Black Cow Blog Tour Day 9: The Writing Mama Radio Show

Tomorrow I'll be dropping by The Writing Mama radio show to chat with hosts VS Grenier and Irene Roth about Black Cow and other things.The show will air live at March 5 , 2012 at 6pm EST - 5pm CT - 4pm MST - 3pm PT.  You can listen on the site or call in at (US number) (714) 242-5259.  If you miss the show live, don't despair. I'll be posting up a permanent listening link shortly after the show airs. 

Compulsive Reader Talks Top 5 Shows Of All Time

My radio show, The Compulsive Reader Talks is nearing it's fifth year.  In Internet terms, that's a long time and a lot of shows, all dedicated to authors, books, and the changing world of publishing.   As we inch towards the end of 2011, I thought it might be interesting to have a little look back, and see which shows have been most popular.  So, in order of popularity, I'm listing the top five shows of all time, which you might like to listen to once more or catch up on if you missed them first time round.  Note that all of the shows are also available on iTunes and you can download them and listen to them in the car or while you're cooking, etc.  I think you'll find much here that's enlightening and interesting.  I know that I've certainly enjoyed the significant privilege of being able to talk to such inspirational people and am very excited about the line up for 2012.

 1.  Interview with Craig Silvey
Craig Silvey's novel Jasper Jones won a swag of awards and changed the writing game for this young novelist and musician.  With film rights in hand, the book is set to continue its well-deserved popularity.  Silvey dropped by shortly after the book was published to talk to us about Jasper Jones in a show that remains the most popular that I've ever aired.

2.  Interview with Helen Townsend
Helen Townsend has had over 17 books published, and dropped by the show to talk to me about her book Above the Starry Frame, a historical novel that followed the life of William Irwin, an Irish farm boy who migrated to Australia at 18 in 1849, leaving behind the Irish potato famine.

3.  Interview with Sir Ken Robinson
Ken Robinson has become an international celebrity for, among other things, his amazing TED Talks, and his life changing, educationally focused book The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything.  From my point of view, what I liked best about Ken Robinson, was how down to earth and just plain nice he was when we chatted, shortly after The Element was released.

4.  Interview with Howard Waldman
Howard Waldman's literary works busts all genres, bringing sci fi, fantasy, mystery and historical fiction into a seamless literary experience.  In this interview he talks to me about his book Good Americans Go to Paris When They Die. 

 5.  Interview with Mark Coker
I don't think it would be a stretch to credit at least some of the impact and growth of ebooks to Smashwords' Mark Coker. From a one man show with a single book to 80,000+ books, Smashwords opened the floodgates for self-publishing, changing the way books are published and sold. Many others have since followed, but perhaps none to the same extent.  Mark dropped by the show to talk about his site in the relatively early days, and to make some predictions which nearly all played out.

Full Writer's Sanctuary show

Following is the fully embedded Writer's Sanctuary Show in which Carolyn Howard-Johnson and I read lots of work from our new book Deeper Into the Pond and one each from Blooming Red. This includes the previous guest, author Tony Rodriguez.  The text for the longish poem I read - the one dedicated to David Foster-Wallace, "Coming Back" is below the show widget. Hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed chatting.

Listen to internet radio with World Wide Word on Blog Talk Radio

Coming Back

i.       She sat straight on the bar stool legs crossed tightly

stared abstractly through the buzz surrounding her in the stillness she created within that spot

a magic trick you couldn’t create if you tried

opened owl eyes into grief creating emptiness inside the rowdiest bar in the neighbourhood.

No one dared point a finger.

We tried not to look at her but it was hard.

      So we looked out of the corner of our eye when we walked past, our heads thrown back fake laughter all the while drawn towards the silence of that pain the peripheral gravity that wouldn’t let us settle into our evening of forgetting.

      The louder the laughter the deeper her pull.

     

      Still she sat against the clinking glass ice cube slide and when it was too much truth we linked arms and left her there alone.

     

      When we returned, she was gone.

 ii.  I thought about him all day

      immersed in his voice, the knock-knocking intensity that gripped the inside of my head. 

I understood (almost, really just almost) after staying in that horrible wave of truth and power and no stillness whatsoever where the words move around your body in tightening magnetic fields that won’t let up 

not even for a breath

no breaths.

He strangled for a simple breath, begging in his very last line, for someone to tell him how

I wanted to tell him

speaking calmly

in and out that’s all but he was already breathless

off the page

to a place (no place)

with no fear no more sound.

iii. This is the last one

no cause for celebration no rockstardom

because what you’ve made won’t last

the eternity sleep

nothing profound

in ice

the crystalline inorganic solidity of it

your life stopped

at its most fragile, beautiful point

poised for so much more

than just success

that relative, reprehensible word that masks and tears your life into diamond dust needles.

Upcoming Radio Show (come and join us)

Writers’ Sanctuary

Celebrates the Divine Feminine

with

Authors Magdalena Ball and

Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Hosted by  Kim McMillon

Tuesday, August 9, 2011, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM, PST

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onword

   

(San Francisco, CA),  August 1,  2011  --- Tune into Writers’ Sanctuary on Tuesday, August 9^th at 4 PM as host Kim McMillon interviews authors Magdalena Ball and Carolyn Howard-Johnson on the power of the divine feminine in poetry and prose.  Magdalena and Carolyn will read from their latest collaboration from the award winning Celebration Series, Deeper into the Pond. This book celebrates, supports, and inspires women.

The divine feminine is conjured with, “the glass wing butterfly reveals only flowers
 beneath her wings. You, my dear, the one 
who lives in my own domain
opague.”  The reader is brought into a world that is vivid, and alive with emotions and feelings, that speak to the mystery that is woman.

 

To ask a question of the guests during the show, please call (718) 508-9717.  To learn more about the program, go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onword.

What frightens you? Comp newsflash

Because I'm having trouble contacting my winners (no responses), I've decided to open this comp up to everyone - just email me with your postal address (US and CA only I'm afraid), and the subject line Literary Life, and I'll choose the first entry as the winner!  The October episode of Penguin's The Literary Life podcast investigates fright: that disturbing feeling that can spring from the most unlikely of places—even the pages of books. Sarah Waters joins Penguin to discuss her newest book, The Little Stranger, a gothic novel and finalist for the Man Booker Prize that critics have compared to Henry James and Edgar Allen Poe. Koren Zailckas, author of Smashed and Fury joins us to rant about what not to do when reading your own audiobook in our latest installation of The Writer's Rant. Rich Hasselberger explains why designing a book jacket for a thriller is different than for a paranormal romance and Kristin Hersh, founder of the band Throwing Muses, talks about her memoir Rat Girl.   Because Penguin knows how much I like to give away books, they've offered me a copy of one of the featured books (your choice).  To win, just make sure you're following us.  I'll choose the winner at random from followers.  Giveaway will only run for this week, so don't delay!  Happy Halloween.