C. J. Daley
Huge thanks to Netgalley and Del Rey for the invite to the eARC. Malerman has been an auto-buy author for me for years, so I was excited to see something so different from him for the first time, a nonfiction.
Malerman is offering readers a chance to partake in an incredibly personal and transformative evening with him, his then girlfriend, her cousin and his partner. With snapshots of profundity and also hilarity, this one ticked off some boxes I didn’t even know I was looking for. It features far more ups and downs than I was expecting, and offers a true glimpse into the author’s life and writing thought process. I have seen it compared to King’s On Writing, but to me it’s absolutely its own thing. A living, breathing piece of art. And unlike King’s which features an almost lifelong autobiographical summary, Malerman does his best to never stray too far from that one single night.
Josh, Allison, Kenickie and Rose gather together with alcohol and weed to traverse an immensely important (current) miss—Allison has never seen Evil Dead. It also happens to be the night Josh aimed to answer a question that has been following him like a hellhound: What does a writer deserve? Mentioned previously in interviews, this is much more exhaustive in his journey for the answer. To me, it is a reminder that writing is supposed to happen because you want to do it, you love to write, you even feel a need to get the story out. Everything else that follows is not the prize, telling the story is.
I loved that their night continued with young love, dying love, and of course, Bruce Campbell. From one film to the sequel, to even the remake that must have led hours into the night. There was even mentions of tackling Army of Darkness! I loved the view-screen readers are offered into the author’s processing of art. I feel like I even finished the read with a different take on Evil Dead too, and last night I switched the cable on and BOOM Evil Dead 2 was on, right at the start of the first demon scene. Love when things all line up.
Profound (IMO): “Can I really expect the non-artist to understand that the victory is not in sales but in writing the book itself? Can someone who doesn’t write be expected to understand that the words THE END and not on the dotted line are the finish line?”
Hilarious: “Usually two movies or more means six drinks or more and once you get to three movies … chances are you could be watching Air Bud and not know the difference.”
Huge thanks to Netgalley and Del Rey for the invite to the eARC. Malerman has been an auto-buy author for me for years, so I was excited to see something so different from him for the first time, a nonfiction.
Malerman is offering readers a chance to partake in an incredibly personal and transformative evening with him, his then girlfriend, her cousin and his partner. With snapshots of profundity and also hilarity, this one ticked off some boxes I didn’t even know I was looking for. It features far more ups and downs than I was expecting, and offers a true glimpse into the author’s life and writing thought process. I have seen it compared to King’s On Writing, but to me it’s absolutely its own thing. A living, breathing piece of art. And unlike King’s which features an almost lifelong autobiographical summary, Malerman does his best to never stray too far from that one single night.
Josh, Allison, Kenickie and Rose gather together with alcohol and weed to traverse an immensely important (current) miss—Allison has never seen Evil Dead. It also happens to be the night Josh aimed to answer a question that has been following him like a hellhound: What does a writer deserve? Mentioned previously in interviews, this is much more exhaustive in his journey for the answer. To me, it is a reminder that writing is supposed to happen because you want to do it, you love to write, you even feel a need to get the story out. Everything else that follows is not the prize, telling the story is.
I loved that their night continued with young love, dying love, and of course, Bruce Campbell. From one film to the sequel, to even the remake that must have led hours into the night. There was even mentions of tackling Army of Darkness! I loved the view-screen readers are offered into the author’s processing of art. I feel like I even finished the read with a different take on Evil Dead too, and last night I switched the cable on and BOOM Evil Dead 2 was on, right at the start of the first demon scene. Love when things all line up.
Profound (IMO): “Can I really expect the non-artist to understand that the victory is not in sales but in writing the book itself? Can someone who doesn’t write be expected to understand that the words THE END and not on the dotted line are the finish line?”
Hilarious: “Usually two movies or more means six drinks or more and once you get to three movies … chances are you could be watching Air Bud and not know the difference.”