Bio
Lee Bob Black interviews authors and writes book reviews for fun. His serious work consists of novels, short stories, essays, business writing, and IT writing. He's the co-director of a literacy program for Canteen Magazine and the founder of the International Literary Film Festival. Previously he has worked for BigThink.com, One Story, and other literary magazines. His writing has appeared in The Faster Times, Bookslut, Tottenville Review, and elsewhere. He's based in Brooklyn and virtually at www.LeeBobBlack.com.  Would you like to interview any of the following brilliant artists? [Feb 2012] If so, read a few more details and then let me know. Aram Saroyan. Bonaparte. Caits Meissner. Elliott Holt. Emilie Zoey Baker. Gaby Dunn. The Bumbys. Immy Humes. iO Tillett Wright. Jillian McDonald. John Wray. Jonny Clockworks. Joshua Furst. Lauren Mechling. Porochista Khakpour. Sebastian Errazuriz. Sophie Jaff. Tishon. Strawberry Saroyan. The "DieKu" poet The Star Wars Uncut team. Lee Bob Black reading fiction at KGB Bar in the East Village, NYC [Jan 2012] January 27, 2012. As part of Paragraph’s monthly reading series, I read some short stories and short-short fiction at KGB Bar in NYC's East Village. Here's one piece that Sophie Jaff (SophieJaff.com) and I read: Watch and read all four of the pieces of fiction that I read at KGB Bar. Canteen Magazine Issue Seven is out - lit stars do glam [Sep 2011]  “Hot Author” photographs and essays in this issue: Author : Photographer. T Cooper : Clayton Cotterell. Michelle Tea : formento+formento. Karan Mahajan : Boru O’Brien O’Connell. Jennine Capó Crucet : Tierney Gearon. Rich Benjamin : Tribble & Mancenido. Porochista Khakpour : Sam Falls. Stephen Elliott : Tabitha Soren. Rivka Galchen : JJ Sulin. Brian Henry : Susan Worsham. Fiona Maazel : Cara Phillips. Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi : Manjari Sharma. Maud Casey : Alex Arzt. Jesse Ball : Aimee Beaubien. Deb Olin Unferth : Brian Shumway. Tao Lin : Brea Souders. Julie Orringer : Matthew Porter. Also in this issue: Stories by Mark Jude Poirier, Annie Fischer, and Martin Ott. Essays by Matthew Specktor, Peter Brandenhoff, and William Giraldi. Poems by Lee Stern, Adam Prevade, Susan Briante, Jessica Levine, Chris Santiago, and Todd Boss. Experience lit stars doing glam at CanteenMag.com. Launching Canteen's “Hot Authors” . . .  Craig Moreau, author of Chelsea Boy, blogged a bit about me and Canteen's panel discussion “Marketing Literature in the Age of Gawker” (the panel discussion was part of the launch party). Read Moreau's post at Electric Literature's blog, The Outlet. By the way, do you see any resemblance between me and the sailing clown on the cover of the most recent issue of Electric Literature? Photo of Lee Bob Black by Craig Moreau. International Literary Film Festival - call for entries! [July 2011]  The International Literary Film Festival ----- 国际文学电影节 ----- Festival Internacional de Cine sobre Literatura ----- Le Festival Littéraire International du Film ----- अंतर्राष्ट्रीय साहित्यिक फिल्म समारोह ----- Internasjonal Litterær Filmfestival ----- 国際文芸映画祭 ----- เทศกาลภาพยนตร์เกี่ยวกับวรรณกรรมนานาชาติ ----- আন্তর্জাতিক সাহিত্যি বিষয়ক ছায়াছবি উত্সব ----- المهرجان الدولي للأفلام الأدبية ----- www.facebook.com/LiteraryFilmFestival Values.com publishes a flash nonfiction piece of mine [Mar 2011] March 30, 2011.  Values.com, the website for the Foundation For A Better Life, published a short nonfiction piece I wrote about my time in South Africa. Here's how it starts off . . . I traveled to rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and I listened to women talk about abductions and rapes and forced marriages. But in these areas of dire poverty and no running water, I was met with unbridled happiness and generosity. And I experienced first hand--sans theory--the need for women’s rights and food safety and sustainable development. I also played with kids. I kicked soccer balls, pretended to be a zombie, and ran with kids on my shoulders like we were human planes. The kids screamed in delight when I chased them, the kids fell over when they tried imitating me doing handstands, and the kids laughed as if here and now were all that mattered. Continue reading this at Values.com The story links with the following video. Hemayel Martina, poet of Curaçao [January 2011] Hemayel Martina (October 24, 1990 - January 29, 2011). One month before he died, Hemayel Martina gave me a copy of his debut poetry collection. We were living in South Africa and had known each other for only a day when he gave me Worried Ancestor Rest In Peace (Ansestro Preokupá Sosegá), his poetry book about the people of Curaçao, his island nation. That first day we met, we were clearly on the same literary wavelength. For instance, we both believed that even though writing poetry was an ongoing hunt for perfection and a battle between feelings and the intellect, it wasn’t something that you could get wrong. The above words are the beginning of a post at Frontier Psychiatrist. Also consider reading the transcript of my interview with Hemayel.  The video of this interview is on YouTube, Vimeo, and Facebook. Tottenville Review published my interview with Justin Taylor! [Sep 2010] September 15, 2010. Discussed in this interview with author Justin Taylor: not thinking about writing, choosing whether to embrace or erase literary influence, the nonexistence of rules of writing, becoming a stronger reader, avoiding shooting your literary load on cryptic notes, writing about music, what an editor’s job really should be about, and how writing isn’t always a choice. Continue reading this interview at Tottenville Review.  
