I’ll be going to New York at the end of the month to attend Book Expo of America, which is the big convention the publishing industry has every year. I’ve gone a few times before in the past, mostly as part of my Powell’s job as an events coordinator. But this time I’m going to hang out with people at the Tin House booth (I’ll be signing review copies of my novel for booksellers on Saturday afternoon, June 1st at 2:00). I’ll also be doing a reading that night with Joseph Riippi, Dawn Raffel, and others at Polly Bresnick’s reading series at Unnameable Books. Please come say hello.

Polly Bresnick!

Next month, I’ll have a story in Poets & Writers Magazine. I interviewed a bunch of writers and got their secrets on how to give a good reading. It was a fun story and I’m excited to get into this magazine that I’ve been reading for years.

And in October (a month before the novel!), I’ll be included in the Best American Essays 2013 anthology, edited by Cheryl Strayed. I’m extremely honored to be in this series. You could say I’m on top of the world right now.

You can see info about it on Goodreads already.

Go add it to your “to-read” list.

Next up, Tin House will print up some review copies and give them to some folks at Book Expo (May 29th-June 2nd) in New York. I will also be there! In fact, I’ll be doing a reading on June 1st while I’m there. More details to come on that. My friend Polly Bresnick is setting up something killer.

Here’s what the review copies will look like…

What have I been reading lately?

The amazing new Nick Flynn memoir, The Reenactments, the strange short stories of I Want to Show You More by Jamie Quatro, the new Future Tense Scout Book series and The Stud Book by Monica Drake.

What I can’t wait to read next:

TAMPA by Alissa Nutting and Big Ray by Michael Kimball.

And what I’m watching:

I thought The Place Beyond the Pines was ambitious and awesome.

The addictive and delicious TV show, Nashville.

I will be at the retrospective of my friend Vanessa Renwick’s films. (I talked about her recently on this blog for Oregon Movies, A to Z).

And I missed it the first time around, but I hope to see Brian Lindstrom’s powerful documentary, Alien Boy, asap!

Nashville’s Scarlett and Gunnar = <3

I wrote “him” emails. I even tried to call him once to clarify something for an interview I did for Rain Taxi. I remember having this funny feeling when someone answered the phone that JT was being hidden away somewhere, protected from nosy interviewers. For some reason, I always pictured him living in a squat with a bunch of other young punks. Someone else answered the phone and I got an annoyed vibe from them so I ended up running the interview as is.

Well, thirteen later, I’m getting another chance. And a LOT has happened since then. It was found out that the author of the books was actually Laura Albert (who also went by the names Emily and Speedy). It’s a pretty crazy. Fair warning: A quick google search will send you down a fascinating wormhole for hours.

This Thursday night, I am hosting a night to illuminate and investigate what exactly happened. Writer friends Monica Drake and Arthur Bradford will read a little from the JT LeRoy books and then Laura will actually read some new work, followed by an interview on stage that I’ll conduct, including questions from the audience.

This event is a fundraiser for p:ear, an organization that mentors homeless youth. Many of themes in the JT LeRoy books are directly about the issues that at-risk youth face. So, despite the controversy about the identity of the author and whether people felt “duped” or whatever, the books (Sarah, The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things, and Harold’s End) are all powerful and ultimately artful literary gems. I hope to see you there. (and if you need your tickets at a discount, type in 2for1 in the discount code window)

Also: Laura is doing a similar event in Seattle Tuesday night.

Today and tomorrow I am doing a free eBook promo as part of an experiment. Please go here and snag this baby. It’s my longest book–and my most varied and craziest short story collection. I had so much fun working on this book with Lidia, Andy, and Trevor at Chiasmus when they published it. THANK YOU!

Beautiful cover design by Pete McCracken.

Shortly after we met, he volunteered to redesign the Future Tense website. He worked for several days on it. What at first was a bright and garish disaster without even one Paypal button, he turned into the cool, clean beauty (featuring the art and lettering of the great Kurt Eisenlohr) it currently is. He built websites for many companies and his talents were vast in that arena. He was influenced by sculpture and art history, two subjects he studied in college.

For the next several years, he was my webmaster. Whenever I published a new book or had a new update for the News page or additions to the Links page, I’d send the info to Paul. Most of the time, he’d do it quickly. But sometimes, he’d take weeks and I’d grow impatient and we’d bicker a little bit. He was working for free after all, though I would give him some money whenever I could. I was a little worried that tossing him forty bucks here and there, maybe writing a $100 check, was perhaps more insulting than anything else, but I knew he made money freelancing for the most part, so I figured anything helped.

Paul seemed pretty solid but I’m sure a lot of his friends worried about him. He described himself (only slightly joking) as “an absent minded disassociated borderline psychotic narcoleptic insomniac” whose past included pills and cocaine. He told me that he hadn’t filed taxes in years, living off of his design work, his art, and even as an electrician. He was suspicious of websites where you had to enter personal information. He wasn’t on MySpace and avoided Facebook as well (though he did pop up on Facebook briefly a couple of years ago).

