A few years ago I wrote about my father’s cremation for A Public Space, and they’ve now made the piece available online.
Check it out: “Valhalla”
(I don’t write much nonfiction. As I’ve said before, I’ll take the abyss of silence over the abyss of total noise any day.)
[I love the cassette tape themed cover]
The French translation of Panorama City comes out today in France, and next week in Canada.
It’s a particularly exciting moment for me, having never had any of my work translated into what was once my native language. I’ve since forgotten most of my French, but I’m nevertheless looking forward to making my way through Bernard Hoepffner’s translation. (I’m going to wish I hadn’t used so many subjunctive verb conjugations.)
Issue 2 of my terrible online magazine (with amazing contributors) is finally live. If you missed issue 1, worry not…simply keep on scrolling sideways.
And I wrote a little something about my surfing life for a collaboration between Trop and Underwater New York.
I’ve tried to write surf stories many times before, and it’s never felt right. This one finally started to feel right.
The title comes from this Wire song.
It’s a momentous day for Panorama City, the novel.
The paperback is out!
I love the cover, with its cursive title (which I hope people can still read) and its mylar balloon.
When it was first acquired by my editor, years ago, PC was originally meant to be published in paperback. But she moved houses, to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and brought the book with her, where it was published in beautiful hardcover last fall. This led to all kinds of good things, like getting picked for the BEA Buzz Panel, and getting an awesome review in the New York Times, and being listed as one of the best books of 2012 by the San Francisco Chronicle, and so on.
What a fabulous party.
Today, my novel hangs up the dinner jacket and puts on its red pants and t-shirt.
To walk the earth and make new friends.
Folks,
Good News…
PANORAMA CITY is one of four finalists in Adult Fiction for the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association’s 2013 Book Awards.
Support your local independent bookstore!
I am coming to New York on September 19.
to launch PANORAMA CITY in paperback.
and to celebrate A Public Space.
One night only.
Imprint this into your brains:
When: Thursday, September 19, 7:00 p.m.
Where: Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House, located at 58 W. 10th Street (between 5th and 6th Aves.)
What and Who: Readings by Tom Drury, Sarah Manguso, and Antoine Wilson, hosted by APS founding editor Brigid Hughes.
Some cool things:
Coming in April 2013:
German version of Panorama City (aka A Man of the World)
Coming in September 2013:
Paperback version of Panorama City
I must have been extra nice this year, because Santa hooked me up with some amazing end-of-year goodies:
A rave review of PANORAMA CITY in the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW by the inimitable Adam Ross!*
I’ll be interviewed on Michael Silverblatt’s BOOKWORM on January 3rd (2:30 pm on KCRW and elsewhere) and in perpetuity on the podcast. (I’ve been a fan of this radio show for 20 years and I’m not exaggerating when I say that my encounter with Silverblatt reoriented something inside me for the better. It was straight up therapeutic. More on that in another post.)
The lovely folks at the SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE included PANORAMA CITY in their 100 Best Books of 2012.
*Remember: Don’t be fooled by the author photo.
The writing doesn’t stop on the last page, folks, even once the book is in print.
If you’re curious to read some of the occasional pieces I’ve put out in the past months, here’s a roundup:
Research Notes (at Steve Himmer’s Necessary Fiction) – in which I provide actual JPEGs to go with passages from PANORAMA CITY.
What’s the First Thing You Ever Made, Antoine Wilson? (at The Project Room) – in which I answer that question.
Book Notes Playlist for PANORAMA CITY (at Largehearted Boy) – in which I provide some tunes to go with my novel.
My First Time (at David Abrams’ The Quivering Pen) – in which I describe unboxing THE INTERLOPER for the first time.
Writers Recommend (at Poets & Writers) – in which I recommend surfing as a supplement to the writing life.
My Top 10 Narrators in Literature (at Publisher’s Weekly) – in which I betray some biases, for good or ill.
You’re Doing It Wrong: Video Games vs. Books, Part 1 (at Booklist) – in which Patrick Somerville and I go head-to-head on video games versus books. Here’s Part 2, where things get really crazy.
When We Fell in Love (at 3 Guys 1 Book) – in which I name-check the early influence of Auster, Pynchon, and Baldwin.
My Book, the Movie – in which I dream-cast a movie of my novel.
If your curiosity is stalker-level, here’s a roundup of interviews and podcasts.
My book tour is officially over.
(Or at least the part that involves me going to bookstores. I’m doing Literary Death Match next month in L.A. (Nov. 7) and I’ll be attending the Miami Book Fair as well.)
This time around, I had the pleasure of reading and Q&Aing at an amazing group of thriving independent bookstores. Each bookstore provided a glimpse into a lively community of readers and writers, whether they’d been around for 20+ years (Diesel in Oakland) or had only just moved to a new location (A Room of One’s Own in Madison). As soon as I walked in the door of any of these stores, my first thought was: Yeah, I could live in this neighborhood. Then: These are my people.
I want to say thank you to each of these stores. For hosting wonderful events. For hosting me. For their commitment to good books. And, finally, for the books I picked up in each of their stores, books that will be forever intertwined in my memory with my experience of the stores themselves.
(The best thing about physical books is not the smell of the paper, the look of the type, even the heft of the book itself, but the associations they carry. That stained page, that receipt or metro card tucked between pages, that torn dust jacket–they take you back to a moment, a place, people, meals…)
Without further ado…THANK YOU:
McNally-Jackson, New York. (WOLF HALL, by Hilary Mantel)
Green Apple Books, San Francisco. (SATANTANGO, by Laszlo Krasznahorkai)
Diesel, a Bookstore, Oakland. (see Diesel, L.A. Extra thanks to John Peck for the Saint Pauli N.A.)
Diesel, a Bookstore, L.A. (I buy two books a week here. This is my home away from home.)
Prairie Lights Bookstore, Iowa City. (THE WAVES, by Virginia Woolf)
A Room of One’s Own, Madison. (BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK, by Ben Fountain)
BookPeople, Austin. (THE ILIAD, by Homer)
Book Soup, West Hollywood. (ZOO TIME, by Howard Jacobson)
Skylight Books, Los Angeles. (CONSIDER THE LOBSTER, by David Foster Wallace)
If you’re in any of these cities, and you’re thinking of picking up a book, old or new, famous or obscure, resist the urge to one-click that shit to your house or your device. Head on down. TALK TO A BOOKSELLER. They don’t bite.