$@!# Authors Say (and play)

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Gordon

$@!# Authors SayCome downtown and enjoy some double-threat entertainment from yours truly and friends at this reading and music event. We stage these at bars whenever possible to encourage more raucous audiences, as well as the loosened morality that alcohol enables. For the participants, too, because a shot of Jameson can help calm the nerves when you’re preparing to read a story about the kinds of depraved scenarios that populate my friends’ imaginations.

In addition to whatever awesome slice(s) of storytellery I recite that night, several other authors will be trying to best me with their own. These include such characters as Phil Jourdan (author of Praise of Motherhood), and locals Caleb J Ross (I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin), Brandon Tietz (Out of Touch), Hampton Stevens (The Atlantic, Playboy), and Hollie Hayes.

Warming up your heart-cockles before all this literary lechery will be my acoustic duo, Winebox, performing singer-songwriter, rock, and pop music. This will likely be our first public show under that moniker, so Shannon and I are super excited about that. Maybe we’ll even bust out an ’80s tune or two in honor of ole Q-Bert up there.

It will be an evening of lies, fantasies, death, and a few laughs. Maybe some stories mixed in there as well. I realize the music starts pretty early for a weeknight, but I talked to your boss, and s/he said you could totally skip out early. Me, I’m taking the day off and making a long weekend out of the Memorial Day holiday. Why not do the same?

Click the image above to embiggen the flyer.


$@!# Authors Say (Facebook event page)
Thursday, May 24, 2012
5:00 – 7 pm   Winebox
7:00 – 9 pm   author readings

Czar Bar
1531 Grand Blvd.
Kansas City, MO 64108



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Flashover e-books on sale

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Gordon

For you digital adopters, an early release of my new novel, Flashover, is now available for Kindle and Nook at $5.99. The paperback will be out next month at the usual online shops, and I’ll hook up a PayPal for those who want to order signed copies directly. Between now and then, I’ll be ramping up my promotional efforts, and I appreciate any support you can provide in that area. Please contact me with any media inquiries or for review copies for your established publication/site.

It’s been a long road, and I’m both relieved and excited to finally share this with everyone. Flashover is a more mature novel than my first (though admittedly not as funny), with broad commercial appeal and some familiar themes that I of course twist in subversive ways. When I began writing it about three-and-a-half years ago, no other titles of the same name came up in search results, so it’s a little disheartening to see there are five or six of them out there now — everything from romance novels to procedurals — even one with a surprisingly-familiar premise as mine . . . but don’t be fooled, just look for the wicked painting of the blue-shirted dude clutching a rosary in his bloodied palm.

Synopsis and links below.

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Electrocution and a two-story fall from a church rooftop leave former musician Tobe Mohr deaf, burned, and broken. A guilt-wracked priest invites him to live in the vacant rectory during his recovery, where many townsfolk believe Tobe — despite his own skepticism — has developed clairvoyance in his return from death. Adapting to rural life after having toured the world’s stages, Tobe forms an intense relationship with the enchanting Sera and her daughter. But their disappearance forces him to embrace his rewired senses that have helped so many others, as he navigates Sera’s mysterious past to find them, and to become once again the man he thought died long ago.

paperback, 276 pages: $13.00
e-book: $5.99

Sample (Ch. 1 & 2)



      PAPERBACK

      E-BOOK

Other e-book formats (PDF, etc.) may be purchased through Smashwords.


Click only for signed/personalized paperbacks (shipments may be delayed a week or so).

Reviews

Booked Podcast

GoodReads (listing)

LitReactor (book club discussion)

Interviews

Booked Podcast (mostly about Warmed and Bound)

Word Riot (coming July 15)

Curiouser and Curiouser (coming July 31)

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Noir Reading and Pics

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Gordon

Now that my liver and brain cells have had a chance to regenerate after the AWP conference in Chicago, here’s an update to the event I previously posted about that took place in St. Louis the night before that excursion.

The incredibly gracious Jed Ayres and Scott Phillips hosted the most recent incarnation of “Noir at the Bar” at the Meshuggah Cafe, and the omnipresent gentlemen from Booked Podcast were there to document the event (as they did for all the tavern readings they attended on the trip). They’re creating a series of minisodes over the coming weeks featuring each of these author/readers, and I have the pleasure of going first, chronological as they are.

I don’t really write noir, so I wasn’t sure what to read. In hindsight, I probably should’ve made with the funny and depraved, perhaps a chapter from Major Inversions. . . Anyway, here are the timestamps for the three short pieces you’ll hear:

(7:33) “One New Message” (meta flash fiction)

(10:55) “Untitled Stephenie Meyer Novel” (short story from the Oprah Read This project)

(18:50) “Flashover” (excerpt from my forthcoming novel of the same title)


LISTEN: Booked Podcast Episode #68 – Noir at the Bar: Gordon Highland


Bonus photo galleries:

Noir at the Bar, St. Louis 2/28/12

AWP Chicago 2/29 – 3/3/12

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Presenting . . . Winebox!

