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Saturday, October 28th
A Wacky Contest (Or Zany, if you Will)
Hi all,
As promised, a contest. A writing contest. With loads of dubious prizes!
Okay, so what's the deal? Well, I'll tell you: in order to win, you need to send me your best fight story. I would prefer it to be a story where you were beaten up, preferrably in a novel or humiliating fashion (believe me, I can relate), but if you'd like to send in one where you beat the crap out of your middle-school bully or the local drug pusher in an effort to "clean up the streets"---if so, may I suggest you name the pusher Sammy "The Syringe" Del Greco?---then yes, that's great. It can be as long as you'd like it to be, but since I will be posting it here on this blog, you'll probably want to keep it between 500-1000 words. But if you've got a real corker of a 6-word story (example: Boxing gloves for sale. Barely used.), then sure, send it in. Or a fight haiku, or a fight sonnet, that's fine. Our judge will be happy to consider anything and everything. But something to do with a fight you've been in, whether winner, loser, abused or abuser. That's the only requirement.
Craig Davidson on 10.28.06 @ 02:00 PM EST [more..]
Friday, October 27th
Blog Entry #115
Well, something needs to be said. Briefly.
Craig Davidson on 10.27.06 @ 10:43 AM EST [more..]
Wednesday, October 25th
Website Update/CBC Interview
Hi all,
Quick update, here.
First off, web-designer extraordinaire Brett Savory has updated my website with THE FIGHTER-related material. New covers, the novel's prologue and epilogue (edited out of the final edition), and a few other things. So stop by and check it out. I swear to God, the US cover of THE FIGHTER...that looks like my brother on the cover. Eerie, man.
www.craigdavidson.net
Also, I will be interviewed tomorrow, Thursday the 26th, on CBC radio's The Arts Tonight. 10pm Ontario time. Talking about the fight, plus all the other nutty things I did while writing the book. Tune in and groove out, man!
REMINDERS:
Reading in Calgary this Saturday. 8pm, McNally-Robinson bookstore downtown.
Contest still coming. Next post, most likely.
All best, Craig.
Craig Davidson on 10.25.06 @ 12:57 PM EST [link]
Saturday, October 21st
Fun With Babelfish!
Hi All,
Some of you may know about Babelfish. It's this free translation website; basically, you plug in a chunk of foreign writing, choose your translation---French to English / English to Cantonese / what have you---then it processes the results.
Needless to say, this is an inexact science. If not, flesh-and-blood translators would be out of business. But, as I now know from experience, a good translator is worth his or her weight in gold; otherwise all the subtle nuances of one's writing (and lord knows, subtle nuance is what my writing is all about) fly right out the window.
In any case, my French publicist has been sending me reviews of Rust and Bone ("Un goût de rouille et d'os" en francais, or "A Taste of Rust and Bone") and, while my French is okay, I couldn't always work out what, precisely, was written. In fact, the review that follows was so colloquially-written that I couldn't tell if it was even complimentary or not.
So I ran it through Babelfish. http://babelfish.altavista.com
I think---I THINK---it is complimentary. But I can't tell for sure. You be the judge.
Sorry if it gives you a headache reading it. I particularly like the sentence: "...there are also incredible passages on the noise which a balloon of tennis shoe makes passing through net..." I added that scene especially for the French audiences, who I hear quite enjoy scenes where balloons of tennis shoes pass noisily through nets of varying sizes.
Cater to you audience, I always say.
All best, Craig.
Craig Davidson on 10.21.06 @ 11:26 AM EST [more..]
Thursday, October 19th
CALGARY READING DATE
Hi All,
This post is to let everyone know of my only scheduled Canadian reading date for THE FIGHTER. I had one other publicity event, maybe you heard about it, but I didn’t actually read anything at that to-do. Actually, I recall reading the word EVERLAST stamped on the boxing gloves that kept rocketing at my head, but I just read that to myself, privately; had I said it aloud, people would’ve gotten bored with the monotony of the repetition.
