Two Weeks and Change

In about two weeks Kyle and I will be off to New Jersey for the first stop on our 17-day tour.

Things are coming along smoothly at this point. Everything's confirmed, as you can see below. We know where we're staying now in almost every city. I find that folks are usually pretty generous in their housing of a few poor poets. I know I would do the same for others, so it's nice to see that happening for us.

A few other odds and ends to go (like figuring out how many books to bring with us), and then it's time to start making a list of everything we'll need. I'm still debating on whether or not I should get a netbook to try and blog and check email and everything. But that's just another thing that can get lost, damaged, or stolen. I'm sure I'll be able to check things enough, if not everyday. And I can always just take a regular notebook and pen, of course.

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I finally turned the comments off for this blog. I clearly haven't been updating it very much lately, and even though I could just ignore the spammers, which is all I've been getting recently, it's easier just to turn them off.

If anyone needs or wants to get a hold of me, my email address, as always, is at the top right of the blog.

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I received my contributor copies of Hollins Critic the other day. Looks good.

Thanks again to the editors.

I also haven't been paid for poetry in a long, long time, so that's always welcoming.

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I still haven't been writing much, but I'm not pressing the issue. I have some ideas, and I'm sure, at the very least, that a jaunt across the U.S. will jump-start some ideas come August.

But I'm still tinkering with the new manuscript, which is currently at about 10 places right now.

That's about it until September, and if nothing happens with it by then, I'll be sending it to more places come 2011 than I did last year.

Dream Horse Press 2010 First Book Tour

The dates, times, and venues are now confirmed for the First Book Tour that Kyle McCord and myself will be headlining this July.

I will be reading from my first book, Ghost Lights, and Kyle will be reading from his first book, Galley of the Beloved in Torment. Both books were published by Dream Horse Press on May 15h, 2010.

In addition, guest readers in different cities will include: A.K. Beck, Aaron Reed, Christine Kanownik, Ezekiel Black, Gabe Durham, Gary L. McDowell, Kristina Marie Darling, Matthew Guenette, Megan Turner, Travis Poling, and Sarah Boyer. As well as musical guest: Seedlings.

The tour schedule is posted below. If you live in or around one of these cities, we'd love to see you at a reading.

We also started a Facebook group for the tour that you can find through my profile or Kyle's.

Feel free to contact me at kwmontesano@gmail.com or Kyle at kfmccord@gmail.com for any questions about directions or times.

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Dream Horse Press 2010 First Book Tour Schedule:

Wednesday, July 14th - Woodbridge, NJ
Baron Arts Center 7:30

Thursday, July 15th - Pittsburgh, PA
Cyberpunk Apocalypse 7:00

Friday, July 16th - Toledo, OH
Ground Level Coffee 7:00

Saturday, July 17th - Kalamazoo, MI
Old Dog Tavern 5:00

Sunday, July 18th - Richmond, IN
Clear Creek Co-op 6:15

Monday, July 19th - Chicago, IL
Gallery Café 6:00

Tuesday, July 20th - Madison, WI
Avol’s Books 7:00

Wednesday, July 21st - Iowa City, IA
Public Space One 8:00

Thursday, July 22nd - Des Moines, IA
Des Moines Social Club 6:30

Friday, July 23rd - St. Louis, MO
Left Bank Books (Euclid and McPherson location) 7:00

Saturday, July 24th - Nashville, TN
Nashville Public Library - Special Collections Center 3:00

Sunday, July 25th - Atlanta, GA
Beep Beep Gallery 8:00

Monday, July 26th - Athens, GA
Gainesville State College (Gainesville Campus)
Ballroom A 8:30

Wednesday, July 28th - Richmond, VA
Chop Suey Books 6:00

Thursday, July 29th - New York (Brooklyn), NY
Unnameable Books 7:00

Friday, July 30th - Hadley, MA
Grey Matter Books 7:00

Saturday, July 31st - Boston (Cambridge), MA
Lorem Ipsum Books 5:00

June

Again, thanks to those folks who ordered copies of Ghost Lights from me or somewhere else. The initial response has been much better than I anticipated, considering you constantly see and hear writers saying, "Don't expect more than a handful of people to buy your book." Or at least I've seen that enough to have expected it.

I have a handful of copies left right now from those I received a little over a week ago, and I probably won't be getting more until July, so if you're still interested in getting a signed copy, you can use the button on the top right of the blog to order through PayPal.

Oh, and for a shot in the dark, if anyone's interested in reviewing Ghost Lights, please shoot me an email and let me know, as I most likely wouldn't hesitate to get it into the hands of someone who would be willing to review it.

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Though a few dates from the July "tour" have changed (I believe we'll be reading in Pittsburgh instead of Buffalo, for example), things are coming together more and more every day.

I'm excited to get in the car with some clothes and a box of books and a GPS and just go. I think I not only need something like this in my life right now (and thankfully I have a beautiful and understanding wife who doesn't mind that I'll be gone for over two weeks), but it's most likely the last time I'll ever have a chance to do something like this (though I do hope to have more readings in my future, of course).

