tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50776938740602600852024-03-05T00:12:40.680-08:00Leopold McGinnis' BlogThis is the blog for author, illustrator & poet Leopold McGinnisLeopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04546688284205399060noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-77572794672731730132011-10-23T17:12:00.000-07:002011-10-23T17:12:01.664-07:00They Hate ThisJust finished participating in the Canzine Hollywood Ripoff challenge where 3 contenders - an illustrator, a 'zinester' and a poet (me) had 30 minutes to come up with an image, a zine or a poem based on a movie. The movie, revealed only at the last minute, was Ghostbusters. I'm pretty pleased with what I delivered (though I sweated a bit!). Here it is:<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">They Hate This<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“They hate this,”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">he says<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">fingers tinkling on the keyboard<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">“but the ladies love it,”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">he thinks.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">The charm<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">His charm<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">as he lays it on thick<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">heaps it on<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">like gravy<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">spilling over the keys<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">but she’s not buying it<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">looks at him like he’s a crackpot<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ha!<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal">She’s the one who called<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Ghost Busters<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">She’s the one who called<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Peter Venkman<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">And Peter Venkman delivers<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">whether its<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">attention to lonely old ladies<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">or attention to lonely young ladies<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">or even middle aged lady crackpots<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">who call Ghost Busters…<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“What’s your name?”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">he asks.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">“Dana,” she offers reluctantly<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">“Well Dana. It seems ok in here to me,”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">he says<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">“But a little messy…”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">She seems displeased<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Good.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">That’s how it always starts<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">but soon<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">the charm creeps inside<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">haunts you<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">gets inside your bones<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">like ghosts<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">in the architecture<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">and at first you think<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">you want the ghosts out<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">that you want<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Peter Venkman to leave<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">but the memory lingers<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">like the dear departed<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">and soon enough<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">who ya gonna call<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">to haunt you?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">to possess you in your body<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">until you’re writhing in bed<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">longing for the keymaster<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">hovering five feet above<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">your passion<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">in feverish desire<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">until who you gonna call?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">You’ll call this ghost buster<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">to bust your ghosts<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">to make your eggs pop<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">right out of the carton<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">and fry on the tabletop<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">until you don’t know<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">what’s come over you<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">until you scream out in lust:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">“There is no Dana!<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Only Zool!”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“Oh yes,”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">he says<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">fingers tinkling on the piano<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">“They hate this.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">“But,” he thinks<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">“The ladies<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">love it.”<o:p></o:p></div><!--EndFragment-->Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-68425257815505108232011-06-29T07:24:00.000-07:002011-06-29T07:24:52.151-07:00Some Advice on Time Travel<a href="http://www.google.ca/url?source=imgres&ct=img&q=http://focus.aps.org/files/focus/v23/st18/time_tunnel_big.jpg&sa=X&ei=bTULTqLfOYm3tgfeufB8&ved=0CAQQ8wc&usg=AFQjCNHIy78QP0qyt5ht0ct523d2reFh7w" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.google.ca/url?source=imgres&ct=img&q=http://focus.aps.org/files/focus/v23/st18/time_tunnel_big.jpg&sa=X&ei=bTULTqLfOYm3tgfeufB8&ved=0CAQQ8wc&usg=AFQjCNHIy78QP0qyt5ht0ct523d2reFh7w" width="248" /></a>Wow, I think it's been nearly 3 years since I've bothered to submit and actually got a piece published in a place other than my own cancerously growing hoard of lit sites. This time its in my old favourite Feathertale. I'm really proud of this poem: <a href="http://www.feathertale.com/Poetry/time_travel.htm">Some Advice on Time Travel (an excerpt from Philip Roder's <i>Let's Go</i> to the Future, fourth edition, 2095)</a>Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-58028456024761675802011-06-26T12:51:00.000-07:002011-06-26T12:51:27.812-07:00Zues and the Sales statsJust got the stats: 150 copies of Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea SOLD! Considering that selling 50 copies of a poetry book is pretty impressive, and that my initial (and ambitious) goal was to move 100, I'd say (ignoring all those 2-star reviews I keep getting over at Goodreads) Zues and the Giant Iced Tea is an ALARMING success!<br />