 Frontier Psychiatrist published my flash fiction! [Sep 2010] September 2, 2010. Frontier Psychiatrist (FrontPsych.com) published my flash fiction piece, "Racquetball and Morphine."  Dear Mandi, My Dad died. He’d been going downhill for months. Last week the hospice informed us that he only had one or two days left. So me and my sister Teresa flew home. Continue reading.   (The above photos kind of link with some of the themes in the flash fiction.) The Faster Times published my Amy Braunschweiger interview! [Aug 2010] August 5, 2010. Brooklyn, NYC.  Amy Braunschweiger's book, Taxi Confidential: Life, Death and 3 a.m. Revelations in New York City Cabs, came out last year. In this interview, Amy discusses pothead speed demon cabbies, learning journalism by being one of the few women in a room filled with men, learning how to write a nonfiction book by accepting a book deal rather than doing an MFA, assuaging her flirtatious nature while working, renting a cubicle to get out of her apartment, erring on the side of too much information, and vomiting ideas onto the page. Read the interview at TheFasterTimes.com  Photo: Amy Braunschweiger. Photo credit: Jason Gardner, from NYTimes.comAmy's booksite is www.TaxiConfidentialBook.com Her blog is NYCTaxiConfidential.blogspot.com Update: Q: What else is über-cool about Amy? A: She organizes the books on her shelves according to color.  Calling all emerging writers [Aug 2010] I've been interviewing numerous emerging authors over the past couple of years. These writers have fiction and nonfiction books in the creative pipelines. My goal is to conduct several interviews over the next year or two with each author while they are in the process of writing their books. That way I'll be able to publish extensive, phenomenal interviews just as their books hit the shelves. Writers include (left to right): Benjamin Blum - BenjaminBlum.com. Braxton Robbason. Freeman Tabony. Keith Meatto - KeithMeatto.com. James Yeh - yehjames.blogspot.com. Jeff Wilser - JeffWilser.com.       Are you an "emerging" writer (whatever that means)? If so, contact me at leegolit [at] gmail.com. Canteen Magazine Issue Six is out - dip into it [Aug 2010]  Writers, poets, artists, and photographers in this issue include: Neal Peters, Dana Goodyear, Ted Chiles, Tao Lin, Malena Watrous, Josh Emmons, Chris Smith, Ivy Pochoda, Lincoln Michel, Diana Lemberg, Justin Taylor, Martha Raoli, Jeff Alessandrelli, Joe Bueter, Catherine Strisik, Greg Vargo, Allan Shapiro, Martin Kollar. Dip into it at CanteenMag.com. The Faster Times published my Hannah Tinti interview! [May 2010] May 26th, 2010. Brooklyn, NYC. Last year I interviewed Hannah Tinti (HannahTinti.com), author of The Good Thief. It was a wild interview--she discussed approaching writing her novel as a short story writer, using her emotions and spirituality to write, the un-holiness of the Vatican, how her agent stealthily confirmed that she wasn't crazy before representing her, and how as a writer you have to stop fighting your characters on the page and accept them as they are. And today The Faster Times published it. The Good Thief is a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, recipient of the American Library Association's Alex Award, and winner of the John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize. Animal Crackers, Tinti's short story collection, was a runner-up for the PEN/Hemingway award. Tinti is co-founder and editor-in-chief of One Story (One-Story.com), for which she won the 2009 PEN/Nora Magid award.  Photo: Lee Bob Black and Hannah Tinti at the One Story offices, Brooklyn.   Photos: Hannah Tinti. Litterae est rapio [May 2010] May 22, 2010. Shiran Nicholson (ShiranNicholson.com, NicholsonFilms.com) and I are co-writing a short screenplay . . . and there's this thing we want to do in the closing credits which is an unrepentant rip-off of the closing credits of The Hangover (pictures, video).       And it dawned on me (re-dawned is probably more accurate) that literature is stealing. Some people talk about art (and science and politics and so forth) being a process of dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants. Bullfuckingshit. Me, I'm no dwarf, and I'm not just standing on giants' shoulders . . . I get my Imagination Secret Police to slam the giants into a wall. I line 'em up, face the bricks you little bitches, like this is going to be target practice. But I don't kill them yet. I get them to spread their goddamn giant legs. Then I smell their hair and take note of how they're wearing their clothes and then I frisk the bastards for weapons and riffle through their pockets. I throw the contents of their giant wallets on the ground and inspect every card, every receipt, see if they're carrying any dollar bills with cryptic notes penned on them. While I'm all up in their shit, I think to myself: Can I use this literary technique of theirs in my fiction? Use being a polite word for steal. I think to myself: Can I emulate this scene or dialogue of theirs in my fiction? Emulate meaning steal. The unapologetic literary thief, Lee Bob Black, at your service.  By the way, dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants (Latin: nanos gigantium humeris insidentes) kind of means: "One who develops future intellectual pursuits by understanding the research and works created by notable thinkers of the past." Oh, and my rough Latin translation of "literature is stealing" is "litterae est rapio." Tottenville Review issue 1 clickable now [May 2010] May 7, 2010. I had every damn intention of finishing writing a book review for the first issue of the Tottenville Review--but dammit, I dillied, I dallied, and I didn't get my ass in gear nor my piece in quick enough to be published. No matter, I'm shooting for next issue. The official blurb from editor Alex Gilvarry and managing editor John Gilmore about this up-n-coming literary powerhouse: Tottenville Review is a new review of books focused on debuts, translations, and all works that would otherwise go undetected. It is a collaborative of authors, translators, and reviewers bound by one purpose: to contribute to the dialogue of literature.  Check out the following from the inaugural issue: Interviews Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, interviewed by Alex Gilvarry.
