Pete's picture
Pete from Detroit is reading Red Dragon September 30, 2015 - 11:20am

'The Last Projector' by David James Keaton

Discussion has officially started!

Synopsis: In this hysterical fever dream of a novel, meet an unhinged paramedic turned porn director uprooted from an ever-shifting '80s fantasy. Discover a crime that circles back through time to a far-reaching cover-up in the back of an ambulance. Reveal a manic tattoo obsession and how it conspires to ruin the integrity of a film and corrupt identity itself. Unravel the mystery surrounding three generations of women and the one secret they share. And follow two amateur terrorists, whose unlikely love story rushes headlong toward a drive-in apocalypse.

Author: David James Keaton's award-winning fiction has appeared in over 50 publications. His first collection, Fish Bites Cop: Stories to Bash Authorities, was named the 2014 This Is Horror Short Story Collection of the Year and was a finalist for the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award. He grew up within sight of a drive-in, and in his spare time creates soundtracks for sequels that do not exist. This is his first novel.

Discussion has officially started!

I'm posting this a day early because I'm leaving to go on vacation tomorrow.

I've loved everything that I've ever read by David. If you want a great zombie story, that's not a rehash of every other zombie story (while making fun of those same stories) you NEED to track down Z B & B (or Zee Bee & Bee). Every collection that I've read that he's been in, his story ends up being on of my favorites. So yeah - I can't wait to check out something longer by him. I've heard nothing but good things about this. So I can't wait to see what everybody thinks of it.

Purchase THE LAST PROJECTOR Here

Get to reading!

Brandon's picture
Brandon from KCMO is reading Made to Break September 30, 2015 - 2:06pm

I need to get on this. It's been in my queue since April.

Tony McMillen's picture
Tony McMillen from Mostly glorious Tucson Arizona but now I live near Boston. is reading Not, I'm writing October 3, 2015 - 6:00am

Brandon, it's a solid read. I did a review of it for Dig back in the day. If you like it you should also check out his new western Pig Iron which I liked even more maybe. I told Keaton that Pig Iron was like the Faith No More to The Last Projector 's Mr. Bungle. Weirder, more prone to flights of fancy and experimentation but you can still tell it's Mike Patton all the way. 

 

 

Tony McMillen's picture
Tony McMillen from Mostly glorious Tucson Arizona but now I live near Boston. is reading Not, I'm writing October 3, 2015 - 6:05am

Here's my review of the book from last year, no spoilers: 

This review was originally published at DigBoston.com

( http://digboston.com/boston-arts-thea... )


“You’ll either love it or hate it. Although, in my experience, if something is ever described as ‘love it or hate it,’ it is, without fail, fucking terrible.”

—The Last Projector

I don’t usually like being confused this much.

Are you familiar with choogling? No? Good. Shut up, seriously, I don’t care anymore. The Last Projector is a time-choogling rabbit punch to your skull candy that never forgets to keep the conversation interesting. It’s also David James Keaton debut novel following closely on the heels of his collection Fish Bites Cop! Stories to Bash Authorities.

It feels like a long hibernating story that’s only gotten weirder and more pissed off, whatever it is, the longer its been kept from civilization. I’m paraphrasing John Carpenter’s masterpiece The Thing here for good reason; not only is The Last Projector partly a meditation on cult movies of the ‘70s and ‘80s it also contains a rap song written about John Carpenter’s The Thing. The song is called The Rap Is The Thing ( Or Your Blood’s Gonna Scream) and yes, it is excellent, and yes, you can hear it
here:

http://digboston.com/boston-arts-thea...


