The best from my international literary magazine, Cantaraville (2008–2011)
DOWNLOAD THE BEST OF CANTARAVILLE HERE
Outtakes from Rebel Bookseller Andy makes an appearance in the first chapter of my memoir, A Poet from Hollywood (you know, the one where I try to make Jake Gyllenhaal’s dad into a star of the poetry scene). Against all odds, Andy’s kept the faith. You’re our number-one book maven now and forever, Andy.
The Black Crayon novel excerpt We knew Jason from our (free-of-charge) writers group back in San Francisco around the turn of the century — one of our better writers, and so young! He moved down to LA to work in movies…and then…
“Memories of Philip K Dick” Forget how we met Tessa, probably at a sci-fi convention. As well as writing her own sci-fi/fantasy stories, she completed and self-published Phil Dick’s unfinished novel, The Owl In Daylight, to some acclaim (it made the NYT)— before it was suppressed by Dick’s hardass daughter, Isa. Bootleg PDF copies of Owl are floating around the internet, and if you can get a copy, get it! It’s a great read.
Forbidden City: The Golden Age of Chinese Nightclubs excerpt Legendary culture historian and feminist cartoonist (Wimmin’s Comix), Tina lived around the corner from us in that 80s-90s hotbed of creativity, the Mission-Castro neighborhood of San Francisco. When she died two weeks ago, I decided to compile this collection of the best of Cantaraville and dedicate it to her.
“Myth of the Smell” Adnan’s story came to us over the transom and since I was tutoring some other kickass Bosnian refugees in English at the time, it resonated with me. Last we heard from him he was reading his own funny (in that ruefully humorous European way) piece on the BBC. He’s now teaching, a full PhD, at the University of Stockholm.
“Stonewall Anniversary” Michael and I worked with Jim at the acclaimed Eureka Theatre in San Francisco before he went off to do movies. He’s done some lead roles in some small, great indies, but he’s best known for his scary gangster portrayal in the Coen Brothers’ Miller’s Crossing.
The Macoomba Room at the Club Mocambo novel excerpt Buzz — also known by his given name, Lorenzo Matawaran — was the funniest Filipino I ever knew. Buzz worked the San Francisco comedy scene before he, too, went down to LA to do screen work. His best-known roles: Buzz in the spacy sitcom Out of This World and Guido in Baywatch (which gave him a measure of fame on German television).
“An LSD Trip” I met Tobolowsky through a mutual friend, an actor I worked with in San Francisco (who also featured in my favorite episode, the baseball episode, of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine). Tobo also does a podcast/one-man show of his personal stories and anecdotes now stored at Slashfilm — but you probably know him best as Ned Ryerson in the beloved classic comedy, Groundhog Day.
“Memories of the Fab Mab” My senior editor and sweet-baby husband, under his pen name for his first novel, Tales from the Last Resort, wrote this memory of the fabulous punk-rock club Mabuhay Gardens just for me, after I showed him my Dead Kennedys arm patch, which I still sport.
I Remember Amnesia novel excerpt I met Clifford Irving in St Paul de Vence in the mid 70s, when I played The Girl in his own personal adventure (kind of like Maria Schneider in The Passenger, one of my favorite movies). We met up again in NY — or was it LA? — when he laid on me the manuscript to his last book and told me to have at it. So here’s the excerpt.
Ashley Saves the World a 10-minute play I linked up with Tom through Steve Gyllenhaal (see above)—and not actually because of Steve, but through mutual exasperation with Steve’s then wife, screenwriter Naomi Foner, a formidable believer in How Things Ought To Go. Tom created a top-notch sci-fi/fantasy network series in the 90s Michael and I really enjoyed called Nightmare Cafe with Robert “Freddy Krueger” Englund (below). Of course it was cancelled after six episodes. (All episodes available on YouTube here.)
“Decoding the Bard” This came over the transom. I love talk about Shakespeare.
“English Fairness Snow” Again, came over the transom. A fine poet and short story writer, I’ve seen her work in several high-quality lit journals and hope she’s doing well.
“In the Footsteps of Josephine” Manda was part of our (again, free-of-charge) writers group in Paris. A former headliner at the Folies Bergère, Manda is a permanent part of the wonderful history of American Black entertainers in post-war Europe.
“Bullet” poem Eisart, a Dublin lad, submitted three poems to us, all of which we took; this is the best of the three. Lost track of this young man, hope he’s also doing well.
Additionally you can find, sprinkled through this collection, my essays on writing and digitally publishing:
- “The Road to Cantaraville”
- “The E-Reader In the Woods”
- “A Quiet Place to Write”
- “Two Presses”
- “Dear Comrade-In-Letters”
- “Writing In the New Publishing Paradigm”
DOWNLOAD THE BEST OF CANTARAVILLE HERE
PINY Press 