In any case, I’m reading October 28th, at McNally-Robinson in downtown Calgary. It’s down along the ped-mall, so anyone in Calgary and surrounding environs who wants to come out, please do. It’ll be weird to be reading from the book; I’ve not done that yet, and to be honest I have no clue what I’ll read. Maybe I’ll just ask audience members to punch me, instead. I’ve become more comfortable taking public beatings lately, and it might eat up some time.
Actually, that’s a great idea. If you come out and buy one [1] book, purchase entitles you to punch me in one of these select bodily locations: shoulder/chest/thigh (charley horse). If you buy two [2] books, you may slug me in the bread basket, or “the ole brisket” as it is sometimes known. If you buy four [4] books, say for Christmas presents, you can paste me one right on the kisser [limit one pasting per customer; football linebackers and ex-convicts exempt from this offer]. And if you buy ten [10] books, then hell, you can hoof me in the ‘nards (aka: Flavor Country).
Craig Davidson on 10.19.06 @ 07:58 PM EST [more..]
Tuesday, October 17th
We All Knew They Were Coming...
Sent to me by a friend of mine, with the subject line reading: "Sorry, man..."
First of all, let me say it's a fair and totally understandable review, in that any review this book gets will be understandable (to me) on some level. The opening line says it best:
"IT'S an understatement to say that Craig Davidson's The Fighter isn't for everybody."
It goes on from there. Unflatteringly. Fairly, though, I would say. I wrote the damn thing to galvanize people, make them love/hate it; I guess this falls squarely on the "hate it" side, and fairly so. But then I got a call yesterday from a fellow who'd just read the book (how he got my number I do not know, but I was grateful to receive his call) and made a point of phoning to say how much he loved it. So, I would like to hope I've written that sort of a book: hate it, love it, have some extreme opinion of it in any case.
The errors pointed out in the review actually shame me the most: as those who've followed this blog for awhile know, the editing process on this book was sort of fractured, and I hate to think that such things made it into the book, but I can only say that I and everyone at Penguin did our damndest to prevent them (there were also some in Rust and Bone, and I suppose there are some in most every book, considering most publishers don't have a resident polymath on hand to catch all mistakes). Still, all goofs on my part.
Even Mr. Armstrong's last line isn't inaccurate—not that anything in a novel review can be inaccurate, really, since it's one person's perception. I'd like to think I'm not so enamored of violence, that I try to make it serve a purpose, but I can easily see how one could think that.
In any case, one thing: please no "chin up" emails. It's a review. And it's a fair one, to my mind. I've got no issues at all with it. And, as I've said countless times before, if people are buying my books, any reviewer can say whatever the heck they'd like—water off a duck's back to me. But yeah, the book sort of need to be selling.
So, if you were going to write a "chin up" email, may I suggest other uses of that same energy (selfishly, yes, on my behalf):
1. Buy the book. Buy it based on this shitty review, natch: show The Man you will not be dissuaded by his tools of PROPAGANDA! It's available in most bookstores now, too.
2. Write a review on amazon.ca or on your blog. A decent one, a critical one, whatever. An honest one, is all I'd ask.
3. Tell a friend about the book. Quote liberally from the review; use these quotes, peer-pressure style, to browbeat your buddy into submission. Tell them, "The message is that Craig Davidson thinks violence is cool—don't you?" If they say no, say, "What the hell sort of a pantywaist are you? Are you a freakin' mountain climber or something?" (this will seem more humorous/derogatory after you've finished reading the review)
4. Get a tattoo of THE FIGHTER's cover on your ass. That would be so TOUGH! Oh my GOD!
Keep checking this space often for a contest I'm cooking up. A very cool (and by "cool" I mean, more aptly, "disgusting") prize will be offered. Late this week/early next I'll put it up.
Until then, the review. I thank Mr. Bob Armstrong for it (and I do mean that seriously. Any review I can get, good or ill, at least gets the word out in some form or another).
All best,
Craig.
PS: I apologize to the phantom of Robert Frost for stealing his line. Please refrain from haunting my apartment.
