THE LATEST NEWS:

Tuesday, May 15, 2012: I’ll be reading from The Freak Chronicles at Changing Hands Bookstore on Friday, July 13th at 7 p.m.--and you’re invited! I’m pretty excited to read there.  It’s one of the best bookstores ever, and that will be the first reading from my book!  I hope to see you there! (I’ll be signing books too.)

Monday, May 14, 2012: Some good things are happening!  The Freak Chronicles will finally be published in one month, on June 12, 2012! I just posted the final “Occasional Freak Piece.” This time, it’s a eulogy. On the Freak page, you can now find blurbs by Okla Elliott and Lauren Groff. Finally, “Killing Castro,” a story already set to appear in The Freak Chronicles, will also be published in the August issue of the literary journal, Camera Obscura.

Monday, April 9, 2012:  I entered the Independent Book Blogger Awards on Goodreads.  If you’re so inclined, would you vote for me?

Wednesday, April 4, 2012: I have the first blurb for The Freak Chronicles!  I’ve posted it on the Freak page, though I’ll re-post it here:

The stories of The Freak Chronicles explore the margins of human behavior and psychology, thereby challenging what it might even mean to be normal or a freak. Spiegel’s fiction is hip and edgy, as the subject matter suggests, but never at the expense of her literary art. She makes use of pop culture and the gritty stuff of real lives to explore the theme of human alienation—and she does all this with a literary finesse that charms and impresses. I admire these stories greatly.

—Okla Elliott, author of From the Crooked Timber

Saturday, March 24, 2012: Love Slave (Unbridled Books, Sept. 4, 2012) is now avail on Amazon for pre-sale.

1. The pub date is listed incorrectly. It's Sept 4.
2. There may be a million other books by this title, so make sure--should you look--you're not getting the cheesy romance/soft porn one. This title is mildly risky (?). It's not chick-lit and I may blab about this profusely, but I don't want to bite the hand that feeds me. Wait, I'm not really being fed here. The hand that gives me spare change? Money for printer ink? You know what I mean.
3. No special promotions this time. Gotta make the first one precious.
4. I once interviewed Douglas Coupland for Hayden’s Ferry Review, and I asked him which of his books he liked best. I really wanted him to say GEN X, but he said something like, "I like them all for different reasons." I was disappointed by this non-committal answer. Now, I get it. Freak is my baby. Love Slave is my baby too.
5. I didn't write the description on the book, but there's a comparison to Dorothy Parker that makes me want to cry. I'm also fond of the words "wincingly specific" in there.
6. Cut me some slack on the promo front. Truly. More than anything, I'm grateful.

Monday, March 5, 2012:  I’m super pleased to announce that Love Slave (forthcoming from Unbridled Books this fall!) officially has a cover--check out the LS page on this site!  

I also want to catch the AWP folks while they’re still all excited about AWP 2012.  I wasn’t even there and I feel a little nostalgic.  But here’s the news:  I am going to the Boston AWP in 2013, armed with two books--The Freak Chronicles (stories) and Love Slave (a novel)--and I’m actively, outrageously, soliciting panel-planners now.  While I’m not the moderating type, think of me for possible panels on such topics as the following: incorporating authentic detail into one’s fiction, the use of setting in novels and stories, the use of pop cultural references in fiction, publishing after DECADES of NADA, women stuff (the writing life for moms, subverting or embracing chick-lit, women as protagonists who don’t alienate men, the “quirky” female narrator), what it means to be “edgy” in fiction, indie/small press stuff, and I’m prone to big questions:  Why Write?  Just thought I’d share . . . .

Saturday, January 21, 2012:  I’m still pushing pre-orders!  I’ve got this little deal going.  The first one-hundred people who order The Freak Chronicles (Dzanc, June 12, 2012) will      get--I kid you not--a “commemorative” letter, marking this first edition (stop laughing now!), and a poem, which I will write.  The poem’s first line is as follows:  “Remember that time you dressed me like a bag lady.”  A love poem.

Let me know if you order.  I’ve got a list of poem-recipients.  (I’ll send it out when the book is released.)

Frankly, I’m pretty excited about this.