Rivka Galchen, interviewed by Vernon Wilson. Porochista Khakpour interviewed by Alex Gilvarry. Reviews The Delighted States by Adam Thirlwell, reviewed by Daphne Kalotay.
The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton, reviewed by Hannah Gersen. Eat When You Feel Sad by Zachary German, reviewed by John Gilmore. Broken Glass by Alina Bronsky (translated by Tim Mohr), reviewed by Liz Moore. Kapitoil by Teddy Wayne, reviewed by Kate Gwynne. The System of Vienna by Gert Jonke, reviewed by Matthew Mercier. Even the Dogs by Jon McGregor, reviewed by Owen Whooley. About a Mountain by John D'Agata, reviewed by Sara Nelson. Three chapters from a novel! And Leeologisms! [Apr 2010] April 1, 2010. Between 2003 and 2008, I worked and reworked a novel titled Imperfect Combinations. And then I stopped. I was over it. I thought it was brilliant, yet flawed. So I've moved on. I'll possibly pick it up again in the future, but for the moment it's stowed away in a bottom draw, hidden, gathering dust. Well, kind of. Check out the first three chapters of my unpublished novel, Imperfect Combinations. Also, perhaps bizarrely, I titled each section/part of the novel with a neologism (which I call Leeologisms). Following are some of them, along with their definitions, for your literary pleasure.
Update: It seems that I'm not as inventive as I thought I was. I individually entered the above neologisms into Google, and learned that each of them, except verisimilove, already existed. Ah well. The numbers above indicate how many occurrences (as of Apr 2010) there are of the words that I thought were Leeologisms. Twelve flashes [Feb 2010] February 6, 2010. I've posted twelve flash fictions. They're from a collection that I've been writing, on and off, for several years now: Rushed Relationships, Metaphysical Masturbations, Immediate Ideas, and Shadow Selves: Lee Bob Black's Flash Fictions Volume 1. Another short play of mine . . . [Jan 2010] I posted a new short play: Thwart A Rebellion. Canteen Magazine Issue Five is out - sample it [Jan 2010]  Writers, poets, artists, and photographers in this issue include: Nathaniel Rich, Helena Echlin, Keith Ekiss, Pieter Hugo, Jim Ruland, Brian Van Flandern, Ceridwen Dovey, Sophie Gerrard, Jerry Johnston, Ellaraine Lockie, P. Philip Cheung, A. Minetta Gould, Reed Kirk Rahlmann, Elizabeth Albert. Sample it at CanteenMag.com. Embarrassing Poetic Video Experiments [Dec 2009] Reading some of my own poems:  "Niceland" poem written and read by Lee Bob Black. "Afraid To Remember" poem written and read by Lee Bob Black  "Lights Idiots Intimacies" poem written and read by Lee Bob Black. Lee Bob Black reads four of his poems. "Nelson Mandela: I Am Prepared To Die" poem read by Lee Bob Black.  "Marilyn Manson: I am the third and final beast" poem read by Lee Bob Black.Reading poems and songs written by wordsmiths such as Corey Taylor, Charles Bukowski, Allen Ginsberg,and Ani DiFranco:  "As Is," lyrics by Ani DiFranco, read by Lee Bob Black.  "Father Death Blues," poem by Allen Ginsberg, read by Lee Bob Black.  "he showed me his back," poem by Charles Bukowski, read by Lee Bob Black. "Apparitions," poem by Charles Bukowski, read by Lee Bob Black. "The Frozen," lyrics by Corey Taylor, read by Lee Bob Black. "Omega," lyrics by Corey Taylor, read by Lee Bob Black.Litersturtainmnet [Dec 2009] December 09, 2009. Check out the following video: Opium QuickFix. It's about Todd Zuniga and Opium magazine's iPhone application, which apparently has "Jiggle Technology" (more about this iPhone app at iTunes). In this Los Angeles Times blog by Carolyn Kellogg, Todd Zuniga is quoted as saying: "In our focus-testing, we discovered that jiggling, shaking or violently striking our laptop and desktop computers didn't select random stories from Opium's archives. Instead, we had to do all the exhausting work of looking at our screens and clicking on links. It knocked us out! The QuickFix app alleviates all that fatigue. You just press once to load the app, are introduced to an exclusive story, then do some light wrist-jiggling to get a fantastic story from our archives." One of the blog comments was from a user