Interview with Bonnie Nadzam up at Lit Pub

My interview with my good friend, fellow Midwesterner, & USC cohort, Bonnie Nadzam, is now up at Lit Pub and I have to say, it was absolutely one of the most interesting, intelligent, & culturally relevant talks I’ve had with anyone in a long time, in person or via email. Until we can kick it at a local café in LA, this conversation will have to do. On a rainy day, it almost feels enough.

Pub Day for Amnesia of June Bugs!

It’s official! Amnesia of June Bugs is now out there in the world! I really can’t wrap my mind around that fact, least of all because for so much of my life, this novel has been inside my head, contained in my thoughts, stuck in the fortress of my heart, and sentenced to the prison of Word document. If you’ve been reading my blog, then you know I submitted a version of this novel to the Kaya Press editorial board back in 2015 after having worked with the smart and savvy Sunyoung Lee for two years on all the things the board wanted us to change (which we did dutifully). And while I was totally gutted after the second and final rejection, I’m happy now to see this novel reaching its audience at a moment in time when I think readers are craving complex, non-reductive narratives about BIPOC characters and their unique navigation of reality in this world. So, do yourself a favor and grab yourself a copy if you haven’t already! My debut novel will do the rest!

Cover Reveal for Amnesia of June Bugs!

After months and really, years of anticipation, my debut novel, Amnesia of June Bugs has a cover at long last! I can’t even begin to tell you how exciting, how deeply fulfilling, how incredibly satisfying it is to see the face of this novel. Part of my excitement is based on the fact that this novel was my MFA thesis at Notre Dame. I finished a version of this novel back in 2007 and then spent the next twelve years revising it over and over again, mostly on my own and then later with Sunyoung at Kaya Books, whose brilliance really helped push this book and who fought so hard for it. She lit did everything in her power to get the board to accept it for publication. When they rejected this novel, my heart was broken for years. It hurt even more that this book was rejected by the only mainland AAPI press in the whole country. Talk about damage to my soul!

The truth is, I actually abandoned this novel for years, heartbroken and afraid that I was the only one who saw its literary worth. In the back of my mind, though, there was this silent voice in my head that knew the board was wrong, that they didn’t know a dope book when they saw one. I believed that this book would someday find the right publisher, that with enough revision, dedication, dedication, and hard work, I could not only turn this novel in the tiny little masterpiece that it is today, but just as importantly, find the right home for it. I just needed to find the right (small) press that published transgressive work, that sought books that were audacious, creative, ambitious, multimodal, highly imaginative, beautiful, and a little experimental, and that’s exactly what I found when Leland, the editor at 7.13 Books, emailed me and said his 2021 catalog was full but that he was open to bumping my novel to the 2022 catalog. I said fuck yes and now my baby has a face!

Stay tuned for updates, interviews, reviews, and more!

The Love, Amnesia, & Dream Tour Poster (2021-2023) is Now Available!

Well, one of the things I longed for the most after I realized that I would have 3 books coming out in the span of nine months (which is every bit of a logistical nightmare as you can imagine, but also a beautiful problem to have if we’re being totally honest), was a poster for my book tour for the next two years. I wanted a tour or a “tour” or both in order to connect the three separate books (and genres) together. I also wanted a poster to graphically situate, connect, and unify my three books while also giving something to people like me who crave tangibility, especially tangible art and literary merchandise.

So, while this poster was conceptually created by me, it was completely designed, imagined, and realized by Aaron Draplin, who is an artistic genius. I’m so in love with this poster I’m about to frame it myself and hang it in my office. I might also consider raffling one or two free copies of this poster once Counterfactual Love Stories & Other Experiments is out in the world.

Final Revisions Before Sending Manuscript to Publisher for Evaluation

Even though I'm leaving Chicago in less than two weeks, I'm trying to pack my whole life into cardboard boxes, see Chicago as much as humanly possible with my gimpy ankle, and also finish a third and final master revision of my debut novel, The Amnesia of Junebugs, before I send it to Kaya Press.  Sunyoung, the publisher, who I've been working with for the past year, will then read my completely revamped manuscript, and then pass it on to the editorial board for a second evaluation if she likes it (I sent them a very different version of this novel a year ago after which, they asked for a rewrite).  Anyway, I know this may sound like a sure thing, but the reality is, the editorial board at Kaya Press is really tough and I don't get the impression they agree on novel manuscripts very often.  Either way, I can only hope they love this newest version as much as I do.  If they do, this could finally be it.  Could being the operative word here.  Stay tuned, people . . .