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Gordon

Word on the grapevine is that I’ve got a new musical duo for you to feast your earballs upon. Winebox has actually been cellaring for a number of years in various states of activity, and is now mature and ready to rock.

Some of you remember my former band, Molly’s Crush: a regional ’80s tribute act (in which I was the guitarist) with Shannon Lipps on the mic. Winebox reunites the two of us musically. As exciting as the ‘Crush era was, we said the next time we convened, we wanted to strip things down, simplify, and frankly … just play the kind of music we wanted to hear ourselves.

The result is a mix of our favorite tunes from the last 30-odd years, much of it singer-songwriter material—and all of it soulful—with classic/modern rock, torch songs, and some jangly stuff. It’s acoustic, after all. Shannon handles the vocals and percussion, and I’ll be on guitar, piano, and harmonies. Listen for us to rock some originals in the same musical vein as well, with backing band tracks recorded in my home studio for a fuller sound.

Visit our official Winebox page on Facebook for the show calendar, pics, videos, etc. And of course, please “like” us, so we can keep you in the loop about news and events. Meanwhile, here are some brand new demos to tide you over, plus a few promo shots. If you lose track of this post, you can always find the same info up there under the Music menu. We’ll probably start off with some smaller shows and shared bills in late April or early May here in Kansas City, and we can’t wait to see everyone out there soon!

  Press Kit

Toasted (Last Call)   The Civil Wars – Barton Hollow
The Sacred and Profane   Peter Gabriel – In Your Eyes
Stale Air   Fiona Apple – Shadowboxer

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Andrez Bergen Interview

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Gordon

I recently had a chance to throw some questions at Andrez Bergen, the author of Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat (Another Sky Press), a novel that fuses sci-fi and hardboiled noir elements. In it, Melbourne is near-future Earth’s last city standing, where the ominous, ubiquitous Hylax Corporation and its CEO are behind the push to apprehend, incarcerate, and even terminate Deviants for their behavior. Floyd Maquina does their legwork to pay off his wife’s hospital debt, becoming both a media darling and increasingly disillusioned with the job, using his newfound influence to get to the bottom/top of the corruption. Floyd’s a stubborn, wisecracking gumshoe with an affinity for name-dropping classic films during his pursuits under acid rain and inside the domed, rezoned city where social strata are more delineated than ever.

An expatriate Australian journalist who’s written/edited for Mixmag, Impact (UK), and Anime Insider (among others), Andrez Bergen has been entrenched in Tokyo for the past 10 years, where he also “hacks together” electronic/techno music under the moniker Little Nobody.

Read the entire interview at Welcome to The Velvet.

Also check out Booked Podcast’s Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat review episode.

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AWP 2012 – Chicago

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Gordon

Getting excited now. Just two short weeks until The Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference in Chi-town! (I assure you, it’s much livelier than it sounds.)

My first AWP was Denver, now two years in the rearview, and I had a memorable time, even if no photographic evidence exists to confirm this. Sure, there were dozens of panels hosted by writers I respected (including my word-hero Michael Chabon), and just as many where the informative content trumped the unknowns presenting it. But let’s be honest: it’s really an excuse to get silly for four days and nights with my extended online family of writers who workshop together, support one another’s writerly trajectories (hopefully ascending), and conspire to commit all sorts of questionable acts that will ultimately shave years off our lives. Some have never met in person before, and others cross international waters to participate. It’s also an excuse to buy more indie books than will fit on my Goodreads shelf. To pawn a few of my own fictions. To feign enjoyment at listening to authors read their work aloud. To chat up fishnetted, becorseted, raccoon-eyed authors of amputee erotica in dark corners over a glass of absinthe. Though we all know such gals are usually costumed more like thrift-store managers, and prefer wine coolers to wormwood. I love them all the same.

Last time, I burnt myself out with too many back-to-back panels, and am taking more of a relaxed approach this year: just a few per day. After all, this is my so-called “vacation.” No secret benefactor is footing my bill; I’ve no obligation to present or perform anywhere (that I know of. . .). I’ll sleep in if I please. See the sights. Indulge. Endure an hour-long line for a gourmet hot dog, goddammit!

UPDATE: postmortem 2012 Chicago AWP photo gallery

But the real reason for this post isn’t to regale you with tales of literary conquests past, of syndicated television viewed in different time zones. It’s an invitation for you to come say hello, to let you buy me a pint, slip me a free copy of your book (paperback, please), or indulge me in droning on solipsistically about my own works-in-progress. Below is a preliminary list of the panels and events I may attend (unless something shiny or lacy distracts me) for those organizing their own stalking-and-accosting itineraries. I’ll be staying Wednesday through Saturday night (2/29 – 3/3) with my three ninja bodyguard/roommates at the Hampton Inn Majestic, right around the corner from the Palmer House (where most of the panels I care about are held, and where many attendees are staying). Gimme a shout in advance if you like.