identified as "JJWIII": "After spending over a decade shaking my wrist daily and getting nothing out of it but carpel tunnel, I am glad I can get some education, instead of just feeling lonely and dejected. Thanks Todd!" I too commented on the blog, but either the comment moderator or the blogger didn't approve of my words. (My first literary "submission" to the Los Angeles Times; was rejected. Dammit. Ki ki ki.) Regardless, you can't keep a good writer (or commenter) down, so here's my comment, uncensored: Robin William once said: "The problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time." About showering, I used to say: "It's my soap, I'm allowed to wash myself as fast as I want to." About Opium's QuickFix with Jiggle Technology, I say: "This is litersturtainmnet--the first authentic merger of literature, masturbation, and entertainment. It might tongue-tie you in the beginning. But the concept behind this iPhone app . . . repeat after me . . . liter-stur-tain-ment . . . will eventually roll off your tongue." Literary Criticism! Bookslut published my Paul Hoffman book review [Dec 2009] December 4, 2009. Read my book review of Hoffman's King's Gambit: A Son, A Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game, which was published by Bookslut.com.  About a quarter of King’s Gambit is a conventional memoir. The rest explores the chess world generally, and its convoluted underside specifically. For example, the book’s first chapter, “The Insanity Defense,” surveys how psychosis and suicide seem disproportionately associated with the game. And that’s just a primer. The more you read, the darker the tales of chess woe go. Continue reading. Five stars? One star? Books I read in 2009 that I rated five out of five, or one out of five [Dec 2009] Lee's Lust List! Five out of five stars:
Lee's Shit List! One out of five stars:
Video by Jireh [Nov 2009] Our magical friend, Jireh Hinton (aka Grover Watts), filmed Tara DePorte and I in our Brooklyn home . . . More from this artist: YouTube.com/JirehHinton and MyPoresAreReallySmall.com and GroverWatts.tumblr.com Tango Mano-A-Mano [Aug 2009] I wrote an article, Tango Mano-A-Mano: How Dancing With Other Men Challenged My Heterosexuality, for BigThink.com. Here's the first paragraph: In
the late nineteenth century, large-scale immigration dramatically
increased the population of Buenos Aires. Most migrants were men; one
figure even suggests a ratio of ten men for every woman. Continue reading.
How Greene is Gelb? [June 2009] I wrote an article for BigThink.com about power and:
  Canteen and StreetSquash Creative Writing Workshops [June 2009] June 5, 2009. Who knew that using the power of creativity to motivate and educate children would be so much fun? My friends and I have just finished our second creative writing workshops, as organized by Canteen Magazine (CanteenMag.com) and StreetSquash (StreetSquash.org), an after-school youth enrichment program. Our second issue of canTeen: Youth On The Page: Writing And Art By Seventh Graders is now viewable and downloadable from issuu.com/CanteenMag/docs/canteen_student_writing_and_art_spring2009_issue_2. A million thanks to the writers/teachers/photographers who volunteered for this: Stephen Pierson, Amy Braunschweiger, Daniel Christensen, Cezara Russo, Garth Risk Hallberg, JJ Sulin, Marion Duvet, Molly A. Rosen, and Porochista Khakpour. A billion thanks to our students for this group: Alejandro C, Alvin H, Barbara H, Chamoy G, Chrishtian B, Christina M, Daniel R, Ebbria J, Gabrielle T, Hawa B, Oluwaseun D, Richard S, Sunen D, Taina P, Taylor C, and Travone W.          P.S. After our last class this semester, Laura of StreetSquash had this to say ... "I
want to say thank you so much for all of your hard with the students
this year. I can tell you really enjoy working with children, and that
makes all the difference in the world. I truly believe that because of
you and all of your amazingly talented friends, the students will
approach writing with more curiosity and creativity...which is the
whole point, isn't it? So, thank you, and please extend our gratitude
to all of the volunteers who made this work!"