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On top of that, I may actually end up having a launch (albeit 6 months late...) in the fall sometime here in Toronto. I'll keep you up to date on that!Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-53896751335195686252011-05-07T20:42:00.000-07:002011-05-07T20:42:34.337-07:00Poetaster trivia!Made some trivia for Poetaster on Goodreads. Was fun to go through an old book. Poetaster is quite a bit darker and raw than Zeus - kind of a shock to flip between the two.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/trivia/work/13327512">Anyway, have a go at some poetry trivia!</a> (Any poets out there interested in building a pub-quiz around poetry?)Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-17593127120987985882011-05-01T10:31:00.000-07:002011-05-01T10:53:48.180-07:00Encounters with the Underground - a tribute to Steve Kostecke<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5reJDA_JKOkB9eTfZIHffEf5CpbsAnougBQl4P6yw1bp-ovXAqPE0zsAMHdV1SzNylEbC4nNdqYcaEn77ZgbI8tv8pzZWvTMShqhwRxDlkAUH0zbbGvkBKzYW1YKbD-Q6bAp1tkblUFGU/s1600/steve.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5reJDA_JKOkB9eTfZIHffEf5CpbsAnougBQl4P6yw1bp-ovXAqPE0zsAMHdV1SzNylEbC4nNdqYcaEn77ZgbI8tv8pzZWvTMShqhwRxDlkAUH0zbbGvkBKzYW1YKbD-Q6bAp1tkblUFGU/s1600/steve.jpg" /></a></div>It is with great shock and much sadness that I learned yesterday that good friend, fellow indie writer and founding member of the Underground Literary Alliance Steve Kostecke recently passed away.<br />
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Steve was instrumental in my own involvement in the underground writing scene and had the distinction (among many more notable distinctions) of being the only indie writer and ULA member I've actually met in person.<br />
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When I started Red Fez back in 2002 it was a project born out of total isolation from any sort of writing community (particularly the insular academic/lit journal community) and frustration with the lottery-like publishing process of the status quo. Red Fez, and my writing, floundered for a few years until I came across a lovely little writeup in Broken Pencil on Slush Pile, the Underground Literary Alliance's zine. It was an awakening to the fact that I was not alone in my frustration with the system, and that there were others out there acting against it and being far more effective at it! Slush Pile, amazingly edited and assembled in Asia and then shipped back to the US to be printed, not only published a sort of raw, gripping writing I had never experienced before, but articulated a lot of what I had been unable to put into words. I wrote an email to the zine publisher about my efforts with Red Fez, asking to learn more about this ULA organization. Steve Kostecke wrote back.<br />
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A lot of Steve's personality was constructed in my mind, as with most online relationships, from emails. I never could quite get a grip on who he was. His writing was raw and both bashedly and unabashedly macho. He was, somehow, the strong, cocky, unrooted silent type, operating a literary revolution in North America from while teaching English across Asia. Steve, as <a href="http://kingwenclas.blogspot.com/2011/04/about-steve-kostecke.html">Karl Wenclas puts it in his memory</a>, had a zen-buddhist personality, straightforward, approachable, honest, unpretentious....combined with the cocky smarts of a fly-boy.<br />
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Steve lured me in to the ULA, first as a Canadian correspondent, and then as a full fledged member. In my opinion he was probably the group's strongest writer (among strong writers) - a sort of modern day Hemmingway, but better, in my opinion. (<a href="http://replay.web.archive.org/20090112115754/http://www.litvision.org/kostecke.html">Seoul in Slices</a> is a great example.) There was an elegant, unwashed honesty to it - Steve shared everything as it was, as he felt it and didn't feel the need to explain it. His work was documentary like: "travel writing", as Jeff Potter put it<a href="http://www.outyourbackdoor.com/article.php?id=952"> in his tribute </a>over at Out Your Backdoor (who published Steve's novel, <a href="http://www.outyourbackdoor.com/article.php?id=952">Wasted Angels</a>), which is accurate, but Steve's writing far too little credit. Karl Wenclas, another co-founder of the group, states that Steve was the ULA member he least expected to leave this early because of his cool-headed nature. I'd add that his openness and non-judgmental attitude also made him seem like the member least likely to have helped found the outrageous activist group. Steve would associate with almost anybody (a habit that is the genesis of some of his creepier tales of the far-east) and perhaps what frustrated him most about the lit scene was its inability to do the same for indie-writers, it decision to pinch off the water supply and mire itself in a snake-eat-snake's-tail circle of handouts, backscratching and phoney relationships.<br />
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Steve was a huge reason why the group was founded and why it lasted as long as it did. Even after the group exploded in the end, spewing out a number of battle hardened writers and spawning groups like the Guild of Outsider Writers and a much stronger Red Fez, Steve declined invitations to join new ventures, believing in the base tenets of the ULA and feeling they were still right. Long after our group relationship had ended I would get updates from him on a number of great back-boiler projects he had going, ready to launch as soon as the ULA got over its squabbling. Pat Simonelli described Steve as the mother of the group and perhaps was too patient with its unruly roost in the end. Steve had the great ideas, the great writing, the smarts...but he wasn't going to bother wrestling anyone to the ground to make them listen. It was a strength and a weakness and it was all Steve.<br />
<br />
In the Summer of 2005 I traveled to Japan to meet some friends and had the opportunity to meet with Steve and stay with him a few days in Tokyo. I had always been a bit intimidated by Steve I suppose. His writing was so worldly and macho, but countenanced with that confident, motherly appeal. I spent about three days with Steve and his personality suddenly made so much sense when I met him in person. If you haven't met him, I can't describe it, and it's too late to get a chance to do it now. But he became whole for me in that moment and I was able to finally conclude (there were some doubts!) that Steve was a really amazing guy with a natural love for writing and human expression, particularly in literary form. The world had a lot to learn from Steve, but as the world is, you know, it wasn't really ready to listen. And like Steve was with his writing, he wasn't going to be bothered to smack it around a little to make it pay attention. It was and is the world's loss for it, and a loss for those of us who knew him.<br />