But that original rap song is only like the 5th coolest thing about this novel. Some books define categorization, and then some books like The Last Projector actually wriggle free from your grasp like greased up marmosets furiously doing the Sprocket’s dance. Ostensibly the book is about a paramedic named Jack who now goes by Larry and who directs porn while also guerilla filmmaking a straight movie on his off hours about his former life as a paramedic. Larry the porn director is losing what’s left of his mind along with his artistic integrity and both of these seem to revolve around his obsession with tattoos and how they’re destroying the authenticity and continuity of his porn movies. Sounds reasonable, right? There’s also another story about two teenagers who might as well be auditioning for Christian Slater and Wynona Rider’s roles in Heathers that are grimly fixated on a local cop and his K9 partner. Still with me? Then there’s a whole thing about a woman named Jacki who survived a very strange car crash years ago who might be tied up with Jack/Larry the paramedic turned porno director. And everyone seems to have a doppelganger or a doggerganger (dogs are important to this story) for some reason. Confused? You’re welcome.

The disparate elements and characters begin to coalesce after a while but just as soon as you start to think you know where this fucking book is headed the plot points and the story beats metastasize, turn corrupt and grow gnarled on you. That’s a compliment. Because Keaton’s voice, his direction is solid. Even if we’re lost it feels like it’s because he wants us to be. And most importantly, yeah, we’re lost, but the author isn’t. Time and identity is played very slippery here, you’re never quite sure what decade things are taking place in or who anyone really is. Or if they’re only one person. Aiding and abetting this swirling dream state feel here are mentions of the movie Saw Part VXIII and when one character sees a poster for Cronenberg’s The Fly and remarks having no memory of ever hearing about the film existing.

“Music, movies, and books followed you forward and back. Time was broken when it came to media objects. Occasionally, time could break when it came to music. But time would always be broken when it came to movies.”

Underneath all this ornate dressing and psychedelic framing is a story about identity, regret and the peril and untrustworthiness of memory. How nothing is the way you remember it and if all we really are is merely a summation of that unreliable memory how can we really be sure who we are in the first place? All this existential digging and the book’s other ruminations on gritty and brutal topics like rape, murder and insanity might be excessive and depressing if not for Keaton’s knack for Altmanesque dialogue and angular, swift prose. His screwball characters easily drop into exchanges that seem like back alley sonnets or dive bar philosophical debates with aplomb and flourish. The dialogue reaches that perfect teeter-totter between stylized and natural. No one talks like this in real life per se but it’s not far off. More like the way you remember some of your best tangents and conversations than how they were actually spoken.

Likewise the narration is never stymied by too much over production or is it too stark to be inviting. Like a good rhythm section it knows when to hang back and support and then, when the time is right, it knows when to make with the flashy fills.

“Heart pounding in panic, he went back to something a little more high-end instead, safer, shriller. Squier.”

Judging from the title of his first collection of stories author David James Keaton has a bit of a problem with authority figures and this trend is thankfully continued with The Last Projector where it reaches its unavoidable conclusion. And I’m not talking about Officer Bigbee, the dipshit, belligerent cop that the two teenager characters in Projector are considering using a bomb on, he’s a fascinating fascist but he’s not our endboss. No, with this novel Keaton sets his sights on the ultimate authority figure: himself, the author. The idea of an author, an all knowing, information controlling, giving and at times withholding fictional godhead, this is what Keaton seems to take umbrage with the most and poke fun at with his unorthodox, convention shirking stylings. With his tense changes and reality warping. He doesn’t so much break the fourth wall as much as he slaps a big fat ass against it and asks how much it likes its fresh pressed ham.

Learn to enjoy confusion, get familiar with choogling. 

Humboldt Lycanthrope's picture
Humboldt Lycanthrope from California is reading Sing, Unburied, Sing October 9, 2015 - 7:31pm

Killer review, Tony.

I'm putting this bad boy on my kindle right now.

Pete's picture
Pete from Detroit is reading Red Dragon October 12, 2015 - 6:25am

I forgot, while I was posting this, but the zombie novella that I recommended is now available in his collection Propeller Hats From the Dead.

Tony McMillen's picture
Tony McMillen from Mostly glorious Tucson Arizona but now I live near Boston. is reading Not, I'm writing October 13, 2015 - 7:50am

Thanks, Humboldt. It was a good book, I like reviewing those. If you dig this check out his follow up, the western Pig Iron. I liked it even more. 

