Emerging Writers Network

Interview 2006-001 Ander Monson

The following is an interview with Ander Monson, author of Other Electricities, and the poetry collection, Vacationland.  Ander is editor of DIAGRAM, as well as a professor at Grand Valley State University.

Dan:

Hello Ander, thank you very much for taking some time from your busy schedule to respond to some questions today.

Ander:

Not a problem. It’s late, my wife’s asleep, I’m in my great antique Sleepy Hollow chair watching snow come down.

Dan:

You are the wearer of many hats – fiction writer, poet, essayist, teacher, and editor, not to mention (I believe) book designer, at least on a recreational level if not more.  Are there spreadsheets all over the house and car keeping you on track in all of these endeavors, or do you utilize some other method?

Ander:

True. My attentions are many. I have lists and little hats. A lot of caffeine. A flexible schedule and probably too much work ethic, if you define work as anything I enjoy doing that has a potentially literary result. I try to let what I’m doing spill over into my other projects as best I can—thus creating a strength from what could appear otherwise to be weakness.

Dan:

You grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and then found yourself in school in Alabama.  How big of a shock to your system was that?

Review 2006-001 Other Electricities by Ander Monson

Other Electricities by Ander Monson

May 2005 from Sarabande Books, 224 pages

Other Electricities is like no other book I’ve ever read.  It’s labeled stories, but reads like a novel in that there is a somewhat omniscient narrator, a steady location and a group of recurring characters.  However, unlike a novel, you can pretty much read Monson’s book in short pieces, or stories, in any order you see fit.  Monson has also infused his work with diagrams, a character guide, and even an index.

The work is set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, home of long winters, dilapidated copper mines, and amateur radio operators.  The landscape is just as much a character in Monson’s work as any of the individual people he writes of.  None of the individual works within the book are more than 14 pages in length, and in fact, a number of them are under 5 pages long.

Monson throws just about everything up against the wall in Other Electricities and the impressive thing is just how much of it actually sticks.  Be it Dream Obits For Carrie H., a slightly longer than two page piece that has 20 sentence/paragraphs, 19 of which begin with the word Though, or the two separate sections of The Organization and Formation of Blizzards as Seen by Satellites (A-M, and N-Z) in which sentences throughout the story begin with words starting first with the letter a and continuing to the end with words starting with the letter z, or even in the more straightforward pieces like Get Started or Freda Thinks Spring.

Monson uses repetition the way many authors use metaphors – it focuses the reader on details and helps propel the stories, and book as a whole, forward.  The radios, their waves, the snow, ice, certain songs, and words continue to pop up throughout the collection, bringing images to the reader over and over again.  It casts a haze at times, lulling the reader into a sense of déjà vu, bringing said reader into a feeling of having been in similar situations as the characters –which isn’t truly the case for most beyond those that have spent time in isolated, wintry areas.

Other Electricities is like no other book I’ve ever read, but I hope that Monson continues to write many more just like it.

4.5 stars

MacAdam/Cage Now Available in Canada

Next time I go driving through Canada, and I drop in on a Chapters, I'll be able to find some damn good reading material!

This just in from MacAdam/Cage Director of Publicity, Julie Burton:

February 27, 2006. MacAdam/Cage Publishing announced today a strategic relationship with Random House of Canada, in which Random House of Canada will become the third party Canadian distributor for MacAdam/Cage’s hardcover list. Beginning in April 2006, Random House of Canada will take responsibility for sales, distribution, and marketing on MacAdam/Cage’s frontlist titles. In addition, Doubleday Canada will publish paperback editions of MacAdam/Cage’s previously published hardcovers on the Anchor Canada list.

MacAdam/Cage is well known in the publishing community for their quality fiction and nonfiction titles, including Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife, Jane Urquhart’s A Map of Glass, Craig Clevenger’s The Contortionist’s Handbook, and starting this fall, David Adams Richards’ Friends of Meager Fortune.

