The June issue is looking scorchio, people so dawb on the Factor 50 and bask in the literary talent of some of the hottest underground writers around. We have new poetry from Tony O'Neill, Justin Hyde, Ben Myers (in sterophonic sound no less!) and Robert Warrington, novel chapter ones from Steve Finbow and Mikael Covey and a flash fiction piece from Anne Goodwin. To read, heckle and download the new June Beat the Dust Chap-book with all this month's writing, you know what to do...
FLAMIN' JUNE 08 EDITION OF BEAT THE DUST
Author:
Tony O'Neill (in the year 2000) interviews Tony O'Neill (in the year 2008)
TON2000: Shit man, you look good. You've shaved. TON2008: Yeh. You look... uh.... TON2000: Oh I know. So what’s up? You're alive. That’s kinda nice to know. Whatcha doin' these days? TON2008: I write. TON2000: Write what? Rubber checks? TON2008: Nah, books. I got one coming out on Harper Perennial in November 08. "Down and Out on Murder Mile" TON2000: Fuck off! Don't you have to finish college to do that? TON2008: Apparently not. TON2000: You get high still? TON2008: Well, not by your standards. By your standards I'm kind of a monk these days. TON2000: So you got old and sold out. You gonna tell me you got an SUV too, and a nice little picket fence? TON2008: No car, no fence. Not yet anyway. I'd take the car and the fence over what I know is coming up for YOU though, smart ass.... TON2000: OK, OK. I hear ya. Hey.... listen, I hate to ask, but can I borrow a few bucks? I'm a bit short now and I have this thing I need to do.... TON2008: I know, I know. Here take it. You can pay me back when you meet the old me in 8 years time. TON2000: Uh, yeh. Sure. Time travel is so confusing. I think I gotta lay off the coke. I think I'm burning out some brain cells. TON2008: Yeah. That sounds about right.
TON2008's latest book Hero of the Underground just debuted at #33 on The New York Times bestseller list. For more info, go here.
Submission Date:
05 Jun 2008
Category:
Poetry
In Podcast and Chap-book
Title:
the sound of jeffrey lee pierce singing 'yellow eyes' floating out of a busted tape player
Excerpt:
under threadbare sheets in kilburn a story began, then concluded and ...
Q: What's in the bag? A: A pen, a wallet, a notebook, a paperback, an asthma inhaler and my insulin kit.
Q: Where have you been recently? A: Berlin, Rome, Tangier, New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Tokyo.
Q: Drink much while you were there? A: Try the Schwarze Café, Bar San Calisto, Dean's Bar, Grassroots Tavern, Vesuvio, Hank's Bar, Bar Kamiya.
Q: Who should I take on holiday? Woodrell, Nunn, Gutierrez, Miller, Thom Jones and that Acker chick if you like it rough. A: How long you staying? Until the shrimp cocktail's finished.
Submission Date:
05 Jun 2008
Category:
Novel extract
In Podcast and Chap-book
Title:
nothing matters – chapter one of a novel in progress
Excerpt:
Leaning over the coffin-style freezer, I search around the butterball turkeys until I find her. She isn’t quite solid. I pull her out & leave her in the backyard to thaw. While the sun warms her, I iron her outfit & search for her bobble hat, finding it tucked under a pile of muscle mags in her bedr...
