Women and Men discussion

Joe's first novel in ten years will be published in June 2013 by Dzanc Books.

One month remaining until the release of Cannonball and the reissue (first time in pb) of Ancient History. Anyone aside from yrstrly reading one or the other immediately?

Cannonball is a possibility, but it depends on what else I'm working on. I'm way off my pace with The Recognitions. I was expecting to see W&M and some others in eBook already, so I'm wondering if Cannonball will be released on time.

I don't know when I'll get back to Joe. I've been interested in the arts and non-fiction lately.

Aloha wrote: "I don't know when I'll get back to Joe. I've been interested in the arts and non-fiction lately."
Aloha- I figured you would be at the book launch BBQ at Joe's casa.

If Joe sends me an invite, I'll be there with the utensils! The Middle East is sucking me in at the moment. I change with the wind, anyway. It doesn't take much persuasion.

If like me you are scheduling your reading, or attempting so to do, around the 2013 releases of new fiction from the grandmasters of postmodernist fiction (Gass, Gaddis (letters), McElroy, Coover, Pynchon, and later another fiction from DFW and possibly WTV) McElroy's new one Cannonball as well as the pb issue of Ancient History have been postponed until August 15. Adjust calendars accordingly. I have not heard anything new regarding W&M or other McElroy ebooks from dzanc.

Ouch. The man can't catch a break with publishers. It's like some kind of sad comedy.

Anthony wrote: "Ouch. The man can't catch a break with publishers. It's like some kind of sad comedy."

Dzanc is intending to dump a bunch of his books on the e-market this year, each being galley-read by the man himself, so there is some time required to get these things done. Half the books I order in advance from amazon find themselves getting rescheduled.

But still, they could have released the new book. Unless, like you say, they want to drop the whole shebang at once in the hopes that boosts sales.

I wonder if he is bitter about having to see his books only in e format? I would imagine a dinosaur like him would still cling to the idea of ink on page.

Anthony wrote: "to drop the whole shebang at once in the hopes that boosts sales."

The plan as I had heard was to release 2-3 at a time, but the initial release of that plan was April, so I'm not sure what's coming up. I have not clue and no basis upon which to speculate how book-releases get scheduled.

There are some folk on here who work for publishing presses one could harass, if one wasn't as lazy and willing to idly speculate as myself.

Anthony wrote: "There are some folk on here who work for publishing presses one could harass, if one wasn't as lazy and willing to idly speculate as myself."

I was thankful for the delay in release of Cannonball; was hoping to cram in a few more books before the obligation to pounce upon the rarest of rarities, a new McElroy book.

Are you going to attempt to tackle the new Coover this year, as well. I still need to read my copy of The Origin of the Brunists before I can even think about his new one.

Anthony wrote: "Are you going to attempt to tackle the new Coover this year, as well. I still need to read my copy of The Origin of the Brunists before I can even think about his new one."

Still not sure. I had intended to get The Public Burning read this year; it's been on my shelf for many a year. AND I too have The Origin to read soon, which should be a Coover-lite experience; beach-read perhaps. Day of Wrath's 1100 pages is feeling a bit heavy considering the heavy stack I've already got going. But yes, I still do intend, despite the hesitation which will exist up to page one.

Jonathan wrote: "he doesn't seem bitter at all"

What bothers him more is the sentiment that his books might be 50 years ahead of their time. He has faith in the capacity of readers NOW. Something about McElroy tells me that he is, of the difficult writers, the most solidly on the side of his readers, doing what he can to make his books available to be read, however that works out under the aspect of the publishing industry's pressures. Houses like Dzanc and Dalkey, thank you. [thnks for the vid again, Jonathan]

Hmmm... and I just updated my spreadsheet with new dates yesterday. Origin of the Brunists is up next for me. I'm less than 200 pages from knocking of The Recognitions. Then back into something big with Fathers and Crows.

Here's the blurb for Cannonball from Joe's website ::

"Written in a voice of passion, warning, and awakening, Joseph McElroy's ninth novel, Cannonball, takes us to a distant war we never understood and have half forgotten, upheld by an unearthed new testament and framed by the American competitive psyche; yet always back to a California family, a bold intimacy between brother and sister, and a story of two springboard divers and their different fates."

It would appear that Cannonball has indeed been released. Here's the Dzanc page :: http://www.dzancbooks.org/cannonball/ But I can't find the page for Ancient History.

amazon thinks it won't be released until mid-August.

Interesting. I've been checking for the reprint ebooks, but this one slipped by. I went ahead and ordered. On one page it didn't have an "add to cart" button, so I'm hoping I won't be disappointed. I'm knee deep in unread books as it is.

Amazon has moved its listed release date for Cannonball up to July 23.

At Dzanc you can order it today :: http://www.dzancbooks.org/cannonball/

I went ahead and ordered this on the 30th. No complaints yet about a new book arriving at the house (I'm on a two week work trip). I wonder when it will actually ship.

New (short) interview with Joe over at vice.com about the new one and the water one ::

http://www.vice.com/read/postmodernis...

