The Next Best Book Club discussion

Oh boy! Oh boy! Our very first POETRY selection for an author/reader discussion!!

Next month, we'll be discussing The Waiting Tide with Ryan W Bradley, and his publisher (Curbside Splendor) has given us 8 copies of this gorgeous collection to give away.

The poems were written as a tribute to Pablo Neruda's The Captain's Verses. They are translated spanish to english, side by side, and accompanied by amazing illustrations.

Don't you dare let this one pass you by!

Comment on the blog for a shot at winning one and secure a spot in the discussion that kicks off October 15th:

http://thenextbestbookblog.blogspot.c...

UPDATE TO GIVEAWAY...

PDF digital copies are now available internationally as part of the giveaway!

I would love to be in this discussion group. I do not read enough poetry, and would love to expand my horizons and discuss!

I used to read Neruda so long ago... Poetry has been a neglected genre by me the last times. It'd be great to read poetry again! I'm in the US. I agree in participate in the TNBBC discussion in October. [email protected]

wow this is amazing, I actually just finally dove into poetry and started with none other than Pablos captain poems. Would definitely love to win a copy of this book. it sounds amazing.

I know its late, but in case the give-away is on, Would like to read this one, the digital copy please.

I am so excited to hear what everyone thought of this poetry collection that I cannot wait another minute, and am going to welcome Ryan to the group RIGHT NOW!!!

Ryan, welcome welcome welcome! I love having you participate with TNBBCish things and I am so fricken excited to have had the opportunity to share your poetry homage THE WAITING TIDE with the group.

Thanks for making the time to be here with us!

Let me start the round of questioning by asking you this... What DON'T you have your hands in right now? Publisher, Editor, Poet, Writer, Designer, what am I missing?

Also, how does it feel to be the debut book for a debut imprint?

Thanks, Lori! I'm always stoked to be in the friendly confines of TNBBC. I'll be doing my best to answer anything/everything anyone has interest in knowing. I'm overly candid and open, so we can have a good adventure :)

As for your question, I actually feel like I don't do enough. Having a day job really gets in the way of a lot of pursuits I'd like to undertake. So there are plenty of things I'm not doing that I'd like to be.

Chiefly I'd really like to get back into my passion for film making. I was originally a double major in college (writing/film) but got kicked out of the program. I've been thinking a lot about making some films on my own and just putting them online for the heck of it.

As for the imprint, that was really cool. When Victor of Curbside Splendor first read The Waiting Tide he pounced on the manuscript right away and then a couple weeks later was like "I think we're going to do an imprint of bilingual books." It was gratifying to be able to have some impact on that happening. I just hope I can help usher Concepcion Books into the world in style. I'm doing my best.

While reading the poems I found myself wondering how to refer to them in discussion. Since some are not individually titled I was wondering if you nicknamed the pieces while compiling them into the book?

Along that line, did you order the poems deliberately?

Hi Rachelle!

The first section of poems are all titled The Waiting Tide, so rather than have those ones titled individually it felt less repetitive to just have the section titled The Waiting Tide. These poems really started the collection. I wrote one with that title then another and another. From there the rest of the poems grew and took on more traditional form in having individual titles.

They are ordered deliberately, I take a lot of time with sequencing. It's really important to me. I'm a major audiophile and one of my biggest pet peeves is when an album is sequenced poorly, so I try to think of poetry and story collections the same way I would an album.

Part of the consideration when sequencing this particular book was trying to pattern the way that Neruda's The Captain's Verses is sequenced.

Hi Ryan! Thank you for being here!
You mention the first section of your book where the poems don't have individuals titles but all of them are tittled as The Waiting Tide.
I would like to tell you that when I was reading this section, I felt like if the poems were waves, coming one after another, different but completely related. It made sense for me that they weren't named individually.

Hi Sandra! Thanks for taking part!

I'm glad it made sense that way, and I'm glad you feel the rhythm of the poems, it gets tricky writing so many poems on the same topic, making them work together instead of working against one another is a challenge, I think. So I did my best. I often write from titles, and when I thought of "The Waiting Tide" it got so stuck inn my head that it was hard to come up with other titles for a while.

Ryan, due to the extremely sensual and personal qualities of your poems, do you ever worry about what your family and friends might think of them as you write them?

I get asked that a lot. The short answer is that I don't worry about it at all.

I'm really comfortable with who I am and my writing so I don't think about it or worry about it. My mom has read a lot of my work and I show her all my books when they come out. Then again she gave me a copy of HOWL when I was 9 or 10. I know my wife is embarrassed sometimes (not in a bad way) but she's also super supportive, and her friends have read my books. Co-workers have read my books. But I have family and friends who don't want to read my books because they can't separate me from the work. And that's fine too. But nothing alters what I am going to write.

Following Lori's point, How did you decide to make "public" something private through your poetry? Did you decide to do it or it was just natural to show your work?