I interviewed Alberto Ferreras! [Mar 2009] An extensive and amazing (if I do say so myself) interview I did with Alberto Ferreras, author of B as in Beauty (2009), is viewable at AlbertoFerreras.com (and here on my site). In this interview, Alberto Ferreras talks about overemphasizing the future, unglamorous jobs and happiness, sexy obese women, how Borges's Aleph is Google Earth, café culture, vampires, how he was born a New Yorker even though he was born in Madrid, and his novel, B as in Beauty.   Photo: Alberto Ferreras. Photo credit: Michael Wakefield. Canteen and StreetSquash Creative Writing Workshops [Feb 2009] February 13, 2009. For the past five months, I've had the privilege of teaching creative writing each week to seventh graders (11-13 years old) in Harlem. It was the first time I'd ever taught kids (though, come to think of it, I have taught numerous classes and topics for corporations ....), and I have Stephen Pierson to thank--he asked me to join the program and believed in me even when I doubted myself. More importantly: Our students were so awesome! And we've got poems and presidential acceptance speeches and six-word memoirs and stories about superheroes to prove how inventive our students were! To read a professionally-bound anthology of their work, canTeen: Youth On The Page: Writing And Art By Seventh Graders, go to issuu.com/CanteenMag/docs/canteen_student_writing_and_art_issue_1 Our creative writing workshops were made possible by Stephen Pierson of Canteen Magazine (CanteenMag.com) and our dedicated friends at StreetSquash (StreetSquash.org), an after-school youth enrichment program that combines academic tutoring, squash instruction, college preparation, community service, and mentoring. Massive personal thanks to the following brilliant and generous writers/teachers/photographers who volunteered for these workshops: Stephen Pierson, Daniel Christensen, Garth Risk Hallberg, James J. Williams III, JJ Sulin, Mia Lipman, Porochista Khakpour, and Todd Zuniga. If you're keen to volunteer for our next group, write to info@canteenmag.com. And of course thanks to our students: Angel F, Armando A, Darquell C, Divine W, Elhadji M, Lamont P, Marcus C, Mawa B, Nasean C, Oumar T, Ronnie G, Tosin E, and Wandy V. You all rock. Canteen Magazine Issue Four is out - browse it [Feb 2009]  Writers, poets, artists, and photographers in this issue include: Eric Puchner, Katharine Noel, Laura Gibson, Stephen Elliott, Ben Fountain, Justin Taylor, Angela Jimenez, Aaron Hess, Heather Kirn, Karen Rigby, David Zeltser, John Duvernoy, Katharine Jager, Rodney Koeneke, Juliana Romano, Jennifer Gravley. Browse it at CanteenMag.com. Five stars? One star? Books I read in 2008 that I rated five out of five, or one out of five [Dec 2008] Lee's Lust List! Five out of five stars:
Barack Obama wins, Brooklyn ignites, Lee Bob Black gives strangers shoulder rides [Nov 2008] November 4, 2008. After Barack Obama won, hundreds of us spontaneously started dancing and yelling and celebrating on the corner of Bedford Avenue and North 7th Street, Williamsburg. During the euphoria, I gave people shoulder-rides, including the flag guy in the following photo taken by Ryan Muir (RyanMuir.com) The photo also appeared on the front cover of the printed edition of The Brooklyn Paper (BrooklynPaper.com). The riot police watched for an hour or two, then shut our euphoria down.  Canteen Magazine Issue Three is out - graze on it [Oct 2008]  Writers, poets, artists, and photographers in this issue include: Porochista Khakpour, Benjamin Kunkel, Lee Klein, Sean Finney, Dana Goodyear, Martijn van de Griendt, Arnold Lehman, Sam Wilson, Taizo Yamamoto, Matthew Porter, Shellie Zacharia. Graze it at CanteenMag.com. I'm judging at a Literary Death Match, NYC [Sep 2008] September 27, 2008.  Litquake's Lit Crawl is a massive, one night literary extravaganza in NYC on September 27. The madcap concept, created in 2004 in San Francisco, will kick-off in the Lower East Side at 6 p.m., wander up to the East Village for 7:15 p.m. readings (with Canteen Magazine and NY Tyrant starring) then over the bridge to Williamsburg for delights at 8:30 p.m. (where Opium's Literary Death Match and BOMB Magazine will be in the spotlight). This Google map has all the venues.  Photo: Tim Mucci reading, Bob Greenman judging literary merit, Cicily Janus judging performance, Lee Bob Black judging intangibles. Photo credit: Tim Mucci.  Photo: Ben Greenman, Timmy Waldren, Jensen Whelen, Todd Zuniga, Lee Bob Black, Cicily Janus.I'm reading at an Opium Magazine "Litstravaganza," NYC [Aug 2008]  131 Chrystie St, between Broome St and Delancy St, Manhattan, NY; map. 212.226.4555 office@envoygallery.com Subway: B D train to Grand St. F train to 2nd Ave or Delancey St. J M Z to Bowery. When: Sunday Aug 3, 2008; 6:30 pm to 9 pm. Here's the official write up about the event: In conjunction with Envoy Gallery and the Thorstein Foundation, Opium's thrilled to present a Sunday evening litstravaganza. Hosted via satellite (aka iChat) by Opium founding editor and Literary Death Match co-creator Todd Zuniga, onlooker will hear Americans Greg Sanders and Amy Lemmon live from NYC, Lee Bob Black, an Australian, tape delayed from NYC, and Nick Royle taped delayed one second via iChat (aka satellite) from Manchester, UK. Plus, everyone who reads will be interviewed in lightning fashion. Excitements galore!Update: At the event, I read a short fiction piece called "Sexpot Vignette #4: Racecars Crash" to about 25 people in the audience. What are six of my top short story collections? [July 2008] I'm glad you asked . . . well on One Story's blog, I read two “my top ten short story” lists, one by Chris and another by Elliot Holt. I've never thought about maintaining such a list for myself. But it intrigued me, so I racked my brain and came up with my top six story collections. They're in no particular order.
Consider submitting to Opium Magazine's "Network of Writers Experiment" [July 2008] Opium Magazine (OpiumMagazine.com), a print and online journal of "literary humor for the deliriously captivated," rocks, straight up. Todd Zuniga is seeking submissions to a "What I Learned" network that will be in the mag's next print edition, Opium7. So, if you're keen, read the following, which I sourced from OpiumMagazine.com, and submit.
