Craig Davidson

Monday, September 25th

Canadian Business Mag

Hi all,

I know I said I wouldn't post again, but I'm only posting this to clear up some glitches with my previous post (this is the only way my blog allows that to happen). This is an article that appeared in Canadian Business Mag. It's quite "gritty," I assure you. Check it out if you'd like.

www.canadianbusiness.com/after_hours/lifestyle_activities/article.jsp?content=20060911_80152_80152

All best, Craig.
Craig Davidson on 09.25.06 @ 02:24 PM EST [link]

On The Eve of Publication

Hi All,

Before I get into the heart of this post, a few things.

Firstly, my boxing coach, a very savvy fellow named Adam Pollack, well versed in all things pugilistic, has published his first book. It's called JOHN L. SULLIVAN: THE CAREER OF THE FIRST GLOVED HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION, and it is available at the link below. If you're a fan of the old time (tyme?) boxers, guys who'd go 115 rounds in a makeshift ring under the blazing sun, then you should check out this book. I did some research on this era while writing my own book, and it is a fascinating period of the sport.

www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?isbn=0-7864-2558-X

Secondly, my brother, who some of you will meet on October 5th, as he is set to MC at the book launch, has been nominated as one of the Funniest People with a Day Job in Q107's ongoing contest. I think he IS the Funniest Person with a Day Job, and of course I voted for him. I even watched the other videos to assure myself that he was the funniest, as indeed he was, and then cast my vote. So everyone head on over to the link posted below and cast your votes.

http://q107.com/contests/funny_videos.cfm

I am heading off to Paris this afternoon to participate in the Festival Dâ€™Americas reading series. This will take me off my training regimen, which I regret---my French editor assures me there is a forest I can run through, which is great for cardio, but I can't spar with trees---but at the same time, who's going to pass up a trip to France? Not this hombre.

So, this will be my last post for a bit. And I want to use it in a fairly selfish way. There are some who might say most of my posts are selfish, so perhaps this will be no different.

Craig Davidson on 09.25.06 @ 11:46 AM EST [more..]

Monday, September 18th

Trash Talk and Blurb for THE FIGHTER

Hi All,

First off, before I get to the trash talk between myself and Mr. Michael "Coffin Nail" Knox, I would like to post a blurb I got for THE FIGHTER. Now it's too late to make the cover, at least the Canadian cover, but we only sent the book out to 1 writer for blurbage purposes (quite honestly, at that point I felt like I’d be wasting their time), but he's a huge influence of mine, and wonderfully enough, he got back with this:

“This is more than a stunning debut. It reminds me how vacuous, banal
and insipid most highly-touted fiction is. Craig Davidson asks—and
answers—some big, uncomfortable questions about the nature of our
humanity. The Fighter is an essential novel, destined for cult status
at the very least.”

—Irvine Welsh

Mr. Welsh, as most of you know, is the author of TRAINSPOTTING. And, as much as I loved that book, my fave is FILTH. Detective Bruce Robertson: one of the best characters ever written. And PORNO’s a fantastic book. And GLUE. And every damn book he’s written. I’m going to read BEDROOM SECRETS OF THE MASTER CHEFS, his newest, once I claw myself out from under this drift of fight-related stuff, novel-related stuff, class-and-teaching related stuff, etc. For now, my deepest thanks to Irvine for this. Writing is a nerve-chafing profession at times, but it makes your heart feel good to hear kind words from the writers who set you down this road in the first place.

Now, on to some trash talk...

Craig Davidson on 09.18.06 @ 02:58 PM EST [more..] [9 Comments]

Thursday, September 14th

Good, Good...Now Give me GRITTIER!

Hello All,

First thing's first. Please go take a look at the Bookshorts site featuring the short film of THE FIGHTER. My thanks, as always, to the whole Bookshorts team for the great production. This film will also be screened October 5, at the fight:

www.bookshorts.com/watch_fighter.htm

Now as things ramp up for the release of THE FIGHTER (I don't really know what the hell I mean by "ramp up," because nothing is truly ramping up except my level of nervous agitation), anyway, as things go forward to the book's release on Sept. 26, I have been doing a few little publicity things including an interview with Canadian Business Magazine. The interview was conducted by Mike Doherty, who interviewed me last year for the National Post. A glutton for punishment, he stepped up to the dias once again to ask me some very pointed, very intelligent, very well-thought-out questions that I, as is my wont, proceeded to totally flake out on. Some excerpts:

MIKE: So, what was the compulsion to write this book?

ME: Ah, well, I, uh, you could say it seemed like the thing to do at the time. [lowering my voice to sound like that giant talking Kool-Aid pitcher who busts through walls in those old commercials] Ooooh YEAH!

MIKE [nervous laugh]: Your publicist tells me you actually took steroids while editing the book. Can you tell me why you went that route?

ME: Because I'm an idiot.

MIKE: Any other reason?

ME [thoughtful pause]: Oh, I don't know, as a personal statement on society's relentless focus on youth, beauty, and personal appearance? No, check that: because I'm an idiot.

MIKE: And I hear you're getting into a boxing match---can you tell me why?

ME: Because I'm an idiot.

MIKE: I think I've got everything I can use...

Craig Davidson on 09.14.06 @ 05:03 PM EST [more..]

Wednesday, September 6th

First Review for THE FIGHTER

Hi All,

Well, you can bet they won't all be so nice, but it's heartening to get one decent review under the belt. This is from Quill and Quire, the Canadian book trade magazine. Anyway, I honest-to-god wasn't sure I'd even manage to drum up one decent review, so this is a nice way to kick things off. I can always come back to this post and read this review once the nasty ones start rolling in (and ooooooh, they will), licking my psychic wounds while muttering, "Well, at least ONE PERSON thought it was okay."

The reviewer, Steven Beattie, did mention the final fight scene---one of my none-too-highfalutin' goals was to set to paper the longest, most violent fight/boxing scene in the annals of books---and the hooker beating scene (Paul gets beaten, doesn't do the beating), but I'm surprised he didn't mention what I hope will come to be known as "the Chihuahua scene," or "the recumbent bicyclist scene," or simply "Chapter 9," which is where the book really goes off the rails. In any case, I thank him for his review.

All best, Craig.
Craig Davidson on 09.06.06 @ 10:22 AM EST [more..]

Sunday, September 3rd

Social Observations at the Scene of a Wedding [VIDEOGRAPHER]

Hi all,

The summer of weddings is officially over. 4 weddings in 3 months. 2 in Toronto, 1 in Alberta, 1 in Nova Scotia. Though each was great in its own way, I am glad wedding season is over.

I thought I’d give a few thoughts—nay, keen social observations—that I, with my keen sociologist’s eye, managed to take note of at these sundry nuptials. I must say, my keen sociologist’s eye is honed to a wicked edge when I get “in my cups,” so to speak, so it is perhaps not surprising that, while I am tippling at weddings—sometimes as a coping mechanism, other times simply as an outer expression of my inner merriment—that I am privy to quite a few shrewd, or not-so-shrewd, social observations.
Craig Davidson on 09.03.06 @ 11:27 AM EST [more..]