Triple release Wednesday, July 18, 2018
7:00 @ Tattered Cover on Colfax
2526 East Colfax Avenue, Denver

Revised editions of East of Denver and The Lonesome Trials of Johnny Riles,
and the debut of the final entry in the trilogy, Zebra Skin Shirt.

Pre-order from Conundrum Press.

--Triple book release: East of Denver, Revised Edition; The Lonesome Trials of Johnny Riles, Revised Edition; and Zebra Skin Shirt, the thrilling conclusion to the Strattford Trilogy.
Wednesday, July 18, 2018 7:00 pm
Tattered Cover on Colfax
2526 East Colfax Avenue, Denver

In 2017 I started writing an irregular column for my hometown newspaper, the Yuma Pioneer. I'm archiving the columns HERE. I'm too lazy to proofread them; there will be typos.

--June 1, 2018: The Zebra Skin Shirt and the East of Denver Audiobooks are now available! Recorded at Sparky the Dog Studios! Ten bucks!

And, because I could, I recorded a seven-and-a-half-hour score to accompany the Zebra Skin Shirt audiobook. In my neverending efforts to assemble the largest catalog of music by any human on Earth, I have turned that score into two collections* of improvisation/noodling/ambient noise that you can listen to while reading the printed version of the book when it comes out in July.

Preview 'em, as well as several other, more musical recordings from Sparky the Dog Records by clicking right over there------------------->

*There's the eighty-minute version that fits on one CD as well as a five-hour verson, just for masochists.

--March 15, 2018: Future Rural Achive Vol. 4: The M12 organization has published their latest offering in their series of quasi-academic, art-of-the-rural anthologies. This one (sort of) focuses on small-town museums. It includes my short story, "Now Museum, Now You Don't", as well as Erin Harper's screenplay adaptation, which will be made into a film just as soon some generous soul deposits a few dollars into her coffers (hint, hint).
You can order the book here, or ask for a copy next time you see me.

--If you enjoy my stuff, I encourage you to read Zach Boddicker's debut novel, The Essential Carl Mahogany, published by Last Chance Press.

With bands such as Drag the River and 4H Royalty, Zach has been a fixture in Colorado music for years. Turns out he's also a hell of a writer.

Zach invited me to write a blurb and I did so gladly: With internal dialogue to match Nick Hornby at his best (see High Fidelity), and external dialogue that's reminiscent of early Don Delillo (see Great Jones Street, possibly the only musician-novel that I dare compare to this one), author Zach Boddicker has crafted an elegant, oddball, and unapologetically funny tale of ex-Nashville, ex-famous, and ex-boyfriend Carl Mahogany and his existential mission to recover his soul in a tumbleweed junction on the Great Plains of eastern Colorado. Rarely have I seen so much wit mingle so comfortably with such an honest portrayal of rural America's anarchic spirit.

An animated version of an early draft I did for the
Zebra Skin Shirt book cover:

(it's made out of wood)

--September 2, 2016: Fucking Fabulous Fiction Fest
9:00 pm, Oriental Theater at 44th and Tennyson, Denver
I'll be rocking and reading at the Oriental Theater, along with several other authors and musicians for the second annual Fucking Fabulous Fiction Fest, as hosted by High Fiction. It was a blast last year, and it'll be even more blasty this year.
9:00 pm, Oriental Theater at 44th and Tennyson.

--July 28, 2016: Novel #3: My new book, Zebra Skin Shirt, is finished. Taking place over the course of ten minutes on the same day that East of Denver ends, the story provides a nutsoid conclusion to The Strattford Trilogy.

Zebra Skin Shirt will be published in the autumn of 2017 by Conundrum Press, based in Golden, Colorado. I remain grateful to the good people at Leapfrog Press who published The Lonesome Trials of Johnny Riles and who never once tried to turn the book into something it wasn't. In moving to Conundrum, I'm able to fulfill a longtime ambition of working with a publisher based in Colorado.

--July 23, 2016: Interview: Michelle LeJeune has posted what might be the kookiest interview I've done (so far) at her excellent blog, broad.

--May 23-25, 2016: Artist-In-Residence at the M12 space in Byers, CO: Thanks to M12 for inviting me stay in the bunk house where I was able to write some words and pretend I'm an artist.

--March 24, 2016: KGNU Interview: Here's a more-or-less coherent interview conducted by KGNU's terrific Maeve Conran and Arsen Kashkashian of the Boulder Bookstore: KGNU Radio Bookclub

--November 9, 2015: Colorado Matters Interview
Click here to listen to the CPR interview wherein I try to explain to Nathan Heffel why a bouncing screw is the perfect anology for my approach to plotting.

--October 30, 2015: So you think Johnny Riles is implausible? A few stories that may blow your freaking mind (assuming you've read The Lonesome Trials of Johnny Riles, which, if you haven' t done, I suggest you do posthaste).

The man who killed John Wilkes Booth went crazy, lived in a hole in the ground and used a pair of scissors to render himself unable to reproduce.

A guy digs up a wooly mammoth on his Michigan farm.

Pre-human hominoid remains discovered in suspiciously familiar underground cavern.

Weirdo digs underground bunker.

(Thanks to Marrion, Betty, Maureen, and Tony for the leads.)

--June 14, 2015: Best seller. In the week of its release, The Lonesome Trials of Johnny Riles was the Denver area's best selling paperback fiction title.

--June 4, 2015: The book has been launched. Thanks to everyone for coming out for a terrific event. And thanks to Mark Stevens for capturing the video...

--May 29, 2015: I've finished the Johnny Riles audio book. Listen to the first third of the book for free or download the whole thing from Bandcamp for just $10. I do not have plans to release it on CD.

-- December, 2013: The New York Times likes the East of Denver cover art.
Best Book Covers of 2013.

-- June, 2013: East of Denver receives the 2013 Colorado Book Award for literary fiction.

-- February, 2013: East of Denver has been optioned for film development by Erin Harper.
Erin produced the 2012 Sundance selection, My Best Day. Erin grew up in eastern Colorado, forty miles north of my hometown.

Barnes & Noble