Pearl Jam MSG 5.21.10

I saw Pearl Jam at Madison Square Garden on Friday night. This was the last show of this leg of the tour before they take a break, then head overseas, and they didn't hold back. They played two hours and forty-five minutes. Just look at this setlist. They were relentless, opening with five rockers before even taking a breath to say hello. Seriously, this was one of the LOUDEST shows I've ever heard, and I mean both the band AND the crowd. They did a good mix of old and new stuff, and even broke out "Hunger Strike" during the second encore, with Ben Bridwell, the singer of opening act Band of Horses, taking on Chris Cornell's half of the vocals (see video below).

Lady Luck review, and a fun interview with Susan DiPlacido

The funny and talented Susan DiPlacido has just released three new novels. That's right, three! They are LADY LUCK; SHUFFLE UP AND DEAL; and HOUSE MONEY. I have a lot of reading to do. LADY LUCK was the first one I sunk my teeth into.

Las Vegas showgirl Sherri DiPedi gets knocked in the head with a neon sign and wakes up as the current incarnation of Lady Luck. Or does she? Is she just crazy? And what about her step father, who may have killed her father to steal his business and marry his wife? Is that all in her head too? Or will she be the next one bumped off?

Inspired by Shakespeare's Hamlet, DiPlacido does a great job of weaving all the characters and their plot lines together. People better versed with Hamlet than I am with get all the little nuances that relate to the Shakespeare masterpiece. But you don't need to have just read Hamlet to enjoy this crazy ride.

LADY LUCK is classic, vintage DiPlacido: Las Vegas, humor, capers, romance, punchy dialogue, booze, and food. (Surprisingly, it's a bit light on her usual racy sex scenes.) DiPlacido does a good job of switching POVs to keep the action moving, and letting the reader see what is going on concurrently with the various characters. Her writing is very visual, and it's a wonder nobody has snapped up the film rights to any of her novels yet. Are you listening, Hollywood?

Summer's coming. I suggest you pour yourself a drink, go sit by the pool, and dive into Lady Luck.

*

I had the opportunity to ask Susan about Lady Luck. Here is the interview:

DC: You just released two new books—LADY LUCK, and SHUFFLE UP AND DEAL under the Neon Fiction imprint. Another novel, HOUSE MONEY, was also just released by Mundania Press. I labor over a book for five years, and you seem to sneeze them out at will. What's your secret? Are you on steroids?

SD: Not steroids, but ample vodka. And I'm also lazy. While most writers are diligent and work hard, I just sort of come up with an idea and then type it up as it amuses me and then I'm mostly done. Revisions are work, so I don't do much of them. Rewrites blow, and finding the perfect metaphor or turn of phrase can be laborious, so I don't do that stuff and it really cuts down on the time investment, let me tell you!

DC: LADY LUCK is a fun read, with great dialogue. The characters seem so real. Do you have imaginary friends, and walk around all day talking to yourself out loud? For that matter, are YOU real, or a fiction-writing bot that some bored IT person wrote a code for, and now can't control?

SD: Thanks for that, Don. I don't have imaginary friends, but I do often talk to myself -- aloud. (Again, with the vodka.) But as far as I'm aware, I am not ensconced in the Matrix and am a real person.

DC: LADY LUCK was inspired by William "the Bard" Shakespeare's Hamlet. Did you know another definition of bard is "a slice of bacon placed on meat or game before roasting"?

SD: As someone who prides myself on loving food and knowing all sorts of dumb minutiae about it, I'm saddened to admit that I did not know that. I only recently found out what a lardon was. But though I didn't know the technical term, I have eaten plenty of bacon-covered meat. Now I have a fancy name for it to annoy people with, so thank you.

DC: Tell us a little about writing LADY LUCK. But first—you're not under the delusion that you are, in fact, Lady Luck, are you?

SD: That's a terrible question because the answer makes me sound like a nutjob. I don't think I'm Lady Luck, but I do think I'm pretty lucky. I have streaks where my luck goes sour, but I also have had streaks that impressed (and pissed off) some pretty inveterate gamblers. So I do consider Lady Luck a friend. As for writing Lady Luck, it was fun. It was easier than most books because I had a blueprint (and a damn fine one) already laid out for me, so I just had to embellish. No wonder people plagiarize -- it's really an easy way to get stuff accomplished! But Hamlet has always been one of my favorite works, and there's a lot of black humor in it that appeals to me. I also always felt really bad for the prince, because he wasn't a bad guy, and the whole crazy or not thing is such an inspired nuance. So I wanted to make sure and touch upon that, and I thought the whole question of luck was a good way to do it.

DC: You like to use recurring characters in your novels. That wasn't a question, but a statement. Feel free to expand on it.

