Craig Clevenger

Life Imitating Art, Part Deux

2006-08-23T22:19:51Z

I know a bloke who knows a bloke who knows a bloke. Now I know this bloke. This is a bloke I know. First hand actually, not thrice removed but I just love that line from Sexy Beast. Bloke stops into a hospital walk-in clinic last week, to check out some nagging ear pain. The examination proceeds and includes several dark and suspect hmms from the doctor...(cont'd)

Life Imitating Art. I think.

2006-07-26T22:06:54Z

Last night, someone told me they'd read a recent news story about a guy who'd been repeatedly checked in to a hospital (or hospitals) for a series of overdoses, each time with a new identity. Sounds like a great idea for a novel, but I haven't had any luck finding the actual story online. If you're bored at work and feel like trying your luck, let me know if you have any success. In the mean time, here are the latest panels from the graphic novel.

Spread the word, and I'll see you in a couple of weeks.

-Craig

Sleight of Hound

2006-07-12T05:32:47Z

No, that headline does not pertain to anything. I just cracked myself up with it, and couldn't think of anything else... (cont'd.)

Slow News Day

2006-06-28T07:33:45Z

Since that's the case, I'm not gonna bore you with mindless filler. Gabor's got four more panels of his graphic novel rendition of The Contortionist's Handbook here for the viewing. Spread the word and I'll be back in a couple of weeks with more.

~Craig

Sexo. Drogas. Aventura.

2006-06-15T02:46:20Z

That's from the back jacket copy of Sob Mil Disfarces, the recently released Brazilian Portugese version of The Handbook. The title translates roughly as, "Under a Thousand Disguises." (cont'd.)

There's No Such Thing as a Passive Verb

2006-05-31T11:39:47Z

A few somber notes, a happy note, a correction, some comics and a grammar lesson....

A moment of silence for the passing of Bug, my feline companion in Austin, Texas, who kept my pillow warm and myself awake out of pure affection, and Wolfgang, who survived more in one lifetime than most cats survive in all nine, yet who had a better home than all of them combined. Godspeed to that big ball of yarn in the afterlife, to you both.

Penelope sang to me again today... pitch perfect, with enough decibles to crack the overhead plaster, and all of that pure, beautiful sound coming from a puffed up clump of green and yellow feathers pearched on my right forearm with her companion, Jazz, perched on my left, both of them having unsuccessfully attempted to take a chunk out of the Sissyphus inked into my skin where they perched. Yeah, I'm a sucker for a bird with a good singing voice and a vocabulary better than our president... (cont'd.)

So Dull the Con of Code

2006-05-17T23:10:33Z

I'm a bit late on this one but, here are the latest four pages of the Handbook graphic novel. I'd meant to post this yesterday, as 5/16 is a significant date in the Handbook... if memory serves me, I believe it's one of John Vincent's release dates from juvie. It also happens to be my younger brother's birthday and, as one Handbook fan pointed out to me, the original release date for Star Wars. Uh... yeah... (cont'd)

Fun with Duct Tape

2006-05-03T06:17:19Z

There's a drain in the floor of the white tile bathroom. Not in the shower, but in the middle of the floor, which leads me to believe the masons and carpenters of yore had some scary precognition about the accidents which would send some unlucky souls missing, post check-in, and figured they'd make clean up easier for the trigger men so as not to traumatize the maids, as yet to be hired... (cont'd.)

Dispatches from the Road: Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

2006-05-01T02:38:40Z

Worked the bar Thursday night and hopped a plane for L.A. on Friday morning, which meant little sleep before grabbing my "small black, muddy bag beaten shapeless by a few hundred thousand miles" and hopping the BART to the Oakland airport, to then sit on board a cramped and noisy cropduster for an hour and fifteen minutes... (cont'd.)

Deus ex Porcelain

2006-04-23T02:29:43Z

I've lived in my apartment for a year now, and just this morning noticed the brand on our toilet is 'Church.' Right there under the lid, the word 'Church dot tee-em.' Go figure.

Anyway, the folks at Misnomer have a podcast interview with with yours truly alive at kicking, here . Check it out.

Back with more, soon.