Wednesday, 2/29
8:00 pm   Kick-Off Party @ The Empty Bottle (1035 N. Western Ave.)

Thursday, 3/1
9:00 am    R121. Atypical Points of View in Fiction Narration
12:00 pm  R170. Villains and Killers and Criminals, Oh My: Representing Evildoers in Lit Fic
4:30 pm    R233. The Renaissance of Midwestern Literature
8:30 pm    Margaret Atwood keynote

8:00 pm    The Wrong Kind of Reading @ The Galway Arms (2442 N. Clark St.)
9:00 pm    Karaoke Idol @ Beauty Bar (1444 W. Chicago)

Friday, 3/2
9:00 am   F119. Literature and the Internet in 2012
12:00 pm  F169. The Place at the Heart of Story
1:30 pm   F178. Natl Book Critics Circle Celebrates Award-Winning Authors

7:00 pm   Beautiful, Words @ Beauty Bar (1444 W. Chicago)

Saturday, 3/3
9:00 am   S104. Midwest Gothic: Dark Fiction of the Heartland
12:00 pm  S165. Mine Is Clouds: Revisiting the Life and Work of Richard Brautigan
3:00 pm   S215. Men from Venus, Women from Mars: Writing the Opposite Sex

6:00 pm   Ear Eater #13: The Impossible, The Extraordinary @ Beef & Brandy (127 S. State St.)

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Noir at the Bar

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Gordon

Sorry I’ve been slow with updates around here lately, but I assure you that things have indeed been cooking behind the scenes, and there’ll be a deluge of posts between now and summertime about all kinds of happenings, both of the fiction-al and sonic varietals.

First up is this event at the end of the month in St. Louis, MO where I’ll be reading . . . um, something . . . alongside noir authors Caleb J Ross (I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin), Mark Tiedemann (Remains), and Kevin Lynn Helmick (Sebastian Cross). It’s at a coffee shop in the Delmar Loop near Washington University, part of a semi-regular local series hosted by Jedidiah Ayres and Scott Phillips. This is a road-trip stop for Caleb and me on our way to the AWP conference in Chicago the next day.


Noir at the Bar
Feb. 28, 2012
7:00 – 10 pm

Meshuggah Café
6269 Delmar Boulevard
St. Louis, MO 63130



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LA1K

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Gordon

My short story “Fry Girl” (my personal favorite of those I’ve written) appears in …In Search of a City: Los Angeles in 1,000 Words, the first fiction collection from ThunderDome Press, now available in full-color paperback at ThundaDome.com/LA1K (where you can find instructions for a discount code) as well as through Amazon. Be sure to add it on Goodreads as well.

Editor Michael Gonzalez challenged each of the 26 contributors to write a 1,000-word story (no more, no less) with a California theme, based on their selection of a photo from a gallery of Hipstamatic shots he took with his iPhone around the Los Angeles area. The result is quintessential L.A.: dreams, drugs, hallucinations, romance, life and death, science fiction, fantasy, horror, and redemption. This one below was mine, the billboard, which inspired a story about a middle-aged former child model reflecting on her rivalry with her best friend.

Full contributor list:

Ryan Wilson – “American Trash”
Stuart Gibbel – “Break on Through”
Craig Clevenger – “Obsolescence”
Nik Korpon – “South of Thirteen”
Dennis Cruz – “Smile Now, Cry Later”
Pela Via – “Bathhouse”
Stephen Conley – “Don’t Feed the Animals”
Grigori Black – “This Was Heaven”
Doc O’Donnell – “Your Personal Apocalypse”
Nikki Guerlain – “Sick Ticket”
Patrick Verhagen – “Swim”
Craig Wallwork – “El Bordello Alexandra”
Nicholas Merlin Karpuk – “Ahm’s Bay”
Nik Houser – “Subtitles for a Silent Film”
H.R. Tardiff – “Walls in the Sand”
Richard Thomas – “The Jenny Store”
Bob Pastorella – “Alexandra”
Simon West-Bulford – “Project Asmodeus”
Jay Slayton-Joslin – “The Fantasy of California vs. The Reality of London”
Amanda Gowin – “Gilded Bones”
Chris Deal – “Padre Nuestro”
Boden Steiner – “Here”
Gordon Highland – “Fry Girl”
edward j rathke – “All the Dreams You Dreamt Retold”
Michael Paul Gonzalez – “Tidal”
Victor Bengtsson – “Venice, Forever”

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Microfiction

Posted on September 25, 2011 by Gordon

I’ve added a new section to the site for microfiction. Also known as very short stories (posted to my Twitter feed as #vss or sometimes #storystarters) or hint fiction, these are usually meant to suggest a story to the reader rather than actually tell one. It’s an interactive experience where the reader can’t help filling in the details, whether they realize it or not, creating something different in each person’s mind. They’re inspired by Hemingway’s most famous six-word gem: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Some are jokes of sorts, and most are disturbing.

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