The first three chapters of a novel I was working on .... [July 2008] Between 2001 and 2003, I wrote a novel called In Lieu Of Lovability. Click here for the first three chapters, slightly updated in 2008. Fair and honest appraisal of your appearance .... [June 2008] Gill Bumby (myspace.com/gillbumby) had a few things to say about me. Click the image to read what he typed onto the card.   Short plays [April 2008] I'm experimenting with writing short plays. Check out two of them: Rizal Shahputra inspired me to write the second play. On December 26, 2004, the Indian Ocean earthquake and resulting tsunamis killed approximately 230,000 people. Rizal Shahputra, 23 at the time, was swept out to sea with family members and others on a raft of tree branches and debris. Crewmen on a passing container vessel, the MV Durban Bridge, spotted Rizal Shahputra, the only survivor, on January 3, 2005, 160km (100 miles) from Banda Aceh. Photos: Rizal Shahputra.          My first poetry reading in years . . . [Mar 2008] When: March 08, 2008. Where: Ponta Negra, Natal, Brasil. Tonight I read the following five poems at at Tara DePorte's art exhibition Sonhos Intensivos (Intense Dreams):
 Benjamin Kunkel! I met another one of my Lit Gods! [Mar 2008] March 31st, 2008. Manhattan, NYC. Today I met Benjamin Kunkel at a reading for the second issue of Canteen Magazine (CanteenMag.com) at Housing Works Café in SoHo, Manhattan. I read Kunkel's novel Indecision in 2006 and rated it 4 out of 5 stars.  Photo: Lee Bob Black and Benjamin Kunkel. I also met writer Todd Zuniga. He's not one of my lit gods (I haven't read any of his stuff, yet), but he read a hilarious piece, so here's a photo of us being dorks:  Photo: Todd Zuniga Lee Bob Black.Canteen Magazine Issue Two:  Five stars? One star? Books I read in 2007 that I rated five out of five, or one out of five [Dec 2007] Lee's Lust List! Five out of five stars:
Lee's Shit List! One out of five stars:
I interviewed Tyrone Rock! [Nov 2007] Read my insightful interview with the political blogger: "Here I Am! Your Average Guy, Taking America! Lee Bob Black Interviews Blogger Tyrone Rock."   Photos: Tyrone Rock. Prodigious? Talented? Moi? [Nov 2007] November 23, 2007. NYC. Today a friend of mine, a published novelist no less, emailed me to tell me that he'd read some of my stories on LeeBobBlack.com, and that he thought I was "prodigiously talented." It's just his opinion, but I'm all for it! Who are my favorite writers, spoken word artists, and performance poets (so far)? [Nov 2007] This is a tremendously difficult question to ask. Here's my tentative answer .... My Favorite Writers:
My Favorite Spoken Word Artists, Performance Poets:
Mama Gena and Sister Goddesses and Lee Bob Black [Jan 2007] January 13th, 2007. Manhattan, NYC.  Last night I attended an event called, “Mama Gena Gives It Up To Your Men,” which was part of Mama Gena's Womanly Arts Mastery Program. All I'll say is that it was wild (check MamaGenas.com for more details or this YouTube bit). Okay, I'll say one more thing. There were 100+ women (“Sister Goddesses”), the majority of who were wearing just lingerie. Today I was as a discussion panelist for Mama Gena's Womanly Arts Mastery Program, held at the Roosevelt Hotel, Manhattan. There were ~10 men on the stage (including actor Roy Scheider, incidentally), and 100+ women in the audience. There's no way I can accurately summarize what we talked about for over an hour, but I'll politely say that we discussed sensuality and sexuality. Update: Check out this YouTube clip of Mama Gena: Five stars? One star? Books I read in 2006 that I rated five out of five, or one out of five [Dec 2006] Lee's Lust List! Five out of five stars:
Lee's Shit List! One out of five stars:
LeBoBla [sic] does his first NaNoWriMo [Nov 2006] NYC. I just finished "competing" ("participating"?) in the 2006 National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo.org). It was my first year, and it kicked my ass. Fuck knows if I'm going to do it next year, or ever again for that matter.  Also, a photo of me appears in Phyllis Korkki's article, "Cherishing words, just for words' sake," about National Novel Writing Month; International Herald Tribune; Dec 5, 2006.  Here's the first two paragraphs of Korkki's article: The secret to writing a novel in a month is just to do it - and it's a good idea to accept from the start that, barring miracles, it will be very, very bad. Read the full article at the International Herald Tribune: www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/05/features/amateur.php The Impeachables: About Our Campaign [Aug 2006] Press Release: August 2006. The Impeachables (impeachables.org) is a political awareness campaign associated with the movements to impeach politicians George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Tony Blair, and John Howard.  It consists of mock personal profiles of these political leaders, each written in first person, highlighting information such as ... ... how Bush, Cheney, Blair, Howard, and the US, UK, and Australian governments:
... how George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and the Bush administration:
... how Tony Blair:
... how John Howard:
The mock personal profiles also "poke fun" at the politicians. For
example, according to the "More About What I Am Looking For" section of
Bush's profile,
he wants a woman to talk dirty in bed, saying things such as “Who's the
champion of freedom and democracy? You are Bushy! Who squandered the
largest federal surplus in history and created the largest national
debt in history? Who's the War President? You are Bushy!” Another
example is Blair's profile.
