Entries Tagged 'couch' ↓

Also, Powell’s mentioned that they have a few signed copies of a book called Couch if that’s the kind of weird fiction you’re into. I wouldn’t know. Watch out for the fingers!

Here are a bunch of updates on the book.

1) Tour! I’m doing another wee tour in the Pacfic Northwest: Portland-Olympia-Tacoma-Seattle-Bellingham-Spokane-Missoula-Dillon. I’ll post more on those dates/places soon or you can check on the booktour site. Dillon, MT! I’m excited about this tour because it retraces some personal history: 

• Village Books in Bellingham – I was a soup maker in the connected Colophon Cafe
• Orca Books in Olympia – I went to school at Evergreen and spent a lot of time haunting Orca
• Auntie’s Books in Spokane, where I grew up. (I had a bed near the magazine rack)

2) Reviews. Here are a number of places that were kind enough to mention Couch. Thanks, all.

L-Magazine – very kind review by Nina MacLaughlin

Antsthereader’s blog casts Tree as Rhys Ifans  

Maureen McHugh talks about young people books

The Daily Evergreen reviews Couch – twice!

Once by Jessica Schubert McCarthy and again by Andrew McCarthy.

3) Interview: Geoffrey Goodwin interviewed me for Bookslut

Regarding the Bookslut interview – there was a bit of a mixup, and the rough draft where I said a few idiotic things, such as:  ”Murakami allowed me to bridge the world…” — imagine for yourself a giant human bridge between Portland and Japan with my face on it — got posted first. However Geoffrey Goodwin and Jessa Crispin were kind enough to re-post the final version.

4) Signed books – if your and my trajectories through time and space intersect at any of my tour stops above, the possibility of a signed book is high. Alternately:  I signed about sixty books at Powells recently — I’m not exactly sure how one might obtain one of these, though it’s quite possible they’ll post the signed versions to their site. I’ll mention it if these surface. Incidentally, the people at Powell’s have taken to pronouncing Couch as cooch, after the street the Couch carries pass. Powell’s is also on Couch st. (Google streetview)

5) Back to press. I heard news from the towering offices of Small Beer Press that Couch will be heading back to print soon — I’m amazed the first million have already sold! Incredible. Thanks for buying all those copies, Mom!

6) Coffee. I apologize to my writing group members for spilling the entire contents of a Vietnamese iced coffee across all of the manuscripts I was supposed to be critiquing. They are now sticky and brown, as is my phone/lap/etc.

7) Poster. If you asked me for a signed poster, those are now in the mail. I still have a few left, so if you’d like one let me know.

(Note: Updated for correct spelling of Neil Gaiman and the correct award, whoops!)

This is very fun — I’m taking a snapshot here in case this disappears in a bit — but I was just informed that Couch is currently third on Powell’s bestseller list (updated hourly) — behind Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, but ahead of – good lord, and it just won a Caldecott Newberry – Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book.

This is likely a result of being a part of Powell’s incredibly awesome Indiespensable program along with Tinkers author Paul Harding.

Go Couch!

I just got a very lovely message via GoodReads

Hey Ben, 
I just voted COUCH for the 2009 Puddly Award on the Powell’s website. 
Good luck! 
~Stephanie

Awesome, thanks Stephanie!

Of course, I’m competing against a phenomenon known as Twilight, but it’d be awfully fun to place. It looks like you could walk away with several hundred dollars in prizes no matter who you vote for (though they’re not exactly clear on that). If you get the hang of the voting deal, here’s another spot…

Second: Look at all these handsome posters with Andi Watson’s artwork on them.

As I mentioned, these will be sent out as part of Indiespensable along with Paul Harding’s Tinkers. It’s got a secret letter from me on the back as well as postcards from Thom, Tree and Erik and I signed the front — or rather, I was half way through when my index finger crashed and burned, leaving a fiery skid mark across the table and setting off the fire alarm.

I need to send the rest back back to my publisher, but I think I could probably sneak a few off the deck.

If you want one send me an email at ben at ideacog.net with your address. I could probably make off with about 5 or so?

Happy inauguration all!

Powell’s books has this really lovely program called Indiespensable, which both my spell checker and I agree is a very poor way of spelling indispensable. It’s like a grab bag delivery service of excellent indie lit and other goodies, usually in original printings/signed/etc, shipped every six weeks. 

Check it out here www.powells.com/indiespensable/

The next installment includes Tinkers by Paul Harding – which looks really amazing. There’s also a very nifty, limited run item from Couch in the next Indiespensable box, which I’ll be signing shortly. 

If you’re in Portland – please come to the Indiespensable #8 happy hour at the Someday Lounge, Monday January 19th from 6pm – 8pm. Paul and I will both have a short reading and then we’ll be all like dancing on the tables and breaking the lamps and slamming tequila shots.

The more I look at the word ‘indispensable’, the more I get confused. I’ve had to look it up twice now.

Here’s a couple of updates to Couch:

Couch is now officially an Indie Next List pick since it’s now January.

Read about other Indie Next List picks here or, if you’re a bookseller, get yourself some very fancy Shelf talkers or download them directly as PDFs here.

Three new reviews:

Paul DiFilippo, writing for Barnes & Noble Review, said about Couch:

“…comic and pratfall-laden on the surface, but surprisingly affecting and mythic underneath. Parzybok’s easy voice is guileless and contemporary, fluid and colorful as that of Tom Robbins, yet concealing considerable craft.” 

Read the whole review here.

Thanks, Paul! (Paul’s books are here)

John Enzinas of SF Site wrote:

“The story gets stranger and stranger as the adventurers find themselves riding the rails on an electric cart, drifting on the couch in the Pacific Ocean, stowaways on a freighter bound for the Ecuador, and carrying the couch through the jungles of South America on a cart with a fog propeller. In between there is action, philosophy, violence, sex, drinking, fishing, terrorists, shadowy cabals, fishing and gluten intolerance.

 The story is fun, the characters are sympathetic and the writing is tight.”

Read the whole review here.

Thanks, John!

Mark Flanagan of ContemporaryLit.About.com said:

“Literary and historical allusions sprinkled throughout make the novel something of a treasure hunt, and a bit of bathrobe philosophizing in parts will make you go “hm.” Couch is a quick and funny read, a short fable that ensnares us in its quixotic intentions and encourages us to believe for a short time in something magic, even if it is just a couch.”

Read the whole review here.

Thanks, Mark!

I will be doing another mini-tour come the end of February – oncet we work out the details, yo.

Happy New Year all, my lovelies. Stay safe and warm. It’s raining devilishly outside. This year is going to bring a whole lot of awesome, especially since we have nowhere to go but up.