REVIEW:
www.whatsonwinnipeg.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9304
Craig Davidson on 10.17.06 @ 05:22 PM EST [link]
Saturday, October 14th
DAVIDSON THE BOORISH CANADIAN GOES TO FRANCE
Hi All,
In all the excitement regarding the fight and its aftermath, I really didn’t get a chance to talk about my trip to Paris, to the Festival D’America reading series, as a guest of my awesome French editor Francis Geffard. Francis is one of the chairs of the event, which brought 60 writers to Vincennes, a Parisian suburb, for a weekend of readings, drinking, and frivolity.
Would you like to hear a little about my trip, and the famous writers I harassed or otherwise pissed off?
Of course you would!
Craig Davidson on 10.14.06 @ 08:34 PM EST [more..]
Friday, October 13th
Shocklines
Hi All,
Another brief post, having nothing to do with anything book-related---at least, not my books. At least, not really.
As some of you know, I started out writing horror stories under a pseudonym. Quite honestly, I always thought my career track---if I was ever going to have one---would have taken me down that route. And who knows? In the end, it may well do so. In any case, a lot of horror presses are small: one-to-five men/women operations who put out really wonderful books with smaller print runs. My first publisher, Necro, is one of these; another I've worked with is Delirium. They're great presses, put out great books, but their titles are harder to find, as big distributors don't often work with small presses.
This is where Shocklines comes in. Shocklines is a wonderful online retailer, purveyor of all things horror. The owner, Matt Schwartz, is one of the good guys in all of book publishing: a tireless supporter of the genre and of writers, an honest-to-god shirt-off-his-back kind of guy. It's a rough living selling horror online (it's a rough living almost anywhere in the writing/publishing industry, unless you happen to be in that fortunate one percent, which neither Matt nor I are in), but he does it because he loves it, and he does it incredibly well. He's been great about carrying my non-horror books, as well, and extended that offer without my ever asking. In short, he's good people.
So, if you ever have a hankering for some hard-to-find, speical collector's edition, or autographed books---Matt's got signed books by all the genre biggies---I can't recommend his biz any more. Visit him at:
www.shocklines.com
if you get a minute.
All best, Craig.
Craig Davidson on 10.13.06 @ 10:48 AM EST [link]
Wednesday, October 11th
If You Do Not Want To Watch This Film...
...then you are a waste of perfectly good skin and organs and random fluids that could quite easily be given to those upstanding citizens who do want to watch it:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bUuuBe4Glmk
Also this one:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NTaZkfTuVXU
Again, these both probably stand as perfect examples of why I am unattached at 31 years of age: I consider both of these to be perfect date movies.
Some more event photos:
www.quillandquire.com/events/photos.cfm
In the first one, you can see my father; he's the fine fellow (in fine fettle) in the blue button-down shirt, with the distinguished fringe of grey hair above his ears. Over on the right, in the ballcap, is writer Brett Savory; I see he's got a coffee, while everyone else is drinking beer. Just as Sean Connery said, "You don't bring a knife to a gun fight," I say, "You don't bring a coffee to ANY fight, Brett!"
And then, in the second photo, that's my brother Graham grinning like a loon as poor Ghost Dog gets pasted one on the kisser.
Uh, then there are... [sigh]...uh, some other photos. But anyway, you don't need to look at those.
All best, Craig.
Craig Davidson on 10.11.06 @ 08:02 PM EST [link]
Tuesday, October 10th
Okay, this too, because I Like to Torture Myself
Ghost Dog sent this one on. I look a wee bit pudgy, yes, but it's still a cool shot. I've probably just been hit before it was taken. Most every photograph taken that night was popped just before or just after I was hit. Enjoy. Or not. As you wish.
www.flickr.com/photos/photojunkie/261961498
Craig Davidson on 10.10.06 @ 04:36 PM EST [link]
Sent in by an Alert Reader
I have basically refused to watch anything to do with the fight---it brings back grisly memories---but as a service to anyone interested I present the weigh-in, found on Youtube and sent to me by a web-savvy reader. The fight itself, as well as Steve & David's, will surely find its way to Youtube before long.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A4_nkhrawI
All best, Craig.
Craig Davidson on 10.10.06 @ 04:26 PM EST [link]
CHAPTERS FUCKUP: NO BOOKS ON SHELVES
Hi All,
People have been emailing me stating they can't find THE FIGHTER on the shelves at Chapters/Indigo. I just found out from Penguin that indeed the novel will probably not be available from that chain for a few weeks. Backlog at the warehouse or some such bullshit, which means absolutely nothing to me.