My goal's to sell some books, see some (OK, many) places in the U.S. I haven't seen, meet some new people, and hopefully get some ideas for new poems. I really can't ask for anything more.

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In the past few weeks I also received the new Nimrod and Center issues, which have within the pages a few poems from my new manuscript, in addition to some poems by friends, which is always great to see.

Thanks again to the editors for including me.

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I also just sent the new manuscript out to a couple last places until the fall. As I've said before, I'm not sure what else to do with it at this point, so it'll be good for me to take a manuscript hiatus over the summer, see if anything happens, and do my best to try and move onto some new poems. And perhaps even some kind of a new project.

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I have to also mention the new Hammock record, "Chasing After Shadows... Living with the Ghosts."

Not only is it one of the best records of the year, but there's also a 4-track Outtakes disc available, and a more ambient guitar-oriented 4-track disc called "North West East South."

With everything together, it ends up being one of the best non-official double albums I've had the pleasure of listening to in a long, long time.

I ended up ordering this package deal from their website because I couldn't resist the amazing hardbound book of gorgeous photos, and also Marc's studio I believe recently flooded (since they're from Nashville). It was worth it.

Listen to all that you can. These guys are nothing but inspiring, and I don't know how they consistently write and release such gorgeous music, but they do.

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There's also a Deepdiscount summer sale on for anyone interested.

Though Amazon usually has great prices, especially on Blu-ray discs, a lot of the Deepdiscount deals, especially for Criterion Blu-ray discs, are much better (around $25 or lower, including free shipping).

I'm trying to limit myself to $100, as there are way too many I've been wanting to get for the last few months but have held out on. But now's the time to suck it up and get it done.

Official

Thanks so much to everyone who pre-ordered a copy of Ghost Lights. I appreciate all the support, and I was extremely surprised by and am thankful for so much interest. I should have copies this week, so if you ordered one, as soon as I have them it will be in the mail. I'll also email you to let you know that it has shipped.

Also, the book was officially released on May 15th. You can find it on the Dream Horse Press website, and on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Goodreads, with more places coming soon...

And though the pre-order price is no longer available, if you want to order a signed copy from me, I'm still offering them for over 15% off the cover price, with free shipping, via PayPal with the button on the top right of the blog.

Kyle and I are almost done with all of the July tour date confirmations, and as soon as we have those, I'll be posting the 17 days worth here to let folks know, and we would of course love to see you at one of the venues if you can make it. More on that later...

Ghost Lights Pre-Order

Friends,

Though you will soon be able to order Ghost Lights from Dream Horse Press and other online outlets, should you be interested in purchasing a copy from me, I have a button at the top of the blog where you can do just that via PayPal.

Your order will get you over 20% off the cover price and free first class shipping.

I will have copies no later than May 31st, and as soon as I have them (which I hope will be around the 25th), they will be shipped to you that day. You'll also receive an email from me when it's shipped.

Please email me if you have any questions. Thanks.

Malick

The Thin Red Line is officially slated for a Criterion Blu-ray release. Right now it looks like mid-August will be the tentative date.

I really can't verbalize how happy this makes me. If I didn't have a Blu-ray player now, this would've been the disc to take me over the edge.

Don't forget also that The Tree of Life is in post-production...

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I'm trying to figure out the PayPal thing so I can get it going on here and possibly a future website (since it seems to be a good idea and I should have at least a little time over the summer to do it). Once I know when I'll have the books and when folks who order can expect them, I'll have all the information here. Hopefully sooner than later.

I know there may be only a handful of folks who want a copy of Ghost Lights who read this, but I want to give folks an opportunity to get it cheaper than retail with free shipping.

Any minuscule amount of money I "make" from selling books will go into buying more books. Really I just don't want to lose money on the deal, and I want to get this into as many hands as possible, especially when Kyle and I are off on our cross-country reading jaunt in July.

Isn't that what you're supposed to do with your first book?

Physical

Yesterday I received the book proof of Ghost Lights. I was hoping all the hard work over the last four months or so with the proofs would pay off.

And it certainly has.

Yes, it's my book and it'd be tough to not be biased, but if there were some things I didn't like about it, I would certainly say them.

The cover design turned out better than I'd anticipated. The painting's gorgeous, the cover's bright, the font stands out, the blurbs are easy to read and go great with the gray background. The font choices and sizes were perfect for the inside.

I really couldn't be happier with it.

I'm going to do a last run through everything, line-by-line, over the next day or two, and tomorrow I'll confirm that it's good to go, and then hopefully everything should be ready for the May 15th release date.

I hope people out there like it.

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I also recently received my contributor copies of Barn Owl Review #3.

Thanks again to Mary and Jay for all their hard work on the issue. It looks great all around.

There are many new poems by many poets who already like, and I've gotten to discover a few more names that I'll now be looking out for in the future.