Max's picture
Max from Texas is reading goosebumps October 13, 2015 - 3:06pm

THIS BOOK IS FUCKING INSANE.

Humboldt Lycanthrope's picture
Humboldt Lycanthrope from California is reading Sing, Unburied, Sing October 17, 2015 - 11:32am

What the fuck did I just read? What year is it? Who am I? 

I think Tony said it best, "I don’t usually like being confused this much."

Pete, I will definitely check out, Propeller Hats From the Dead.

David James Keaton's picture
David James Keaton from "the water" is reading Kill Kill Faster Faster by Joel Rose October 28, 2015 - 7:57am

Hi everybody! Just stopping by to say hi and if anybody wants to ask anything about the book I'll check back in to answer any and all questions, no matter how insane. Also, I looked back at previous Lit Reactor book clubs and I'm totally stealing Jeremy Robert Johnson's idea of raffling off a book to the readers, so anybody in this thread will be entered. I'm guessing most of you got the paperback or Kindle to participate here, so I'll make it a free hardcover copy of The Last Projector that I'll send out when the month's up. If you're rich enough to already have a hardcover, I'll send you any other book of mine you want instead. If you have all my books then you must be my mother and sorry I won't be home for Christmas this year.
Tony, that is a killer review, man. One of my all-time favorite reviews ever. I'm gonna miss that Boston paper you wrote for, and of course your column. Bob Seger is a werewolf and writes the songs that make our dads cry. You spoke the truth.
p.s. feel free to go nuts in here, tear the book to shreds if you get the urge, and I can try to explain away some plot confusion with the one thing that should mean nothing, and of course the one thing it's waaaay to late to invoke - dreaded authorial intent! oh, one last thing - a bunch of stuff in that book is based on true events, sorta. so if anything has a ring of truth or that "fun felony" vibe to it, ask away and I promise to verify. confessions are fun, but not as much fun as statues of limitations! wait, "statutes," not statues. a statue of limitations would be that Greek armless bullshit.
Looking forward to hearing what you guys think! Thanks a ton for reading my stuff, seriously.I'm excited that people will come here to talk about this book.

Humboldt Lycanthrope's picture
Humboldt Lycanthrope from California is reading Sing, Unburied, Sing October 28, 2015 - 11:56am

You really played with the notion of time in this book. Songs that hadn't come out yet played on the radio, movies were discussed that hadn't been released yet, though it was the eighties characters would send texts and played Grand Theft Auto, just to name a few examples off the top of my head. For me, the way you had time disjointed gave me not just a surreal feeling but also one of paranoia, like, wait, what fucking year is it? It was scary. A kind of lost in time nightmare where you are desperately trying to make sense of what is going on. What exactly were you trying to do by playing with time like that? Was there a feeling of paranoia you were trying to evoke? Being able to include so many songs from so many time periods, you were obviously trying to evoke a sense of nostalgia (as someone who was a kid in the late seventies and early eighties, I can tell you that you achieved that with me in spades), what other goals did you have messing around with time like that?

Also, I'm a huge The Thing fan myself, and an alternate reality where it was more popular than E.T. is a place I'd be happy to inhabit, lol.

David James Keaton's picture
David James Keaton from "the water" is reading Kill Kill Faster Faster by Joel Rose November 3, 2015 - 12:29pm

That's an interesting question. As far as the time thing, it was kind of the result of frustration that I couldn't have all the time periods I wanted or needed by using more conventional means, just as I couldn't have the scope of the environment I needed either because of the extended climax cross-pollenations. People were more rooted in a small arena of action in their respective (slippery) time periods, but I needed them more unthethered than that or something. But then it occurred to me that I could call places "Florida Street" instead of "Florida," and here's Hollywood Boulevard, but now it's in Kentucky, but there's California stuff going on there, and Pennsylvania avenue, it's not in Pennsylvania, it's in Ohio, but feels like Pittsburgh, etc. So they're only street hopping but it feels more like state hopping, as these streets could still have the vibe of their state counterparts. Made it feel bigger, I thought, even though it was the opposite move really, kind of like what Cheever did with "The Swimmer," where he'd had his character experiencing what seemed to be all four seasons in the course of a summer day, but supposedly this strategy was stumbled upon because he'd condensed a failed novel's worth of material into one short story. So here I was condensing three novels and a failed screenplay and a cross-country road trip worth of stuff into one book and a more focused area of action, and hoping for similar happy accidents. Like how that guy accidently stumbled onto making potato chips.
Also, when I think of Grand Theft Auto, whatever the version, I always think "ambulance," and I was all about the ambulances for this book.

