So first of all, I have a very big announcement to make soon (some of you who are facebook friends probably already know what that might be), but, the way things work in the biz, I’m hesitant to say anything until it’s an actual ‘sure thing’ (if there ever is such a thing in publishing.) Anyway, I’m hoping to have something more to say on that in the next couple of weeks.

But so as to not leave you empty handed, I thought I’d share some other big news! The Red Fez (the book, not the site) is now available for Amazon’s ebook reader Kindle.! How freakin’ neato is that? Now all the intrigue, mystery and moustachio wax is available in e-ink. Habibi would be proud (or more likely amazed since computers didn’t really exist in his time) and steals yours and hide it YOU KNOW WHERE (well, if you’ve read the book you do!)

It’s pretty cheap: $4.99. Not my pricing (my pricing was $2.99, but I guess Amazon thought it was worth more...or not worth selling if it didn’t sell for more...I don’t know.) Anywho, that’s still a steal for this gem of a book - less than a heart-disease inducing burger meal and healthier for you. It’s also good because I’m starting to run out of physical copies of the book and I won’t be printing any more...so Red Fez can live on digitally.

So yes! If you’re lucky enough to have a Kindle, go check it out!

P.S. My other books are (hopefully) not far behind: Bad Attitude (also running out of copies) and Game Quest (not running out of copies.) If and until I get clearance from the publisher, I'll also hopefully have Poetaster up there, but I really have no plans to do that any time soon.

Red Fez Phones Home!

Picture this:

You're at a bus stop and you just broke up with your girlfriend. You're a strange combination of mad, sad, bad and rad. You're frustrated. You're done crying, you're done punching the pillow, and there's nobody around who wants to hear about your relationship troubles anymore...but you still need something...you need...a poem...about a messy breakup, to make you relate, to make you feel better! But where do you turn?

Red Fez to the rescue!!

You whip out your mobile phone, go to m.redfez.net and skim through the poetry by theme section and skim through the 'love/romance' category. Reading through a few amazing poems on the subject you flip your cell shut and, feeling better, say Bah! Who needs relationship anyway? When you have RED FEZ ON YOUR PHONE?

Or picture this!

You're waiting at the mall for your friend. She's late again. But she'll be there at any minute...you just don't know when. You don't want to just sit there looking uncool, you want to seem cool, like you have friends and a purpose for sitting on a bench. And you've been feeling kind of nostaligic for your childhood lately. So what do you do?

Red Fez to the rescue!!

You whip out your mobile phone, zip over to m.redfez.net and skim through the 'childhood/nostalgia' section of the fiction page. Lo a behold, pages after pages of sweetly scripted stories on childhood. Then your friend shows up out of nowhere. Dammit! Why did she have to show up so soon... I was reading RED FEZ ON MY PHONE!

But wait! Surely such deeply meaningful entertainment at my fingertips costs money!

Bah! Bah, we say to you! This is free! Yes, stop being so cynical! Stuff is still free and the universe has so conspired so that you can have free entertainment at any place where there is wifi or cell reception!

Hell, how great is that? I'll tell you how great. It's as great as m.redfez.net

Sites of Resistance - filmed in Fabulous Poeti-Scope!

Just when you thought it was safe to go onto YouTube and not see the latest and greatest video by yours truly, Leopold McGinnis, poet, author and wearer of neato eyeglasses...IT IS NO LONGER SAFE TO GO ONTO YOUTUBE AND NOT SEE THE LATEST AND GREATEST VIDEO BY YOURS TRULY, LEOPOLD MCGINNIS, POET, AUTHOR AND WEARER OF NEATO EYEGLASSES!

You've been warned.

*Filmed in fabulous Poeti-scope*


Sites of Resistance (from my poetry book, Poetaster)

In my kitchen
A spoon in the fork drawer
Mismatched chopsticks
A knife operated toaster

In the living room
A painting by nobody important
askew by 2 degrees
Books arranged with complete disregard
for the dewy decimal system
Or any system for that matter

In the bedroom
A drawer full of dead batteries
and elastic bands
Coins in jars taken out of circulation
and stored under the bed frame

In the bathroom
Mold that creeps into the tiles
A clogged drain
A toilet paper roll too far
from the toilet seat

These are sites of resistance.

I can beat-budda-beat my feet
on the pavement one thousand times a day
and make nary a crack
nary a scratch.
I can scream at the top of my lungs
Uptown! Downtown! Crosstown!
and reach nary an ear

But these are my sites of resistance
They may be small
But together we will fight
The Tyranny of Order!
The Hegemony of Structure!
The Fascism of Eternity!
Everyday
In the kitchen!
In the bedroom!
In the bathroom!
In the living room!
These are sites of resistance.

