Last spring I was thinking about space and time and what math is and what language is and it came out of me in this flash story called “Dissociated Matter,” which you can read in Issue No. 10, Autumn 2023 of the exceptionally edited Exacting Clam from Sagging Meniscus Press.
And if you’re hard up and can’t buy an issue, don’t tell anyone but you can read it online too.
Love ya’ll.
LJ
It’s less than a year until my novel STILL ALIVE makes its debut in the world and I’m slowly acclimating to the idea of being read (seen?), criticized, and all the hubbub / crickets that come with putting your work out there.
(These are the thoughts of an anxious author.)
If you missed our FANTASTIC Zoom Reading “A Murder of Malarkeys” back on March 22, you can watch it here [Passcode: bwp0z#my].
Next week, my book trailer is dropping (yes, this is a thing now).
Also, I have a lot of summaries of the book, and I’m not sure which one is straight fire and which ones are BORING. Or if a mix of them is best? HALP.
Let me know which summary you like best / which is the most appealing / which you think would most likely make you BUY THIS SUCKER? (I’m learning how to do this as I go.)
SUMMARY 1
V expects a tug-of-war romance with the charming yet withholding LEX to cure her early-2000s ennui, but her family’s chaos threatens to derail her overdue adulthood. This fast-paced swirl of memory and action hurtles toward a surprisingly hopeful end. As sexy as De-Transition Baby and Luster, with razor-sharp humor and heart-tugging romance. STILL ALIVE is a novel to fall into, out of, and back again.
SUMMARY 2
STILL ALIVE captures the fast-paced remembrances of the manic, bisexual V and her multiple-decade infatuation with Lex amidst the interjecting traumas of her past. Weighted by the emotional fallout from her parents’ dysfunctional marriage, mother’s addictions, and brother’s temporary escape into eastern religiosity (he’s nicknamed Richard Gere), V leaves the Portland, Oregon of her childhood for new roots in New York City, only to find herself further disillusioned. Her best friend Leroy has found happiness elsewhere and the city isn’t what it once was. After following V to Los Angeles, she realizes at last who she is and more importantly — who she doesn’t want to be. STILL ALIVE is a 21st century novel for the YouTube and Tiktok generations hungry for a new voice that reflects not only their reality, but their deepest longings.
SUMMARY 3
STILL ALIVE is an anti-coming of age story told through the fast-paced remembrances of the manic, bisexual V, as she enters a multiple-decade emotional tug-of-war with the charming and withholding Lex. Weighted by the fallout of her parents’ dysfunctional marriage, mother’s addictions, and brother’s temporary escape into eastern religiosity (he’s nicknamed Richard Gere), V leaves the Portland, Oregon of her childhood for new roots in New York City, only to find herself further disillusioned. Her best friend Leroy has found happiness elsewhere and the city isn’t what it once was. After following V to Los Angeles, she realizes at last who she is and more importantly—who she doesn’t want to be. STILL ALIVE is a 21st century, unconventional narrative with a surprisingly hopeful end.
SUMMARY 4
A sharp eye, contending with time. A disillusioned idealist, who expects feeling to create purpose. Meanwhile, 20th century narratives about gender, accomplishment, and family weigh heavy and persistent, though refused again and again. And love — the grand and foolish specter of love — enlivens it all. This is one way to talk about STILL ALIVE. The other way is to focus on plot. Or character: the narrator, V, is a judgmental, stubborn queer woman, unable to hew herself into the categories of identity and family that the world has offered her.
STILL ALIVE is an alternative to the loud and dominant voices of mainstream experiences and their expected worries and moral systems. It is a glimpse at a certain underworld of friendship, love, and survival that has existed for decades in bars and clubs, in basements, cities, and country hideouts, mostly unnoticed by the rest of America. STILL ALIVE enables the reader to be a voyeur where they may not have tread, or perhaps, to recognize (at last), a piece of their own experience.
In my estimation, STILL ALIVE would be at home on the shelf beside Eileen Myles and Thomas Bernhard, read on the Q or R trains headed to Queens, or left on the bar for the next patron after finishing. And perhaps for these reasons, among many, it is better suited for you than almost any other title. It is my hope that you agree.
Love to my favorite heathens,
LJ
P.S. Pre-Order STILL ALIVE here.
You’re invited to join us, Wednesday, March 22, at 7:30pm CT for an evening of great literature and general authorial mayhem. (Double check the time-zone so you don’t miss out!!!)
RSVP here and you’ll receive a Zoom invite the day of the event.
I’ll be reading from my forthcoming novel STILL ALIVE (2024) and possibly wearing sequins. Possibly. The other authors in the line-up will be reading from their amazing books. It’s going to be thrilling! Only five minutes each! Truly a smorgasbord of literature.
See you soon!!
This story might be one of my favorites I’ve ever written. Came out of me during the pandemic when I was sitting with big thoughts about the future and reading W.G. Sebald and my spouse and I would pass the time taking long drives down to the port and back home.
Los Angeles is known for its film studios and Hollywood glamour and media production, but one of the largest drivers of the economy is actually the Port of Los Angeles, which straddles San Pedro and Long Beach, and is the largest port in North America. It has 25 cargo terminals spread across 7,500 acres and handles over $270 billion in cargo a year. It is also a port of call for multiple cruise ships.
This story is partially about my fascination with the port, partially about my frustration with what I have seen some peers do to fit in, beat back loneliness, and lose a part of themselves along the way.
Wild to have grown up listening to NPR, and then today I got to turn on the radio and hear my voice right after NPR News from Washington!!
It was a pleasure to join Community Voices, a show produced by NPR Illinois WUIS 91.9FM out of Springfield, to talk about the work I do for the Kirkland Fine Arts Center, the College of Fine Arts at Millikin University, my upcoming book (STILL ALIVE, Feb 2024) from Malarkey Books, and how much I love living in Decatur. I even wedged in a mention of Frank’s, purveyors of the best Italian Beef in Central Illinois.
