Surprise -- I published a new book for the first time in a decade! This came about because of recently remembering that I still have 50 unused ISBNs lSurprise -- I published a new book for the first time in a decade! This came about because of recently remembering that I still have 50 unused ISBNs left over from my days of running a small press, back in the 2000s and '10s, and thinking what a shame it would be to just eat those unused numbers since I originally had to spend $700 just to secure the initial hundred of them in the first place. That had me thinking again about the serialized reviews I sometimes write here at Goodreads, where I'll take on a certain author or a certain story cycle and not only write critical reviews of the books in question, but take a larger look at the culture that was going on around this author at the time they wrote them, and the ways this larger culture influenced both the decision to write those books and the way the finished books turned out.
That's certainly the case here, when earlier this summer I was reminded of the fact that I've never actually read any work by famed Generation X edgy LGBTQ author Dennis Cooper, even though my snotty little friends and I used to name-check him all the time back in the '90s, along with his "New Transgressive" peers like Poppy Z. Brite, Bret Easton Ellis and others. That led to me checking out from the library all five titles of his most famous series, the semi-autobiographical "George Miles Cycle" from the 1990s, where I discovered a lot of food for thought when it comes to Generation X in general, that period in the '90s when transgressive storytelling took over the mainstream culture (i.e. "The Tarantino Years"), and the legitimate tragedy behind why this unending appetite for doom and gloom among my young '90s peers eventually led to the fascist, QAnon, Trumpian times of right now.
All five of my original reviews are still online here at Goodreads for you to read for free if you want (1989's Closer, 1991's Frisk, 1994's Try, 1997's Guide, and 2000's Period); but for this book edition, I've removed all the redundancies and repeated exposition from the five standalone essays, cleaned up the references and grammar, and in general have put together a manuscript that reads now much more like one big unified piece, and have released it quickly and cheaply in an ebook-exclusive format simply as a way of using up another one of those 50 unused ISBNs I still own. To be frank, the entire book is less than 10,000 words, which is why it's selling for only $2.99 as an "Amazon Single," and why I've authorized it to be available for free for anyone who has Kindle Unlimited. (Also, like all my books over the years, I'd be happy to just email you a free copy if you drop me a line at ilikejason@gmail.com.)
I'm planning on doing this with all my future themed review series here at Goodreads as well, including all my eventual collected editions from my ongoing "Great Completist Challenge," with the next one likely to be my contemporary re-read of Isaac Asimov's 15-book "Future History" mega-series stretching from the 1950s through '80s, which during his own lifetime was known as three different smaller series called the "Robot" books, the "Empire" books, and the "Foundation" books (whose recent new adaptation by Apple+ was the impetus behind moving this to the top of my Completist Challenge list). In the meanwhile, though, this new book about Dennis Cooper is now officially for sale or rent at Amazon, so I hope you'll have a chance to check it out when you have a chance....more
(DISCLOSURE: I own the publishing company that published this book, and I am one of its contributors.)
Well, another busy year of book reviewing at CCL(DISCLOSURE: I own the publishing company that published this book, and I am one of its contributors.)
Well, another busy year of book reviewing at CCLaP's blog; and here's our annual look back at our favorite 40 titles of 2015, out of the 89 write-ups we did altogether. I thought I'd do something new this year and also release this as an ebook at the Amazon Kindle Store (for 99 cents), as well as a cute little 24-page bound paperback at Amazon for $5.99, for those who would like to give a little financial contribution to us for a year of enjoyable book recommendations; although the ebook is as always also available for free at our website (cclapcenter.com), as well as a blog-based version of this five-part report (running December 28th through January 1st). Remember that this doesn't only include all my Goodreads picks from this year, but also my fellow reviewers Karl Wolff and Chris Schahfer, so I hope all my GR friends will get a chance to check this out!...more
(DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the publishing company that published this book.)
"This...this is the one they'll remember me for." When it comes to thi(DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the publishing company that published this book.)
"This...this is the one they'll remember me for." When it comes to this old cliche from the creative world, I wouldn't necessarily mind being remembered as an editor and publisher primarily for Gint Aras' haunting, complex and poetic novel, a good early example of what I think CCLaP is capable of as an indie press when all our cylinders are firing at once. A daunting 500-page saga set within the blue-collar Chicago neighborhood of Cicero, spanning three generations of four families and lasting over 50 years in plot, this manuscript had already been floating around the small-press world for ten years before I saw it, where it was adored by a number of editors but everyone was too intimidated by the marketing challenges to put it out. This is what an indie press does best, release such adored but challenging novels without having to worry about making a gazillion dollars and keeping up with our rivals in the movie and music divisions of the giant multinational corporation we all work for, and I'm proud to be the one to give this fascinating, page-turning epic a public release finally. Weaving in and out of multiple interpretations of the book's title, this is a literary novel for those who love literary novels, and we will be pushing it heavily for next year's awards season. I encourage you to order a pre-release copy, or after December 7th to start downloading the free ebook version, at [cclapcenter.com/thefugue]....more
(DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the small press that published this book.)
