Amber Sparks

Feb 25

Where I’ll be at AWP

A little more than a week from now, I’ll be heading to Boston for AWP! So it’s time for the obligatory “where I”ll be” post which really, honestly, is the online version of those family white boards (Tommy at soccer practice, Suzy at trombone lessons) so that I can keep track of all of my friends’ whereabouts and they can keep track of me. AWP is a little bit of a looser, less calendared out event for me this year, thank god. I mean to relax and have fun, so feel free to join me or just stop and say hi!

Thursday: I will be pretty much parked the whole night at the wonderful Sweetwater Tavern, where magical things will be happening all night long. First up is the AWP IRL Happy Hour. Free drinks! Hosted by Electric Literature, Tumblr, and Lapham’s Quarterly, which my lovely parents just gave me a subscription to for my birthday! FREE DRINKS! And best of all, you don’t even have to go outside to get to the next great event, Their Peculiar Ambitions: A Night of Presidenti al Fiction Readings! I’ll be hosting this puppy and giving out free swag to a lucky few here. This event is going to be killer – tons of your favorite writers reading flash fiction about the presidents of the United States – what could be more fun? Don’t even bother answering with anything else or you’re dead to me.

Friday I plan to eat and drink and play it by ear. Lit Party, maybe? Afterparty? I’m concentrating on food at this point.

Saturday’s a packed day. In the morning, from 11-12, I’ll be hanging out at the Curbside Splendor table at the bookfair and signing copies of May We Shed These Human Bodies – so please stop by and say hello if you get a chance! Then around happy hour time, I’m going to be reading for Curbside Spendor at a joint reading with Other Voices Books, at one of the nation’s best bo okstores, the Brookline Booksmith - with Steve Almond, Steven Dau, Rob Roberge, and Thea Goodman. Incredible goodness – come out come out if you can! Then finally, ending up the night with one of those magnificent mega-readings, Heavy Feather Review, Big Lucks, Magic Helicopter Press, and Factory Hollow Press present There’s Still Good in You ! an AWP 2013 offsite reading, featuring: Jensen Beach, Gabriel Blackwell, Rachel B. Glaser, Evelyn Hampton, W. Todd Kaneko, Seth Landman, Jordaan Mason, Caryl Pagel, Adam Robinson, and me!

Hope to see you all there, regardless of when and where and how! (Okay, well, the how might be kind of important. But you know what I mean.)

Dec 18

2 Comments

You’ve probably heard, but…Best Small Press Debut!

Atlantic Wire named MAY WE SHED THESE HUMAN BODIES the best small press debut of 2012! Thank you to Cal Morgan at Harper Perennial for sharing the book and his thoughts about it with the folks at the Atlantic. This is the best Christmas gift ever, for sure.

Oh – and if you haven’t bought the book yet but were on the fence, it’s half off at Curbside Splendor through the holidays!

Dec 13

In Which I Self-Promote and Join a Chain Letter (Sort Of): The Next Big Thing, Um, Thing

The lovely Tara Laskowski, author of MODERN MANNERS FOR YOUR INNER DEMONS from Matter Press, asked me to be a part of this thing called, uh, the Next Big Thing. It’s pretty much self-promotion (and isn’t all of this, really?), but while you’re promoting yourself, you’re also promoting other writers, so I could get down with that, I decided. And here I am, down and ready to interview myself, I think. It’s a little creepy – this is the second self-interview I’ve done. I’m kind of an egoist but this feels a little desperate. Nonetheless, I didn’t devise the questions, at least, so here we here we go!

What is your working title of your book? MAY WE SHED THESE HUMAN BODIES. That one was easy.

Where did the idea come from for the book? There were many ideas, and they came from all over the world. They fell from the clouds like rain, they came up like soft shoots into the soles of my feet, they seeded my brain and molded black on the inside of my heart.

What genre does your book fall under? Literary fiction. Or possibly blue cheese nachos.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? Hmm, these questions are really more for a novelist than for a flash fiction writer, eh? Bobcat Goldthwait. He would play ALL of the characters. It would be like a reunion of the cast of Police Academy, only with just Bobcat Goldthwait. Wait, is he dead?

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? Stars and stars like seed pearls and a lot of darkness and sometimes a little comet or two.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? Neither one. It was published in October by Curbside Splendor, and is not represented by an agency.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? All my life.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? Maybe a little bit Angela Carter, a little bit Lorrie Moore, a little bit George Saunders, with a hint of Ben Marcus. And some Saltine crumbs in the flaps.

Who or what inspired you to write this book? My cats.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? It’s green. Apparently no books are ever green. Well, mine is.

Up next week! Look for blogs by the fabulous fiction writer Lauren Becker, author of Shut Up/Look Pretty, the wonderful and very witty Steve Himmer, who is working on a fascinating new novel; and the ridiculously-talented Robert Kloss, author of The Alligators of Abraham, just out from Mud Luscious Press.

Nov 8

Books on the Nightstand Likes My Book!

A big huge thank you to Michael Kindness for the lovely things he says about May We Shed These Human Bodies on the story story obsession edition of the terrifically addicting podcast Books on the Nightstand. Including this:

I am absolutely loving May We Shed These Human Bodies by Amber Sparks, a collection that is perfect for fans of Karen Russell, Kevin Brockmeier and Aimee Bender.

I’m also really glad I discovered Books on the Nightstand, by the way, because it’s a very engaging and interesting listen and I’m now a fan already. Check it out if you haven’t yet. These two folks (Michael, and Ann Kingman) are obsessed with books, and how can that not be a fun thing to listen to?

Nov 6

Great Review of MWSTHB at Vol. 1 Brooklyn

Feeling so flattered and thankful and pleased by this wonderful review from Tobias Carrol at Vol. 1 Brooklyn. I think it really gets at the heart of what I try to do when I write, and I was so excited to see that I’ve achieved at least some of what I set out to do. From the review:

Sparks has intelligence aplenty on display, a talent for humor, and the ability to blend mythical resonances with contemporary anxieties. But her fiction is also rooted in the tactile and the physical, and it’s that quality that makes these works truly haunting.

Read the rest here!

Nov 6

Upcoming Readings: Atlanta, Baltimore, DC, and Providence Come Out and Say Hello

Do you live in or near Atlanta, Baltimore, DC, or Providence? If so, come out and say hello and see me and some other great writers read in November! Buy a book (mine or someone else’s) and support the local indie scene – or just come out to see your friends and have a few drinks and a great time.

Upcoming readings here (click for the Facebook invite and info:)

November 9th Vouched Atlanta
November 11th Ada Books in Providence
Nov 17th 510 Series in Baltimore
Nov 18th Big Hunt Three Tents in DC

Oct 15

Happy Pre-Order Order Day, The Alligators of Abraham!

That’s right! Today is the day! You can pre-order Robert Kloss‘s phenomenal alternate Civil War history (illustrated by Matt Kish) at Mud Luscious Press today. And you should, and you should not wait, because I’m guessing this book will sell out very fast indeed.

While you’re waiting for the physical copy, here’s the book trailer to whet your appetite a little.