man, I also wish we lived in a world where The Thing was more widely respected than E.T. In fact, that movie annoyed me so much as a kid I still hate abbreviated titles to this day. But the good news is I think we're almost there. Every year I see more and more articles anointing The Thing with 'new classic' status, which means sometimes the good guys win! Unless you live in the world of The Thing, of course, then you lose.

http://boingboing.net/2015/10/29/the-thing-is-now-recognized-as.html

.'s picture
. November 4, 2015 - 5:32pm

This should be a fun one.

Pete's picture
Pete from Detroit is reading Red Dragon November 5, 2015 - 6:21am

I'm about 1/4 through. It is. ;)

Humboldt Lycanthrope's picture
Humboldt Lycanthrope from California is reading Sing, Unburied, Sing November 9, 2015 - 12:05pm

People were more rooted in a small arena of action in their respective (slippery) time periods, but I needed them more unthethered than that or something. But then it occurred to me that I could call places "Florida Street" instead of "Florida," and here's Hollywood Boulevard, but now it's in Kentucky, but there's California stuff going on there, and Pennsylvania avenue, it's not in Pennsylvania, it's in Ohio, but feels like Pittsburgh, etc.

Wow, that is so interesting. It was quite a bold move but I have to say you pulled it off superbly. You really captured the feel and time while also creating a very dream-like quality and feeling of mystery that kept me wanting to read more.

So here I was condensing three novels and a failed screenplay and a cross-country road trip worth of stuff into one book and a more focused area of action, and hoping for similar happy accidents.

So, this wild novel of yours sounds like a Frankenstein's monster of sorts. Would you mind briefly discussing this process? Like, at what point do you realize you have to combine what had once been separate entities? Also, as a writer, do you feel yourself searching for happy accidents? I guess if you plan them out too much they wouldn't be accidents, is there a kind of organic way you go about this? Or do you just wake up in the middle of the night, like, "I've got to combine these two stories together!" and start scribbling in notebooks?

 

David James Keaton's picture
David James Keaton from "the water" is reading Kill Kill Faster Faster by Joel Rose November 15, 2015 - 9:49pm

Those are interesting questions. Yeah, I guess I do hope for some "happy accidents" as I'm Dr. Moreau'ing stuff together, though I did always have an idea about where the project would end, with the events and all the plot threads converging at the drive-in. For a long time I've been in love with the idea of a kid on a dirt bike going to a drive-in movie and trying to jump as many cars as possible, Evel Knievel-stye, as well as the idea of an ambulance crashing through a drive-in movie screen. So I was excited to get to that scene, then decided what the hell and made that scene a hundred pages. But when I started combining the different projects, back when it was all called The Last Projectionist (before I Googled that shit and saw there was already a movie with that name), even back when it was called Spunkwater (a Tom Sawyer shout-out, and a title many people still prefer), I was surprised that for such an amalgam of incidents, it all ended up much shorter than I would have guessed, though people still tell me it's too much. Oh, well.

Actually, when I was working on it and still struggling to bring the three plot pieces together, I did an interview at Richard Godwin's "Chin Wags at the Slaughterhouse" about my collection Fish Bites Cop, and Richard's crazy-hard questions, combined with the late/great AJ Hayes' thought-provodking comments  threads (really miss that guy), actually helped form some of the final revision, in some weird, interesting ways. I thought about their musings a lot, about what the "philosophy" of the book might be regarding authority, if it even had one at all, and how there really needed to be a progression from the cop-bashing stuff in my short-story collection to something... else?