Stay warm and bound,

Craig

P.S. The name I blanked on during the interview, conducted while I was knocking back huge amounts of whiskey-honey-lemon tea to combat my flu, was Rob from the Velvet. Apologies, Rob. In other news, the Moleskine company is up for sale, which means the death of the greatest notebook ever made. Both of my novels were conveived in these black books, so I just dropped an obscene amount of money I didn't have on a stack of lined six by eights and three by fives, and will do so again, very soon. Consider doing the same.

Fugitive Tendencies

2006-04-15T00:54:37Z

The Harper-Perennial U.K. paperbacks of the Handbook arrived today which, by most measures, is a good thing. My U.K. publishers are very good about keeping me up to date on their activities, providing me with a steady stream of emails and a semi-regular shipment of cover proofs, blue lines and finished books. The downside of these shipments being the louder-than-God buzzer in my ancient flat sounds like the mating call of some post-apocalyptic mutant housefly... (cont'd.)

A Bungalow in Purgatory

2006-03-30T03:47:34Z

The cruelest month nears, and I've still no title for the book. Been brainstorming the quandary with Chris and we're close to a solution, much like seeing a lake on the hot horizon of the Mojave. With the forthcoming Velvet offerings being Demon Theory and Godspeed, the names are shaping up to serve as a third, thematic pillar in a virtual trilogy of titles. Otherwise, I'm homebound for a while, keeping my laptop company by day and the tenderloin drinkers company by night, and things will stay that way until I hit the L.A. Times Festival of Books at the end of April... (cont'd.)

Life in the Faust Lane

2006-03-20T20:26:43Z

I'm doing the thing I hate the most: sitting in a cafe with my laptop, and I'll only forgive myself for embodying such a cliche because I'm currently on the road, nearing the end of a hectic travel schedule for March. On the upside, I've stopped in Santa Barbara to crash for the night at Chez Baer, so the hilarity will ensue, shortly (said hilarity usually entails catching up over drinks at a sketchy dive and hurling insults after the first two hit our respective bloodstreams)... (cont'd.)

Snapshots

2006-03-15T20:14:05Z

Lot's of show and tell, today. Back from the conference in Austin, and Stephen's got a video of our conference over on his site. It's a big file, shot from a hand held video camera but, if you're curious, check it out. I'm the long haired dude, second from the left, right next to Stephen. Next, Gabor's got four more pages of the Handbook graphic novel up. Check 'em out.

Once more, I'll be at the Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco this Thursday, if you feel like swinging by.

Stay warm and bound.

-Craig

Grackles 'n' Bats

2006-03-11T06:02:48Z

Once more in my home away from home- Austin, Texas- I've set up camp at Chez Kareem, the infamous Long Island expatriate and Austin transplant, my webmaster as well as that of the Velvet, not to mention a local legend of a womanizer and all around improv theater stud. Hey, I'm sleeping on his couch and raiding his fridge while he sleeps... the least I can do is stroke his ego... (cont'd.)

Do you know where you are, Daniel?

2006-03-02T02:40:30Z

The story continues.

Spread the word.

-Craig

Envisioning Vincent

2006-02-15T00:42:19Z

The bad news: Gabor's first four pages of his graphic novel novel rendition of the Handbook have been wished into the cornfield. The good news: The next four pages are up.

Back soon,

Craig

Disorderly Conduct

2006-02-11T23:51:59Z

I'll be reading from "Dermaphoria" along with Ryan Gattis, author of "Kung Fu High School."

Edinburgh Castle Pub
950 Geary St.
San Francisco, CA
94109

8:00 PM
Free
21 and over

An Open Letter

2006-02-07T10:01:00Z

To: Laura Albert, Geoffrey Knoop and Savannah Knoop

From: Craig Clevenger

Re: Your future role in HIV/AIDS awareness

Dear Laura, Geoffrey and Savannah,

It is with no small relief that I have learned of the fabricated existence of the author JT Leroy, who was, in fact, a fictitious persona resulting from your collaborative efforts... (cont'd.)

The Midgets Will Rise Up and the Revolution Will Be Short.

2006-02-01T09:10:22Z

Still no title for book number three. It turns out The Fade was taken some time back as a novel title, and I normally don't get this far without one. It's like walking in the dark for hours, through the middle of nowhere, after your rear axel snapped and left you stranded... (cont'd)