Honestly, it's just part of who I am. I'm really up front and open about myself. Everything from intimate stuff, to other issues in my life. I've written a lot of personal essays and stuff. I guess I just don't see the point in holding back, this is me and people will either respond to that or they won't. My hope is that people will find some form of authenticity in that approach.

This question is for our readers,

What did you think of the spanish translation alongside the english?

Hi Ryan and everyone. wow what can I say it was a pleasure reading your work. I think my favorite would have to be The Possibility of Sky Writing. out of all your poems do you have any particular favorites? Onviously the sea has played a main role in your verses, in the introduction you mentioned it as a way to escape. Besides escaping where there any other references to the sea as compared to love and lust?

And I must say I love the drawings, they really create the overall effect of the poems.

Lori wrote: "This question is for our readers,

What did you think of the spanish translation alongside the english?"

Even though I am sure I was butchering the pronunciation of the Spanish version, I really liked being able to read both!

Hi Amber and Deanna! Thanks for participating!

Amber: Thanks so much for all the kind words! I think love and lust are an escape as well, but beyond that I think there's something very primal about the way the ocean works. And it's still mysterious. I think both love and lust fit that, too. Love will always be a mystery, and lust is the ultimate in primal in many ways. There's also a soothing factor.

And yes! I was so lucky to get the art by Brett Manning, she did an amazing job. It was really cool that the publisher wanted to have art throughout.

Also, if it makes anyone feel better about not being able to read the Spanish, I can't read or speak Spanish. I barely passed my two semesters in college.

Hi Ryan,

I enjoyed many of your poems. Even though I have a Bachelor's in English, poetry is hard for me, so I wanted to read your book to get more experience reading poetry. That being said, my question is not about your poetry, but I was curious about your working in the Arctic Circle; What type of work did you do, for how long, and did this experience contribute at all to your writings?

I cannot wait to read your poems for a second time,

Deanna

Amber wrote: "Hi Ryan and everyone. wow what can I say it was a pleasure reading your work. I think my favorite would have to be The Possibility of Sky Writing. out of all your poems do you have any particular ..."

Amber, I loved that poem too!

Deanna, I hope the book doesn't scare you away from trying more poetry! :)

Being from Alaska and working in the Arctic has had a huge impact on me. It's usually seen more in my fiction than poetry, but there is a section in MILE ZERO, my first full-length collection that was mostly Alaska-related poems. I did construction in the Arctic at the first pump station on the Trans Alaska Pipeline. It was a unique experience. The best part was in August when the caribou start migrating by the thousands across the tundra.

Ryan wrote: "Honestly, it's just part of who I am. I'm really up front and open about myself. Everything from intimate stuff, to other issues in my life. I've written a lot of personal essays and stuff. I guess..."

Your poetry definitively has an authentic approach.

Lori wrote: "This question is for our readers,

What did you think of the spanish translation alongside the english?"

Being my native language Spanish, I've always read Pablo Neruda in Spanish. I read The waiting tide first all in Spanish and then all in English.
I think it was great as an homage to Neruda to have had the poems translated too.

I used to read Neruda when I was a teenager. Ryan, How old were you when you first read it?

I'm glad people have been able to enjoy the Spanish. I got together with Jacob to do the translation before the book had even been picked up. And we worked really hard to try and be as close to the Chilean dialect Neruda would have written in.

I probably read a few Neruda poems here and there when I was a teenager. My mom and stepdad really turned me on to a lot of poetry from about 9 on. But I didn't really dive into his work until my twenties. During my MFA a faculty member made some connections between my work and Neruda, so I started actively seeking out more and more.

Hi Ryan,
Sorry to be joining the discussion late!
I've really enjoyed your poems. To answer Lori's question, I think the Spanish translation is fabulous (although I can't read it). It makes Ryan's work available to more readers and, of course, works because of the Neruda connection.
I, too love the sea for its soothing qualities. Ryan, your poems have a cadence that corresponds to the ebb and flow of the sea. Aside from your time in the Arctic, do you live near or spend any time near the Pacific? Have you ever sailed? I'd also be interested in learning more about your time growing up in Alaska. What was that like and what effect do you think it had on your writing?

Hi Ann! There's no late here :)

I'm glad you enjoyed the book! I've spent time on the Oregon coast (currently I live about 3 hours from the coast), not a considerable amount but probably on average once a year over the last six years. I haven't sailed, growing up we took ferries a couple times around Alaska and got to see whales and puffins and stuff. That was cool. And I've been out on fishing boats.

Alaska is kind of its own universe. I've never gotten used to living anywhere else, and nothing really compares for me. I miss the cold and the snow. I have a lot of fun stories from growing up there that other people think sound horrifying, like being chased by a bear when I was five or six.

As far as how it's impacted my writing I think there's a combination of the environment and the personalities of the people. It takes a certain type of person to live there and it caters to a certain type of hardness in people, too. I think I explore that a lot with my fiction.

