One of the best surprises I’ve ever discovered in my mailbox: A postcard from Lawrence Ferlinghetti! I had sent a copy of Beatitude to the poet and co-founder of San Francisco’s City Lights Bookstore because I thought he might be interested in the subject matter of the novel as well as the two previously unpublished poems by Allen Ginsberg. Turns out he was—enough to take the time to send me a postcard!
In 1956, Ferlinghetti published Ginsberg’s Howl and Other Poems as Read more
Now this is bliss! My debut novel, Beatitude, has won the 2012 Gold IPPY Award—the Independent Publisher Book Award—for Best GLBT Fiction.
The 16th annual IPPY Awards drew nominations from more than 2,000 independent authors and publishers vying for gold, silver and bronze medals in 72 categories. Created in 1996 to honor the year’s best independently published titles, the Independent Publisher Book Awards “reward those who exhibit the courage, innovation, and creativity to bring about change in the world of publishing.”
The IPPY Awards bash takes place on June 4 and kicks off BookExpo America (BEA), the publishing industry’s largest annual event in North America, held this year at the Javits Center in New York.
You can read the list of all IPPY winners here.
Publishers Weekly is showcasing the book trailer I produced for Beatitude. The black-and-white, one-minute trailer features appearances by Johnny Depp and Allen Ginsberg, both of whom figure in the novel. You can watch the trailer on Publishers Weekly here or on my author site here.
The Beatitude Book Club Reading Guide is now available, with 22 questions guaranteed to stimulate inspired conversation about life, love and the Beats. If your book club is in the New York metro area, the author himself might join you. All you have to do is ask. Hit me up via the Contact page.
Jack Kerouac, Lucien Carr and Allen Ginsberg, 1959
A New York Times article by true crime author and journalist David J. Krajicek recounts the “violent death” that caught Beat Generation writers Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs in its gravitational pull 10 years prior to their debut on the literary scene.
In 1944, 19-year-old Lucien Carr, who had introduced Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs, stabbed David Kammerer, 33, to death in Riverside Park in response, Carr claimed, to Kammerer’s alleged unwanted and aggressive advances. Stricken with remorse, Carr consulted with Kerouac and Burroughs, who advised him to turn himself over to police. Carr plead guilty to manslaughter and served two years of a 20-year sentence.
In 1945, Kerouac and Burroughs co-authored a thinly veiled mystery novel about the incident, And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks, the title of which was inspired by a late-night newscast about a fire at the St. Louis Zoo. In Beatitude, Hippos serves as the inspiration for Harry and Jay to write a book together. The incident itself is also the basis of the movie Kill Your Darlings, now filming in New York, with Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe as Allen Ginsberg.
On Saturday, March 24, I’ll be sharing a table and reading from my novel Beatitude at the Rainbow Book Fair, 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the LGBT Community Center 208 West 13th Street, New York. If you go, be sure to stop by table B24 and say hello. I’ll be happy to inscribe a copy of Beatitude. I’m also one of 40 authors scheduled to read. I’m in the 2-2:30 p.m. block. We each get four minutes so don’t blink! Hope to see you there!
March 12, 2012: Jack Kerouac’s 90th birthday and, appropriately enough, the date of my first reading from Beatitude, at Barnes & Noble, 82nd and Broadway, NYC. A huge thanks to everyone who came out! It was great to see Read more
Anthony R. Cardno, who recently interviewed me for his Rambling On literary site, has just reviewed Beatitude in Chelsea Station, the new literary magazine edited and published by the tireless—and tirelessly creative—Jameson Currier.
“I felt utterly drawn in,” writes Cardno. “By the end of the book, I felt like I’d made two new friends in Harry and Jay.”
You can read the full review, in addition to amazing new fiction, poetry, articles and other reviews, in the latest issue of Chelsea Station. Pick up a copy here.
Author, literary blogger and book reviewer Anthony Cardno of Rambling On recently chatted with me at length about Beatitude—my upcoming first reading on Jack Kerouac’s birthday (March 12), the influence of Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and the Beat Generation, how two previously unpublished poems by Ginsberg came to appear in the novel, what it’s like to be published by an independent press and the most heartening response an author can ever receive.
You can read the full interview here.
I stumbled upon the first sign for my reading at Barnes & Noble by accident when I went to the restroom at the store just before another author’s reading. There it was, right between the doors marked Men and Women. I had to laugh, though Lou Pizzitola, who organizes the readings, assured me that it’s a heavily trafficked location. Now there are two signs, in even more prominent locations: One at the top of the escalator and one in the store window. Next stop: A deluxe apartment in the sky. For me, that is, not the sign!
My reading is Monday, March 12, 7 p.m., at Barnes & Noble, 82nd and Broadway, NYC. Come!
March 12, the date of my first Beatitude reading, is Jack Kerouac’s birthday! The timing was a total coincidence, but, really, as Beatitude asks, is anything ever a coincidence? In honor of the big day, I’ll be reading an appropriate excerpt from Beatitude, in which Kerouac and his fellow Beats figure. Jack, pictured here in his official U.S. Naval Reserve photo in 1946, would have been 90.
My reading is Monday, March 12, 7 p.m., at Barnes & Noble, 82nd and Broadway, NYC.