I think I lost touch with Paul about four or five years ago. He helped me figure out how I could maintain the Future Tense website (after I finally got a decent computer) and then stopped going to literary events around town anymore, so I didn’t see him much. The last time I ran into him, he told me he had given up on writing and was starting to drum in bands again. I think he felt embarrassed because he hadn’t stuck to his writing and I probably felt embarrassed because I hadn’t kept in touch with him better. One thing I only learned this past week is that he had become obsessed with yo-yos. And he was even blogging about them (complete with numerous serious and detailed video reviews). There’s something very funny and fitting about that. But maybe those things were substitutes for other parts missing from his life–like family or romance or a clear mind. A neighbor said, that she heard him shout once, from inside his apartment, “Drumming and yo-yos are the only reasons I have to live.”

Paul was obsessive and fascinated by many things. His small basement apartment, where he lived the last ten years, was full of books, CDs, DVDs, and art. He loved Chris Ware comics, Steve Martin, William Burroughs, and Spalding Gray. He once played me a record by composer Steve Reich and we shared a love of Devo (the name Sniffy Linings came from a misheard Devo lyric).

Paul (left) and me at my birthday party in 2002, at Portland restaurant Poor Richard’s.

I admired Paul in a lot of ways. His readings were more like one-man shows or monologues. He helped and hyped-up the work of others. I like people who actually DO what they talk about and not just SAY they are going to do things. And Paul was a Do-er, a man with a lot of stuff going on and interesting writers and artists floating all through his self-made universe. His own books were full of conversational prose, playful and meditative and sometimes focusing on the weirdness of small details. He would sometimes perform in bath robes, for audiences in cafes, bars, and art galleries.

The last weeks of Paul’s life were full of struggle. In December of 2012, Paul was in a scooter accident that totaled the scooter he’d been restoring and separated his shoulder. He was in a dispute with his landlord and his saw his eviction as a final battle lost (his suicide of an intentional overdose–of what I’m not sure–came just hours before he was to be out of his apartment). He was terrified and having panic attacks about the prospect of being homeless. On top of that, he had also lost his mother and his cat in the last year. His suicide note said, “I’m just no longer able to continue suffering.”

A couple of nights ago, I went by his old apartment to see what it looked like–if there were flowers or memorials for him. There was one vase of flowers and a note nearby that said “Goodbye friend.” I saw a few old Sniffy Linings stickers stuck to his door, which looked like it had been broken down and then nailed back up and sealed shut. For some reason, I knocked on the door and waited a minute before walking back to my car.

If I could have said anything to Paul before he passed away, I would have told him thank you for all of his work, support, and enthusiasm. Not only for me and Future Tense, but for so many other writers that he championed. A person like Paul can affect so many people’s lives. It’s terrible and sad when they take their own. Paul Ash was 46 years old.

There will be a wake for Paul today (Saturday, February 16th) at Aalto Lounge at 4:00. 

Also: replace racing form with The Listeners by Leni Zumas or something.

I’m linking my Goodreads reviews on some of these babies.

Crazy Poetry Is the Best Poetry Award: I read a lot of poetry in 2012. And lots of it was cray cray. From youngsters like Jenny Zhang and Gregory Sherl to a ton of old Russell Edson books I scored at work (it was a good year for finding used Edson rarities at Powell’s), poetry inspired me probably more than any kind of writing this year (besides of course, the creative nonfiction of Future Tense writers Shane Allison and Chloe Caldwell). But the most crazy goodness was found in Dan Magers’s Party Knife. Seeing him read at Bad Blood was also one of the highlights of the year. (Correction: I saw Dan at If Not For Kidnap. Geez, how many reading series can Portland have anyway!?)

The Great Discovery Award: Recently my sharp eyes spotted a random late 80s-looking Knopf title while shelving lit books and I had the sneaking feeling that it was maybe something rare and cool. It was Campfires of the Dead, a short story collection by Peter Christopher. I did a quick Google search and found that he was an ex-Lish student. A quick read of some of the stories revealed some great sentences, so I snagged it! Looking forward to reading more of it. Unfortunately, Christopher died in 2008 of liver cancer and this was his only book.

The New Obsession Award: The year before last I discovered Leonard Michaels and got all lovestruck with his works. This year, it was the poet Sharon Olds. I had no idea how great and intense (and sometimes explicit) her work is, but now I’m a superfan. Start off with The Gold Cell like I did. I read five of her books in 2012 and will probably read five more this year.

Worship the Sharon!

The Book I Wasn’t Sure About at First But Really Appreciate Now: I think while I was reading Zachary Schomburg’s latest, Fjords, I kept wanting it to get more sad or something, but Fjords has something else in mind. It has less interest in dwelling on matters of the heart and more gumption to just soak in a world of weirdness. I sort of held that against the book for some reason. But now I see that Schomburg (love the guy like a brother) was just stretching into a new direction and it’s just as amazing as anything he’s done. And it does have a lot of heart too.

