Boychik Lit: April 2013

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Having Fun at the Fair

Monika Vogl and Gerald (Flo Selfman took the photo)

Spent a temperate, sunny day on Saturday working for Independent Writers of Southern California (IWOSC) at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Shown here person-ing the booth with Monika Vogl. Also on my shifts were Layne Wong, author of Shanghai Love, Susan E. Briggs, author of I Can See Heaven, and IWOSC's irrepressible president, the super-publicist Flo Selfman.

Thanks particularly for your smiles and wise words to Louise Marler, Norm Ellstran, Robin Quinn, Ester Shifren, Pam Leven, Ruth Frechman, Lee Gale Gruen, and LA Opera's Shannita Williams.

We talked about the male-centered comic genre boychik lit. And it's not the first time I've thought there could be more female fans than men. It probably has something to do delighting in Rollo's cluelessness as he fails continually upward, inheriting more undeserved trouble at each new level.

Monday, April 15, 2013

See You at the Book Fair Saturday Booth 131

You can greet the Boychik and discuss the writing life, the angst (yours or mine), and the plight of male-centered comic fiction. (Or just get directions to the nearest portable potty.)

"What is Boychik Lit?" do I hear you say? Hint: Free MP3 audio clips, third bullet down, right column of this hugely popular blog. If I didn't like to type so much, or were I not feeling so perverse just now, I would just put a link here.

Independent Writers of Southern California (IWOSC) www.iwosc.org Booth 131. Gerald Everett Jones appearing / hosting / partnering / chin wagging on Saturday, April 20 from Noon - 2pm and from 4 - 6pm.

USC Campus, south of downtown Los Angeles. Festival official site click here.

About me...

When I was in high school, my chemistry teacher approached me and asked with a sly grin, "You interested in mining?"
I told him absolutely not. I was going to be a writer.
Little did I suspect that he wanted to send me to a student conference on metallurgy where I could seek the fellowship of like-minded teens on a minimally supervised road-trip to the Big City.
Undeterred by my abrupt negative response, he grumbled, "Well, you're interested in mining your own business, aren't you?"
And he sent me anyway.
Now I realize I should've listened more carefully to everything he said.
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Gerald Everett Jones is the author of the Rollo Hemphill series of comic novels, including My Inflatable Friend, Rubber Babes, and Farnsworth's Revenge. His new novel is Mr. Ballpoint. He holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honors from the College of Letters, Wesleyan University, where he studied under novelists Peter Boynton (Stone Island), F.D. Reeve (The Red Machines), and Jerzy Kozinski (The Painted Bird, Being There). Publishing details and press kits at La Puerta Productions.