HC: Can you tell me a little bit about the spoken word recordings of the spam poems included here? BM: They were recorded in the bedroom of a house near a bridge near a city. They were 'produced' by a friend and collaborator of mine who goes by the name of Doc Throberts, who runs a home studio. We have also been working on a music and words project for a number of years, entitled The Gulag. The spam poems were recorded in an hour a couple of years ago, then hidden away until now as they were too ahead of their time. Now they are 'of their time'. Interesting fact: Doc Throberts once fell off the bonnet of a moving car and now has no sense of smell. HC: Do you ever read your work in public? BM: No. HC: Why not? BM: I've never really intended to 'perform' in public. I've always maintained that people often write down the things that they are too afraid or shy or inhibited to say in public. Personally, I write because I often find it a better method of communication than speech. Also, I'm also not entirely convinced anyone wants to hear me read in public. I mean, there's nothing worse than a poet forcing themselves upon the public. Also, writers are often disappointing in 'real life'. I think there has to at least be an attempt at conjuring an air of mystery or mystique. Maybe one day I will. HC: What are your non-literary influences when writing? BM: Nature, the threat of abject poverty, old reggae music, rifling through dustbins, Irn-Bru, riding my new bike, the madness of the city, punk rock and hardcore, fish and fishing, old English folk music, cats, boxing, grime music, sex, an inability to give in and get a real job, world politics, childhood, London (especially Peckham, Soho and the South Bank), Brutalism, solitude, spam e-mails, Ullswater, sugar, klezmer music, imaginary bodies of water, cheap clothes, cheap shoes, cheap haircuts, cheap everything, pills of many varieties, Futurism, stone circles, Durham, cemeteries, Klaus Kinski's face, 10p per word, walking as far as you can walk, swimming in places you're not allowed to swim, coffee, multi-dimensional traveling, my excellent girlfriend. HC: Name some writers you always urge people to read. BM: Henry David Thoreau, Knut Hamsun, Pedro-Juan Guiterrez, Richard Brautigan, Li Po, Ian Svenonius, George Mackay Brown, Julian Cope, Halldor Laxness.
Submission Date:
05 Jun 2008
Category:
Audio Recording
In Podcast and Chap-book
Title:
spam: email inspired poetry
Excerpt:
To listen to a selection of poems from Ben Myers’ new collection click here to play now: .
SJ: You’re a hot sexy stud muffin MC: Um, you’re thinking of Joe Ridgwell SJ: Oh…yeah you’re right MC: People get us confused all the time; he’s my altar ego SJ: You mean alt… MC: I’m a pigment of his imagination SJ: You mean, piglet MC: Hah! you got me; feels good don’t it SJ: Feels real good MC: So, we hard? SJ: Yeah, we hard
Submission Date:
05 Jun 2008
Category:
Novel extract
In Podcast and Chap-book
Title:
shy girl killing - chapter one of a novel
Excerpt:
A boy goes out walking his dog. Late evening, dark, raining. Wearing pajamas and a coat over. Bedtime, but has to walk the dog first, every night before bed.
The dog snarls, breaks free, chasing something in the night. Big dog, angry now, growling, running full speed into the darkness. The bo...
Q: What is something you are ashamed of? A: The way I treated a young woman with cancer. She was twenty, I was twenty-six, we were dating. Her name was Amanda.
Q: What is your attitude towards your parents? A: I think they did the best they could. If I hadn’t had the childhood I did I’d probably be an accountant or civil engineer or designer of gazebos instead of a poet, so I’d like to thank them for that.
Q: Is it true you won a triathlon? A: Yes, but that was seven years and fifty-pounds ago.
Q: Shameless plug for your first book of poetry? A: ‘Down where the hummingbird goes to die’, available from the Outsider Writers bookstore.
Anne Goodwin is interviewed by her university tutor circa 1979
UT: Do you know why I've been told to see you? AG: No. UT: The University subscribes to a press cutting service. Whenever anything comes up in the press concerning a student, their tutor gets a memo telling them to meet with them. AG: Oh. UT: My bit of paper says you've won some travel writing competition. AG: I've already spent the prize-money. I got myself a music-centre and an Inter-rail ticket. UT: Isn't it a bit odd this writing lark? What's wrong with maths? AG: There's nothing wrong with maths. Some of my best friends are differential equations. And don't get me started on the beauty of the square root of minus one. But that little library on Level Two, it's so nice and peaceful. I just can't help writing when I go in there. UT: Well don't overdo it, eh? You don't want to end up with an arts degree. AG: Okay.
Submission Date:
05 Jun 2008
Category:
Flash fiction
In Podcast and Chap-book
Title:
the wilsons go shopping
Excerpt:
Christmas Eve in the supermarket. The Wilson dynasty has turned up with one representative of each of the four generations, as if to take part in some family game show. Having appointed myself unofficial captain, I have to say that I am pleased with our team’s performance so fa...
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