Uncontrolled Substances

January 18, 2006 @ 3:45 am

This post was going to be much longer. That was until I stepped out for a brief rendezvous with some friends and somebody’s friend-of-a-friend was a guy who brews absinthe. They said, ‘try some,’ so I did. Now I can’t type unless I close one eye and ignore the fact that that the couch cushions are singing commercial jingles from the 50’s. I’ve already had one “soop” episode I don’t care to repeat (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, use the ’search’ feature on the Velvet), so, I’ll cut to the point. As I’ve said, there’s a lot of changes forthcoming but, one of the biggies is the RSS feed to this sweet blog o’ mine. There’s a button just above this entry for you to hit, so as to add my every intoxicated word to your aggregator (not to be confused with a crocodile… one hangs down, the other points up, but I can never remember which). So, for those of you too lazy or too employed to check back regularly, you can now spare yourself the pain of clicking on the bookmark. If you’re ever in Austin, give Kareem a big wet one as thanks. Better yet, go see his improv show. Second, the graphic novel version of The Contortionist’s Handbook is well under way, thanks to Mr. Gabor Kiss. I’ll be doing the standard Velvet cocktease and pulling each installment down after two weeks (see above for RSS info), and replacing it with the new one. In between taunting you with Mr. Gabor’s stunning visuals, I’m working on another book, a few short pieces and making a damned fine margarita during my drink slinging shifts (thanks to the lovelies at Corner Billiards in NYC for the pointers). The first four pages of the graphic Handbook are at the bottom of this page, and the next four are forthcoming.

Stay warm and bound,

Craig

Siamese Twins Everywhere, Unite!

January 8, 2006 @ 6:39 pm

Much more to come in the next few weeks, but as many of the changes to this site are in a holding pattern while Kareem takes care of some business at the Cult, I thought a hint of the forthcoming additions and renovations to the Clevenger wing of the Velvet were in order, given my silence over the holidays. Dermaphoria will be hittng the UK this Spring, as well as a new edition of the Handbook, both from HarperCollins. The Handbook will feature a ‘P.S.’ section, a collection of extra material which will include a critical overview of my extensive body of work (two, count ‘em, two whopping novels) written by Chris Baer, among other things. And starting soon, very soon, a graphic novel version of the Handbook will be serialized throughout the course of ‘06. Mr. Gabor Kiss, who’s done some brilliant renditions of Palahniuk’s work over at the Cult, has taken on task of rendering the Vincent Chronicles, which should see the light of day before this month is out.

Pending addition to Geolocution are two dates. On Saturday, Feb. 25th, I’ll be reading at the Edinburgh Castle here in San Francisco, and on Thursday, March 9, I’ll be joining Stephen Graham Jones on a panel at the AWP Conference in Austin, Texas. As soon as details bubble to the surface on these two engagements, I’ll send out the smoke signals.

Happy New Year. Stay warm and bound.

-Craig