<br />
I fell more out of contact with Steve after that, and hadn't heard from him in the last year or two, though I thought of him often, wondering which bar he was sitting at in Japan, or which new girlfriend he was bunking with these days, and always meant to get back in contact with him once things slowed down for me. So it was with a lot of shock and sadness to learn that his travels had ended. But if you weren't out there asking, Steve wasn't going to stand up and slap you in the face with it.<br />
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Steve left behind a lot of great work, great ideas, and fond memories. The world lost a great writer and literary thinker this year and doesn't even know it.Rest in Peace, Steve Kostecke. I look forward to hearing about your wild adventures beyond the grave someday.Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-11217729458082304272011-04-29T08:32:00.001-07:002011-04-29T08:33:54.853-07:00Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea trivia questions!<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Zeus-Giant-Iced-Tea-Poetry/dp/1897425945?ie=UTF8&tag=redfezpubl-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea: Poetry" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1897425945&tag=redfezpubl-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=redfezpubl-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1897425945" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />Hey...this is cool. I can make trivia questions about mine, or other people's, books! Now that's promotion I can get behind!<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/trivia/work/14993911">Try out the ones I made for Zeus!</a> Never before have questions been so trivial! Can you get 100%? Can you get 5%?Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-10210127671214738072011-04-26T15:00:00.000-07:002011-04-26T15:00:26.884-07:00Youch!Wow, I never realized how good Goodreads is for stalking your fans! Too bad I found this out by getting my first Goodreads rating for Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea: 2 out of 5 stars! Ouch!<br />
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So I did some digging and see that this particular reader has set this book on the quality shelf among such peers as Wrestling Superstars II, I Was for Sale: Confessions of a Bondage Model and The Satanic Rituals: Companion to the "Satanic Bible". Zeus was rated lower, in this person's opinion, than Bomb Queen Volume 3: The Good, The Bad And The Lovely and Zombies: A Record of the Year of Infection. Even poetry books by Jewel and Billy Corgan fared better than mine!<br />
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Oh well. At least it's nice to hear what people think! The reader is obviously a wrestling fan - I wonder if <a href="http://www.aupress.ca/index.php/books/120186#ebookTabArea">The Muscle</a> pissed them off?<br />
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Onwards and upwards (or downwards!)Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-28981952983304155092011-04-09T08:43:00.000-07:002011-04-09T08:43:42.136-07:00Saturday morning thoughts: Poetry as JazzTurned on the good ol CBC radio 2 app this morning and had this revelation:<br />
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It seems like contemporary poetry is a lot like modern jazz. Half the time when you turn on the radio or open up some journal you get this this overwrought, overthought construction that only musical theorists could love (and you still wonder if they actually <i>do</i> like it - or if they are just trying to impress themselves), and half the time (if you're lucky) you'll get that something smooth and meaningful, that something you'd actually want to settle down with on the couch on a Sunday.<br />
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Anyway it, and this ensuing blogpost, inspired this poem:<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">Saturday Radio Jazz time</div><div class="MsoNormal">Just looking for something</div><div class="MsoNormal">to waste the morning</div><div class="MsoNormal">reading poetry to</div><div class="MsoNormal">and all I get</div><div class="MsoNormal">is five guys</div><div class="MsoNormal">treating their gear</div><div class="MsoNormal">as an arsenal of noise</div><div class="MsoNormal">and running their fingers</div><div class="MsoNormal">madly</div><div class="MsoNormal">up and down</div><div class="MsoNormal">every key in their possession</div><div class="MsoNormal">like they were paid by the note</div><div class="MsoNormal">while I do the same</div><div class="MsoNormal">with the radio dials</div><div class="MsoNormal">just trying to escape</div><div class="MsoNormal">just trying to just find</div><div class="MsoNormal">something</div><div class="MsoNormal">Heartfelt</div><div class="MsoNormal">and Meaningful</div><div class="MsoNormal">not overwrought</div><div class="MsoNormal">or overthought</div><div class="MsoNormal">or overplayed</div><div class="MsoNormal">just something sweet</div><div class="MsoNormal">smooth</div><div class="MsoNormal">and true</div><div class="MsoNormal">like a girl alone</div><div class="MsoNormal">writing poetry in a coffee shop</div><div class="MsoNormal">somewhere</div><div class="MsoNormal">and not</div><div class="MsoNormal">overwrought</div><div class="MsoNormal">or overthought</div><div class="MsoNormal">or overplayed</div><div class="MsoNormal">like too much poetry is</div><div class="MsoNormal">these days.</div>Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-34393634479411653872011-03-26T09:07:00.000-07:002011-03-26T09:11:10.590-07:00From my upcoming comic book...My good friend Mav and I are starting up a comic book serial sometime this year called RAILS - the Royal Alberta Illustrated Literature Society. Our first issue probably won't be until later in the year, but we'll be launching issue 0.5 in April and presenting it at the <a href="http://www.kazookazoo.ca/">Kazoo Zine & Comics expo</a> on Sat April 16th. Should be about 24 pages and will include some of my work (comics and poetry) and a good chunk of Mav's as well. Come check it out!<br />
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Here is a preview from my comic short, The Owl, that I'll have in it: <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7fC7_l4xG-TG9IUY6zt10ze09YFOji8MmgeynWwBcE_Kiuihngdd860ky_-lqFQCftqE9nuw3hrAFCz9Z2xfc9u1rRCnOSfpeuEiWhAcR3OVeUxQxk3UH7LCHy3qWugeDJGSlnKW9ZbNl/s1600/RAILS+0-5+preview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7fC7_l4xG-TG9IUY6zt10ze09YFOji8MmgeynWwBcE_Kiuihngdd860ky_-lqFQCftqE9nuw3hrAFCz9Z2xfc9u1rRCnOSfpeuEiWhAcR3OVeUxQxk3UH7LCHy3qWugeDJGSlnKW9ZbNl/s320/RAILS+0-5+preview.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