Saturday, December 31, 2011: Prior to the New Year’s Festivities, I’m playing around with Amazon.com.  I think I just created an author page.  Do me a favor, and go see if it works?  Go to Amazon, and look me up.  I also just joined up to be an Amazon Associate, and I’d kinda like to know how this works.  You see, my old friend read some of my book reviews and flattered me terribly by telling me that I should become this Amazon Associate thingy.  I sign up, put a link to the book on Amazon’s site, and then hope you buy because of my compelling review.  If you do, I get a cut.  Sounds pretty good to me! 

I’m not totally sure how I should feel about this.  Am I somehow selling out?  I still don’t know the “right” posture writers are supposed to take when it comes to bookstores and Amazon.  But I’ll try it.  You can e-mail me if you have an opinion on this.  I’d welcome it!  I’m at jennifer.spiegel@cox.net. 

Friday, December 9, 2011:  I’m not quite ready to write a little end of the year wrap-up.  I will say that it’s an odd time, thinking simultaneously about two books coming out in 2012--both in similar but different stages of the publication process.  I can’t really say I’m focusing on one more than the other. Sometimes, the cover of The Freak Chronicles is being discussed; sometimes, author blurbs for the back of Love Slave is the hot topic.   I know what an amazing thing it is to have two books coming out in one year.  No one is more bemused and frenzied than I, I can assure you.  I’m learning a lot.

In other news, I just finished teaching a very rewarding creative writing class--with mostly adults--and that was truly wonderful.  It’s exciting to just blab about fiction with interested and interesting people.

I foresee a couple more “Occasional Freak Piece” blog posts in my future.  I‘m holding back for now on Love Slave promo, though I’ve got things to say about Roland Barthes, one of the character’s vintage suits, the use of pop culture, and genre vs. literary fiction.

Okay, so yeah, marketing:  Think about this, folks.  I’ll be at the AWP Conference in Boston 2013, if you’d like me be on your panel.  Or if you’d like to put together a reading.  What can I talk about?  Plenty of things!  Also, think Skype.  Think classroom visits.  You’ve got a book club or a reading group?  Here I Am.  More later. 

Tuesday, October 25, 2011:  I didn’t even know!  A friend told me!  I got an e-mail and West mentioned that my book was available on Amazon!  Of course I stopped everything.  Sure enough, The Freak Chronicles is available for pre-sale purchase.  Click here. 

I'm cooking up a scheme. I still haven't worked out the details, but this is what I’m thinking: The first one-hundred people to pre-order get something. What? What do you want from Anemic Mom?  I'll send you a signed letter to commemorate this first edition (!) and it'll include my original poem which begins like this: "Remember that time you dressed me like a bag lady." I'm writing the poem. I am. Tonight. First edition! The Freak Chronicles!

I have a running list of people I know who bought it--so you gotta let me know somehow.  I’ll send out this potentially award-winning poem on June 12, 2012. 

Something to keep in mind:  If you purchase at a later date from the Dzanc Books site, you get a free Ebook of Freak. 

Friday, October 14, 2011:  The latest push in my efforts to create a buzz, get you to remember my book, and inspire your admiration has begun:  a blog series on The Freak Chronicles.  You’ll find the “soundtrack” to the book on my blog.  I’m working on the next one, which will be a glimpse into freakiness, a slice of Freak Chronicle life:  I pretended to be a supermodel with a famous photographer in the Arts District of Downtown Phoenix.  You think I’m kidding?  I’m not!  In preparation for the blog which will appear in November, I insist you check out this clip from the movie Zoolander.

In other literary news, an EKU student is interviewing me as an emerging writer.  We’re going for the emerging thing, even though I’ve been emerging for about twenty years now.  I’ll share the results later.  I’ll be at the Tucson Book Festival, if you’d like for me to autograph a Starbucks receipt or something.  Indie business receipts preferred.

Thursday, September 15, 2011:  This month, I’ll launch a blog “series.”  I’ll post an “Occasional Freak Piece,” something related to the long-awaited release date of my book, The Freak  Chronicles.  “Occasional” is the key word.  I’ll do one for September.  And another one will appear at another time!  Book promotion!  It’s happening!  This first one will be about the book’s soundtrack--the music that influenced the writing or the stories.  The music that shaped or colored the book.  Tell me, because I wanna know, is that a mixed metaphor or something like one?

