*(Halloween countdown post #14)
Generation Bloodbath are:
Paul Curran (vocals)
Ben DeVos (guitar)
Mike Corrao (bass)
Kier Cooke Sandvik (drums)
Apocalypse Party Press, 2022
Bonus Tracks:
* Manowar – “Blood of My Enemies”
* Bathory – “Blood Fire Death”
* Hellhammer – “Blood Insanity”
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p.s. Hey. Today’s an awesome day on the blog because it gets to help usher into the world the new, long-awaited book by Paul Curran, one of the most exciting writers on the planet and author of the still young but already legendary novel ‘Left Hand’. Paul has put together a total knock-down-drag-out post for the occasion, and I’ll leave you all to it. And do score the book if you know what’s best for you. Thanks, and thank you mega, Paul. ** h now j, You are indeed! Thank you, and, yes, she’s fungi-headed, a surprising but sensible choice. I hope I’ll get to read your Warhol piece somewhere. Will you publish it? No problem: the blog and I are disappearing for 3 1/2 weeks starting on Tuesday, so enjoy your off-time, as will I, I hope. ** Tea, Hi, Tea! Okay, scary!!!! Thank you. (I’m not easy to scare). ** Dominik, Hi!!! I agree about us playing Cupid for love and the Scuba boy. Maybe we should bring some rophynol just in case. I’m happy the zombies lead you to imbibe some acoustic guitar. An acoustic guitar is sort of like a zombie electric guitar? Or, wait, maybe the opposite. Love reversing all of Cher’s cosmetic surgery just to see what she really looks like, G. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hey, Ben! Oh, wow, I remember reading that interview. Let me share the wealth. Everyone, Before we leave the topic of zombies entirely, here’s a last related goodie from the one, the only _Black_Acrylic: ‘ My own claim to fame is that back in 2009 on Yuck ‘n Yum duties, I interviewed the Scottish actor Ian McCulloch from Zombie Flesh Eaters aka Zombi 2 at the DCA. I think the audio file from that is now sadly lost to history, but he was a nice guy and he makes a living as a posh farmer these days.’ I’ve read it. It’s a blast. ** Steve Erickson, Inch by inch. No, we fly to LA on Monday. Yeah, making that thematic post non-boring and predictable, if I did, was no small task. I have a bunch of those C-cassettes back in LA. Back when the NME was actually something and not just a version of the usual. Nice of that site to do that. Everyone, Steve has a potential treasure trove alert for at least some of y’all: ‘Between 1981 and 1986, the NME released 36 cassette compilations to its subscribers. C81 (somewhat of an extension of WANNA BUY A BRIDGE?) and C86 are the most famous, but they also put out primers on world music and jazz, among other genres. Back in 2010-1, this blog digitized them and made them all available for download, and you can still get them there.’ ** David Ehrenstein, Yes, RIP Angela Lansbury. She had a great run. ** Robert, Hi, Robert. Do people call you Rob or Bob or Robby or Bobby? ‘Woodcutters’ is so great, yeah. I can’t remember what my first Bernhard book was. Maybe ‘Correction’? I saw him in person once in the mid-80s. I was living in Amsterdam, and my boyfriend took me to see a play by him, and I had no idea who he was at that point, and he came out and took a bow, and it was only later after I read him that I realised how lucky I was and tried to remember the moment which I was sort of whatever about in the moment. Obviously, pushing the originality further with your book is no bad thing, as long as it doesn’t drive you crazy and/or make you feel less sure about what it is your have accomplished. In my experience, both with my own stuff and with the work of writers I know, the fear that you’re imitating other writers you’re influenced by is a phantom. The influence is automatically transformed and backstaged by your own voice. The only problem is that it’s easer to recognise a known writer’s voice than your own, so you can think its presence is too strong when it actually isn’t. I wouldn’t let that worry you enough to think twice about forging ahead with confidence. I’ve never worried about reading too narrowly, if that helps. You’re being influenced by all kinds of things you’re intaking that aren’t books, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with chasing whatever it is that excites you as concentratedly as you like. ** Brian, Hey, B. I wonder if that guy you mentioned in Tennessee is the same guy who used to do the most extreme haunted house ever, ‘McKamey Manor’. I think he was from there? Yeah, the title ‘Gothic Lit’ portends substance or range at the very least. Oh, well, it’ll be over soon enough, I guess. Oh, wow, I highly recommend you get into Godard. I think someone could make the case that he’s the greatest director ever and be pretty persuasive about it. Oh, mm, I might need a day to think of a good horror suggestion. I’m always pretty vague at this time of the morning. Sounds fun! ‘Lost Highway’ has some flaws here and there, I think, but it’s still really great. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ essay, yikes. You have enough of an angle to pleasure yourself? Today I have to really start preparing for the LA trip, so that’s my day. Unfun but need be. Have a Wednesday of righteousness. Uh, did you? ** Right. Glory in the glory that Paul Curran has wrought for you today, and I’ll see you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
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That’s a pallas cat or manul. They’re quite adorable when not hiding behind rocks, but they’re completely antisocial. They hate humans and are much more adverse to captivity than other wild cats. They’re also the oldest living cat species and the only ones with round, circular pupils. They’re my favourite animal. What’s yours?