Here's a link to that interview if anybody is interested. Mr. Godwin puts you through the ringer over there:

http://www.richardgodwin.net/author-interviews-extensive/chin-wag-at-the-slaughterhouse-interview-with-david-james-keaton

Speaking of police! A police-officer friend of mine promised he was going to shoot The Last Projector to see how many pages a bullet would penetrate, but he never did. Joke's on him though because a bucket of water can stop a bullet without it penetrating the bottom, so it wouldn't really be that impressive if a novel stopped one, too. Honestly, I just wanted to see the pictures. But yeah, it never happened. He also never Tasered me like he promised either. These are probably good promises to break though.

Tony McMillen's picture
Tony McMillen from Mostly glorious Tucson Arizona but now I live near Boston. is reading Not, I'm writing November 17, 2015 - 9:18am

I like how you avoided and even made fun of  the whole damsel in distress trope.The woman in this book saves herself. Was this the way you always had it written or did that change over time? 

David James Keaton's picture
David James Keaton from "the water" is reading Kill Kill Faster Faster by Joel Rose November 17, 2015 - 12:50pm

Jacki Ramirez's character arc has changed a bit, but she was always conceptualized as a self-reliant sorta victim backlash. Back when it was called SPUNKWATER and still a screenplay, the main plot was mostly about her twisted relationship with the paramedics, particularly Jack, who's ramblings governed the original narrative, and it was a much shorter trek to the end, which basically stated [spoiler alert]:
"If a paramedic tries to cover up evidence of a sexual assault to spare the feelings of a car crash victim who was unconscious on the side of the road, she will understandably be extremely angry when she finds out."
Or, more simply put, "Guy believes he can not only eliminate the trauma of a crime, but the crime itself, if he's the only one who knows about... but fucks things up beyond belief."
So as the female character was fleshed out of the screenplay version more to rebound off the paramedic's walking-calamity version of a vigilante, she started to take over the book version. And in response, the Jack character is sort of "fleshed in" to a screenplay of his own, a movie within the novel adaptation of the original screenplay, which becomes an entirely new self-justifying narrative as he then attempts to film it (it all makes sense, I swear!). But even if Jacki isn't always front and center with all the Jack/Larry mid-adventures, she certainly dominates her scenes. There was one particular speech she gives about the ownership of her body regarding her assault (when she asks Jack, the worst savoir ever, "Would you rather your wife was raped or had one of her fingers cut off? How about hands?" etc.), and this exchange went through several drafts after I'd have women read it to see if it was too off-putting. Or more off-putting than the rest of the book anyway. :) The problem with pushing her philosophy of post-assault non-victimhood as far as it could go was it started to feel like it could be interpreted in the... other direction? But, yeah, she was always my hero.

Humboldt Lycanthrope's picture
Humboldt Lycanthrope from California is reading Sing, Unburied, Sing November 23, 2015 - 8:57am

RE: Shooting books.  Lol, Hunter S. Thompson used to shoot his books as a way of signing them before giving them away to friends. When it comes to pages penetrated I think it's safe to assume it would be the caliber of the gun used. A .22 probably won't go very far, but I got a .38 that I bet would put a nice hole in your novel. If you want a book shot, just let me know and I'll be happy to put a bullet in it. A shotgun would make a nice pattern, but wouldn't get past the first chapter. William Burroughs used to paint by shooting balloons of ink with a shotgun. It got some pretty interesting results.

David James Keaton's picture
David James Keaton from "the water" is reading Kill Kill Faster Faster by Joel Rose November 23, 2015 - 10:59am

I am very excited about the idea of you shooting my book. When this book-club conversation wraps up, I will be sending you a hardcover copy to destroy. I was going to raffle off a copy like Jeremy Robert Johnson did in his Skullcrack City book-club thread. But then I would just be thinking of ways to rig it so that anyone who promised to shoot the book would win. So unless someone can think of a more photogenic way to destroy a hardcover copy of The Last Projector, I think you've got the contest locked.