Maya Mavjee, Publisher of Doubleday and Anchor Canada, says, “This is a unique way to build the Anchor Canada backlist and we look forward to working with the strong team at MacAdam/Cage to showcase their authors alongside our stable of great authors including David Adams Richards, Bill Bryson, Michael Crummey, Camilla Gibb, Mark Haddon and Michael Redhill.”

Says Scott Allen, President of MacAdam/Cage Publishing, “We’re all very excited about this partnership. When you look at the bestseller lists in Canada it's clear they have an appetite for the kind of quality fiction and nonfiction that we publish. We’re committed to bringing Canadian authors such as Jane Urquhart and David Adams Richards to the attention of American readers, and we look forward to working with Random House of Canada to introduce similarly talented American authors to Canadian readers.”

“Third party distribution is a burgeoning area of growth for Random House of Canada," noted Brad Martin, President and Chief Operating Officer for Random House of Canada.  "MacAdam/Cage has a unique and well-respected list in the U.S. and we are looking forward to building its profile and readership in Canada."

Piling On

Starting this Wednesday, I will be semi-stealing an idea from Patrick Rapa and the fine site, I Read a Short Story Today, not to mention Steven J. McDermott over at StoryGlossia and his fine blog.  That is, I will be reading either a story, poem, or an essay/article (my very slight twist) each day and commenting on it here at the EWN Blog.  These will come from literary journals, both print and online, anthologies, or possibly story collections that I'm not quite ready to review the full book, or might not ever plan to.

And by the end of this week, things should get back to normal in terms of reviews and interviews around here as all computer problems are history and the more intensive weeks of the LBC quarter are behind us for the time being.  Look "forward" to reviews of the following books soon:

Marks, Justin	You Being You By Proxy
Flick, Sherrie	I Call This Flirting
Falco, Ed	In the Park of Culture
Falco, Ed	Wolf Point
Kirn, Walter	Mission to America
Kirn, Walter	Thumbsucker
King, Stephen	The Colorado Kid
Iweala, Uzodinma	Beats of No Nation
All That Heavenly Glory	Elizabeth Crane
When the Messenger is Hot	Elizabeth Crane
Other Electricities	Ander Monson
Vacationland	Ander Monson
Divided Kingdom	Rupert Thomson

and a few others that I am having difficulty recalling the titles and authors of including at least one translated novel.  There will also be interviews coming with Marks, Flick, Falco, Crane, Kirn and Monson (3 of which can already be seen at the other EWN site and the LBC).

Update:  A brief bit of memory synapse just fired up - the translated novel referred to above is Gotz and Meyer by David Albahari, and another book is the new novella from Chris Abani, Becoming Abigail (due out in April from Akashic Books).

EWN Giveaway - Red Weather

I have been fortunate to receive a copy of Red Weather, the debut novel of Pauls Toutonghi.  I first became aware of Pauls writing when he won the original One Story short story contest two years ago with his story, Thomas Hardy's Heart (I'm too lazy to check, but I think that was the title of it).  It was excellent, and everything I've seen of his since that time has been as well.

Not only did Pauls send me a review copy, but so did his publicist at Shaye Areheart.  Again, hating to see books go to waste, I'm offering it up to the first eligible EWN Blog reader who sends an email to wickettd@yahoo.com with something fairly witty about communism, Milwaukee or weather in the subject line.

Update - Troy Jewell has won this coveted title with his response with "If there was anything left, witty-wise anyway, to say about Communist or Milwaukee would we really need to read a book about either?" in the subject line.  I hope Troy enjoys the book and lets EWN readers know what he thinks about it in the future.

EWN Giveaway - We Are Billion Year Old Carbon

Another book publisher inadvertently sent me two copies of the same book - this time around Livingston Press with Corey Mesler's second novel, We are Billion Year Old Carbon:  A Tribal-Love-Rock-Novel Set in the Sixties on an Outpost Planet Called Memphis.