P.S. – This just reminded me I need to get a copy of ‘Left Hand.’ Been meaning to, so I’ll get both.
Hi!!
What an excellent appetizer! Thank you ever so much, Paul, and major congratulations!!
Some Rohypnol might come in handy. Just in case love doesn’t grow to like the idea of diving as much as we expect, haha.
Hm, I’d say maybe electric guitars are the zombies?
Haha, fuck. Do you think we’d even recognize her? Maybe by the shape of her head. Or if she spoke. Such a mean and amazing love. Love inventing blood-flavored bubblegum (imagine how great the bubbles would look like!), Od.
Paul, About fucking time! I’m kidding. Yay! I’m looking forward to it, my friend.
Dennis, Thanks, and hugs back. Really hit me this morning, just a few minutes ago. I saw what you wrote to Mieze yesterday: right? Hahaha. Like I told you, Joe was really glad to see you that last time and he felt the warmth too. He’d always bring it up. And yeah, he was lurking here all the time. That was the PGL screening, right? He loved loved loved that movie. He always said he wanted to see it again. Couldn’t have a better compliment than that from him.
Yeah, the reviews for Bones and All ain’t so bad. A lot of people seem to really like or at least appreciate it. It’s made me more curious. Of course, I’m going to see it, duh. But I’m looking forward to it a little more now. We’ll see.
Hope your day is good. Me, work, gym, then working more on this thing for the blog re: Joe. It’s coming together. Thanks again for everything.
Ohio
Hey Paul – What a fantastic teaser for Generation Bloodbath. The excerpt you posted is really mind-blowing. I can’t wait to pick up a copy. Congrats on this making its way into the world!
Dennis – Thanks for the kind words about the new JC ep. So glad you dug it! The next few eps have some very different moves, but still tightly wound for the most part.
That’s terrible and infuriating news about Lannan and Bookworm. WTF. I always thought of Michael and that show was one of the last bulwarks against the increasingly shallow discourse around literature. It was out of step in the very best way. Which is maybe precisely why they thought it needed to go?
Yessss!!! Well done Paul. Looks amazing!
Hi Dennis. Really enjoying your posts for this month so far. Also, congrats Paul Curran on the book. 🙂 It looks epic.
Your property owners post reminded me of how my family used to have a house in my old neighborhood that decorated for Halloween with anti-Halloween signs and decorations. Of course, it was the house that attracted the most visitors and had people constantly taking pictures and trolling them. Woah, that video of the Mountain View house, too. Not far from where I am. o.o” I wonder if they still do all of that stuff there. The filmmaker you posted about, I’d seen his Splatter movie a looooong time ago, and it’s so nice you have the full versions of other ones on here. During my overnights in Redmond Oregon (Where there’s really nothing to do), I plan on watching a few of those. Gotta do the gay ones and anything about snuff film porno stuff.
Book stuff is all confusing at the moment… Yeah. Lol.
Congratulations on the new book, Paul! Looks like Benjamin DeVos added it to goodreads, but it’s under a different Paul Curran. I’ve messaged him.