And check out some of Mav's great work here: <a href="http://royalails.tumblr.com/">http://royalails.tumblr.com/</a>Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-75480167870013031462011-03-17T13:24:00.000-07:002011-03-17T13:24:32.217-07:00Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea Contest Winners!Recently there was a Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea giveaway over on <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/">goodreads.com</a>. Congratulations to Lisa, Rachel and Ina! I have sent forth three copies to the three corners of the globe (USA, Australia and India) with your names on it. Hopefully they will find you there to inform you of your mission: enjoy the book!<br />
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(Bonus mission - review the book! Extra points!)Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-45629590792645548342011-03-06T20:06:00.000-08:002011-03-06T20:06:13.580-08:00Fuck a Poet<div class="MsoNormal"><b>The fuck-a-poet club<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Forget </div><div class="MsoNormal">those clubs</div><div class="MsoNormal">mile high or higher.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Any fool</div><div class="MsoNormal">can pay</div><div class="MsoNormal">to ride on an aeroplane</div><div class="MsoNormal">and get bounced around</div><div class="MsoNormal">in a plastic shell.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Forget those</div><div class="MsoNormal">swinging swingers parties</div><div class="MsoNormal">where swingers swing</div><div class="MsoNormal">their swinging bats at any ball</div><div class="MsoNormal">that slings its way</div><div class="MsoNormal">into the park.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">How many people</div><div class="MsoNormal">will you ever fuck</div><div class="MsoNormal">that will write a poem</div><div class="MsoNormal">about it afterward?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Schluff off</div><div class="MsoNormal">those other suitors</div><div class="MsoNormal">in their tailored bravado</div><div class="MsoNormal">boring people</div><div class="MsoNormal">fuck boring people</div><div class="MsoNormal">over martinis</div><div class="MsoNormal">between business hours and television shows</div><div class="MsoNormal">Who the fuck orders</div><div class="MsoNormal">a grilled cheese sandwich</div><div class="MsoNormal">in a restaurant?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Who the fuck orders</div><div class="MsoNormal">a grilled cheese sandwich</div><div class="MsoNormal">in a restaurant</div><div class="MsoNormal">when they could</div><div class="MsoNormal">fuck a poet?</div>Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-40880862276152215162011-03-02T09:36:00.000-08:002011-03-02T09:36:56.899-08:00Water in the DesertI stumbled across<a href="http://vorpalbunnyranch.wordpress.com/2008/07/25/reading-quest/"> this review for Game Quest</a> the other day. It's always kind of delightful to come across reviews for my self-published work. Partly because I had no distribution model other than Amazon and my own site, so the chance of Game Quest being read, let alone reviewed, is very very small. Game Quest has kind of had a life of it's own. One of my first orders was to Abu Ghraib (yes, that Abu Ghraib - insert your jokes about my book being a good implement for torture due to its size, weight or content here) and though I've stopped promoting the book years ago, still sell ~3 copies a year on Amazon and the ebook version sells quite well - about 1 a month. Despite being the most daunting (for most people) of my books in both theme and size, it seems to have found some tenuous foothold in the underculture. Anyway, so it's extra great when you find out that someone read it and actually took the time to <a href="http://vorpalbunnyranch.wordpress.com/2008/07/25/reading-quest/">review the book</a>. In this case it was particularly nice because I could tell that the reviewer engaged with the book, understood it on a deeper level and had some interesting things to say about the work.<br />
<br />
I'm not sure what most author's motivations are for writing. Mine is a desire to communicate. I don't particularly enjoy the editing, the printing and, especially, the promotion that goes into translating a story from something cool in your head to something real on the page. All that effort is a LOT of work and the end goal is to present it to the world and hope to hear back from them on what they thought. I don't really care if it's good or bad (of course, good is preferable), I just like to hear what people thought to see how and if it engaged them. Reviews are my favourite part after coming up with the idea in the first place. It's like getting the chance to reread your book from the POV of a reader...and loving it, or excoriateingly tearing it to shreds. Which, in turn, makes the hardest part about being a small-beans author is you don't get a lot of that. But boy does that water in the desert taste good!<br />
<br />
Incidentally, Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea also just got reviewed (huzzah!) by the University of Lethbridge Student newspaper, which <a href="http://bit.ly/hl7sq5">you can read here</a>.Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-27300499375023785722011-02-10T14:03:00.000-08:002011-02-10T14:03:23.837-08:00ZATGIT: The Unveiling<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQBwQr2iQwUuxx0dZXeTVtGVJSnQNouR_tmbR6C62Q0nfN1s9TfRGgmm_w4IRFckOmlMWn-KRU1PMfYrB63lfbxRHp8ZeeUeflxzAQaKTuKqGL1JIzoYTJgLylxx0TG-VGUzcsjrtYi9aA/s1600/IMG_1681.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQBwQr2iQwUuxx0dZXeTVtGVJSnQNouR_tmbR6C62Q0nfN1s9TfRGgmm_w4IRFckOmlMWn-KRU1PMfYrB63lfbxRHp8ZeeUeflxzAQaKTuKqGL1JIzoYTJgLylxx0TG-VGUzcsjrtYi9aA/s320/IMG_1681.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Zeus Arrives!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijMiaBtcHCxWOSWjJ1CB-p61oobERRcuN9_TSf4pxcPeHPdc4j27LtCq8ecA0EKRVPyq5N0ztKn_Uxud8lkTl1JVs77fYSa1DllQ_3XnJFxHqznGWtkH5ZJjm-pEuqWtItwUBCd_DdWUJO/s1600/IMG_1683.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijMiaBtcHCxWOSWjJ1CB-p61oobERRcuN9_TSf4pxcPeHPdc4j27LtCq8ecA0EKRVPyq5N0ztKn_Uxud8lkTl1JVs77fYSa1DllQ_3XnJFxHqznGWtkH5ZJjm-pEuqWtItwUBCd_DdWUJO/s320/IMG_1683.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Holy Excitement Batman!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisFajgfMagzasPxcE0ghuDmC22Adj8T5OxV548JaHtNwFyerpGpp7bRf2IzA3PBgzVr7UwRFcFPuDps080_yNlsZFIKtLJ_8vdQqO-iLcCSnLbVJTeXzW7AdgKd8Gy4oePe9vGE9sAa7vq/s1600/IMG_1684.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisFajgfMagzasPxcE0ghuDmC22Adj8T5OxV548JaHtNwFyerpGpp7bRf2IzA3PBgzVr7UwRFcFPuDps080_yNlsZFIKtLJ_8vdQqO-iLcCSnLbVJTeXzW7AdgKd8Gy4oePe9vGE9sAa7vq/s320/IMG_1684.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Anticipation Builds...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQBwQr2iQwUuxx0dZXeTVtGVJSnQNouR_tmbR6C62Q0nfN1s9TfRGgmm_w4IRFckOmlMWn-KRU1PMfYrB63lfbxRHp8ZeeUeflxzAQaKTuKqGL1JIzoYTJgLylxx0TG-VGUzcsjrtYi9aA/s1600/IMG_1681.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLC3tkhIpYJnZYylIu0L1s00ZIoKgI8RFhbbmKdZ2sHY5Id-x2dbHrJXdymrIvii0oFN47708piXEwP09_7Of3VtfAXukzTyY6_mbrBT2v6dBQZIT5WtxIOV3q1MSoLmnwhrGT1ErrKdcO/s1600/IMG_1685.