Best Odd Detour From What I Usually Read Award: I wanted to read a good coming-of-age novel and Chloe Caldwell convinced me to try Elizabeth Berg’s Joy School (from 1997). Apparently, she had read it when she was a teenager and was really into it. So I gave it a try and really liked it too. It has a funny voice and a quirky charm, not to mention an underlying sadness and a nice easy tone that anyone could love. I guess that’s why Elizabeth Berg is a bestselling author.

The Lost in the Local Shuffle Award: Portland poet Leanne Grabel’s memoir, Brontosaurus, was overshadowed by the intensity of Lidia Yuknavitch’s Chronology of Water and the awesomeness of Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, but damn–there’s some ultra-naked bravery going on in that book. The book has only been rated nine time on Goodreads? WTF!

The Dusty Dust Jacket Awards: Of course, I didn’t get to read ALL the books I thought I would. You should see the stacks around this place! Some of the books I was really excited to get but still haven’t read much of yet: House of Holes by Nicholson Baker, The Sugar-Frosted Nutsack by Mark Leyner, The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson, and Swamplandia! by Karen Russell.

Books I’m looking forward to reading in 2013: The Fun Parts by Sam Lipsyte, Wedlocked by Jay Ponteri, The Reenactments by Nick Flynn, Crapalachia by Scott McClanahan, and How Literature Saved My Life by David Shields. 

Happy New Year, everyone!

Oh–and hey: I’m reading at this cool event on January 12th. Come out and say hey!

And then I was interviewed on the Believer blog with Bryan Coffelt!

But wait–I also wanted to show you this video of me reading at the Hugo House Reading Series a year ago. This was one of the funnest readings I’ve ever done (I’m around the 34-minute mark) and the story I read is one of my favorite things I’ve ever written and will hopefully turn into a novel someday (if I have my way with it). Also–Sherman Alexie!!

In other news, I got some boxes of the newest Future Tense release, Monogamy Songs by Gregory Sherl. It’s officially out in January but I gotta show this baby off now. Future Tense really killed it this year. That’s right–I said it!

That’s about all for now. Thanks for listening, watching, reading, doing, making, living…

The second part is selling the darn thing. And I’m happy to announce that it is now SOLD! At some point in late 2013 or early 2014, the book will be published by the magnificent Tin House Books.

I’m extremely thrilled to be working with the awesome staff there, some of whom I have known for a while–their main office is here in Portland and I’ve had the pleasure to blurb two of their books from this past year (The Listeners by Leni Zumas and Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith).

This last week, I had a lunch meeting with one of their newest editors, Masie Cochran, and I feel like she will be a great editor to work with on this book. I said yes to their offer on Wednesday.

For those who haven’t read excerpts of the book, or heard me talk about (or read from it), I’ll give you the general description:

Spanning five years of one relationship’s ups and downs—the insecurities and passions, the sadness and joy, the hopes and disappointments, This Is Between Us is an intimate collection of personal moments between a man and a woman, both divorced, both with a child, and both trying to create a good life together in Portland, Oregon.

Full of sweet moments, emotional time bombs, blunt sexuality, and laugh-out-loud scenes, Kevin Sampsell navigates this novel’s couple (“you” and “I”) through their first kisses and secret dates to breakups, reunions, and everywhere in between.

Thanks to everyone who has helped me with this book, either as a friend or reader. I can hardly wait to polish it up into a beautiful Tin House paperback and smell the fresh scent of its paper and ink.

Heart,

Kevin

I had a new essay appear over the weekend at The Good Men Project website. It’s about the rape of a close friend. I sent it to the editor there on Friday and she responded with one of the nicest emails I’ve ever gotten from an editor.

“Really powerful. I hope you don’t mind, but I wouldn’t edit a word. And I so rarely say that. It just hooked me and took me all the way through. I couldn’t even read it as an editor, I could only read it as a reader. That says something.”

Those are the emails that make a writer’s day. And to add to the excitement, she posted the essay the very next morning.

It has received a lot of attention, tweets, Facebook posts, and comments. I don’t take comments that seriously most of the time, but I do think it’s funny when people leave negative remarks and misspell your name as if to prove they have little respect for you (like the guy who calls me “Mr. Sampshell”–haha, love it!).

Another weird comment comes from a guy who wanted a “trigger warning” (I find that term annoying) because of a part of the story where I say that my friend likes to buy her friends drinks when she sees them (Confused? Yeah, so was I. I guess the commenter has a fear of being roofied by women or something like that).

Odd comments aside though, publishing pieces like this is really rewarding and I appreciate everyone who has shared this work with others and have discussed the devastating subject of rape among their friends and family.