I'm happy to be announcing CCLaP's newest book today! A hybrid science-fictio(DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the small press that published this book.)
I'm happy to be announcing CCLaP's newest book today! A hybrid science-fiction/urban-fantasy thriller from Chicago author Kendra Hadnott, "Death Leaders" posits a world where supernatural beings of great power have lived among us since the beginning of time, keeping the planet's population under control through a series of deliberate deaths selectively chosen here and there. But the former humans who now occupy these posts still have their petty jealousies and office politics; and when our hero is assigned a young single mother in Chicago's west side as his next victim, just to find out that she is well aware of who he is, the wheels of a larger and larger conspiracy start grinding faster and faster, to what will perhaps be the end of the world as we know it. This is a hugely entertaining genre novel in the classic sense of the word, and a fine national debut for the just-graduated Hadnott.
This book will be coming out to the public on January 18th, 2016; as always, a free ebook ARC is available to each and every Goodreads member who might want to read it, so please just drop me a line at [ilikejason at gmail.com] to request your own. I look forward to seeing what you think of it!...more
(DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the publishing company that published this book.)
I'm happy to announce that CCLaP's second annual "city all-star" stude(DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the publishing company that published this book.)
I'm happy to announce that CCLaP's second annual "city all-star" student anthology is now out, this year concentrating on the subject of Chicago neighborhoods. Featuring almost two dozen contributors from nearly a dozen schools and other teaching institutions across the city and suburbs, this is a really fascinating look at all the various far-flung corners of Chicago, with a heavy concentration this year on nonfiction because of that being the forte of this year's editor, Columbia College student JH Palmer. As always, the ebook version is completely free to download at our website, so I encourage you to stop by [cclapcenter.com/viewfromhere] this moment and pick up a copy for yourself....more
(DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the publishing company that published this book.)
The CCLaP train continues running at full steam right now, and I'm hap(DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the publishing company that published this book.)
The CCLaP train continues running at full steam right now, and I'm happy to announce our upcoming November release, the hilarious yet deeply sobering dysfunctional-family comedy "The Misadventures of Sulliver Pong" by Brooklyn author Leland Cheuk. A black comedy about family relationships in the style of Jonathan Franzen, it's also an examination of all the real abuses that Asian-Americans have had to endure over the last 200 years, from the railroad-building days of the Victorian Age to the forced settlement camps of World War Two, all of the events seen through the eyes of a series of patriarchs of the terminally doomed Pong family over the generations. At heart a serious look at racial injustices, you nonetheless won't believe how much you'll be laughing all the way through it, with the popular podcaster Cheuk bringing his trademarked left turns and unexpected developments to this full-length literary debut.
As always with CCLaP, we're making the ebook version of "Pong" AVAILABLE FOR FREE TO ANY GOODREADS MEMBER WHO WANTS ONE, so to express an interest just drop me a line at ilikejason@gmail.com or simply send me a message through Goodreads. Word-of-mouth is the number-one way we generate new customers, so your mention of this book here can and does have a huge impact on the total number of copies we eventually sell. The book comes out to the general public on November 16th, but the advance review copy is available as we speak, so don't hesitate to drop me a line if you'd like to read a free sneak-preview copy of this darkly funny, thought-provoking novel!...more
(DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the publishing company that published this book.)
The CCLaP train is rolling along at full force these days, and I'm hap(DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the publishing company that published this book.)
The CCLaP train is rolling along at full force these days, and I'm happy to announce our upcoming book for this October, Brooklynite Dan Falatko's literary debut, "Condominium." This will be right up the alley of John Updike fans who have always wanted to see his types of stories updated for the Millennial generation, essentially a tale about a creative-class couple in Manhattan who decide to buy a condo in one of the new glass-and-steel skyscrapers that dot the waterfront of Williamsburg, and how their lives start falling apart almost the second after they sign the lease. It's a blackly funny portrait of young urban life during the Great Recession, and I'm very proud to be giving a home to not only Dan's first-ever full-length novel, but also his second, the slacker adventure tale "One Thin Dime" coming from CCLaP in October 2016.
