Delayed, in a Good Way

The publication date for my story collection, Precarious, is being pushed out until January or February. While I can't help but feel let down — eager as I am to hold the final product in my hands — the delay is actually good news.

It means that extra care is going into the release of my book.

It means that Midpoint — a major distributor that my publishers recently signed up — is putting together a more detailed marketing plan for us.

So I can wait. In fact, I'm happy to wait.

I'm actually more excited now, and more hopeful about the book's prospects, than I've ever been.

Memory Aids

I can't believe how bad my memory is. With the help of my wife (and the ticket stubs she saves), I now realize I forgot to include more than a dozen artists on my list of concerts seen. When you see the names, you'll understand just how forgetful I've become:

David Bowie, Chris Isaak, B.B. King, Little Feat, John Lee Hooker, Lucinda Williams, Eddie Money, Santana, the Grateful Dead, the Chieftains, Big Country, Stevie Nicks, the Association, the Grass Roots, Sara McLachlan, Joan Osbourne, Paula Cole, Jewel, Mike Scott, the Uninvited, the San Francisco Symphony, and, not long ago, Vieux Farka Toure.

Random List of Lists

I have lived in Washington, Oregon, and California.

I have visited Mexico, Canada, Israel, Turkey, Greece, Tahiti, Italy, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary.

I have traveled by train, bus, car, plane, helicopter, jet, Goodyear blimp, sailboat, canoe, kayak, cruise ship, cable car, bike, motorcycle, horse, mule, and elephant (briefly).

I have swam in the Pacific Ocean, the Aegean Sea, and the Dead Sea.

I have skied on snow and skated on ice.

I have been to the top of the Space Needle and the Sears Tower and part way up the Statue of Liberty,

I have hiked down into the Grand Canyon.

I have worked as a farm laborer, grocery clerk, cook, bookseller, woodworker, reporter, editor, copywriter, and ghostwriter.

I finished a marathon in Oregon and a half-marathon on Maui.

I have seen live performances by Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Ricki Lee Jones, Boz Skaggs, Tina Turner, John Mellencamp, Dire Straits, Bob Seger, Heart, Joni Mitchell, Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin, Elton John, Neil Diamond, Cat Stevens, Carole King, Gordon Lightfoot, Kim Carnes, Gary U.S. Bonds, Seals & Crofts, Helen Reddy, Southside Johnny and the Ashbury Jukes, Clarence Clemons and the Red Bank Rockers, Taj Mahal, Mavis Staples, America, the Doobie Brothers, the Pogues, the Waterboys, and the Monkees.

I have been in restaurants with Joe DiMaggio and Jerry Rice and didn't bother them.

I very nearly ran into Kenny Loggins, who was trying to get in to see Martin Mull as I was coming out.

I was within shouting distance of Hillary Clinton at Disney World when she was First Lady.

I've had conversations with Frank Shorter, Rosie Greer, and Nate Thurmond.

I once won $100 for telling a joke.

Origins

Friends took us to see Lily Tomlin at the Fox Theater in Redwood City last night. Tomlin reprised (and updated) routines that featured her most famous characters, Ernestine and Edith Anne. She also did some familiar bits from "The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe."

There was plenty of new material as well. Great stuff. All of it.

I don't know if it was new or not, but my favorite part of the show was Tomlin's take on the origins of language. She imagines a caveman stubbing his toe and hollering, "Ouch!" Then she has him pondering, "I wonder what I meant by that."

(It's funnier when she tells it.)

What do you think? Could "ouch" have been the first word?

Bellissimo!

In an earlier post I mentioned that I'm working on a short novel with a long title. For a small taste (just 500 words), check out the latest edition of Word Riot, which includes an excerpt called, "Bellissimo!"

Love it or hate it, feel free to leave a comment at the end of the story.

Suit and Countersuit

The feud between the Associated Press and the artist who created the famous Obama posters continues.

The artist, Shepard Fairey, sued first (a sort of preemptive strike) and now the AP has countered with a suit of its own.

Apparently, Fairey used an AP photo taken by Mannie Garcia as the basis for his highly stylized and stunningly different red, white, and blue image.

Just as Fairey's creation is not entirely his own, neither is Garcia's -- after all, he did not create Obama's face.

The AP should keep in mind that the courts awarded photographers the right to create and publish images of public people and public places in order to further the nascent art of photography.

I'm not a lawyer, but I suspect the courts will rule in favor of Fairey and his transformative work for much the same reason.

What to Say

What are you supposed to say when your dream becomes real?

What are you supposed to feel after years of trying and failing and succeeding a little, and then — pow! — somebody wants to publish your book?

You say thank you and feel grateful, that's what.

The contract for my first book has been signed and executed, my advance is on its way, and for that I say thank you to Chris and Tracy, the publishers of Luminis Books.

I'm grateful to them and a lot of other people.