Some fine boy zombies yesterday, Dennis. I’m not familiar with Marie Mencken’s work, will definitely spends more time with the post.
Finished Tim Jones-Yelvington’s collection. My favorite pieces remind me a bit of Kevin Killian, very New Narrative but with more chaotic energy maybe.
Bill
Hey Paul, congratulations on the new book: very intrigued, “a vampire novel?” Well, and no offense to yesterday’s blog entry, I’ve always felt that vampires beat zombies. Anyway, just ordered it through Barnes & Noble, looking forward to it.
@ Paul, congratulations on the new arrival! I loved Left Hand and am basking in the glow of today’s post.
The latest update on the flat purchase is that the solicitor has still not received the form we sent in the post 1st class last week. Mum is away in Ireland until Friday, so I can see things being held up yet again.
Paul Curran, if you’re reading – Left Hand is a big favourite of mine so I was already looking forward to GB, but this post has pushed my excitement levels into space. It looks so great!!! Thank you!
Dennis,
How are you? I got back to Brussels a couple of hours ago. I loved the Joan Mitchell exhibit and Paris was just super dreamy all over. Thanks for taking time to hang out with me.
How was your Wednesday?
Non-returnable love,
Jamie
Fuck yeah Paul!!!
Hey D! Thanks again for linking to the zine, I think my original thanks may have gotten lost.
-L
hi dennis – i left a comment on your marie menken post the other day but i think it didn’t post until a few hours later, after you had already posted your new blog, so you might’ve missed it. to be safe i wanna come back and mention again that my best friend and i have a short playing at festival des cinémas différents et expérimentaux de paris on saturday in competition 5 titled “knife play (for two angels)”. if you’re free, it’d be super cool if you were there! as i said in my first comment, no worries if you can’t make it! just putting it out there. thanks!! much love to you
Does Paul think of this day as a GIF short story?
Have you heard Reptile House’s REPEATER TAXX? It’s extremely pretty hip-hop, somewhere near Drain Gang (sans Autotune), but it never feels like cafe playlist background music. The 8-minute closer “Final Fantasy/Kill Screen” first got my attention.
Mega thanks back to you, Dennis!!! And thanks for sorting out the construction bugs. I kind of love how GB started off as a side project from my j-novel and was eventually headlining. A total honour to blast off from homebase DCs! And an added honour to blast off during the Halloween parade! Mega Love xx
Tea, Thanks!
Dominik, Thanks so much too!
Misanthrope, ha ha. Cheers, buddy! Isn’t yours coming soon…?
Jeff J, Thanks alot, Jeff! btw, I really enjoyed your recent rock podcast interview.
tomk, Thanks Tom! 2022 a great year to get books out!
Damien Ark, Thanks!
Cheers, Bill! Hope things are going well. Thanks for the goodreads info. Ben runs Apocalypse Party. Will check with him about merging. I’m not too sure how those things work. Same with Amazon.
Sypha, Thanks, James! Vampire novel in the loosest sense, ha ha, with rivers of blood.
_Black_Acrylic, Thanks, Ben! I really appreciate it. Hope you’re doing well.
Jamie, Thanks a lot! I really appreciate it, and hope you enjoy GB too!
l@rst, Fuck year, thanks!!!
Steve Erickson, just saw you comment. Yes, thanks, it’s kind of a gif representation of aspects and themes from the novel.
Oh wow, this book looks incredible! I’m in the middle of Philosophical Investigations right now and it looks like they’d make for a pretty good side-by-side read.
Thanks for the advice, that’s good stuff to chew on. I’ve gone through these phases of finding a new author and slavishly imitating them for a while until they finally come out the other end and the influence gets distilled into something subconscious and workable, but yeah you are right–what I see in my own stuff as their voice probably isn’t as close as I’d expect. I’d been wondering something similar recently, since every time I read a Thomas Bernhard book/get in a bad mood I essentially walk around for a while monologuing in his voice in my head, but if I look at it more closely it’s probably not at all that similar. At a certain point I probably just need to relax about the whole thing haha. I went sort of crazy this summer trying to come up with something distinctive and I ended up coming up with nothing, but now that I’ve got something going I have the worry that it’s too derivative, but it’s probably best to put that aside for the time being. That’s sort of incredible, I got a mental image from that of watching him come out on stage and it’s been looping through my brain every now and then all day. And I’ve sort of gone by everything, I was Bobby as a kid but then at some point I started leading with Robert but then all my college friends ended up calling me Rob, because Robert is a weird name to call someone every day.
