Shameless Creations

One of the things I love most about being involved in the Bizarro Movement is the genuine love of reading and writing that comes from the community. Not only do bizarro authors love to write what people want to read, but they love reading in general. One of my publishers’ goals is to get people interested in reading again.

They do a great job of it.

I’ve spent some time selling Eraserhead Press books at conventions. One of the things that strikes me each time is that so many people say that they stopped reading until they discovered bizarro fiction, or that they’d just not read before that. Bizarro is interesting. It draws people to it, like all good art does.

Lately there’s been some articles and discussions involving bizarro that I’ve had a part in. My publisher, Carlton Mellick III, wrote about the part of Eraserhead Press that’s all his (and editor Kevin Donihe’s)–the New Bizarro Author Series.

(That’s the four NBAS authors there, David W. Barbee, Eric Mays, Patrick Wensink and me. Our amazing editor, Kevin L. Donihe in front.)

My book is part of that series. He wrote about it and the other three first NBAS books here at his blog: Carlton Mellick III.  He talks about the NBAS, and what it means to bizarro and those of us in it. He says some really nice things about the NBAS authors and our books. (And about my cocktail-making skills…) Carlton is a fabulous author, an all-around brilliant guy, and someone to pay attention to. I’m happy to have him writing things about me and to be included in his plan to get more people to READ.

I had the pleasure of running across another group of people dedicated to getting people back into reading. I found the blog, Campaign for the American Reader, run by Marshal Zeringue one day while searching for sites about books. They’re using different media to get people back into reading, including reviews of fresh, interesting books and reviews of books by writers. The begining of an article I wrote for Marshal is up there today, along with a fantastically large biography about me and Rotten Little Animals (thank you!). The full story is completed at Marshal’s other blog, Writers Read. Many thanks to Marshal and his blog partner Vivian Darkbloom for all that they do to encourage reading. Mr. Zeringue is a writer and producer for Darkbloomz Productions. They produce film and plays and generally work to make the world a better place.

Please drop by and support these supporters of reading.

And you can find some reviews of bizarro books that I love if you read what I’m reading.

Happy days!