As always with CCLaP, we're offering the ebook version of "Condominium" COMPLETELY FOR FREE TO ANY GOODREADS MEMBER WHO WANTS ONE, in exchange for your promise to post a few thoughts about it here, good or bad; to express an interest, simply drop me a line at ilikejason@gmail.com or just send me a message through Goodreads itself. Word-of-mouth is the number one way we generate new customers, so I hope you'll have a chance to take advantage of this offer soon. (The book comes out to the general public this October 12th, but the advance reading copy is available as we speak.) I look forward to seeing what you think of this funny, dark book!...more
(Read below on how to receive a FREE COPY of this book, just for being a member of Goodreads.)
(DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the publishing company th(Read below on how to receive a FREE COPY of this book, just for being a member of Goodreads.)
(DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the publishing company that published this book.)
Wow, hard to believe, but CCLaP has actually gotten one of its books finished an entire eight months before its public release! And it's a special book as well, our very first sexually explicit one, although don't mistake this for a traditional piece of erotica -- think more like Chuck Palahniuk, dark and strange, with sex scenes that will make you laugh and cringe in equal measure. (But that said, please be aware that the sex scenes in this book get QUITE explicit, and veer into some very odd territory at times, which you should be fully aware of before you read it.) The author, Canadian bizarro writer Mike Sauve, is a veteran of McSweeney's with his short work, and is just starting to break out with some of his longer work (in fact, he has another novella and a full novel coming out within six months of this book as well), so you're going to be seeing a lot more about him in your favorite litblogs and journals in the months ahead.
As always with CCLaP, we're offering a FREE EBOOK COPY of "Goodbye Pantopon Rose" to ANY GOODREADS MEMBER who wants one, in return for your promise to post a few thoughts here about what you thought of it, good or bad; to express an interest, simply drop me a line at cclapcenter@gmail.com, or send me a message here at Goodreads. The finished book comes out on January 18th, 2016, but the early review copies are available right this moment, so please don't hesitate to drop a line if you're interested!...more
[DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the small press that published this book.]
I'm happy to say that CCLaP is finally getting its original books finished an[DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the small press that published this book.]
I'm happy to say that CCLaP is finally getting its original books finished and online a lot faster this year than we ever have before; and here's our book for this coming June, the long-awaited compilation of every story Ben Tanzer has ever written in the last ten years about the fictional upstate New York town of Two Rivers. Many of you are of course already familiar with Tanzer and some of these stories -- he's grown in the last decade from just another beginning writer here in Chicago to one of the most respected and nationally popular, and nearly every one of these 33 stories have already been published in one lit journal or another over the years, not to mention as three small books from CCLaP as well. Put together for the first time, though, it's easy now to see the remarkable, almost magical way that Tanzer has been building in callbacks to a shared set of characters and locations within these stories the entire time, and how they hold together not just as a series of isolated pieces but as an incredibly well-working whole, a book that miraculously reads as if it had been centrally planned all at once, not written piecemeal over the course of nine years. This is one of the most exciting and anticipated books we've ever published, and we predict that it will also be one of our most popular in our entire history, so make sure to get on top of it now so that you too can be part of the national conversation about it this coming summer.
We are actively seeking lots of feedback for this title, so are sending a free ebook to each and every Goodreads member who wants one. To request your own copy, simply drop me a line at ilikejason@gmail.com, or just send me a message here. I look forward to seeing what you think of it!...more
[DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the small press that published this book.]
I'm happy to say that CCLaP is finally getting its original books finished an[DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the small press that published this book.]
I'm happy to say that CCLaP is finally getting its original books finished and online a lot faster this year than we ever have before; and here's our title for this coming April, the first of three new story collections by Chicago authors we have coming out in 2015, all of them tied intricately to the weekly electronic magazine we've been publishing for several years now, the CCLaP Weekender at [cclapcenter.com/weekender]. Matt's a real secret weapon of our local literary community who not a lot of people outside of Chicago know about yet, a tireless penner of short stories who is frequently out in our city's infamous late-night open-mic circuit; you can think of his work as essentially a young person's version of George Saunders, with the same kind of warped, ultra-dark, science-fiction-informed sensibility but in his case tackling a lot more issues having to do with Millennials and their particular pop-culture detritus. The three Chicago short-fiction authors we're publishing this year -- Matt, Joseph G. Peterson, and Ben Tanzer -- are all going on tour together this summer, so I hope you'll have a chance to pick this up soon and then make it out to one of their appearances!
We are actively seeking lots of feedback on this particular title, so we are handing out free ebooks of this book to each and every Goodreads members who wants one. To request yours, simply drop me a line at ilikejason@gmail.com, or just send me a message here. The finished book comes out to the public this April 13th, but the advance reading copy is available as we speak, so I hope to hear from you soon!...more
[DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the small press that published this book.]
