Redneck Press with Fried Chicken and Coffee » coming soon http://www.friedchickenandcoffee.com Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:00:35 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Why I Send What I Do http://www.friedchickenandcoffee.com/2008/09/04/why-i-send-what-i-do/ http://www.friedchickenandcoffee.com/2008/09/04/why-i-send-what-i-do/#comments Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:37:00 +0000 Rusty http://friedchickenandcoffee.wordpress.com/2008/09/04/why-i-send-what-i-do ↓ Read the rest of this entry...]]> Justin suggested in comments I talk a little bit about payment terms, as in why I sent certain books to the people I publish here, which seems like a good idea, as I've now finished packaging them for mailing tomorrow. Some submitters I've known quite well for years, others I know only by online association, others I really don't know at all. So I'm doing a little 'net research, and basing my choices for them on what they've written and what I can find about them.

First is Beverly Jackson. I've known Bev well since the late '90s online, we've published each other, and exchanged great swaths of email about our various projects and publications, so this choice was easy. I sent her Out of Canaan, a book I enjoyed a great deal, a collection of poems about growing up and growing wise® within a four-generation span of a Southern family. I know she's not reading poetry lately, though as you can see she's a fine fine poet, but I thought this book might be just her kinda thing. Hope you like, it, Bev.

Next up is Jim Parks, who I took three short-short stories from (so far). I know him only slightly, but he has stories behind stories behind other stories to tell, and I don't know if I've met anyone as serious about getting better as Jim. I know he lives in the southwest, and I know he was a journalist for many years. So I sent him Desierto, by Charles Bowden, a collection of nonfiction/journalism about the Southwest. I admire Bowden more than I can say for his maverick attitude–he's, uh, very male, in the Edward Abbey/Jim Harrison sense–and his sumptuous strung-out sentence structure (say that three times fast). I also, at Jim's request, sent a copy of my flash fiction collection.

Next is Dennis Mahagin. I wish he was still writing his blog,but he's not. Somebody kick him in the ass, would you? I know Dennis not all that well personally, though I've been reading him for years and he and I travel in many of the same cyber-circles with many mutual friends and an aura of respect for each other. I hope. So anyway, I sent him some fiction, Nothing Natural by Jenny Diski. How to explain this book? It's about s&m, yes, and about depression, sort of,and it's sexy in a sort of uncomfortable way, and I've not read much like it. And so in scanning my bookshelves to see what to send, I thought of Dennis.

Coming Soon: stories by Donna Vitucci and Mary Akers, more from Jim Parks, interviews with Silas House and Ron Rash, and all kinds of goodies I have yet to think of.

]]> http://www.friedchickenandcoffee.com/2008/09/04/why-i-send-what-i-do/feed/ 0 What's Coming Around the Ding-Dang http://www.friedchickenandcoffee.com/2008/08/21/whats-coming-around-the-ding-dang/ http://www.friedchickenandcoffee.com/2008/08/21/whats-coming-around-the-ding-dang/#comments Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:52:00 +0000 Rusty http://friedchickenandcoffee.wordpress.com/2008/08/21/whats-coming-around-the-ding-dang ↓ Read the rest of this entry...]]> There are a number of people stopping by today to read yesterday's post, by the way. Hi. No one's saying much, though. If you were—ahem—interested in this sort of subject matter, as you seem to be, what kinds of discussions would you like to see here?

I've told you I'll be doing fiction, poetry, essays, interviews, reviews, and also general blog ephemera. Next week I'll have a review of Jayne Pupek's Tomato Girl, and in the weeks after a discussion of rednecks as portrayed by Hollywood and the media, in which we will have much to say of Deliverance and Kalifornia and Patrick Swayze and Billy Bob Thornton, and even the website (warning—NSFW—warning) Dixie Sluts, a site that inspired events in the novel I'm finishing (and yes, that's the last you'll see of me pimping my own stuff here; I have another site for that).

I'll update and publish a longish reading list I used for a honors course I taught several years ago that I called, in a bald attempt to get people to sign up, 'White Trash Literature.' I taught two sections of it eventually, as advanced composition courses. We read a deal of criticism and fiction, and watched films, in the process of analyzing how the world thinks of 'white trash' and what it believes it can deduce about you, just by the way you talk or the location of your birth or the fact that, heavens forfend, when you get excited, you may indeed lose your educated TV announcer voice and become… interesting to listen to. I'm not going to promise you all the posts will be pretty. I'd like to get some semi-scholarly material up here, too. At least semi-scholarly. It's nice to get off a rant once in a while, but some balance is good, so I can convince myself I'm considering every side of an argument. If you're interested in guesting here, hit me up. I have some stories to read later, too, when I'm not hacking up a lung. Thanks to everyone who's sent them to me.

]]> http://www.friedchickenandcoffee.com/2008/08/21/whats-coming-around-the-ding-dang/feed/ 1