Pablo D’Stair is easily the hardest working man in independent literature. The guy has operated his own publishing press (Brown Paper Publishing) for a few years now, he continuously produces his own amazing fiction (he’s authored about 43,000 books, I think), he’s innovative with his means of extracting meaningful dialog between author and reader (see: The Predicate Dialogues, and Norman Court for his latest projects in this space) and he works tirelessly to apply critical analysis to fiction in a way that maintains intellectual integrity without compromising accessibility. Above all, he’s a passionate thinker.

Though I’ve known Pablo for a while (I was involved in his first The Predicate Dialogues back in March 2010), his most recent critical contributions, and his inclusion of my novel Stranger Will, leave me no less impressed. Pablo is currently conducting a series of Six Investigations of the Act of Reading for the Sunday Observer (Sri Lanka’s largest circulation English newspaper, according to the logo above).

Here’s a bit from the introduction to the series:

In the order of the series, the authors and works I will be using, as well as the slant to each investigation, are as follow-Stephen Graham Jones, the Bird is Gone: a manifesto (Context); Caleb J. Ross, Stranger Will (Genre); Goodloe Byron, The Wraith (Subtext); Amelia Gray, AM/PM (Type); D. Harlan Wilson Peckinpah: an ultraviolent romance (Referent); Brian Olu, So You Know It’s Me (Framing). While familiarity with the works has no bearing on what I investigate in the series, it also couldn’t hurt-various excerpts, reactions, discussions can be found regarding all of these titles may places online. Additionally, I welcome any and all contact with regard to this series and will respond to all correspondence. I can be reach through unburiedcomments@gmail.com.

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It is my sincere hope that this series will both be somewhat intriguing toward a further delving into the contemporary American Indie scene, and (moreso) that it will encourage a particular self-consciousness to reading which I believe is to be valued above all else, whether reading is done for leisure, study, or is merely dabbed at, incidentally.

I am damn excited to follow this series. More posts to come, for sure.

A few weeks ago I was turned on to Booked Podcast via their review of Christopher Dwyer’s novel When October Falls. I am always looking for more literature podcasts, and I’ve been a fan and friend of Dwyer’s for a long time, so when the two came together I did not hesitate to jump in.

Livius Nedin and Robb Olson have not been doing Booked Podcast to very long yet, but they approach the format liked seasoned connoisseurs. It is the best kind of podcast; readers talking about books. Simple. Proven.

Last week they took on Stranger Will, and were not only kind enough to give my book their time but were kind enough to offer truly humbling amounts of praise. If every I meet Livius and/or Robb in person, the beers are on me.

I highly recommend you take a listen to their discussion of Stranger Will. http://www.bookedpodcast.com/2011/05/27/episode-9-stranger-will/

Then, immediately download their past episodes. Visit the Booked Podcast site here: http://www.bookedpodcast.com. Follow the Booked Podcast twitter feed here: http://twitter.com/bookedpodcast. You will regret nothing.

A few of the kind words follow, paraphrased:

“Wholly original story. Had I not been hampered by tedious things like work and sleep I probably would have read it in a single sitting. It is very well written and deals with some very dark issues….I strongly recommend you pick up Stranger Will for a very vivid picture of a guy going through some really bad stuff.  4.5 stars, highest number of stars we’ve given on Booked Podcast.”

“pulls absolutely no punches”

“The darkest book I’ve read in some time”

“a bizarre but truly original story”

“Will and Julie’s fragmented relationship is written so well. It made me feel uncomfortable”

“So disturbing in some places that I actually shuttered. This is hi-praise coming from me, as I don’t find much disturbing”

“very good at being descriptive without being pretentious”

“we should expect to see some really, really good things from Ross in the future”

“This book will stick with me for some time”

“Bravo for taking what most people would think as an impossible task and making something good of it”