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLC3tkhIpYJnZYylIu0L1s00ZIoKgI8RFhbbmKdZ2sHY5Id-x2dbHrJXdymrIvii0oFN47708piXEwP09_7Of3VtfAXukzTyY6_mbrBT2v6dBQZIT5WtxIOV3q1MSoLmnwhrGT1ErrKdcO/s320/IMG_1685.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">What the crap is this stuff? Where's ZEUS?!?</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk8w1MSRvJoZPr_wq2b3fZQbWAI6MkUHvEsUubu1e69wz8deOjv84TdyKguESyhSjN2rraj6FfGIGlq_gGBYKDGgGnRDZSc9-wH41P83UOYI2oLlSEqKS7fANQDVNqRVD5IWK8JSAIgQel/s1600/IMG_1686.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk8w1MSRvJoZPr_wq2b3fZQbWAI6MkUHvEsUubu1e69wz8deOjv84TdyKguESyhSjN2rraj6FfGIGlq_gGBYKDGgGnRDZSc9-wH41P83UOYI2oLlSEqKS7fANQDVNqRVD5IWK8JSAIgQel/s320/IMG_1686.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Oh! Here it is!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFdyPq9E-NrMpWbx8RkP5JXrkPiWXuJibSvgEOaTqwSlf641HEXw4V_O4vEIn968gZx9PWTyLLoJkzb7p-f-nYgJefb7mOm9Y52PO_AqQya_NLGIQI46LlxTS_iwy8jFrXRzGmYWn9ELtp/s1600/IMG_1687.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFdyPq9E-NrMpWbx8RkP5JXrkPiWXuJibSvgEOaTqwSlf641HEXw4V_O4vEIn968gZx9PWTyLLoJkzb7p-f-nYgJefb7mOm9Y52PO_AqQya_NLGIQI46LlxTS_iwy8jFrXRzGmYWn9ELtp/s320/IMG_1687.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I HAVE THE POWER!!!!</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW2HgiJ9PwxIiJWk_gIHkheUZ4wD5SGvDNhpA4veJ4zpKDShMVs3NIv7UZL_opDxGfj9nalAg8F0uLXR1g2R1kR-cFyxsaJ30rAHH3BXHRhEtTIwDcYFPNJj650AgW_5mFT5cvnEwEjPox/s1600/IMG_1690.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW2HgiJ9PwxIiJWk_gIHkheUZ4wD5SGvDNhpA4veJ4zpKDShMVs3NIv7UZL_opDxGfj9nalAg8F0uLXR1g2R1kR-cFyxsaJ30rAHH3BXHRhEtTIwDcYFPNJj650AgW_5mFT5cvnEwEjPox/s320/IMG_1690.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Hmmmm. Minimal spelling mistakes. Good, good...</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEcJ80ItBRS84FqpXFCeNhINBlZA6_w8KkTdpdb7uO0jh42nuYnxSRXbnpkg2pbkE3VqkPN-MbEnlfKpmySfvuMw9LbD9pdo5Kz1y63jG_GNgQNGlLu27h_wggTCth93TkMy4M7VEhYPT-/s1600/IMG_1691.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEcJ80ItBRS84FqpXFCeNhINBlZA6_w8KkTdpdb7uO0jh42nuYnxSRXbnpkg2pbkE3VqkPN-MbEnlfKpmySfvuMw9LbD9pdo5Kz1y63jG_GNgQNGlLu27h_wggTCth93TkMy4M7VEhYPT-/s320/IMG_1691.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Even babes like it!</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheVpbeXvoz1tcyGj-sb1MjOQcowvQaw6u8_rTrH5yJ3BP33hkl-AJQj_o1l-CC-ENQsTMhUpr1lQobejD9q01QRIiF3GeuBkxXex6ITAx0UDNornc89KVV0vxOxvg_8OT6Dcm-uHHbPirr/s1600/IMG_1692.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheVpbeXvoz1tcyGj-sb1MjOQcowvQaw6u8_rTrH5yJ3BP33hkl-AJQj_o1l-CC-ENQsTMhUpr1lQobejD9q01QRIiF3GeuBkxXex6ITAx0UDNornc89KVV0vxOxvg_8OT6Dcm-uHHbPirr/s320/IMG_1692.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Oh, the life of an arteest!</div>Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-19214009861069734132011-02-05T15:04:00.000-08:002011-02-05T15:21:00.103-08:00What is Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea about Anyway?<div class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.aupress.ca/books/120186/images/cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.aupress.ca/books/120186/images/cover.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baddest cover<br />
for a book of poetry<br />
ever?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>You know, in my zeal to promote this book, the effort of nearly two years of my and other’s metaphorical blood, sweat and tears, I may have forgotten to mention what the book is actually about! While ‘buy it!’ is a very important message I want you to take home from me about the book, that is not actually all the book has to say. In fact, ‘what the book is about’ is one of the more interesting aspects of this collection, and one of the hardest things to determine in putting it together.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><u>So what the hell <i>is</i> Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea about?</u></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">You know, ‘What’s it about?’ is an unusual question in the poetry world when I think about it. It’s not generally asked. When plugging your new book to potential readers ‘it’s a collection of poetry’ is typically more than enough to put off the inquirer's curiosity in your writing. Cue the “I don’t know anything about poetry” response and glazed over deer in the headlights of Robert Frost’s speedster ripping down the highway in the dead of night with a giant spinning bladesaw reflecting the moon on the front... For those who like poetry (and there aren’t many who believe that they do), the sad triumph of form over content in the poetry world precludes the importance of it having to be (or even actually being) about something.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">But the fact is that all collections are about something. Or at the very least, I claim Zeus to be about something. Why? Because I had to put it together. I had to have a reason for selecting, rejecting and aggregating the poems I picked from my treasure trove of gems, gold, fool’s gold, coal and acursed items. Zeus has a criteria, standards, a vision.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I articulate that vision fairly clearly (I hope!) in the short and entertaining (I hope!) intro to Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea, which you can<span id="goog_2121124134"></span> <a href="http://www.aupress.ca/index.php/books/120186">read here</a> (click ebook and read the 'Why Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea?' section). But before I get more into what Zeus is about I’d like to talk more about ‘aboutness.’</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">That collections of poetry, even random ones, are about something escaped even me until Zeus slapped me in the face with it. My first poetry book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Poetaster-Leopold-McGinnis/dp/1897430299?ie=UTF8&tag=redfezpubl-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Poetaster</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=redfezpubl-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1897430299" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />, pretty much falls into the random collection category. I was asked to submit something to <a href="http://www.ekstasiseditions.com/">Ekstasis </a>and so I gathered all my poetry in a virtual pile and started picking out the stuff I liked best. It wasn’t until I started (struggling with) putting Zeus together that I realized <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Poetaster-Leopold-McGinnis/dp/1897430299?ie=UTF8&tag=redfezpubl-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Poetaster</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=redfezpubl-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1897430299" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> had a focus. It was an introduction: <i>Hey poetry world – here’s me!</i> It was about me and the best of the stuff I was writing about, thinking about and dealing with from the dawn of my first feeble attempts to Ekstasis asking me to submit. The collection is a bi-product of that era: forceful, sarcastic, bitter, ironic and optimistic. These poems about the death of my father, international travel, office jobs, the lameness of the literary scene portray an author who is alternatively confident, lost, self-assured, struggling and ready to tear the literary world a new one if only to get some fresh air into the joint!