In the "Fill in the blank: _____ is sexy; _____ is sexier" part of the
profile, the Prime Minister wrote, ‘Government-by-cabinet is sexy;
government-by-cabal is sexier!” Another example is a reference in Howard's profile to how he admits to employing the “Sergeant Shultz defense.” SyBaRa: About Us SyBaRa created The Impeachables (impeachables.org). We are a group of activists, cyberguerillas, artists, alienated voters, and peacemongers. We feel that claims that a “war on terror” will lessen the risks of terrorist attacks are unwise, and that prevailing in the global fight against terrorism by embarking upon pre-emptive wars in 'defense' of freedom surely leads to a destruction of freedom. Human values cannot be defended by unprovoked violence. War only leads to war, more war, and more war. We feel that many of the actions and policies of the Bush, Blair, and Howard governments since 9/11 to be repressive, unjust, immoral, and illegitimate. We not only believe that the three men leading these governments, and several of their principal officials in Washington, London, and Canberra, should be held accountable for their actions in order to restore faith in the democratic process, but we also believe that they are threats to world peace, human rights, and economic justice. Too many questions remain unanswered, and we have been deceived and betrayed time and time again--this conduct cannot continue to go unchecked. Those who lead us cannot mislead us and then remain in office. With our hearts and minds, we are taking a stand against criminal wars on foreign countries, torture, the violation of human rights, detentions without trial, contempt for international law, and labeling whole countries as "evil." We have drawn inspiration from Americans working to bring the impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney to the floor of the House of Representatives (which has the sole power to vote for impeachment), and then on to the Senate (which would determine guilt or innocence). We have drawn inspiration from British Members of Parliament who in November 2004 tabled a motion to impeach Tony Blair, and who, considering the potential lack of it's viability, redrafted the motion in favor of a parliamentary inquiry to examine the conduct of ministers before and after the Iraq war. We have drawn inspiration from Australians working towards holding John Howard accountable for his war crimes, the children overboard affair, the AWB Ltd controversy, and his manipulation of the Australian electorate. Each of the members of SyBaRa acted on his or her own accord. We did not receive support or endorsement from other individuals or organizations working towards the impeachment of Bush, Cheney, Blair, or Howard. In fact, before launching The Impeachables, we only discussed the campaign with our boyfriends and girlfriends (and in one case, a mother). Our name SyBaRa is a portmanteau of Sybil, Banksy, and Rainbow. It's homage to:
 SyBaRa welcomes all comments, criticisms, etc., regarding The Impeachables. Please contact us at leegolit [at] gmail.com I interviewed T. M. Rives! [June 2006] June 12, 2006. Manhattan, NYC. Today I interviewed T. M. Rives, author of the novel Le Serpent des blés. I interviewed him in my West Village apartment. Here's a photo of Rives typing in my bedroom!  Photo: T.M. Rives. Update: Read the interview "If Warriors Had iPods: Lee Bob Black Interviews T. M. Rives". Five stars? One star? Books I read in 2005 that I rated five out of five, or one out of five [Dec 2005] Lee's Lust List! Five out of five stars:
Lee's Shit List! One out of five stars:
Bookslut published my Edwin John Wintle interview! [July 2005] Read my interview of Ed Wintle (EdwinJohnWintle.com), author of Breakfast With Tiffany: An Uncle's Memoir, which was published by Bookslut.com. Edwin John Wintle is the author of Breakfast with Tiffany: An Uncle’s Memoir. In this interview, he discusses having his teenage niece live with him in New York City, being a first-time memoirist, finally being able to tap into his unconscious, whether parents should lie to their children, the integral roles that gay people play in their families, the spiritual hum of a group of writers working in a room, fighting for writer’s rights as an agent for Curtis Brown, dickey dads, Hans Blix, and exploitation. Continue reading.  Photos of Ed and I from the first half of the interview, at Ed's West Village apartment, NYC, March 17th, 2005: Photos: Lee Bob Black and Edwin John Wintle.  Photos of Ed and I from the second half of the interview, at Ed's West Village apartment, NYC, April 2nd, 2005:   Malcolm Gladwell! I met another one of my Lit Gods! [July 2005] July 8th, 2005. Manhattan, NYC. Today I randomly ran into Malcolm Gladwell (Gladwell.com), author of The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (2000) and Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (2005), at Snice Cafe in the West Village. He was laptopping two tables to my side while I edited a huge printout of my second novel (see the stalker photo below). As he was leaving, I approached him, thanked him for his SUV article ("Big and Bad: How the SUV ran over automotive safety"), and shared how it was instrumental in helping me form my ideas about the perception of safety versus actual safety. He asked me my name. I said if I published my novel, I'll send him a copy.   I interviewed Bhagavan Das! [May 2005] May 18, 2005. Manhattan, NYC. Today at my home in the West Village, I interviewed Bhagavan Das (BhagavanDas.com), a performer of Indian bhajans and kirtans, a counter-cultural icon, a yogi, and the author of It's Here Now (Are You?): A Spiritual Memoir.   After the interview, I stood on an old fire-notification thingy, and took this photo of Bhagavan Das on the corner of Washington Street and Charles Street:  Then Bhagavan Das took this one of me:  Update: Read the interview: The Dharma and Cult of Bhagavan Das: Lee Bob Black interviews Bhagavan Das. I interviewed Max Barry! [Feb 2005] Kensington, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. February 24, 2005. I interviewed Max Barry (MaxBarry.com), author of novels Syrup (1999), Jennifer Government (2003), and Company (forthcoming in 2006). I conducted the interview at a café called The Corner on Bellair, near Max's house in Melbourne. Here's a photo of Max and I just after the interview:  Photo: Lee Bob Black and Max Barry.Update: Read the interview "To Finish Writing A Novel, You Need To Be Delusional: Lee Bob Black Interviews Max Barry". Five stars? One star? Books I read in 2003 and 2004 that I rated five out of five, or one out of five [Dec 2004] Lee's Lust List! Five out of five stars:
Lee's Shit List! One out of five stars:
I interviewed Toby Thompkins! [Sep 2004] September 11, 2004. Manhattan, New York City. Today I interviewed Toby Thompkins, author of The Real Lives Of Strong Black Women: Transcending Myths, Reclaiming Joy (2004).