Thursday, August 4, 2011:  I’ll be teaching an on-line, month-long fiction workshop/studio for the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing (of Arizona State University) in October 2011.  The title of the studio is “This is the Life:  Compulsive Fiction Writing.”  Here’s the link!  http://www.asu.edu/piper/workshops/index.html. 

Saturday, July 2, 2011:  I confessed to my publisher this week that I’m going a little crazy waiting for my book to actually come out.  Apparently, I’m not alone.  Still.  Things are happening in the book department--a little tweaking here and there, some talk of blurbs for the back of the book, and I wrote a little author bio that had to be 60 words or under.  This, of course, created a conundrum:  do I go with the credentials, the professorial stuff?  Or do I go with a humorous take on personal identity?  I tried to think of my favorite author bios--the ones that appear inside the cover of books.  (This one isn’t necessarily for that purpose.)  I couldn’t think of one.  So, here’s my bio, 60 words or under, to be used by Dzanc somehow or other:  Jennifer Spiegel is a fiction writer and English professor.   She lives in Arizona with her husband and two kids.   She reads a lot, tries to buy mostly organic food, and drinks strong coffee with cream.   She may stop coloring her hair soon, but there’s no guarantee.  You can find links to stories and quite a bit more information at www.jenniferspiegel.com. 

Saturday, April 30, 2011:  The book is still a year away, but I’m working the blog.  Check it out!  If you would like e-mail notifications of new blog entries, drop me a message at Jennifer.Spiegel@cox.net.  Right now, I’m anticipating the second part in my series, “Truth in Fiction,” which will focus on Chaim Potok’s My Name is Asher Lev.  I tend to write one or two blogs a month (closer to one) on all kinds of crazy topics.  The latest one is an amalgam of subjects, including the Royal Wedding, Meryl Streep, and the last time I tried to look hot on a date.  Besides the blog, there are numerous, undisclosed writing projects on the table.  Top Secret Stuff. 

Tuesday, April 12, 2011:  Dzanc Day 2011 was a success!  The Phoenix contingent discussed place in fiction, inspired mostly by Richard Russo’s essay, “Location, Location, Location:  Depicting Character Through Place.”  In other news, please check out my most recent blog, “Truth in Fiction, Part I.” 

Friday, March 31, 2011:   Dzanc Day is on April 9, 2011 and I’ll be leading a workshop on place in fiction!  We’ve had a change of venue, but you can still join us.  It’s likely that we’ll meet in North Scottsdale somewhere near coffee.  Please e-mail me or look for contact info on the Dzanc website, if you’re interested! 

In other news, the “last” South Africa story, “The Moon Thought Thy World An Angel,” is forthcoming in April in Fringe Magazine. It’s the “last” one in that it’s the final story I’ve written set in South Africa to be published; the other ones have been published already and are set to appear in The Freak Chronicles.  

Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011: I’ll be participating in the second annual Dzanc Day by teaching a three-hour workshop on place in fiction at Changing Hands Bookstore on April 9, 2011!  Check out this link for more information:  http://www.dzancbooks.org/dzanc-day-2011/.  Scroll down to the map and hit on Phoenix, AZ!

Also, to mark the new year, Dzanc Books has put together a bunch of Top Ten lists for 2010.   My list originally appeared on their website, but here it is:

Top Ten Literary or Non-literary Things That Made Me Think About Being a Writer in 2010

10.  Death of J.D. Salinger.  Rest in Peace.  Besides the monumental role Catcher played in my clichéd life, he raised burning questions:  Must writers write to be read?  Is writing for oneself enough?  Is publishing or sharing one’s work a necessary feature of the writing life?  Am I just a great big cliché? 

9.  AWP in Denver.  I’m serious.  I hadn’t gone in a while.  Michael Chabon’s address was inspiring.  George Saunders rocked.  I had some private epiphanies during the panels.

8.  Dzanc’s Best of the Web.  I’m not just trying to kiss some you-know-what.  Dan Chaon’s “What Happened to Sheila” stands out.  But this did launch some change in my own literary thinking.  The biggest benefit I can think of to publishing in electronic journals is that my audience is finally bigger than my mom and spouse.  And, yes, I do write to be read.

