Bigfoot and the Baby: FINAL episode is up!

You can now listen to the entire novel in 52 convenient 5-10 minute segments. Listen to one per week, and you'll be done in a year!

All episodes are here.

Bigfoot and the Baby podcast episodes up through Episode 39

 ...approaching a milestone.

All episodes here.

Bigfoot and the Baby podcasts up through Episode 33

It's been a rough year (and more) for everyone, including Bigfoot and the Baby. But I've revived the podcast, and new episodes, through #33, are now up. 

https://www.buzzsprout.com/511090

Episodes 23-27 of Bigfoot and the Baby: The Podcast are now up!

All episodes here.

Episodes 17-22 of Bigfoot and the Baby are now up!

Meet the man who would be Bigfoot, and listen as celebrity swamps the Majesky family like a tidal wave.

All episodes here.

Episode 16 of Bigfoot and the Baby is up!

As Kyle's new friend Enrique transforms his van into a work of art, Jackie transforms herself for a meeting with a charismatic billionaire.

Ep 16 is here.

All eps here.

Episode 15 of Bigfoot and the Baby is up!

This is a story-within-the-story, the short life and tragic death of Harry Ricker's son Carl, for whom CarlsMart is named. If you don't want to commit to the whole novel and just want to hear me read a short story to you, jump in here.

If you do want to listen to the whole novel in 5-10 minute episodes, they're all here.

Episodes 13-14 of Bigfoot and the Baby are up!

In Episode 14, Jackie meets a mysterious stranger who will change her life.

You can find all episodes here.

Episodes 10-12 are up!

All episodes of Bigfoot and the Baby: an audiobook in podcasts are here.

Bigfoot and the Baby Episodes 7-9 are up!

All episodes available here.

Episodes 6 and 7 of Bigfoot and the Baby: The Podcast are up!

Links to all episodes here.

Episodes 4 and 5 of Bigfoot and the Baby: The Podcast are up!

Episode 4.
Episode 5.

All episodes are free, 7-10 minutes long. No registration required.

Episode 3 of Bigfoot and the Baby: The Podcast is up!

Listen here.

Episode 2 of Bigfoot and the Baby: The Podcast is up!

Find it here.

Bigfoot and the Baby is now a podcast!

Since Bona Fide Books went out of business late last year, I'm turning my book into a podcast. This is an effort to find a new audience for the book, and to reconnect with readers who already love it.

The first episode is here. 

Thoughts on grief and shopping

In an uncanny, almost freakish coincidence, our cat Bella, littermate to the late lamented Zee, has died of the same illness (lymphoma), almost exactly one year later, i.e., during the recent holidays, which are already horrible by nearly all measures, at least for me.

So, first off: Rest well, beloved Bella. We miss you.

I've just noticed that I am coping with my devastation in a way that replicates the premise of my first novel, Bigfoot and the Baby. That is: we shop because we grieve. I suspect I've bought more unneeded items for myself in the past 24 hours than I did all last year. And, sad to say, these purchases somehow make me feel better, if only temporarily.

Notions of "filling the void" come to mind, but seem inadequate, as an explanation. Perhaps there's an illusion of control--I find something I want, I buy it, I own it--that eludes us when a loved one is ill or dying. When we shop, we complete a concrete transaction with a gratifying result. There's no helpless guessing what might happen if we make one choice or the other; and if we don't like what we bought after all, we can usually return it (or the consequences of our mistake are usually minimal).

But the grief we feel may be more inchoate, which was an underlying theme of Bigfoot. Though I'm not religious, I believe Judaism and Christianity capture this feeling well with the story of the Fall. Our lives are rooted in a tremendous sense of loss, of reaching for that paradise we can never quite envision, let alone regain. Every actual loss resonates with that fundamental condition, making grief seem both bottomless and holy.

What evolutionary advantage this might give us, I can't really say. But it does give a real boost to consumer capitalism.

A new interview online

If you have a half hour sometime, you can watch me be interviewed by Pete Crooks of Diablo Magazine for the Walnut Creek Library. Includes footage of Bigfoot, pictures of Queen, and some intriguing library patrons wandering into the frame.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsIVBn2PWCg

California Bookstore Day at Village House of Books

Saturday, May 2 is California Bookstore Day. Authors are fanning out all over the state to meet and greet readers and support independent bookstores.

I'll be at Village House of Books, Los Gatos, 11 a.m. through 12 p.m.



Visit their blog to meet all the visiting authors. Here's the little piece I wrote about publishing Bigfoot and the Baby.

Ten lessons learned after (nearly) one year of having a book out with a small press

1. There is both more love and more rejection out there for published authors than I ever imagined. I try to concentrate on the love--which can come from the most unexpected and delightful places.

2. Self-promotion and extroverting do not get easier. Ever. On the other hand ...

3. Once one has accepted the need to extrovert, author events are quite fun.

4. I just have to build in plenty of resting-up/restoration time before and after.

5. A book from a small press is not likely to become a big seller. Distribution is the main issue. However ...

6. The book is a "calling card" that proves you can finish a book and get a publisher to love it and invest in it, which is no small thing. It's also a chance to prove that you're willing to put yourself out there to promote your work.

7. The production quality of small-press books--and large-press books, astonishingly--varies widely. My publisher did an awesome job with the cover, paper quality, fonts, etc. This stuff is important, so look at other books the press has produced before signing on.

8. Taking two private acting lessons so I could give better readings was possibly the smartest thing I did, out of all the things I did for this book. Including writing it.

9. Networking with fellow authors is absolutely critical. It isn't as hard as it may seem. In my experience, the overwhelming majority of writers are kind, supportive, interesting people who genuinely want to help each other out (even if we also have to stifle a little envy sometimes). Try to be one of these kinds of writers, and you will meet them in abundance.

10. Publishing with a traditional press of any size is hard--and there are different kinds of difficulties at different levels. As various tennis coaches used to tell me, just before I was pulverized by much larger and more accomplished players than I, "just play your game." In other words, do what you can, the best you know how, and keep doing it.



(See? You can always slip in a little self-promotion.)

Tuesday, February 17, 7 p.m.: Time to Get Shattered!

Shake off those post-President's-Day blues at InsideStoryTime!

I'll be reading with Chun Yu, Hollie Hardy, Sean Taylor, and Cliff Winnig at La Movida Wine Bar in San Francisco this coming Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Our theme is The Shattering. Which you don't want to miss.

Please join us!