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<u>Seriously, is this the part where you tell us what the hell Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea is about? Cause my time at the wash-o-mart is almost up and I gotta pick up my clothes.</u><br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So if Poetaster is about ‘me’ in the first era of my poetry writing, what is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Zeus-Giant-Iced-Tea-Poetry/dp/1897425945?ie=UTF8&tag=redfezpubl-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=redfezpubl-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1897425945" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> about? Zeus is a radical departure from Poetaster. It is not about me, but about fiction - or rather poetry's take on story telling. I like to think of Zeus as a love letter from poetry to fiction. The poems in Zeus are complete stories in themselves (The City, or the Muscle), and sometimes they are snippets of stories from a greater, untold story - like peeking through a keyhole in a door: you get a salacious snippet of the action going on, but get to make up the rest for yourself (The Two Xs, Crash Landing). Others are individually sealed poems that, as they are read, build and build into a much larger and complete story (The Sultan Poems). Zeus is an ode to fiction, to narrative storytelling, but from the dreamlike mind of poetry.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><u>The Making of Zeus</u> (It sprung from my forehead!)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">To be honest I had no idea what I was going to send to Athabasca Press when I was asked to submit. I thought it would be as easy as <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Poetaster-Leopold-McGinnis/dp/1897430299?ie=UTF8&tag=redfezpubl-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Poetaster </a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=redfezpubl-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1897430299" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />– spend a few hours rummaging through my poems, put em into categories and ‘voila!’ But I didn’t just want to do more ‘random stuff from Leopold McGinnis’, and I wasn’t sure I had much left after Poetaster. I struggled for quite a while to find a thematic collection when I realized, like the nutty professor, that I had a number of poems that were not similar in theme but in format! Poetic experiments telling complete stories, or teasing us with pieces of them. I didn't have a lot of them, but as I started collecting, and expanding my definition of what counted as 'narrative' I found I had almost enough for a book! Thanks be to god! I fleshed that out with the Sultan Poems (which deserves a post on its own, growing like a cancer from 1 poem to 3, to 6, to 8, to 16 and, finally 19 to take up more than a third of the book!) and I had a unique and interesting collection that was definitely NOT Poetaster and definitely ABOUT something.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
Of course, then I forgot to tell everyone about that part in my frenzy to get the world to pay attention. Hopefully this post makes amends!<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Anyway, that’s the story, or at the least the story that Zeus is trying to tell, and overall I think poetry does an excellent job telling a story. <a href="http://www.aupress.ca/index.php/books/120186">I hope you’ll check it out</a>.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><i>Note:</i></b> I hope to write more about the whole publishing process in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.</div>Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-26620503178207478672011-01-28T15:30:00.000-08:002011-01-28T15:30:23.201-08:00It's a review!Sort of. It's a paragraph, at least, by someone other than me telling you to pick up a copy! <a href="http://wredfright.blogspot.com/2011/01/zeus-and-giant-iced-tea.html">Check it out!</a>Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-4254032535827599352011-01-21T10:48:00.000-08:002011-01-21T10:48:01.600-08:00It's out now! Get your copy quick!<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.aupress.ca/index.php/books/120186">Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea is now out!!</a></span></b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.aupress.ca/books/120186/images/cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.aupress.ca/books/120186/images/cover.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Get it while it's hot!!!!!Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-13051243087614858832011-01-19T12:40:00.000-08:002011-01-19T12:40:10.513-08:00Beware the Podcasts, Pod-cats!So I just finished my second podcast. The first is about Salvation (perhaps you've heard of it?) and the second about Malls (also known as shopping centers). They were pretty fun to do, and both turned out really well (though they were a lot of work, especially sandwiched between school, a book launch and an upcoming vacation before book launch! yipes.)<br />
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So why do a podcast? Well, the simple answer is because my book publicist asked me to. You know, to whet your appetite for more poetry and get you drooling over the delicious release of my new book, <a href="http://www.aupress.ca/index.php/books/120186">Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea</a> this March. (I plan on writing more about the publishing process here later as well.) But I hope to continue doing them even after the book, because they are a great forum for reading poetry within a philosophical and entertaining context. Also, I bought this <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Zoom-H1-Portable-Digital-Recorder/dp/B003QKBVYK?ie=UTF8&tag=redfezpubl-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">BAD-ASS microphone</a> on Boxing Day and I was eager to use it! If you're a poet interested in doing recordings, podcasts or readings, I HIGHLY recommend you get it. It's easy and does amazing recordings, records straight to mp3 and so much more.<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=redfezpubl-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B003QKBVYK" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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Anyway, I've put up a <a href="http://bit.ly/hPcXVG">sample of podcast #2 for your entertainment. It's me reading a poem called On the Trail of Ibn Battuta about a mall in Dubai</a>. That poem also appears in Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea.<br />
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I hope the first podcast (Salvation) will be up in the next couple of weeks, with Malls to be out in mid to late February.<br />
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Enjoy!<br />
