May 21
I was beginning to see that my life was not—let’s say it was not what I wanted it to be. There was always a wagonload of frustration to deal with—wanting to write and not being able to find the time or the place for it. I used to go out and sit in the car …
Apr 29
After Philip K. Dick got his first glimpse of Bladerunner (based on his “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”) he wrote this letter to the production company: October 11, 1981 Mr. Jeff Walker, The Ladd Company, 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, Calif. 91522. Dear Jeff, I happened to see the Channel 7 TV program “Hooray For …
Apr 27
I have a couple pieces of news regarding Technicolor Ultra Mall. The first is that my publisher has made the ebook version available through the Amazon Lending Library. So, if you’re an Amazon Prime Member, you can borrow it for zero dollars. If you’re old fashioned like me, it looks like the Canadian Amazon has …
Apr 23
This 1949 letter from Aldous Huxley to George Orwell is from Letters of Note. While these two authors shared a dystopic view, they disagreed on how it would be realized. Not to put too fine a point on it, Huxley feared the carrot while Orwell feared the stick. Wrightwood. Cal. 21 October, 1949 Dear …
Apr 18
This is a letter that William S. Burroughs wrote to Truman Capote in 1970 about ‘In Cold Blood.’ Burroughs was upset that Capote never tried to stop the executions of which he wrote. My Dear Mr. Truman Capote, This is not a fan letter in the usual sense—unless you refer to ceiling fans in Panama. Rather, …
Apr 13
My novel Technicolor Ultra Mall has been shortlisted for the Aurora Award in the Best Novel (English) category. Here’s the full shortlist: BEST NOVEL – ENGLISH Enter Night by Michael Rowe, ChiZine Publications Eutopia: A Novel of Terrible Optimism by David Nickle, ChiZine Publications Napier’s Bones by Derryl Murphy, ChiZine Publications The Pattern Scars by …
Apr 13
My first piece of commissioned baseball writing is up over at The Score’s Getting Blanked. It’s an introduction to the baseball teams and their narratives. Over the years, I’ve done a few posts on baseball here but they’ve been few and far between. (That’s what I use twitter for. Seriously — if I had to watch games …
Feb 19
My book showed up in a magazine profile of the bag of famed fashion blogger and friend Anita Clarke. This means my book probably goes to more parties than I do. She says: My good friend Ryan Oakley had his first novel, Technicolor Ultra Mall, published this year. I pre-ordered it months in advance and even got him …
Feb 08
Towards Crash: Two Films informed by J.G. Ballard’s 1973 novel, Crash.