When is an ebook of this coming out? When is any ebook coming out? There was a promised list, but I haven't seen any ebook of Joe's work but Preparations and his short stories.

Aloha wrote: "When is an ebook of this coming out? When is any ebook coming out? There was a promised list, but I haven't seen any ebook of Joe's work but Preparations and his short stories."

I haven't seen any schedule aside from the two paper books; and amazon doesn't appear to be offering either for ebook pre-ordering yet. Oddly, I haven't seen the ebook option on the Dzanc site yet either.

Dan from Dzanc Books here--just joined this great looking group.

The eBooks are slower going than originally planned as Joe himself is giving them very thorough proofreads.

Women & Men is currently being proofread.
Plus and The Letter Left to Me are both right behind it.

There are some discussions ongoing about possibly not just doing eBooks on these but they are very early in the process.

And Ancient History is August now--we made the decision with Joe to let the new one have some alone time on the shelves before getting that back out.

I'm happy to answer any questions anybody here has and just really glad to see there are people out there reading and enjoying Joe's work. Beyond here I'm at dan@dzancbooks.org

Dan wrote: "Dan from Dzanc Books here--just joined this great looking group."

Thanks for the update, Dan. I hope to be reading Cannonball as soon as it appears in my mailbox. I'm also happy to hear that you are considering the possibility of print releases of Joe's other books. Please do keep us posted with any updates.

My singular question for you is whether Joe is planning to do any readings with the release of Cannonball? Something local, or perhaps elsewhere as well?

I should also mention, apropo of Dan's note, that Dzanc has a group here on goodreads :: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/7...

Dan, when will Cannonball actually ship. I ordered from the Dzanc site on the 30th.

Crossing my fingers that Dzanc does some hard copy publishing of the rest of Joe's work. Even though the used market for Women and Men is brisk, I would have to think that getting to a break even point with a novel of that size would be tough.

I got my copy in the mail yesterday (I pre-ordered it back in April). Can't wait to start reading it, probably next week.

Sweet. Mine will probably be waiting for me when I get back into town on Tuesday. Looking forward to it, but I have a lot of pages of Fathers and Crows to go before I can think about starting it.

Excellent, thanks for the review links, sir.

J Frederick wrote: "LeClair on Cannonball: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles..."

LeClair's author blurb at the end of the review says "His new book, What to Read (and Not): Essays and Reviews, will be published next month." I can't find can't find it here, amazon, or google. Sounds like something I want to read. Please, anyone with info?

the LeClair is an eBook only that Dzanc will be publishing. With our new distribution we don't seem to get much more than 1-2 weeks of information on places like Amazon, or other e-vendors--not sure why.

James, have you received your Cannonball copy yet? (sorry I'm not bouncing to goodreads that often--if the post office lost it, let me know at dan@dzancbooks.org and I'll get another one your way asap).

Hi Dan, I sent an email earlier. I think we are going to be good soon.

What's the verdict on Cannonball as a starting point for McElroy? Can folks dive right in or should they start with Smuggler's Bible? I now have both, so I'm good either way.

James wrote: "What's the verdict on Cannonball as a starting point for McElroy? Can folks dive right in or should they start with Smuggler's Bible? I now have both, so I'm good either way."

Yes, that's a good Q. I'd like to get as many folks reading Cannonball as possible; and it is I think more first-able than his previous Actress novel; but I like either Smuggler's or Night Soul as a beginning point. Especially given Friend Madeleine's review :: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... ;; which is the result of first contact with McElroy.

Reading update, as promised: Joe is doing a reading from Cannonball at Over The Eight in Williamsburg on Tuesday, August 20th at 8 PM. Seeing as I live in MPLS, I will not be able to attend--though hopefully some of you will be more fortunate!

Address:
Over The Eight
594 Union Ave
(between Richardson St & Frost St)
New York, NY 11211

Justin wrote: "Reading update, as promised: Joe is doing a reading from Cannonball at Over The Eight in Williamsburg on Tuesday, August 20th at 8 PM. Seeing as I live in MPLS, I will not be able to attend--though..."

thanx, Justin. Anyone able to attend?

I might be able to hop on the train and attend after work. I'll have to check the train schedule. Has the Cannonball reading started? I have the ebook. I'm currently splitting my time between Proust and Joyce, but I'll take a break to read Cannonball. Maybe I can squeeze some of it in before the talk and finish it on the train ride. :o)

Aloha wrote: "Has the Cannonball reading started?"

We don't appear to have arranged any kind of schedule. Feel free to take the lead; see who else takes up the Cannonball as well. I'll be returning for a second reading some time in the near future. Discussion threads are :: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_...

I started reading Cannonball. There were a lot of things in the book that resonated with me. I'm in the middle of the Middle East challenge, which led me to questions about the war over water, and my daughter used to swim competitively. Should be an interesting read.

Amazing. It's a good thing I have waiting time today to read this. This book was made for me to read or I was made to read this book at this point of my life. I won't have to read any background material to understand this. I already have. Women and Men, the Middle East, competitive swimming, water resource.

My review for Cannonball,

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...