I'm happy to say that CCLaP is getting its original books done and listed onl[DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the small press that published this book.]
I'm happy to say that CCLaP is getting its original books done and listed online this year a lot faster than we ever have before; and here's our book for this coming March, one of the most sophisticated novels we've ever published, and a title for all of you who like your fiction on the really high quality side. It's a contemporary updating of Don Quixote set in a small college campus in northern California, and concerning a curmudgeonly professor who has developed Alzheimer's, and has become convinced that he's to lead a Marxist revolution in Mexico; armed with two non-working antique pistols, he climbs on a half-broken 1940s motorcycle and starts making his way south, duping a sad-sack graduate student to make the trip with him on an even more broken-down scooter, and the novel is essentially about their misadventures as they make their way across California, then the American Southwest, and eventually into Mexico itself. It's an incredibly delightful yet astute and insightful tale, and will break your heart a little even as you find yourself laughing out loud on a regular basis.
We are actively seeking lots of feedback on this particular title, so are offering to send a free ebook to each and every person at Goodreads who wants one; so to request your copy, please drop me a line at ilikejason@gmail.com, or simply send me a message here. The book comes out to the public on March 15th, but the advance reading copies are available as we speak, so I hope to hear from you!...more
[DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the small press that published this book.]
Hey, check out what CCLaP will be publishing this January 26th! It's a darkly[DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the small press that published this book.]
Hey, check out what CCLaP will be publishing this January 26th! It's a darkly funny absurdist tale in the style and tradition of all those great bizarro authors I've had a chance to meet over the years through Goodreads, even though Stephen's has a little more of a Will-Self-style mainstream sheen to the subject matter. An unhappy employee at a celebrity gossip mag discovers a big red button on the back wall of his new place, and a random celebrity somewhere on the planet dies every time he presses it; but that's just the start of his problems, a tale that delves heavily into dopplegangers, alternative realities, psychic eyeballs in glass jars, and all kinds of other fun stuff. Stephen's an amazing writer at the start of his career who deserves a bigger audience than he currently has, so I hope all of you get a chance to check out this funny, smart, thought-provoking yet deeply weird novella of his, which can be read in its entirety in a single afternoon. And speaking of this, we are handing out free ebook copies of this title to each and every Goodreads member who wants one, in return for your promise to post your honest thoughts about it here after you're done; so just drop me a line at ilikejason@gmail.com if you'd like one, or simply send me a message here....more
[DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the small press that published this book.]
CCLaP's newest book is coming out this Monday! In this case it's our second b[DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the small press that published this book.]
CCLaP's newest book is coming out this Monday! In this case it's our second book of essays by staff writer and cultural critic Karl Wolff, this time looking at over two dozen "erotic" works of literature over the ages and doing smart and insightful write-ups about them all. I put "erotic" in quotes, of course, because that's one of the major conclusions Karl comes up with, that many of these books labeled "dangerously erotic" at the time are in fact not erotic at all; so why have their sexually explicit natures been seen as so threatening over the years and centuries, and what does this panic say about as a species in any given period of history? Originally published at our blog on a monthly basis over the last year, and with this new book edition containing three exclusive new essays that never ran at the blog at all, anyone with an interest in exploring dirty books on a more academic level will find The NSFW Files to be a real delight.
We are currently handing out free ebook copies of this title to each and every Goodreads member who would like one, in return for you posting your honest thoughts about it here after you're done; so if you're interested in taking advantage of this offer, just drop me a line at ilikejason@gmail.com and let me know, or simply send me a message here at Goodreads. ...more
[DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the small press that published this book.]
CCLaP's newest book gets released to the general public in just a couple of m[DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the small press that published this book.]
CCLaP's newest book gets released to the general public in just a couple of more days! It's our third collection of short stories from over the years by celebrated local author Ben Tanzer, who has gone from an unknown at the time of his first book with us (2008's Repetition Patterns) to now on the cusp of national mainstream fame by here in 2015. The gimmick with all these three volumes is that every story is set in the same fictional upstate New York town of Two Rivers; and even though each was written individually over the last decade for the purpose of being published in a series of unrelated literary journals, they feature a complex mix of callbacks to characters, situations and locations found littered throughout the entire oeuvre, not noticeable when reading the individual stories but coming together like magic when you read the collected books. We are handing out free ebook copies of this title to each and every member of Goodreads who wants one, in return for you posting your honest thoughts about it here afterwards, so please drop me a line at ilikejason@gmail.com if you're interested in receiving a copy this way, or simply send me a message here. Ooh, what a dark and riveting book this is; fans of Sam Shepard and Denis Johnson will absolutely want to pick this one up too....more
[DISCLOSURE: I own the small press that published this book.]