Corey Mesler is the owner of Burke's Books in Memphis, TN and readers of short fiction will recognize the name as Corey routinely publishes stories in just about every online journal going today.  He routinely has four or five stories nominated for the Million Writers Award.

As I am well aware that only about five or six people read this on a regular basis - I want to spread the wealth out a bit and state that I will not allow anybody to win consecutive EWN Giveaways, and at least 30 days must also pass between such winnings.  So, as of now, Steven Gillis is not eligible to win this book, or any other giveaways for about another 23 days or so.

The first person to email to wickettd@yahoo.com with something at least semi-creative about either Carbon, or Hippies, in the subject line will receive my second copy.  If that person would be willing to write up at least a brief synopsis/review of the book I'll be happy to post it here in the future.

Update:  Danielle LaVaque-Monty has won the race for Corey's book with the clever subject line, "I would take your Carbon copy."

Get Over to the LBC Today

We are wrapping up the week in which we've discussed the Winter 05 Read This! selection, Kirstin Allio's Garner.  The week has had some interesting discussions - some great posts about the book itself and the writing, comments from the editor and publicist, posts from Kirstin herself, and now today - an LBC interview of David Kipen (newly appointed NEA Director of Literature) as well as some more information about the house that published Garner, Coffee House Press.

Even More BASS 2006

A kindly EWN Blog reader (at least I assume as much) has passed on the fact that Yiyun Li's short story, After a Life, which I believe was originally published in Zoetrope:  All Story, will also be included in BASS 2006.

That puts us up to six stories we have some form of confirmation on (Percy, Ryan, Yoon, Moffett, Tartt, and no Li) - only 14 more to ferret out.

I did go back and find my BASS 2005 and determine that the other possible lead I had was actually in last year's edition.

EWN Giveaway

Stealing yet another litblogger idea (this time from too many to remember who did it first, but TEV's recent HomeLand giveaway reminded me of the idea), the EWN is giving away a copy of the advanced galley of Melissa Fraterrigo's debut story collection, The Longest Pregnancy.  The fine folks at Livingston Press were kind enough to send a copy, and when I mentioned in an email I was excited about reading the collection, they sent me a second copy.

I hate to see books go to waste and so am offering it to the first EWN reader to email me at wickettd@yahoo.com with the word pregnancy in a phrase of your choice in the subject line.

Please include your full name and address for the book to be sent to (and I don't exclude the possibilities of sending it out of the country).

My hope is you read it, enjoy it, and promote the book, either on your own blog (assuming it is mainly others with blogs reading this one), or shoot me some sort of mini-review to post here.

Melissa's collection has nice comments on the back cover from the likes of Aimee Bender, Wendell Mayo and Gina Frangello (who ends her own longest pregnancy today - congrats Gina!), and those who were in the EWN as long as 2 years and 2 months ago might remember her story Bejeweled which was in the 2003 EWN Holiday Gift Email.  The collection is the first winner of the Tartt Award for Short Fiction now awarded annually by Livingston Press.

Good luck!

Update:

Thanks to those of you who have sent in replies - Steve Gillis was the first one to reply, with the subject line that Pregnancy is a "swell" condition, and so will receive the story collection.

International Flavor

The fact that I graduated with a BS in Statistics and nothing at all to do with literature still sneaks up on me at times.  Though I've had this blog long enough to have gotten over the fascination with the Sitemeter facts, but I'm not.

Looking at it just now, 8 of the last 19 visitors have been from out of the United States!  How have they stumbled onto the site?

United Kingdom - a link from www.storyglossia.com

Greece - a google search for "Dean Bakopoulos interview"

France - a google search for "writer network"

Israel - a link from www.rakesprogress.typepad.com

Brazil - somebody who actually typed www.emergingwriters.typepad.com into the computer

Portugal - a google search for "Kirstin Allio"

Turkey - a google search for "BASS 2006"

United Kingdom - a google search for "Emerging hairstyles for the summer"

That's me, master of the hairstyle - balding since about age 22 - the perfect guy to give summer hair tips