SD: I do like my recurring characters. (Again, with the lazy.) I think they're kind of fun, and hopefully they are for readers, too. And it does make writing easier, because by now I know how they should behave in certain situations and their verbal ticks are by rote. Maybe they are sort of like imaginary friends when I'm writing. Also, I just think it's funny to keep bringing these same characters up in all my books. There's got to be a vanity streak in me for doing that, or maybe I'm just sly with cross-promoting that way.

Free Smashing Pumpkins

If you're a Smashing Pumpkins fan, check out their website. They're doing a cool thing: giving away their new CD, Teargarden By Kaleidyscope Vol. 1, one song at a time. They have posted four songs you can download for free. The songs sound really good, which isn't a surprise: This is the follow-up to their last CD, Zeitgeist, which is one of my favorites by them.

Snakes Can't Run

I just found out about the new novel from Ed Lin. It was released March 30, and is titled SNAKES CAN'T RUN. This is the second book to feature NYPD detective Robert Chow, following 2007's fantastic This Is a Bust. Check out my review of THIS IS A BUST here. Okay, I'm off to order the book now.

Here is the trailer:

Opening Day 2010

Today is Opening Day for the Yankees at the new Yankee Stadium, their second season in the new ballpark. Of course, they brought home their 27th World Series Championship in their first season in the new home last year. Today they get to raise the championship banner and distribute their World Series rings. Meanwhile, the deconstruction of the old Stadium is nearly complete...



These photos are from wcbs880.com, taken by Tom Kaminski.

iPad Mania!

This clip is from the new sitcom Modern Family. iPad is released April 3rd!

Sunset Daze/Into the Sunset

Apparently, WeTV has a new reality show in the works called Sunset Daze that follows the crazy antics of the wacky residents of a retirement home. My comic novel Into the Sunset, published in 2007, also has crazy antics of residents of a retirement community.

Hmmmm...Sunset Daze...Into the Sunset. Sunset...Sunset. Sounds kinda familiar.

The official page for the show doesn't have much info about when it will air, etc. Does anyone know anything more about this show?

UPDATE: The website now says that the first two episodes will air on Wed., April 28, 10pm.

Into the Sunset

Last night was the end of the road for my novel Into the Sunset in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest (ABNA). The quarterfinalists were announced, which pared the entries down to 250 in each category, and Into the Sunset wasn't on it the list. Not all depressing news, however, because I also coincidentally received--on the same day the novel was eliminated from the contest--a glowing review from a happy reader on Amazon. You can purchase Into the Sunset on Amazon, Smashwords, BN.com, and many other outlets.

***

We all know how frustrating and demoralizing writing can be. Or, not the writing, but the submission/acceptance part. Do I think my novel is as good as at least some of the 250 that made it to the next round? Of course. Do I know that for sure? Of course not. I didn't read those other novels. But, still. It all seems so pointless and random sometimes. If two different reviewers had read my excerpt instead, I might have made it to the next round. Oh well.

Old Yankee Stadium Demolition

UPDATE 3/12/10. These photos are from wcbs880.com, taken by Tom Kaminski:

The future of publishing...

Brought to you by Penguin and Apple's iPad. This makes the Kindle look like an old-fashioned paper book:

I made it!

Or, I should really say my novel INTO THE SUNSET made it through to the next round of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) contest.


Amazon narrowed the field of 5,000 entries down to 1,000 based on a (up to) 300-word pitch. So now I move on to the second round, where two reviews of my 5,000 word excerpt (the prologue and first two chapters) will determine if I made it to the quarterfinals. Only 250 move forward. The next date to worry about is March 23, when the quarterfinal list is released. Amazon readers will then get to read and review these excerpts.

So for now...I resume waiting.

Was That David Byrne or KD Lang at the Olympics?

I know it's been a while since the Olympics opening ceremony, but is it just me, or did KD Lang look like she borrowed David Byrne's Big Suit?

Waiting is the hardest part...

Two days to go until Amazon announces the 1,000 novels that make it to the next round in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) contest.

On Feb. 25, I will find out if my pitch was good enough to make the cut and send me to the second round. If so, then my 5,000 word excerpt will be judged as follows:

Between February 25, 2010 and March 14, 2010, our expert reviewers, including Amazon editors and at least one Amazon Top Reviewer, will review and judge the Excerpts of each second round Entry. The expert reviewers rate each Excerpt on a scale of 1 to 5 on each of the following criteria:

a) Overall Strength of Excerpt
b) Prose/Style
c) Plot/Hook
d) Originality of Idea

So for now, I wait. Meanwhile, here's some Tom Petty and Eddie Vedder.