I'm proud to announce that the amazing Chicago author Joseph G. Peterson's new book of st[DISCLOSURE: I own the small press that published this book.]
I'm proud to announce that the amazing Chicago author Joseph G. Peterson's new book of stories will be coming out with CCLaP this May 18th, and that the pre-order page is now live at [cclapcenter.com/twilightidiots]. This is a collection of stories that all involve lumpen proletarian heroes; in other words, the "lovable losers" of society who seem to screw up everything they touch, no matter how much they try to do the right thing, with Peterson very humorously and touchingly showing why these frustrating members of society are still important, why they still matter. We are handing out free advance ebook copies of this title to each and every Goodreads member who wants one, in return for you posting your honest review of it here after you're done, so please drop me a line at ilikejason@gmail.com if you want to take advantage of this, or simply send me a message here at Goodreads. This is a fantastic book, being backed up by a heavy live-events schedule Peterson will be embarking on this summer (along with fellow Chicago CCLaP short-story authors Matt Rowan and Ben Tanzer, the three of whom will be doing a series of events this summer as a team), so I hope you'll have a chance to check it out....more
(DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the publishing company that published this book.)
I'm happy to say that CCLaP is finally starting to get its advance rea(DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the publishing company that published this book.)
I'm happy to say that CCLaP is finally starting to get its advance reading copies done with a lot more time to spare before the book's general release: take this title, for example, Matt Fuchs' mind-blowing literary debut, a science-fiction novella called "Rise of Hypnodrome" that will be right up the alley of Philip K. Dick fans. The book itself doesn't come out to the general public until February 16th of next year, but advance reading copies are available as of this moment (November 17th), for any of you Goodreaders who promise to post a few thoughts about it here, in exchange for a free copy. Just drop me a line at ilikejason [at] gmail.com to request a copy, or message me here!...more
(DISCLOSURE: I own the publishing company that published this book.)
CCLaP's newest book drops on November 17th! I'm very excited about this one, becau(DISCLOSURE: I own the publishing company that published this book.)
CCLaP's newest book drops on November 17th! I'm very excited about this one, because it's kicking off our new "CCLaP Crime" imprint, an Elmore-Leonard-like black comedy set in a pre-gentrified New York City in the early 1980s, that concerns itself with the machinations of various secret agents associated with '80s Middle Eastern politics (Israeli secret service, PLO, etc). Smart and funny, and pretty disgusting at points, this is one of the more purely entertaining books we've ever put out, so I hope you'll have a chance to stop by its main headquarters (cclapcenter.com/linksinchain) either now to put in a pre-release order, or starting November 17th where you'll be able to download a completely free ebook version if you so wish....more
[DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the publishing company that published this book.]
This is the latest by my publishing company, a deep character study ab[DISCLOSURE: I am the owner of the publishing company that published this book.]
This is the latest by my publishing company, a deep character study about a British blue-collar slacker and the terrible messes he gets himself into while visiting Afghanistan in the middle of the "War on Terror." Dark and dense, like a Graham Greene novel, and I hope you'll have a chance to check it out at [cclapcenter.com/thewoundingtime], especially given that the ebook version is completely free if you choose. Would love to see your comments about it here at Goodreads!...more
My publishing company's newest book drops September 15th! It's the first in hopefully a long annual seriesDISCLOSURE: I am the publisher of this book.
My publishing company's newest book drops September 15th! It's the first in hopefully a long annual series of student anthologies based here in Chicago, concentrating not on any one particular school but a "best-of" look at student work from over 20 institutions across the city and suburbs, with each year's anthology having a very specific theme in order to spur the best new work out of these students as possible. I hope you'll have a chance to check this out when it's released next month; don't forget, as always you'll be able to download an ebook version completely for free at [cclapcenter.com/chicagoafterdark], or order the trade paperback edition from there as well....more
CCLaP's newest book drops May 17th! It's a downbeat spy thriller in the vein of Graham Greene or John FTC DISCLOSURE: I am the publisher of this book.
CCLaP's newest book drops May 17th! It's a downbeat spy thriller in the vein of Graham Greene or John Le Carre, set in the very last days of Communism in Lithuania, 1989, a morally murky and really gripping tale of murder, betrayal, and revolution. It's unlike anything we've ever published before, so I hope you'll have a chance to pick up a copy! Available as a free ebook download starting May 17th, at [cclapcenter.com/lovesongs], the same page you'll be able to order the paperback or handmade hardback editions....more
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