Needless to say, I am pissed. No, not pissed: dispirited. A successful book depends so much on luck, on a confluence of happy coincidences, on making hay while the sun shines. So to be faced with a stumbling block I never ever envisioned---the damn book not being on the damn shelves---is once again a hugely grim situation. I don't know that I should be surprised: this book has been a fucking hassle from day one: writing it, editing it, publicizing it...why should the selling part of it come easy? You get this feeling like it was doomed, predestined, for a crash and burn from the outset. You get this feeling like why the hell did I go through any of it---jacking myself up on 'roids/taking copious punches to the face---if, in the end, some stupid warehouse fuckup beyond your control is going to suck the wind out of the enterprise before it even gets its legs, strangles the whole thing in its cradle?
Fucking karma, man. I did some bad, bad shit in another lifetime. I was Genghis Khan, I'm thinking.
Sorry for the above bitch n' moan session. The message is simple: don't bother heading to Chapters, or Indigo (or Coles or WH Smith, because the Chapters behemoth swallowed them up as well) if you're looking for the book. Try the indendents, who will have it: Pages, of course, McNally-Robinson, Volume II, etc, etc. Otherwise, you can still shop for it online.
I apologize for anyone who has been looking and can't find it. I don't know why I'm apologizing for something I have no influence over, but still, I am sorry. It was supposed to be available in September, but what the hell can you do? Hopefully there will still be some residual memory of it when Chapters, those jackasses, finally get the book on their shelves.
Support your independent bookstores, folks!
All best, Craig.
Craig Davidson on 10.10.06 @ 12:11 PM EST [link]
Sunday, October 8th
New Email Address
Hi All,
Since I have been hearing that a lot of people trying to contact me via my hotmail account aren't getting through for some reason, if you want to contact me, please use both the following addresses. If it doesn't go through on one, it should go through on the other. And if you email me and don't hear back, I assure you it is because I did not get the message. I reply to EVERY SINGLE email I receive. The trick is getting them.
craigiepops@hotmail.com">craigiepops@hotmail.com
OR
derdon@shaw.ca">derdon@shaw.ca
Looking forward to hearing from all and sundry. And if you sent to my hotmail account previously and didn't hear back, try the other one.
All best, Craig.
Craig Davidson on 10.08.06 @ 11:17 AM EST [link]
Friday, October 6th
A New Beating I Have Taken
Hi All,
Well, it’s all over. Thank the good Lord for that.
What can I say? If you were there, you saw it. If you’re a friend of mine, I’m sure it triggered grisly memories of distant days when I got my ass handed to me on a semi-regular basis. For myself, it was a grisly present-tense flashback to those beatings of yore.
To sample some of my other “beating” stories, please refer to:
www.penguinblogs.ca/davidson/archives/00000018.html
www.penguinblogs.ca/davidson/archives/00000024.html
But really, who wants to read about those hoary old fights, those cobwebby shellackings I took many moons ago? No, if you are here I suspect you want to hear a little bit about the most recent, and to this date most sustained, beating I have absorbed.
I will do my best, though the wounds are still fresh and my memory hazy.
Craig Davidson on 10.06.06 @ 07:21 PM EST [more..]
Tuesday, October 3rd
Early Reader Reviews of THE FIGHTER
Hi All,
Two days to go until judgement day.
As some of you may know, I have included my website address in my biography for THE FIGHTER, and of course I encourage anyone and everyone to mail me with their feelings about the book. I've decided I'll post the odd one, with the author's permission. This one is from Paul Lazenby, a great guy out in Vancouver. He's a fighter himself---Undisputed Canadian Muay Thai Champion/NFC Canadian MMA Champion---so I'm grateful to get the opinion of someone in the know. I've posted the email in its entirety, so you can all see all the sundry ways an MMA fighter/stuntman/all around tough guy pays the bills.
His website is: www.paullazenby.com
His email reads:
Craig Davidson on 10.03.06 @ 04:27 PM EST [more..]
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