First, last, and always, Joanne, my wife, who never stopped believing in me over the past 30-odd years and predicted this would be the year for me.

Then, a long list of friends and family who were there to give me the encouragement, criticism, and inspiration I needed: Gretchen Clark, Catherine Ryan Hyde, Greg Bardsley, Mark Richardson, Dee Edler, Karen Croft, Heidi Benson, Rachel Canon, Linda Drake, Terry McKenzie, Carrie Motamedi, Lisa Buchanan, Adair Lara, Amy Rennert, Steve Kettmann, Bronwen Hruska, Dan and Sandra Aunspaugh, Doug and Kristen Edwards, Jane Todd, Dan Rasmussen, Bill Rennie, Daryl Capps, Judy DeMocker, Jill Berman, Starline Judkins, Denise Pinto, Doreen Wu, JungAe Kim, and many others along the way.

I'm especially grateful to Shawn Gillen, the former editor of the Beloit Fiction Journal, who published my first short story. And to Savannah Guz of Hobart, Nora Fussner of Pindeldyboz, Laura Matter of the Blue Mesa Review, and Kelly Krumrie of Switchback, who published more of them.

I hear the orchestra starting to play, so I guess that means my time is up ... Wait, where's my statue?

Oh, the book is called Precarious: Stories of Love, Sex, and Misunderstanding. It will be available in bookstores and online later this year.

I know I'm forgetting someone ... A special tip of the hat to my friend Jim Mize, who coined the indispensable phrase "Tell me the truth but try not to hurt my feelings."

What? No, I'm not leaving without my statue! Where the ...

25 Random Things About Me

1. I'm a Scorpio. That surprises people. I don't know why.
2. I'm very open and very secretive at the same time.
3. I am trying to be what God wants me to be: free.
4. I'm fond of singers with distinctive voices: Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen ...
5. I believe in being undecided about most things.
6. I'm writing a short novel with a long title: The Boy Who Broke Sabrina's Window.
7. I like to travel almost as much as I like to stay at home.
8. All through school I was horrible at spelling, but I'm pretty good at it now.
9. I once ran the Seaside Marathon in Oregon, but it took me five hours to finish.
10. I've never wished I was somebody else.
11. I think I may be the slowest reader on the planet.
12. I have a red belt in Dahn Mu Do.
13. I never liked my hair until my friends started going bald.
14. I'm told my mother tried to abort me (she'd had five kids already), but I know she loved me deeply.
15. I like offbeat movies like Rushmore and Juno.
16. I've always wished I could sing.
17. I'm always buying blank books even though I only write on a computer.
18. I tend to keep things for years, thinking I might need them.
19. I used to be a neat-freak, but I'm mostly over it.
20. I've been married to the world's kindest person for 32 years.
21. I am the only member of my immediate family who was conceived in America.
22. Always small for my age, I was only 5-foot-6 when I entered high school (and 6'1" when I graduated).
23. Favorite quote: "Tell me the truth, but try not to hurt my feelings."
24. I don't like goals or deadlines.
25. I've never really planned anything about my life, other than becoming a writer.

The Amazing Internet

It's amazing what you can learn about yourself on the Internet.

As a cross-country runner in high school, I had placed 82nd in the state championship, in Oregon. That much I knew.

What I learned on the Internet was that I had run the race in 13 minutes and 30 seconds.

I don't think I had ever known that. I certainly didn't expect to find it on the net.

It was a long time ago. 1972.

But there it is in black and white. The winning time, I see, was 11 minutes, 54 seconds.

I also see that three of my teammates finished ahead of me, three behind. I had almost forgotten their names, but now I can picture them clearly.

Dan Aunspaugh, Ed Nelson, Randy Herman, Doug Parham, Bob Knytysch, Steve Stoyles -- great bunch of guys.

Prize-Winning Story

It was dry that summer, as it had been for several years in California. Dry and hot. I remember sitting in church the first Sunday after I returned from college. The air was still, and though it was an evening service, you never would have known it the way the sun was gleaming through the stained-glass windows of the sanctuary. The pastor wasn't there, because the congregation was going to vote on whether or not to keep him.

This was in Big Valley, near Clear Lake. The church was Conservative Baptist — a white clapboard building with a bell tower and a cross on top. A local radio station carried the morning service each Sunday. Not that I ever heard the broadcast. I was always there. At least I was until I went off to college. But I always came back in the summer, and now I was back for, well, whatever.

The story, now appearing in the Blue Mesa Review, is called "Pray for Rain." It's my fourth work of fiction to be published and the first to win a prize.

"Based on plot, complexity, character development and interesting story-lines, 'Pray For Rain' stood out from the rest," wrote judge Alexis Hurley of Inkwell Management. "Al Riske is playing with themes of religion, youth and sexuality in very adept and thoughtful ways."

If any of that sounds interesting, why not support the good folks at the Blue Mesa and order a copy of Issue 21.

(You can also order by phone at 1-800-249-7737.)