I’m very happy to be in this anthology--The Beatest State in the Union, edited by Chris Carmona, Rob Johnson, and Chuck Taylor, and published by Lamar University Press. It’s a really terrific compilation of classic Beat writers who hung around Texas, and contemporary Texas writers who are Beats. I’ve worked with some academics who teach “The Beat Movement” as a relic of the past, but the editors of Beatest State argue—rightly, I think—that Beatism is not an antique literary artifact but a continuing and important platform for contemporary poets and fictionists and essayists to use for the examination of American culture and its implications.
A couple of weeks ago I participated in a Beatest State kickoff reading in Austin at our friends Malvern Books. Below is a video of my reading. Note: just before stepping up to the stage, I noticed that someone—and I’m looking at you, Lamar University Press—changed a line of dialogue in my story. And changed it for the worse. For shame.
Go buy the book anyway—it’s wonderful and glorious. Beatific, even.
A couple of weeks ago I participated in a Beatest State kickoff reading in Austin at our friends Malvern Books. Below is a video of my reading. Note: just before stepping up to the stage, I noticed that someone—and I’m looking at you, Lamar University Press—changed a line of dialogue in my story. And changed it for the worse. For shame.
Go buy the book anyway—it’s wonderful and glorious. Beatific, even.
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