Congratulations and warm wishes to Paul on the new book. And hey Dennis, how are you? I believe I might be close to the completion of my second novel. I can feel this massive exhalation approaching slowly through the tweaks I’m making into the manuscript. I wanted to ask you about recognizing that end point, especially related to the novel form, a novel’s such a lonely mountain to build and then climb and claim, how have you known when your novels are ready? I think you once wrote me here that for a long time you would have one pre-reader who you trusted with testing whether the piece works. But how do you yourself recognize that point in the journey has arrived? And have you had to cope with experiencing any regret about your published novels, like having editing ideas in hindsight and letting them go? I must clarify that the local literary field in my country is very specific, because a lot of novels are completed only a few months before they come out. I’m under the impression that with major publishers in the States and elsewhere books are ready a year or two in advance before being published, so my questions sorta grow from there. So I’m preparing mentally to know when I’m totally sure about the novel’s ripeness.
Great post! Who’s your favourite player of The Liver Paul?
Hello Dennis I know yours all the ready…. same as mine I bet! Shhh!
I just thought of you after seeing an irritating story on Yahoo news…. and breathe…. some stupid nobody seeking revenge on a blameless somebody… She needs to get stoned man big time…. some folks need to lighten up….
To change the tone…. I wonder if you are going to get to see the ABBA virtual reality show at any point, I know you like them…. I just took a friend of mine to see it, the 2nd time for me… as they appeared on stage he was like ‘Oh my god!!!’ over and over… it is pretty mind blowing… tat tah x
Hey, Dennis,
Amazingly good primer for what appears to be a most intriguing book. I’ll be reading. Thank you and congratulations, Paul. “McKamey Manor” is the guy. I saw some unpleasant videos of him waterboarding people and making them bleed and such. It doesn’t really seem like a haunted house to me at all, but I guess it’s a flexible term. I definitely will get into Godard soon enough. I have a few friends who hold that greatest director ever opinion. I think I’ll do “Vivre sa Vie” or “Masculin Féminin” next. No rush for horror suggestions. I rewatched “Perfect Blue” for tonight’s entry, one of my favorites ever. I’ve heard the same about “Lost Highway,” but many of my friends seemed to be absolutely terrified by it, so I’m curious. I didn’t really have a very pleasurable angle on “Romeo and Juliet,” not enough to make writing it a fun experience, anyway. In class I raised this whole erotic interpretation of the violence that the teacher told me I should save for a honors course, which was a very flattering way of telling me to drop it, so I just went with the straightforward sort of textual analysis that we’re mostly expected to do. Those sorts of essays are easy enough to write, but I’m kind of tired of Shakespeare. That was it for my Wednesday—not very righteous, but kind of relaxed, finished the Hermann Hesse, so not that bad. Hope the packing or preparations or whatever went well today. Sweet dreams.
RIP Joe Mills. That’s really sad to find out about. Ugh.
Congratulations, Paul! This is very exciting news because as you know, I’m a huge fan of your work. The post is characteristically wild and intriguing. So excited to get my hands on your new book and devour it! Yes!!!
Dennis – hey, mister. I hope your LA prep is going well. I’m excited for you and Zac (say hey from me). I’m good – been super busy for the last few weeks and I’m kinda wiped out but I’m always better overall when I’m busy compared to when I’m not. The London Infinity Land event seemed to go well and people were. very cool and kind about my reading. I’ll be in New York in a couple of weeks reading at the Amphetamine Sulphate event in Manhattan. Exciting!
Dear god I cannot contain my excitement. Cannot wait to order this when I’m not broke. Paul, your writing has inspired me so greatly, and from this excerpt I can tell that it will continue to do so!
Congratuations Paul! Can’t wait to read it. Love Kier’s visauls too and the Sabbath live clips are delicious…
Dennis!! Super excited that you and Zac are about to start work on the film… miss you Mx