Here's some photos of Toby and I in his West Village apartment, taken straight after the interview:   Photos: Toby Thompkins and Lee Bob Black.Update: Read the interview "What you resist will persist, unless you know it was all a myth in the first place: Lee Bob Black interviews Toby Thompkins." Literary Criticism! My Alex Garland book review was published on Bookslut [Aug 2004] August 10, 2004. Read my book review of Alex Garland's The Coma, which was published on Bookslut.com. Carl
knows a few crucial things about himself--name, gender--but most of his
past is blank. Except for vague images of parents, Carl has practically
no backstory. Does he have brain damage? Maybe. Amnesia? He can’t tell
for sure. Is he comatose? He recalls the train, the hooligans hassling
a female passenger, paying for his accidental heroism by being beating
to a pulp, the ambulance ride, a ventilator, and something about a
suitcase. Continue reading.
  Photo credit: Dennis Widmyer. Alex Garland! I met another one of my Lit Gods! [June 2004] June 24, 2004. Manhattan, NYC. I met Alex Garland, author of novels The Beach, The Tesseract, and The Coma. He was reading from his new novel, The Coma, which was published this month. We were at Housing Works Café in SoHo.  Photo: Alex Garland and Lee Bob Black.Letter to The Believer [Feb 2004] I wrote a letter to The Believer (BelieverMag.com). They didn't publish it. But I did. Craig Clevenger! I met another one of my Lit Gods! [Oct 2003] October 2003. Brooklyn, NYC. I attended a reading by Craig Clevenger (CraigClevenger.com), author of The Contortionist's Handbook, at a reading in Brooklyn. Afterward, we went out for some drinks.  Photo: Lee Bob Black and Craig Clevenger.Chuck Palahniuk! I met another one of my Lit Gods! [Sep 2003] September 12, 2003.Manhattan, NYC. I met Chuck Palahniuk (ChuckPalahniuk.net) at a book signing!  Photo: Lee Bob Black and Chuck Palahniuk.Civilians as shields! The audacity! [Mar 2003] March 26, 2003. Manhattan, New York City. Okay, it's been almost a week since the US-led invasion of Iraq ... here are some thoughts ... How dare the Iraqis defend themselves! Who do they think they are! A sovereign nation! They've sunken to a new low! The audacity! Putting civilians in Baghdad--that's despicable! Civilians--can you imagine how horrible the military leaders are by having civilians in their major cities! Human shields! What could they be thinking! That we--Americans, British, Aussies, the Coalition of the Willing--don't know how extraordinarily inhuman that is! How dare they rise up! How dare they want to live under their own terms! Don't they know we're in Iraq to help! To free them! Humanitarian aid is right behind us! We're not just mopping up, we're liberating! And they're treating us like the enemy! They're calling us the aggressors! They piss and moan that we don't have international legitimacy or UN endorsement! Like that matters! Peace Rally [Mar 2003] March 22, 2003. Manhattan, New York City. Today, along with ~250,000 activists, I marched through the streets of Manhattan, singing and crying and protesting against the US-led invasions of Afghanistan (October 7th, 2001; Operation Enduring Freedom) and Iraq (March 20, 2003; Operation Iraqi Freedom). I saw the following signs or t-shirts:
Five stars? One star? Books I read between 2000 and 2002 that I rated five out of five, or one out of five [Dec 2002] Lee's Lust List! Five out of five stars:
Lee's Shit List! One out of five stars:
Jim Dodge! I met another one of my Lit Gods! [Sep 2000] September 9th, 2000. Berkeley, California.  I met Jim Dodge! I met him the Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival in Berkeley, California. While chit-chatting, Jim mentioned his love of poetry. I couldn't bring myself to say how I'd love to dedicate my life to writing kooky, trippy novels like his novel Stone Junction. And get this, a few months ago, I wrote a poem called "A Lesson In Invincibility" which was based on (plagiarized?) pages 215-227 of Stone Junction--my poem's about the character named Volta, who teaches his pupil how to become invisible/dematerialize. And as it turned out, I had a printed copy of my poem in my back pocket while I was talking with Jim. But did I give it to him? Nope. I wimped out. When Jim Dodge got up to the microphone, he told a story that was completely unrelated to the Festival. The story was about how his brother's dog's nuts got sucked into the drain plug of a bath tub! Five stars? One star? Books I read in the 1990s that I rated five out of five, or one out of five Lee's Lust List! Five out of five stars:
Lee's Shit List! One out of five stars:
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