7.  Viewing The Last Station (2009, really), which is about Tolstoy and his wife.  I can relate just a little too much.

6.  Viewing the entire Judd Apatow “catalogue” of films on DVD (I missed one, I think).  Call me “smitten.”  They’re sex comedies, right?  Except for The Pineapple Express, which is a drug comedy (!).  But there’s a sweetness, a tenderness, something special about these films that transcends—no joke—the genre.  And Franco’s concern for his “bubbe” in Express.  Lovely.

5.  My reading of My Life in Heavy Metal by Steve Almond (which came out in 2002).  Isn’t it crazy that this is my second favorite read of the year?  Please make no judgments. 

4.  My reading of Home by Marilynne Robinson (which came out in 2008).  This book needs to be read deeply.  I could go on and on.  I’m holding back. 

3.  The Social Network.  I don’t know where Kyle Minor got it from or if he made it up himself, but I remember one facebook post of his in which he said that the seers say the Internet is the new Paris, the new New York.  At last, I’m chic, bohemian!

2.  “Lost.”   The closest I get to literary theory is in my thoughts about this show, to which I was, admittedly and sickeningly, addicted.

1.  Wikileaks.  Got my political science juices flowing, underscored the tensions between internationalism and nationalism, brought to light intriguing issues like freedom of the press, idealism versus ego, and how to regard personal criminality in the grand scheme of things.  Plus, his name.  Julian Assange.  Is it real?  What is moral?  What is truth, goodness, and beauty?  

Saturday, Jan. 1, 2011:  Happy New Year!  It was a great year in writing, and--in my personal life--I’m most thankful to have my people around me.  My peeps?  Is that how cool people/peeps say it?  Well, here’s to 2011.  This last year saw nine pieces out in electronic journals, which I--for one--will sing the praises of.  There’s much to be said for these journals, really.  Thank you to those who are serious about lit and getting it out there.  This year, in 2011, I will continue to work on both a novel and short story collection.  I also hope to see an interview with author Kyle Minor sometime this year.  Kyle’s got Haiti under his skin, like South Africa has been under mine--and I look forward to devoting time to speaking to him about his novel on Haiti (and missionaries).  It’s pointless for me to identify the best movies or books of the year because, though I consume a lot of both, I’m all over the place on the calendar.  This year’s burning questions:  Will I ever get a Kindle?  Will Love Slave ever get published?  (Freak is due in 2012.)

Monday, Nov. 1:  “Missing Northern” is now live in Waccamaw, a lovely journal of contemporary lit.   I must admit; I feel pretty strongly about this one.  I’m “billing it” (as if I bill anything) as the thematic centerpiece of my forthcoming collection, The Freak Chronicles--though I’m not sure that’s really fair.  It’s one of the few stories in the collection that’s about a married woman.  Most of the stories feature single protagonists.  But still.  This is a favorite, and it fits.  The seed for it was actually planted in Oklahoma when my family was there for Christmas in 2007.  My husband asked me to write a story about my father.  I don’t know about other writers, but when someone asks me to write a particular story, I usually don’t want to.  This one took a while.  First, it was another story altogether.  Then, it became this.  Thanks for reading!

Saturday, Oct 16:  I’m about to go “live.”  There is a blog here, so please check it out.  Additionally, you can find links to short stories (“Glasnost”), novel excerpts (“Going Home with the Poets,” “This Is What I Do,” “Like Animals Forgetting,” and “Love Slave”), and a killer nonfiction piece for those of you who were into “Lost.”   My collection is forthcoming.  I also have an unpublished novel, which I’m hoping to see in print; because of my enthusiasm and conviction, it gets its own spotlight on my website.  Two short stories will be out soon on the web too:  “Lemon” and “Missing Northern.” 

Saturday, August 21:  “This Is What I Do,” an excerpt from my unpublished novel, Love Slave, is now available in the current issue of >kill author (http://killauthor.com/issueeight/jennifer-spiegel/).  Another excerpt of the novel, “Going Home with the Poets” -- which is actually the novel’s prologue -- is also available on-line at The Scrambler (http://thescrambler.com/eng/issues/issue-38-may-2010/going-home-with-the-poets/). 

Saturday, July 10, 2010:  The book comes out in June 2012, a short story called “Lemon” is forthcoming in Switchback (fall 2010), and my nonfiction essay called “Flannery O, ‘Lost,’ and The Redemptive End” is in the current issue of The Emprise Review (http://emprisereview.com/2010/blog/lost/).