Summer and Fall events
The events page is filling up with readings and performances. July 12 I’ll be at the Scream In High Park festival in Toronto. September 14 I’ll be hosting a semi-Joyland themed night at McNally Jackson in New York. September 17 I’ll be reading in San Francisco with Emily Schultz, and a group of authors from Joyland SF including Peter Orner, Tamar Halpern, Ruth Galm and others. September 30 in Chicago, we’re doing a big ol’ Joyland night at The Bookcellar with myself, Emily Schultz, Megan Stielstra, Charles McLeod and others.
See the Events page for more information.
Ronald Reagan My Father in Quill & Quire
“Davis demonstrates real craft, combining humour with narrative development, humane warmth, and a convincing command of vernacular expression … Ronald Reagan, My Father is hyper-satire intended for those who appreciate Davis’s dark humour and share his cultural enthusiasms, which are equal parts populist and arcane. Fans of the edginess of Davis’s previous work will find similar satisfaction…” Read the non-ellipsis version here.
Joyland eBooks in Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly wrote up a nice piece about the launch this week of Joyland eBooks. It’s a joint imprint between Emily Schultz, myself and ECW Press that will bring out three short fiction collections a year. Expect more on the subject soon!
My first longlist! Here’s the full list, and congrats to fellow Canadians Sarah Selecky and Billie Livingston.
The Cork City – Frank O’Connor Short Story Award is the world’s richest and most prestigious prize for the form and is sponsored by Cork City Council. It is awarded to the best new collection of the year. Previous winners have included Haruki Murakami (Japan), Jhumpa Lahiri (USA) and Simon Van Booy (UK). On two occasions the award has gone to an author for their first book: Yiyun Li (China) in 2005 and Miranda July (USA) in 2007. A shortlist of six will be announced at the beginning of July. The winner will be chosen in September and receive the award at the close of the world’s oldest annual short story festival in Cork.
“Kurt Vonnegut in 21st-century America.”
Pretty good review in The Varsity. And thanks to the reviewer for noticing the lack of po-mo gaps. Not joking: It really was my New Year’s resolution a couple of years ago to cut down on them.
Brian Joseph Davis’s latest is the kind of good that’s so inventive, it’s hard to review without stealing the author’s lines. The short story collection Ronald Reagan, My Father is not so much Raymond Carver from Mars (as the publicity material would have it) as it is Kurt Vonnegut in 21st-century America.
Davis rolls in the excesses of American desire with Twilight Zone–variety sci-fi treated as a matter of course. Many of the stories explore modern metamorphoses: a death-row father turned Frankenstein monster turned right-to-die case; a copy editor turned West Nile Virus patient turned cannibalistic, prize-winning poet. Readers of Davis’s earlier work—the poetry collection Portable Altamont and the novel I, Tania—will recognize a similar sense of humour here, especially with regard to celebrity culture. Davis’s writing has become more controlled, though, with fewer po-mo gaps and more filled-in stories.
Two notable exceptions are the found-art stories “Voice Over,” created from 5,000 movie taglines, and “Johnny,” collected from film dialogue involving this name. While both send up cinema schlock and deliver some of the best laughs, the joke gets tired a few pages in.
These were, however, the only instances in the collection where shorter would have been better. As co-founder and managing editor at Joyland, an online literary journal devoted to exploring the outer reaches of short fiction, Davis has wholly devoted himself to the form with Ronald Reagan. Like with poetry, the brevity of these stories belies their depth. This is a book best enjoyed in multiple sittings, as each piece gives plenty to mull over. But while these stories came back to mind in the weeks after reading—as good a test of writing as any—by the end of most, I still wanted more. Here’s hoping that at this calibre of writing, Davis’s next will reward us with more sustained efforts.—Jade Colbert
TOUR THANKS!
The first tour for Ronald Reagan My Father is over. I’ve slept a couple of days and caught up on some work but before I get into booking the next leg for September — which should bring myself and Emily (whose softcover will be out in the States by then) to New York, San Francisco and Atlanta—I wanted to say thank you again to everyone who helped out this time.
Publishers: My editor Michael Holmes, publicists Sarah Dunn and Simon Ware, and Erin Creasey for getting the books to the stores.
At Joyland: Emily Schultz, Mathew Timmons, Kevin Chong, and Kara Levy (I was so cranked from that tea, totally worth it).
Stores and venues: Dustin at McNally Jackson, Liz and everyone at Quimby’s, Ray at the People’s Co-op Bookstore, Lianne and Irwin at W2, Julie at Outpost, Charlie and Jesse at This Ain’t the Rosedale.
Readers and panelists: Jim Hanas, Richard Nash, Dan Sinker, Paul M. Davis, Jennifer Krasinski, Janice Lee, Gerard Olsen, Shay Wilson, Claire Gibson, Dan Schwartz, Rob Peters.
Press: Sean at Books On the Radio, Jonathan at TimeOut Chicago, Chicago Reader, Vancouver Sun, TimeOut New York, Media Bistro, and Scientific American (!).
Bars: Coles, The York, The Revel Room.
tour day 4: Joyland Vancouver Summit
After eight flights in one week I don’t have much wit left but tonight’s show in Vancouver was pretty, pretty good. Thanks to all the readers—Emily, Shay, Claire, Dan, and Rob—and especially host Kevin Chong, venue W2 and bartender Books On The Radio‘s Sean Cranbury.
Start of the night.
I explain how to do a “laptop reading.”
Read more…
TOUR DAY 3: READINGS FROM JOYLAND LOS ANGELES
Thanks to all the readers—Gerard Olsen, Jennifer Krasinski, and Janice Lee— and host venue Outpost. The reading was stellar and the after drinks at The York was equally fun.
Only two more flights left!
Cool write up on the event in Scientific American.
And Media Bistro has this to say.
Tour Day 2: Chicago and the best people in the world
What one storm can do to a tour! Biblical rains hit Chicago yesterday and early today. I was stuck for three hours at, of all places, Ronald Reagan National. For a time my flight to Chicago was canceled and then it was merely very late.
The turnout was low but reader Paul M. Davis, Cell Stories’ Dan Sinker and Liz and the rest of the fantastic staff of Quimbys made the most of it and we all commiserated about the damned if you do, damned if you don’t nature of readings. The consensus: a combination of a city shell shocked from hail and the fact that Lost was on. Light drinking ensued and “that day” of the tour was turned around by having a great time with good people, which is the only reason I do these things.
If anyone is looking for me I’m in San Francisco for two days, avoiding airports and road food. Then…Los Angeles on Friday.
