days left to preorder Charactered Pieces: stories and receive all of the following cash and prizes:

Free shippingA (very) personal inscription. Note the specific name you would like the inscription made out to in the PayPal comments area. Also, note my use of the word "very;" I warn you: you may be disturbed by what I write. If you would rather a flat-signed, or "clean" copy, note that in the PayPal comments area as well.A picture of me signing the...

This afternoon, on vacation, sitting at the beach with a cigar in one hand and a notepad in the other, getting a head-start on inscriptions for Charactered Pieces preorders, I was struck with a sense of a realized dream, a dream I didn't really know I had until that moment. I write fiction for fun. One day, I'd like to make some money doing so. But until then, taking time at the beach to scribble a few words to people who are wanting to read my book…that's a damn fine dream to have.

I've...

First, and you'll get tired of me saying this, thank you to all who have preordered Charactered Pieces.

As mentioned in the previous post, some of you may have been refunded by PayPal. Big whoops on that. I received a list of all the people whose orders were NOT affected by the pre-order fiasco. I sent an email or PM to all of those beautiful people letting them know that they were not affected at all by the mix up and that their orders will ship as originaly promised. So, everyone who...

Everyone who preordered Charactered Pieces:

You likely received a refund notice from PayPal. There was a problem with the ordering system, which is being addressed.

Please know that Charactered Pieces is still going as promised. Please, though, if your money was refunded by PayPal, re-purchase using the button below. I know this is a hassle. Such is the life of a small operation.

Note: I'm picking on poetry here because of all forms, it is the most elusive. But my following comments could be applied to art in general.

Maybe because I was looking for a reason to give up on what had already proven to be an unfortunate read, but this section of The Book of Lazarus frothed all the ill-will I had toward (most) poetry:

I have seen that there is no predetermined direction to the birth of a word, that words move across the page like beams of random light moving through immense...