It's a review!

Sort of. It's a paragraph, at least, by someone other than me telling you to pick up a copy! Check it out!

It's out now! Get your copy quick!

Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea is now out!!

Get it while it's hot!!!!!

Beware 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.)

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, Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea 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 BAD-ASS microphone 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.

Anyway, I've put up a 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. That poem also appears in Zeus and the Giant Iced Tea.

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.

Enjoy!

Next up, a new video involving my fridge!

Zeus copy

Things 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.

http://www.aupress.ca/index.php/books/120186

Even buy.com is excited about it!

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.

A Sequel to a Poem I Haven't Published

So, 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.

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.)

Anyway, here goes, the sequel to a poem you haven't read yet!

Gigantic Robot and the Shortcake Planet

One day

A thousand Japanese school girls

(and a few friends hanging out)

were lounging in the belly-lounge

of Gigantic Robot’s stomach

when he ran out of

Strawberry Shortcake gas

He rumbled

And he trembled

And the thousand schoolgirls

erupted in a chorus

of ‘ohhhhs’

and even a few tea sets

got broken

and beanbag chairs

overturned

Whatever shall we do?

Where can we get more gas?

The girls asked

and then it was decided.

Going back to Earth

was no option

- too dull

for these well-heeled universal citizens

and the tiramisu just wasn’t that great -

No

they must go to the planet

Shortcake

Strawberry

but first

they’d need to buy

lots of gifts

Zeus 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!

Now I've just got to find a printer...and someone to post them up on street posts ACROSS THE GLOBE!

Letter from a friend

A 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:

I just wanted to tell you that I read your book “Bad attitude”. And…

Well, you really are too much of a communist. I always knew it, you non-catholic, false Irish!

No seriously, that wasn’t my (main) point. But I’ve got to tell you honestly:

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.

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.

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.

If there was some kind of superb irony about it, please tell me.