EDWARD GAUVIN

The beginning of my buddy Matt’s long illustrious horror career. Go listen, and get ready for the grisly! His story “Infestation” is read aloud by Cayenne Chris Conroy in a downloadable podcast at Pseudopod.

Some good reading to be snapped up:

The latest issue of Absinthe, with my translation of nihilist Roland Jaccard, has been out for a month now, but that hasn’t taken any of the shine off the cover. Editor Dwayne Hayes says he took “New European Writing” off the cover to see if it would improve sales. A sad statement on the market.

On Sale Now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interfictions 2, edited by Delia Sherman and Christopher Barzak of the Interstitial Arts Foundation, is due out in November, but Small Beer Press was distributing Advance Reading Copies during the recent Book Expo America. The collection features my translation of Lionel Davoust’s “L’Île Close,” a witty Arthurian commentary.

from Small Beer Press in November!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My translation of G.-O. Châteaureynaud’s “The Head” is out in the latest Conjunctions—their postfantasy issue—but more on that in a later post.

arranged our institutions to prevent the concentration of political power. … But we have failed utterly to prevent the concentration of economic power, or take account of how such concentration damages the conditions under which full human flourishing becomes possible (it is never guaranteed).” ~ Matthew Crawford, Shop Class as Soul Craft, quoted by Michael Agger in Slate

“Oh je sais, je sais, l’espoir que quelque chose ou quelqu’un cherche à s’adresser à nous, à percer le mur de notre solitude ou de notre autisme, est bien ténu, bien chimérique ! Mais c’est aussi un espoir profondément enraciné en nous, une sorte de foi enfantine dont rien ne saurait nous détourner parce qu’elle nous protège de la peur et du désespoir. La chambre des enfants est plongée dans le noir mais la maison n’est pas vide. Point si lointains, dans l’Olympe de la salle manger, des dieux omniscients et omnipotents devisent sous le soleil de la suspension.”
~ Aranelle, in L’Autre rive, by Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud

On finissait par discuter nos ex, et il me dévoilait cette distinction qui pour lui avait beaucoup éclairé, entre d’un côté, l’honnêteté, et de l’autre, la franchise. L’honnêteté se résumait à se dire, entre amis, ce qu’on pensait vraiment, mais la franchise, prétendait-il, consistait à toujours, de ces pensées honnêtes, tout dire. A savoir, de ne rien cacher, surtout de ces mécontentements que mettent de coté les membres d’un couple pour mieux se servir comme arme ou comme béquille, comme preuve ou comme accusation, selon les circonstances, lorsqu’éclate une de ces disputes—tout membre d’un couple, présent ou passé, saurait parfaitement de quoi je parle—faites des contrariétés qui s’intensifiaient depuis des semaines où l’on refusait d’en parler. De tour au tour, on les cache puis on les sort, ces déceptions que chérit la vie du couple, qui s’enrichit des jeux malsains.

Apparently I’m to be giving a mini-reading at this Wednesday event, from “Ecorcheville,” Chateaureynaud’s print premiere from last spring:

NAKED PSYCHES ON THE BOWERY
Epiphany is proud to announce the release of its Winter/Spring ’09 issue, Naked Psyches. Contributors to this eclectic issue explore experiences ranging from the rapture of Dionysus (George Franklin, “Talking Head”) to the ragged dissociations of a girl addicted to crank (Keith Hendershot, “I Heart You Past August”), along the way touching on the underground blues scene in New York (Susan Ruel, “Medium Shuffle Blues in E”), the snobberies of official Washington (Sallie Bingham, “The Monkey’s Uncle”), and the vicissitudes of growing up with a famous literary father (Kaylie Jones, “City of Lights”). The issue also features a verse playlet by Hairspray author Mark O’Donnell (“The Goblins Plot to Murder God”), nine brilliant lyric poems by Martin Edmunds, and much more. If there is a common thread running through the issue, it is the authors’ faithful tracing of the fault lines of inner reality, wherever they may lead. If you aren’t already a subscriber, visit our website, www.epiphanyzine.com, to become one today! Also, Epiphany will be celebrating the release of Naked Psyches with a reading and launch party on March 25th from 6-8 at the Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery, N.Y.C. (Admission: $5, Admission + Naked Psyches: $10, Admission + one-year subscription: $15.) Thank you for your support of Epiphany!

Back! After a month of inaction, and about to clap shock paddles to the blog. Defibrillation will the take the form of some brief announcements, either what I’ve been up to or what’s upcoming (all updates have been added to the Translations page):

In Interfictions 2, the anthology of the Interstitial Arts Foundation
* “L’Ile Close” by Lionel Davoust, forthcoming from Small Beer Press, Fall 2009

An excellent and enlightening time had working on this idiosyncratic Arthurian analysis-fantasia.