I'm thinking a .38 would be a great start, then you can switch to the shotgun. This way you can get both pictures. It'll be like when people shave off a beard, then they stop for a minute, get a picture of just the mustache, then shave that off, too. Just like that, except, you know, with bullets.

Humboldt Lycanthrope's picture
Humboldt Lycanthrope from California is reading Sing, Unburied, Sing November 24, 2015 - 1:01pm

Stoked!

I would be honored to fill your book full of holes. I will photo-document the ordeal, and post the pictures here and send them to you as well, if you like.

Then I will put the battered corpse of your wonderful novel in a place of honor next to the hardcover copy of Fight Club that Chuck personally inscribed to me, and my collection of first pressing Kerouacks, Burroughs, Vonnegut, Mailer, and Capote.

It will be in good company.  :)

David James Keaton's picture
David James Keaton from "the water" is reading Kill Kill Faster Faster by Joel Rose November 24, 2015 - 1:18pm

We have a deal. I knew this book club was a good idea.

Humboldt Lycanthrope's picture
Humboldt Lycanthrope from California is reading Sing, Unburied, Sing December 1, 2015 - 12:23pm

Got the book! Going to try and execute the deal this afternoon (ouch! Sorry about the pun). Should post pics tomorrow.

David James Keaton's picture
David James Keaton from "the water" is reading Kill Kill Faster Faster by Joel Rose December 1, 2015 - 1:59pm

This is exactly how all book-club discussions should end.

Humboldt Lycanthrope's picture
Humboldt Lycanthrope from California is reading Sing, Unburied, Sing December 1, 2015 - 3:42pm

How the hell do you get a pictue up here? The deed is done but I'm having trouble uploading the pictures.

David James Keaton's picture
David James Keaton from "the water" is reading Kill Kill Faster Faster by Joel Rose December 1, 2015 - 4:48pm

I think it's the "file attachments" link down there above the "post" and "preview" buttons.

I'm on the edge of my seat!

Pete's picture
Pete from Detroit is reading Red Dragon December 1, 2015 - 5:08pm

Sorry I haven't been around. I started a new job and I've been super busy and tired. And the holidays...

If you want me to post the pic, you can email me at pgoutis01@aol.com

Humboldt Lycanthrope's picture
Humboldt Lycanthrope from California is reading Sing, Unburied, Sing December 1, 2015 - 7:33pm

Can't get pictures up! Ugh!

Humboldt Lycanthrope's picture
Humboldt Lycanthrope from California is reading Sing, Unburied, Sing December 1, 2015 - 6:32pm

Okay, I put these pictures up on Facebook so that they would have a URL address, but I still couldn't get them to load here. If anyone can tell me what I'm doing wrong, that would be cool. If you want to see them go here: https://www.facebook.com/Matthew-Brockmeyer-The-Humboldt-Lycanthrope-341637682691547/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel  and click on "album". While you're there you should like my page, too.

Here's the low down.  The .38 went right through that bad boy, and it's a thick one: 509 pages. It went in clean with a tiny entrance wound and left with a big old hole. I guess I should have had it inscribed in the front, I've read enough true crime that I should have known, lol. 

The shotgun blast went to page 350, further than I thought it would have with bird shot, but it was point blank. I only took out the corner cause I wanted something left to put on my book case.

This was a lot of fun. I'm going to write an article about it with a review of the novel. Hopefully LitReactor will put it in their magazine.

 

Pete's picture
Pete from Detroit is reading Red Dragon December 1, 2015 - 7:57pm

I'm thinking that they wouldn't link due to facebook and litreactor, maybe? I put them on the litreactor server and did it that way. 

 

Pete's picture
Pete from Detroit is reading Red Dragon December 1, 2015 - 7:58pm

I think you can also attach them as files and then link off of the attachments? I don't know. I haven't tried it that way before. 

Humboldt Lycanthrope's picture
Humboldt Lycanthrope from California is reading Sing, Unburied, Sing December 1, 2015 - 9:45pm

Fuck yeah.

Thank you so much, Pete.