Also, if anyone's interested I'll post links to the blog tour stops promoting the book this week and next. Here's today's at Nailed Magazine: http://www.nailedmagazine.com/poetry/...

My favorite Neruda's poem used to be Sonet XLVII. Now that I reread it I'm not sure why, but I remember read it thousands of times...
Ryan, Do you have a Neruda's poem that makes you want to read it again from time to time?

Amber wrote: "Hi Ryan and everyone. wow what can I say it was a pleasure reading your work. I think my favorite would have to be The Possibility of Sky Writing. out of all your poems do you have any particular ..."

One of my favorites too!

Ooh... let me get back to you this evening on my favorite. I am hopeless at remembering titles of poems. :)

:) I have to research for the title of mine too...

For anyone who's interested, for today's stop on the blog tour, I interviewed myself: http://clbledsoe.blogspot.com/2013/10...

Ryan wrote: "Deanna, I hope the book doesn't scare you away from trying more poetry! :)

Being from Alaska and working in the Arctic has had a huge impact on me. It's usually seen more in my fiction than poetry..."

No, Ryan it did not:0) I like to open the book to a random page now and re read them again and again, I would have to say though my favorite one right now is Body of Poems. I must have read this one at least 10 times, it really says it all about being in love with someone.

Ryan wrote: "For anyone who's interested, for today's stop on the blog tour, I interviewed myself: http://clbledsoe.blogspot.com/2013/10..."

Very funny, and very informative. Did not know you are from the same town as Sara and Todd Palin :0) I also am going to seek out your novels because I am quite interested and I am always looking for a new novelist (new to me) to read.

It's always interesting to see what poems people like best, it usually differs a lot. I'm glad to hear they are something you are already finding yourself returning to!

Yeah, I kind of liked it better when Wasilla was an unknown little hole of a place haha. I try to take solace in the fact that Sara wasn't actually from Alaska, just a transplant.

The fiction is quite a bit different, Code for Failure is very Bukowski-esque. My novella that will come out at the end of 2014 is darker, more suspenseful and/or psychological, but that one is set in Wasilla.

Sandra wrote: "Ryan, Do you have a Neruda's poem that makes you want to read i..."

So, "The Potter" and "Your Hands" from The Captain's Verses are probably my two favorite Neruda poems, and I think they show a clear path to what I ended up writing with The Waiting Tide.

find "The Potter" here: http://www.blogcitylights.com/2012/04...

and "Your Hands" here: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/your-h...

Ryan wrote: "For anyone who's interested, for today's stop on the blog tour, I interviewed myself: http://clbledsoe.blogspot.com/2013/10..."

So funny!

Ryan wrote: "Sandra wrote: "Ryan, Do you have a Neruda's poem that makes you want to read i..."

So, "The Potter" and "Your Hands" from The Captain's Verses are probably my two favorite Neruda poems, and I thin..."

Yes you are right, the connection between your work and Neruda is clear in those poems.

It's funny to look back on those poems now, the memories of reading the book and writing the poems in The Waiting Tide come flooding back. I wasn't consciously trying to converse with Neruda, but that's what it felt like. At 3am, it was like having a companion.

Let's spark this discussion back up!

Ryan, What can we expect from you next? I saw a little teaser the other day... how much can you divulge?

A new novella! It will be out late in 2014, so it's a ways off. It's called WINTERSWIM and takes place in my hometown, Wasilla, Alaska. It's about a pastor/meth addict who is trying to get young women into heaven of his own accord. It's dark and violent.

In the more immediate future I have a chapbook coming out in December called AVIARY, which is all love/lust poems using birds instead of water. It was written as a response to BIRDING, a chapbook by my friend Kat Dixon.

Beyond that, it's all about waiting right now, my second novel, A HARD PLACE TO DIE is sitting with one publisher, and a story collection is sitting with another. So fingers crossed on those. As for poetry collections, well one never knows when those will spring up...

For anyone who's interested here's today's blog tour stop: http://patriciaannmcnair.com/2013/10/...

Interesting.. if your writing was an animal....!

Zoobiquity is such an amazing book. If you ever wanted to know all the dirt on animal sex lives (and other stuff, too), it's the book for you. For instance, stallions have performance anxiety.

I don't read that much poetry, so this was a pleasant change to my reading habits. I loved it!! Ryan, how long does it usually take you to write a poem?

Hi Brittany! I'm glad you enjoyed the book!

Getting the basic poem out doesn't take long, maybe 10-15 minutes, then I usually revise them at least three or four time. After that I tinker pretty much until it's out of my hands. I tend to change my mind about line breaks a lot. With my first collection, MILE ZERO, I was still messing with those poems up until hours before it was sent to the printer.

You can hear four poems from THE WAITING TIDE (2 read by me in English, 2 by the translator Jacob Steinberg in Spanish) on the WordPlaySound podcast: http://www.wordplaysound.com/wordplay...