At Tara Online, the site of HRH Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian, author of the bestselling Tara Duncan series
* Chapters 1-3 from Tara Duncan, Book 1: The Spellweavers

I’ve had the pleasure of working not only the author’s magical YA series, but also La Danse des obeses, her horror novel for adults last spring. It had a meat hook on the cover. Some of you may have heard me mention it. She was kind enough to post my translation at her site! Which just goes to prove Her Highness’ royal graciousness.

Conjunctions
* “La Tete” by Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud, forthcoming, Spring 2009

300 pages of Post-Fantasy goodness featuring my friend Scott Geiger and a host of amazing names: Jeff VanderMeer, Ben Marcus, Joyce Carol Oates, China Miéville, Elizabeth Hand, Shelley Jackson, Stephen Wright, Jedediah Berry, Jonathan Carroll… and those are just the ones I know! Plus Karen Russell and Conjunctions editors Micaela Morrissette, and J.W. McCormack, whom I’ve met at readings.
I am deeply proud to have Châteaureynaud stand among them.

The Brooklyn Rail
* “Le seul mortel” by Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud, Dec. 2008-Jan. 2009

This has been available for some time now, but I never flogged it yet. The print version is unfortunately no longer available on stands, but the virtual survives.

Absinthe: New European Writing
* from Cioran et compagnie, by Roland Jaccard, forthcoming in issue 11, Spring 2009

Very excited about the debut of Jaccard the triste esprit nihiliste, and the fact that Absinthe is still afloat.

Words Without Borders
* from Contre la B.D. by Jochen Gerner, April 2009
* from Lettre aux survivants by Gébé, April 2009
* from Farniente by Lewis Trondheim, April 2009

These last dates are still provisional, as is any guest blogging I do with them; these pieces, slated to appear in February’s graphic issue, were delayed for purposes of hand-lettering by artists.

The Interstitial Arts Foundation (IAF) is searching for cover art for our second literary anthology, Interfictions II. All visual artists are invited to submit images for possible use as the cover art of the  anthology.

From February 2 – 16, artists are invited to post images on our Flickr group at http://www.flickr.com/groups/interstitialarts. At the end of that time, the editors of Interfictions II, Delia Sherman and Christopher Barzak, along with Small Beer Press publisher Gavin Grant and Interfictions I cover artist Connie Toebe, will choose an image for the cover of this exciting original anthology, to be published in November, 2009.

Interstitial art is all about breaking rules, ignoring boundaries, and cross-pollination. Do you have trouble describing your work, or feel that what you do doesn’t quite fit in anywhere else? Have you been told you’re too commercial for fine art, too fine art for craft shows, or too crafty for a fancy gallery? If your art falls between the cracks of other movements and definitions, it could be just right for us. Art that transcends boundaries is what the Interstitial Arts
Foundation is all about. Read more about the IAF, sign up for our e-list, or even become a Friend of the IAF at http://www.interstitialarts.org

What are we looking for? Any visual image that might look good on the cover of a book. It could be a painting, a computer image, collage, sculpture or maybe even a piece of clothing. The first volume’s cover was actually a photo of a 3-dimensional diorama box, so a photo of a sculpture or craft piece is not out of the question. Contributing artists should be sure to consider their art in the context of a book cover. A book cover isn’t simply a pretty picture but part of a complete design. If you’re photographing a 3-dimensional piece (especially something that isn’t rectangular) please remember that the quality of the photo counts as well. A nicely composed photo is as important as the quality of the artwork in the image. The book cover will be 5.5″ wide and 8.5″ tall so a horizontal or square image might not work as well as a vertically oriented one. That being said, we’d love to be surprised. Show us something we’ve never seen before!

Details after the jump: » Read the rest of this entry «

We have seen the barbarians at the gates AND THEY ARE NERD. As a mass mailing subject line informed me this morning: NYCC takes over NY in three days! That’s right… Anyhoo, Friday night 7:15-8:15 in room 1A22 I’ll be sharing a stage with editors Calista Brill (First Second), Carol Burrell (Lerner), CB Cebulski (Marvel), Terry Nantier (NBM), Olivier Jalabert (Soleil), and creators Babara Canepa (Sky Doll) and Christophe Arleston (Lanfeust of Troy). Enough for ya? Basically, we’ll introduce ourselves and then it’ll be time for questions.

Also, my friends GB Tran, Jamie Tanner, and Fred Chao will be threesome-ing a booth in Artist’s Alley. Don’t miss! Here’s a map. Go forth and spend like a patriot.

College buddy and Chuck co-creator Chris Fedak will be speaking on his NBC series Sunday at 11:15 AM in Room 1A08-12 (WTF with these complicated room numbers?)

This concludeth the plugging for this week. There will be no further announcements about the impending comics invasion. You now know all ye need know.