This is just to say

that I've been meaning to post about a number of things, among them the fact that I am now officially a doctor of creative writing. What the fuck? It's very weird. I have since had two opportunities to actually refer to myself as Doctor Iredell to someone else. One of them was a student, and another was in a form I had to fill out for one of the colleges where I teach. It was both weird and gratifying to say "Dr. Iredell."

Soon, also, I would like to write a massive post that reviews all of the Greying Ghost chapbooks that I've read so far, because they've all been great. Barring a couple that sold out before I could get my hands on them, they've all been awesome, truly--in that they inspre awe.

I have some other news, which will be coming shortly. I'm just waiting to drop that. But it will be good, and with god, and all that.

Steve Himmer

has some really great things to say about Matt Bell's How the Broken Lead the Blind, and about Before I Moved to Nevada. Y'all should check it here.

That's dope. If I weren't drunk I'd masturbate. Matt Bell is one of my favorite writers.

Contest

Check out Blake Butler's blog. He is a goon. Win a copy of EVER. You want to do this, because this book is really really goood. That extra "o" is there on purpose. I think there's second, third, and something places, and for this you can win Jimmy Chen's TYPEWRITER from Magic Helicopter Press, or Chris Higgs's COLORLESS GREEN IDEAS SLEEP FURIOUSLY , or my own spurious pile of words, BEFORE I MOVED TO NEVADA, both from Publishing Genius. Go write something gross. Let me tell you, though, that the competition is already fierce.









Now, in the spirit of good food, this is some dope linguini with turkey sausage for 2 people, with some leftovers.

1 lb. mild Italian Turkey Sausage
2 tbl olive oil
3 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 white onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 zuchcini diced
1 vine ripe tomato, diced
1 8 oz can tomato paste
1 cup water
1/2 cup red wine (preferably something dry, like chianti, sangiovese, rioja, etc.)
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp chives
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp thyme
2 bay leaves
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/2 package of linguine

METHOD:

Get a pot of water started on the boil. Add some olive oil to the water.

On a grill, heat coals, or set temperature to medium. Fuck gas grills. You're not really grilling when you use a gas grill. I understand the reasons why you have them, gas grillers, I'm just saying: you're not really grilling. For this, you really want to get the grill flavor into the turkey sausage, so it works best if you've got a charcoal, or wood-fired grill. Interestingly, this also works well if you have a grilled (ridged) cast iron skillet. Somehow the flavor gets in there.

Get that turkey sausage on there. You can, of course, use regular pork sausage, but if you're worried about eating too fatty foods, then use turkey or chicken sausage. The fat content is so much lower. You already know this. You'll want to turn the sausage every three minutes or so. It cooks fast. Get the grill marks going on nicely all around the links.

Meantime, in a skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the diced garlic and onion and stir to coat it with the oil. Once the garlic and onions have started to turn translucent, start adding the spices. Add the red pepper flakes, the black pepper, the salt, oregano, basil, chives, thyme, 2 bay leaves, and rosemary. Stir the spices into the onion and garlic mix and let things get fragrant.

Dude, if you're cooking this and you've got a date, you will so get laid. Well, maybe if you don't get laid, you'll at least get another date, which is probably what you're looking for if you're actually interested in the guy/girl. I mean, if all you want is to get laid, then what the fuck are you doing cooking dinner? Go out "clubbing," or whatever it is idiots do. Not that only idiots are interested in getting laid. I realize, of course, everyone's interested in this. It's just that people who go to clubs seem to be the only ones interested solely in getting laid--and perhaps certain brands of clothing, like Kenneth Cole. But, most certainly, only idiots go "clubbing."

Now, open up your can of tomato paste and drop it into the skillet. Add the water and wine and mix it up. After this, it should actually look like a red sauce.

Your turkey sausage--which you've been turning in the meantime--is nearly done. Also, your pot of water is boiling by now. Drop your linguine into the boiling water, and slice up the turkey sausage and drop it into the sauce and mix it up, getting that grill flavor in there.

Let the sauce and sausage simmer together for about fifteen minutes. About halfway into these fifteen minutes, toss the diced veggies (bell pepper, zuchini, and tomato) into the sauce. Meantime your pasta's cooking. You'll know your pasta's done by simply pulling out a strand on a fork, running it under cold water and giving it a bite. Some people say to throw pasta on a wall, and if it sticks, it's done. You will only do this if you're in high school or college. Upon adulthood, you'll realize the idiocy of this method, and simply taste that shit. You want it a little al dente. a little to bite into. It shouldn't be porage.

Once the Pasta's done, strain it in a colander, divvy out on plates, top with the sausage sauce, and you're on your way to Italian-American goodness. I say this because Italians themselves probably would not eat this way; they don't mix their starches, proteins, and vegetables, except in lasagna--which is a peasant dish. Not that's there's anything wrong with peasants, or lasagna, or with the way Americans, or Italian-Americans do their shit. I'm just saying.

This Saturday

solar anus is having the Action Books extravaganza of the year. There might be more Action Books authors gathered at one single place in the universe at some other time, but this may just be the largest single gathering of Action Books authors in Georgia, or at least in Atlanta, certainly in Midtown, and most assuredly at 696 Charles Allen Drive, at the Beep Beep Gallery, on Saturday April 18th at 5:30 PM.