Totally unrelated, but I think this video is amazing!

Click here to see the much better resolutioned version.

New Video!!!!

Just in time for Halloween!

Yes, it's been over a year since my last video...but it's always been my goal to another one done. This one looks particularly great. The text is below the video. Enjoy!

Put a flower in your hair

lover

so I can see you at night

as you creep through the graveyard

re-animating the dicks

of the dearly deceased.

Trapped deep in the ground.

they are pushing up more than just daisies

when your black black soul passes by.

If only they could speak!

If only they could sneak a peak

through the dirt

beneath your polka-dotted skirt…

if only they could feel more

than the touch

of your black stilettoed heel

thudding in the overworld

If only they could comfort themselves with more

than the clip-clop clip-clop clip-clop

of you fading away

the sound haunting their memory so long

they’d swear it was their heartbeat

starting up again.

Mama always said to stay out

of dark places

but that’s where you shine

baby doll

Even your dark dark hair

is washed out

in the bleach of that awful awful sun

but at night

let the wolves howl for you

the moon leads the way

to tonight’s show

don’t ever let them tell you no

life lives where the living don’t go

so please

put a flower in your hair

for me

when you pass by my grave.

Zues and the Giant Iced Tea submitted!!

So I bit the bullet and submitted my manuscript to the press yesterday afternoon with fingers crossed. Here are some wacky stats on the manuscript:

Title: Zues and the Giant Iced Tea

Length: 129 pages (but that's with lots of page breaks - they are poems, after all)

# of poems in the collection: 48

Longest Narrative: The Sultan Poems

Most Controversial poem: A Brief History of Gandhi

# of poems about luchadores: 1

# of poems about arms dealing: 2

# of poems about Mexicans: 3

# of poems about robots: 3

# of poems with an Asian or Middle Eastern flavour: 27

The Artist Worries about the Quality of his work!

As a perfectionist, this was difficult because I felt I could still review, tighten and improve some of the work included, particularly the Sultan Poems, which started off as 3 poems and I hoped to merge into a complete 'story' of about 6 poems. When I submitted it it was 19 poems!! Yikes. Ideally I could put them aside for a month and then come back to do some final tightening up...but at some point you just have to submit, and I was months behind. If they like the manuscript, I'll get the chance to tighten those up at that point.

The Artist worries his manuscript will be a Comedy at the Oscars!

As a worrier, I'm not entirely sure, at the end of this very long journey, that I have put together a manuscript that is right for the poetry series the press is creating. That's probably just me worrying. I really like the concept of the collection - they are narrative poems and I'm very pleased with the quality of all of them. But as such, they are much less personal than those in my last collection and, as most critics and reviewers are want to do, could be considered 'lighter, less serious fare' (although I think that's unjust.) I think I also consciously stayed away from the darker stuff this time around, because I have more range than that and wanted to explore these narrative type works. However, the ultra personal, dark poetry of Poetaster is what made them ask me to submit something. So, essentially, I worry that this is going to be like submitting a comedy for an oscar nod. It could be the most brilliant film ever made...but if it's funny then it doesn't deserve any awards. On the other hand, comedy's are watched by way more people.

The Artist posts a poem from the collection in celebration of its completion!

The Two Xs

Dos Equis

The two exxes

The dirtiest man

South of Al Hambra

And North of it too

He was born

in the desert dust.

No woman’s son

He was foreign to the ways of women

No man’s son

He was lost amongst his brothers

They called him Dos Equis

The two exxes

Nobody ever saw his eyes

under the wide brim of his black hat

His skin was cold to the touch

beneath his black vest

and jeans

and snake black boots

Dos Equis

He was given a life

without direction

without answers

When he signed his name

he signed an X.

Twice.

He was given a life

without direction

without answers

He was only given

Two Exxes.

Listen to THIS!

In conversation with a friend the other day, it was asked why I didn't make audio recordings of my poetry, as she preferred and 'got more out of' my poetry when it was spoken. And so I told her "I do!" and "I have!"

That said, I haven't done a new audio recording in quite some time (partly because the mp3 player I was using to make them was stolen, and partly because I got more into the video poetry), however, her comments encouraged me to, at least, pull out the ones I'd previously created and post them here, if not do some more in the not too distant future.

Anyway, for the time being, here are two mp3s of me reading my poetry that used to be on my old site, for your listening enjoyment. (Both these poems are found in Poetaster)

Mall Thing

McMohawk