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Next up, a new video involving my fridge!Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-78535054298827757462011-01-12T09:02:00.000-08:002011-01-12T09:02:02.863-08:00Zeus copyThings are ramping up for the March release of Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea (3rd and final proofs to be done today!) AU Press has even got a placeholder up for the book, where you can get a sneak preview of the cover and read some of the promo copy for the book.<br />
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<a href="http://www.aupress.ca/index.php/books/120186">http://www.aupress.ca/index.php/books/120186</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.buy.com/prod/zeus-and-the-giant-iced-tea/q/loc/106/218920232.html">Even buy.com is excited about it!</a><br />
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I've seen the full cover of the book (just released the other day) and it looks FANTASTIC! But you're going to have to wait until the launch to see that.Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-75195581326440027392011-01-02T16:23:00.000-08:002011-01-02T16:23:37.420-08:00A Sequel to a Poem I Haven't PublishedSo, I was going through the proofs of my new book (Due March 2011!), which is a rather tedious (but also sometimes fun) process in which you hum and haw over each period and comma and syllable in your work. But as I was reading through the last poem in the book (We Heart Robot) and was inspired to start writing a sequel to it. This is largely unfinished, and who knows if it ever will be, but it was fun to start so I thought I'd share it.<br />
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Anyway, some prologue: The original poem (which you can find in my new book) sort of covers how all those girls got into his stomach in the first place. But I kind of wondered, during the review, what Giant Robot and the 1000 Japanese Schoolgirl's lives were like post departure from Earth. (Yes, this is an actual poem...published by an actual press.)<br />
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Anyway, here goes, the sequel to a poem you haven't read yet!<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gigantic Robot and the Shortcake Planet<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">One day</div><div class="MsoNormal">A thousand Japanese school girls</div><div class="MsoNormal">(and a few friends hanging out)</div><div class="MsoNormal">were lounging in the belly-lounge</div><div class="MsoNormal">of Gigantic Robot’s stomach</div><div class="MsoNormal">when he ran out of </div><div class="MsoNormal">Strawberry Shortcake gas</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">He rumbled</div><div class="MsoNormal">And he trembled</div><div class="MsoNormal">And the thousand schoolgirls</div><div class="MsoNormal">erupted in a chorus</div><div class="MsoNormal">of ‘ohhhhs’</div><div class="MsoNormal">and even a few tea sets</div><div class="MsoNormal">got broken</div><div class="MsoNormal">and beanbag chairs</div><div class="MsoNormal">overturned</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Whatever shall we do?<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Where can we get more gas?<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal">The girls asked</div><div class="MsoNormal">and then it was decided.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Going back to Earth</div><div class="MsoNormal">was no option</div><div class="MsoNormal">- too dull</div><div class="MsoNormal">for these well-heeled universal citizens</div><div class="MsoNormal">and the tiramisu just wasn’t that great -</div><div class="MsoNormal">No</div><div class="MsoNormal">they must go to the planet</div><div class="MsoNormal">Shortcake</div><div class="MsoNormal">Strawberry</div><div class="MsoNormal">but first</div><div class="MsoNormal">they’d need to buy</div><div class="MsoNormal">lots of gifts</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-43786300601148442432011-01-01T16:57:00.000-08:002011-01-01T16:58:49.701-08:00Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea Poster DESIGNED!!Ok, I got it together and MAN does it look slick! It's bad that I'm more excited about the book cover at this point than the book in time, but slightly understandable, I suppose, after the innumerable man hours I put in over the holiday season proofing it (just print it already!) Anyway...look for some poster contests soon!<br />
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Now I've just got to find a printer...and someone to post them up on street posts ACROSS THE GLOBE!Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-42992262870178203252010-12-18T10:53:00.000-08:002010-12-18T10:53:33.580-08:00Letter from a friendA friend of mine (finally) read Bad Attitude (when did I publish that, 2007?) and wrote me this little review. I like hearing what people think of my books, whether they like it or not (as in this case.) Anyway, I thought I would share it with you:<br />
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<blockquote>I just wanted to tell you that I read your book “Bad attitude”. And…</blockquote><blockquote>Well, you really are too much of a communist. I always knew it, you non-catholic, false Irish!</blockquote><blockquote>No seriously, that wasn’t my (main) point. But I’ve got to tell you honestly:</blockquote><blockquote>Yes I read it but I’ve got to tell you that I wasn’t really content with it (not that I HAVE to be satisfied of it, I’m fully aware that you didn’t write a book for me). I did really prefer “Game Quest”. Maybe I missed something but this one was a bit too straightforward: always in the store, few characters, too much of a good vs evil plot and a very unappealing main character.</blockquote><blockquote>What a punk he was, though I have to admit Tom was also an appealing hatred magnet and I’m always for anything that’s against Future Shop.</blockquote><blockquote>Anyways, I wanted to tell you that I read it and that I did have a good time reading it but that I was a bit disappointed because you really rocked my world with “Game Quest” and not so much this time.</blockquote><blockquote>If there was some kind of superb irony about it, please tell me.</blockquote>Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-49258436751590157662010-12-16T13:35:00.000-08:002010-12-16T13:41:31.256-08:00A little Christmas procrastinationProduced this semi-story. Like most things I write it will probably never go anywhere, or grow much beyond this. But who knows? It was fun writing it anyway, enjoy.<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">For the Children (not for children)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Santa’s arm tumbled out of bed before he did, knocking over a half-finished and flat-for-days glass of pepto-bismal to the floor. Somewhere in the house the Claus’ cat pricked one ear back and the sound of water trickling off the bedside table stirred yesterday’s breath from deep within the mountain buried beneath the avalanche of St Nick’s beard. Mrs. Claus was nowhere to be seen, but the tale-tale sounds and smells wafting up the stairs foretold her presence in the kitchen, baking as usual. Yet one more day where the sweet fragrance of desert wafted into his nostrils well before he’d even contemplated breakfast...a smell that aroused him due to years of its association with, well, you know...that early morning feeling.