And thanks so much, Mr. Keaton. Sir, it has been an honor and a pleasure. I am a huge fan and your novel is fantastic. Spunk Water forever. Long live The Thing.

If anyone else would care to know how far a bullet will go through your novel, send me a copy and I will let you know. Trust me, it will be kept in a place of honor and held amid good company. Just like The Last Projector.

 

David James Keaton's picture
David James Keaton from "the water" is reading Kill Kill Faster Faster by Joel Rose December 1, 2015 - 10:34pm

well, hooo-leee crap look at that. ha those are some great pictures! I saw more pics on the Facebooks when I first clicked, but they vanished or something. Pete, can you put back up the picture where it blew a hole through the back cover, through the Chuck Kinder blurb? I'm gonna send that picture to Chuck - his redneck tendencies will definitely appreciate the imagery. He'll probably turn it into a Christmas card.
And I loved the perfect hole through chapter one you had up on Facebook. We need to see that picture over here, too. good stuff. Did you end up shotgunning? man, that book really did put up a fight in the front, but much like JFK, the party was in the back. 

No, thank you, H.L. And this was a ridiculous amount of fun, everybody. I'm glad we went out without a whimper.

Humboldt Lycanthrope's picture
Humboldt Lycanthrope from California is reading Sing, Unburied, Sing December 2, 2015 - 9:26am

I took the Facebook pictures down because apparently they have some no gun policy and the paranoid wife was ranting that I was going to get my site taken down. Of course I reminded her of the second amendment: "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed," but she wasn't having it.  I could have ignored her, but any married man knows what that can lead to. Maybe I'll put the less incriminating ones back up with a little blog.

Well, I aim to please, so shoot me your email in a PM and I'll send you the rest of those photos. I'll rifle through and find the best shots. I'm also gunning to write an article here, if it passes the firing squad. I'm loaded and ready to write with my finger on the trigger, hope the haters don't make a target out of me.

David James Keaton's picture
David James Keaton from "the water" is reading Kill Kill Faster Faster by Joel Rose December 2, 2015 - 12:31pm

I'll message you, gun-totin' werewolf man. Yeah, don't get in trouble on the homefront or internet fronts over attempts to shoot books. It's maybe not as alarming as the book burning in Footloose, but I can see how these days at first glance it might be a little scary if people didn't first read this totally rational, good-natured series of escalating forum comments that somehow directly resulted in a reader blowing a book's brains out. Like people do.

Seriously though, thanks again for reading my book over here, gun nuts and regular nuts alike! This LitReactor thing rocks.

Humboldt Lycanthrope's picture
Humboldt Lycanthrope from California is reading Sing, Unburied, Sing December 5, 2015 - 10:14am

Well, the New York Times just put an editorial on their cover for the first time in nearly a hundred years. It was about gun control, and prompted me to say a few words here.

It sure sucks that all this fun as hell mayhem, that carries on the tradition of legendary writers like Hunter S. Thompson, William Burroughs, and even Hemingway, took place right before the terrible tragedy in San Bernardino.

I just want to say that my heart goes out to all the victims and families, and let it be known that I am in no way a gun nut. While I may support the second amendment in theory, the awful gun violence in the U.S. is out of control. Way out of control.

Anyway, if you're reading this and haven't happened to read Mr. Keaton's book yet, do it! It's an awesome ride and I'm honored to have an inscribed copy on my bookshelf, even if it does have a couple holes in it. Thanks again David for this very fun and zany experience.

Pete's picture
Pete from Detroit is reading Red Dragon December 5, 2015 - 10:20am

David - I posted the only pics I was given. If you guys want more put up, feelet free to email me. :)

David James Keaton's picture
David James Keaton from "the water" is reading Kill Kill Faster Faster by Joel Rose December 5, 2015 - 6:59pm

Thanks, Pete, it's all good - I saw all the incriminating photos elseware on the interzone. I appreciate all the book-blasting action you guys posted. Lots of fun had in this thread, even if the gunplay had terrible timing, which is the story of my writing career actually, so business as usual :)