We will feature Lara Glenum

Author of Maximum Gaga & The Hounds of No. She's also very nice.

Sandy Florian

Author of 32 Pedals and 47 Stops, The Tree of No, and Telescope

and Mark Leidner

author of The Night of 1,000 Murders.

If you cannot make it to this reading you are totally not a nice person.

Novellas

A lot of people are posting about this, because it's impressive. Very nice work compiling all this information by John Madera. I think John could probably have a journal based on ideas like this. He could continue to collect things that writers say about books and/or other writers, etc., and put that out every once in a while. I'd subscribe to a journal like that. It's far more interesting than, say, most literary criticism. Check it.

Opium

I'm a finalist for Opium Magazine's 500 word or less memoir contest. My piece is called High Life. You can guess that this is a double entendre. It has the beer High Life in it, which I drink regularly.

Here's all the finalists:


From 26 to 32, the Only Years that Matter by Sean Beaudoin
Total Care by Kathline Carr
The Question of Spoons by Rebecca Collins
Lamb Brain by Kate Duva
High Life by Jamie Iredell
Sacred Bodies by Davin Malasarn
Farewell Bend by Nathaniel Missildine
Crossing Styx by Peter Gajdics
Nothing But The Truth by Geoff Kronik
Fifty-Eight Years Later by Helen Phillips
Thief by F.S. Symons
Family Stew by Sean Toner
Dale by Rob Tourtelot
A Merry Sort of Life by Jim Windolf
Creatures by Rachel Yoder


Here's how I make this kick-ass Indian lamb curry:

1.5-2 lbs bone-in lamb shanks
2 cloves garlic, minced
.25 cup flour
1 inch piece of ginger, minced
1 tbl veg oil, or ghee
1 onion, finely chopped
tsp turmeric
tsp cardamom
tsp chili powder
1.5 tsp salt (divided)
1.5 tsp black pepper (divided)
tsp cumin
1 tsp mint leaves, minced (or a drop of peppermint extract)
1 inch stick of cinamon
pinch saffron (I use Turkish powdered saffron)
.75 cup fat free sour cream (or fat free greek yogurt)
About 6 whole green cardamoms
About 6 whole cloves
1 black cardamom
.25 cup golden raisins
a little bit of water

I get these bone-in shanks because that's all they sell at the Publix that's within walking-distance. But I think the meat being so close to the bone is partly what makes it so tender.

Heat the oil in a skillet or a wok, and add the garlic. You can use more than one tablespoon for a richer taste and texture, but if you're watching fat calories, then tone it down a bit. Cook it until it's just browning. Meantime, mix the flour with .25 tsp each of salt and pepper. Dredge the bone-in lamb shanks in the flour then add them to the pan. You want to sear the meat, sealing in the juices (about three minutes on each side). After searing, remove the shanks from the pan and set them aside to cool.

I made this one night while Dockins and I were drinking and literature talk was dripping from our longues like the gravy from this recipe, once we'd finished it, that is. Sarah came home and when we ate she all like, oh goddamn, babe, that is good. I remember soaking up everything with bread and cleaning the plate, and Dockins tossed his napkin on his and pushed back and drank from his Pabst.

Add the onion to the pan and cook until it's just getting translucent, then add all the spices, down to the saffron, and stir so that the spices coat all the onion.

While the spiced onions cook, the lamb should've cooled enough to handle. Remove the meat from the bones and cut into one-inch chunks, then add them to the pan, stirring to coat the meat with the onion-spice mixture. Add the sour cream (or yogurt). I use the sour cream because when it cooks it comes out smooth and creamy, while the yogurt will curdle a little bit, breaking into tiny dots. The taste is the same; it's just about texture. A purist would probably give me a bunch of shit for not using yogurt, but oh well.

After mixing the meat and sour cream or yogurt up with everything else, let the mixture come to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for about ten minutes, stirring occassionally to keep the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pan. During this time you'll probably add the little bit of water to keep the mixture as a thick fluid, and to keep it from sticking. The texture should be that of a thick soup, maybe a little more watery.

Add the whole spices (green and black caradamom, cloves) and the raisins, ans stir them in. Increase the heat to reduce the mixture so that it resembles a thick goulash, or stew.

If you like your food really hot (like me), but other people don't, you can cut up, very finely, a habanero pepper (without seeds) and add it to your own serving, mixing it in.

Serve this with rice or naan.

I swear to god, I know how to Indian food from recipes, but I just made this one up one night when I was drinking with Dockins, and it was awesome. It's not wholly original or anything; many Indian recipes use the same ingredients.

Most Likely You Should Listen to This

Ben Tanzer, author of, among other books, the recently-released Most Likely You'll Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine (which you can buy direct from Orange Alert Press) came to Atlanta for a few days last week. We were able to meet up at Vickery's and score a few drinks and chat. We recorded a podcast for Ben's series This Podcast Will Change Your Life, which I've embedded here. You can check out numerous of Ben's other great podcasts with writers like J.A. Tyler, Jason Jordan, Spencer Dew, Jac Jemc, and a harem of others. We talk about Atlanta, which Ben had nothing but nice things to say about, and then I ask Ben about podcasts, and some of the people he's talked with. In this sense, I suppose, it is a meta-podcast. It is the "Lost in the Funhouse" of podcasts.