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">St Nick rubbed his face and didn’t bother to turn towards the clock. He couldn’t face it and had it permanently turned away from the bed. He hadn’t looked at it since last Christmas. Or a few months after. However long ago that was.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">It took much effort to roll his hefty frame into the upright position and place his feet – almost – on the floor. The upright pressure on his noggin was the unneeded reminder that he’d been drinking again last night. Guilt radiated out through his toes and he just sat on the bed for minutes, starring at the wood slat wall and a crude painting some kid – Walter or Charlie or something – had left him for Christmas one year. Maybe 30 years ago now. He wondered what happened to that kid. What did he wish for Christmas now? Did he have his own kids? He’d never know. The Dungeon Green kept that.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Mrs Claus, on days when she was irritated, would leave the evidence of the previous night’s debauchery lying around for Santa to clean up in the morning. An empty beer can here, a lukewarm tumbler of brandy there. She was not irritated this morning, he could tell as he slowly took himself down the stairs to the living room. His heart sank at the thought of her cleaning up after him for his favourite morning hangover cure was to take quick sip of the leftover hair of the dog. And then another, if it fancied him. Until he felt better and was waking up the next morning again in search of a cure.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Luckily she’d missed a martini glass he’d absentmindedly left behind the easy chair. The olives were gone, and it was a bit of a stretch to reach down and pick it up, but as he raised with it pinched between his nimble fingers the smell, like sweet ambrosia, of warm gin and dry vermouth caressed his nostrils. He licked his chops, put the glass to his lips and then thought about the children. He struggled for a moment with the rim on his lips...but guilt and the children won, for the first time in months and he put the martini glass down on the hope chest.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Stumbling into the kitchen he found Mrs Claus, fat as ever, bent over the oven in apron strings and oven mitts. For a brief moment he pictured her with just those two articles of clothing, and hair still bedraggled, tumbling down around her shoulders and not up in that asexual bow she insisted on wearing. (Ostensibly to keep it from catching fire, but really!) But stood up with a tray full of cookies and the fantasy was gone (a fantasy was all it could ever hope to be) and he gave her a kiss on the cheek. She paused he duties for a moment, smiled and continued while Santa went to the island sink and poured himself a healthy glass of water.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">“You going to the toy mine’s today dear?” she asked, dusting something on the fresh batch.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Was this a trick question? Did she want him to carry something down? Or a subtle-reminder that it was blankity-blank days until Christmas. 5? 4? He had no idea. It was really close. Really, really, terrifyingly close and he hadn’t done anything. He was going to miss it this year. That was it. It was going to be cancelled. Those Christmas day powers the Dungeon Green gave him were spectacular...but they couldn’t save the holiday season from how bad he’d butchered it this year.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Santa mumbled something approximating a yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">“That’ll be nice. I’m sure the elves will appreciate it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Santa laughed to himself. Appreciate it? What world did she live in? The elves were happy about everything. They lived in a lightless cavern, for Christ sakes, clanging and banging all day and night, endlessly singing cheery songs over and over, sweating and breaking their fingers to make toys for other people. And they never complained. Appreciation denoted a change in mood. The elves were too satisfied with anything to appreciate anything. Thank god for that, though. At least some children would get some toys.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">But he’d been avoiding it for months. He hadn’t been down there since July. He was going to get his shit together. Today. For the children. He had to at least try. He took a long look at that foreboding wooden door at the back of the kitchen that led down into the caves. Then he looked at the lovely white archway leading back into the living room and that last sip of yesterday’s martini. He thought of the children, he thought of Walter or Charlie or whatever that kid’s name was. He thought of how few days he had and how it would just be easier to just wing it. And then he headed for the washroom.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-78966614168044150072010-12-07T06:10:00.000-08:002010-12-07T06:10:16.444-08:00A Personal Appeal from Red Fez Founder Leopold McGinnisMy name is Leopold McGinnis and I approve of this message:<br />
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<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pOjDFp38xJc?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pOjDFp38xJc?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-84554898540111320452010-11-23T09:26:00.000-08:002010-11-23T09:26:32.712-08:00Hear the Red Fez!Red Fez.net, the beloved and mayhaps crazy literary website I've been running for the last nigh 10 years, has <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/redfez">started a radio program</a>! For our inaugural broadcast Red Fez radio host Tim Murray will be speaking with Editor in Chief Michele McDannold.<br />
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Don't miss this moment in indie-undie-writing history! <a href="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogtalkradio.com%2Fredfez&h=25cc3">Tune in this Saturday!</a><br />
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And if there's anything you'd like to hear on the show in the future (interviews, readings, etc) let us know here, or better yet call into the show.Leopold McGinnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17756355799306252457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5077693874060260085.post-21102869145630990742010-11-20T12:15:00.000-08:002010-11-20T12:15:37.834-08:00Two in the bush!I just stumbled across 2 poems published in <a href="http://www.34thparallel.net/">34th Parallel</a> last year that I had no idea were published...and barely remembered submitting! Going about Their Lives, and How Many Poems is it Going to Take.<br />
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Been a while since I put anything up, so I thought I'd <a href="http://issuu.com/34thparallel/docs/issue5/71?zoomed=true&zoomPercent=100&zoomXPos=0.013245033112582849&zoomYPos=0.28974358974358977">share them with you</a>.<br />
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