New U2 music on the way

Bono has told Irish newspaper the Irish Independent that a new U2 album, titled Songs of Ascent, will be available in June. I remember reading that this was the plan when last year's No Line On the Horizon was released. The names of some of the tracks rumored to be on the new CD are: "Winter" (which is on the soundtrack to the film "Brothers"), “Every Breaking Wave," "If I Could Live My Life Again," "Love Is All We Have Left," "Mercy," "Lead Me In The Way I Should Go," "You Can’t Give Away Your Heart," and "Kingdom Of Your Love."

My Pitch

The first round of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) contest is "the pitch." This is the short, quick description, or "hook," that you need to describe your book. Similar to the sell copy on the back cover of a book, it is also known as the "elevator pitch"—what you would tell an agent or editor if you had him or her alone in an elevator for a minute.

Here is my pitch for Into the Sunset, my comic novel that is entered in the ABNA:

Meet Wayne Benson. He's not a senior citizen. He doesn't require nursing care. He isn't even retired. But this healthy 30-year-old bachelor believes the comfortable life of The Sunset, an assisted-living retirement community, would be a soothing alternative to his young, hectic lifestyle.

Everything he desires—gourmet meals, laundry service, camaraderie, tranquility—is available for one all-inclusive monthly fee. The only problem? He isn't the required minimum age of sixty-two. So, he dons theatrical make-up and a grey wig to age himself forty years, and is immediately accepted into The Sunset. Now all he has to do is live a peaceful life.

Will everything go as smoothly as planned? Of course not! His elderly love interest becomes suspicious of his under-cover-of-darkness-only lovemaking, his neighbor wants to go to strip clubs and experiment with Viagra®, the head of security is more interested in extortion than security, and the woman who manages The Sunset may be onto his scheme. Can Wayne survive old age?

Amazon editors will read the pitches of the 5,000 entries. They will choose 1,000, and move them to the second round. These results will be announced Feb. 25.

Awesomeness

This is why I've been waiting for an Apple e-book reader:

Into the Sunset entered in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest

Amazon is holding their third annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest, and this year they are opening submissions to previously self-published books. Winner of the contest gets published by Penguin USA and a $15,000 contract. There are two categories this year, general fiction and young adult. The contest begins on Mon., Jan. 25 at midnight, EST.

And you, the Amazon reviewer, get to vote! There is the First Round, where the Amazon editors will read a 300 word pitch for each entry. The top 1,000 entries in each category will move to the second round.

The Second Round will be narrowed to 250 entries (in each category) by you, the Amazon reviewer, based on a 5,000 word novel excerpt.

The Quarterfinals are next, where Publishers Weekly reviewers will read the full manuscript. The top 50 move on from here.

The Semifinals follow, where Penguin USA editors will read the full manuscript and select three finalists in each category.

Then the ball is thrown back to you, dear Amazon reviewer, in the Finals, to vote on the three finalists to see who wins the grand prize!

I've decided to enter my comic novel, Into the Sunset, in this contest. I published it in the summer of 2007, and I am totally, 100% happy with the final product. But, you know, self-published books don't get any respect, and no one wants to review them. Though I did get a good review from Romantic Times Book Review, where they said, "Capone has a vivid imagination and a unique voice." My novel doesn't have to win this contest. What I'm looking for is more exposure for the book, a wider audience, and maybe the book will even catch the eye of an agent or editor.

I will update this blog throughout the contest. Hopefully my novel will move through some of the rounds, and you can then vote for me!

UPDATE 1:13 AM, Mon. Jan. 25
Boy, that was insane. The online equivalent of people getting trampled at Walmart on Black Friday. I was all logged in and ready to go with my Word files at 12 midnight. The entry page wouldn't even load for me until 12:27. Then the four steps took forever, just watching a spinning wheel after I hit Save. Finally my submission was complete at 12:52. Whew! I'm in! Wish me luck.

Jib Jab 2009

Tom Saunders interview

You can read a compelling interview with one of my favorite authors, Tom Saunders, at Eclectica Magazine. His novel, Inappropriate Happiness was one of my favorite books of 2009. (Read my review of it here.) Here is a little taste of the interview:

"It took me many years to begin writing. I wish I'd started sooner. I was just an ordinary kid brought up on a council estate, an 11-plus reject sent to a Secondary Modern school rather than a Grammar. No-one was expecting anything of us and we were educated accordingly. Writing wasn't something you'd remotely consider as a career. It was so out of the question it didn't even occur to me, to be honest, although I've always been a big reader."


You can order the book directly from the publisher, Reuben Books, or at Amazon UK.

Lost Art

If you are a Lost fan, you may be interested in The LOST Underground Art Show. Here you can buy original art work based on the hit TV show, which begins its final season on Tuesday, Feb. 2. Personally, I like the "Lockeness Monster" (below) by Alex Pardee, which has already sold for a cool $1,200.