Dennis Cooper ZAC’S CORAL REEF – 7 STORIES
Kiddiepunk Press
“Zac’s Coral Reef” is Dennis Cooper’s fourth book of animated gif fiction, and his second collection of short gif stories after 2015’s “Zac’s Control Panel”. Here he continues to explore, refine, and push the boundaries of this self-invented literary genre, forging poetic narratives from animated images with characteristic daring and ever-growing subtlety. In this latest book he tackles a number of new areas, including sci-fi, a story in the form of a dark ride, and other virginal turfs. The result is another unprecedented step in this pioneering medium that, in the words of The New Yorker, “feels a little bit ‘real’, a little bit ‘fictional’, and a little bit neither.”
NOW AVAILABLE AS A FREE DOWNLOAD OR TO VIEW ONLINE
Previously
Background
How Dennis Cooper Turns GIFs Into Fiction
This novel made of GIFs is kind of terrifying
The Download: Dennis Cooper’s GIF Novels
If You Write A Novel In GIFs, Is It Still A Novel?
This Novel Is Made Entirely of Terrifying GIFs
Read Dennis Cooper’s New Novel Composed of Animated GIFs
Are GIFs The Future Of Novels?
Zac’s Haunted House, a story told through GIFs…
A Partial GIF Review Of Dennis Cooper’s New GIF Novel ‘Zac’s Haunted House’
Dennis Cooper on writing as sculpture
Zac Descending: Cam Scott on the Attractions of Dennis Cooper
Dennis Cooper’s New Novel is Written in Animated GIF
VIOLATIONS: AN EVENING OF INTERPRETIVE READINGS OF DENNIS COOPER’S GIF NOVELS
Unfriendly Hosts
Dennis Cooper’s strangest “novel” yet is written entirely with gifs
This Novel Made Of GIFs Is Strangely Terrifying
DENNIS COOPER, BOUCLES GORE
Dennis Cooper’s new ‘gif’ novel is his weirdest work yet
This Horror Novel is Written Only With GIFs‘
Leftovers
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p.s. Hey. The blog and I respectfully ask you to use the time you would normally employ absorbing the day’s post or scrolling past it to read the p.s. or whatever else you do around here to click the indicated link, slide over to the Kiddiepunk site, and either download your free copy of my new literary gif book (or view online if you prefer) and start engaging with it. I would greatly appreciate that, and I honestly think the book is worth your time. Thank you. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. ‘Dennis-Adepts’! That’s a new one. Ha ha, I like it. I think the blog diehards know that, but, in case they don’t, … Everyone, Vis-a-vis Mr. Ted Berrigan, know, if you don’t that David Ehrenstein … I’ll let him tell you. David: ‘As I trust many Dennis-Adepts recall, Ted was there at the Factory the day of my Big Andy Interview and I watched Andy make a silent portrait film of him.’ How about des apples? ** Jamie, Hi, Jamie! He’s a great-y. Oh, before I forget, I mentioned to Ariana that two people named Jamie and Hannah might come up to say hi at her reading tonight, and that you guys are the coolest, and she said she would love to meet you, so, no pressure, but if you want to say hi to her, the wheel is greased. The sun has so much baggage. I think it’s very overrated. Oh, re: ARTE, well, I suppose we’ll get some sense from their initial comments/edit on the script. Like if they like it and only want some fairly cosmetic work, I’d assume we’re looking pretty good. If they rip it apart or throw up their hands, … not so much. I would imagine that, assuming they’re into it to some degree, we’ll be editing with them through the summer, but I don’t know. Not a clue about the title, no, but it’s time to try to nail that before ARTE starts suggesting crappy ones. I am ‘promised’ that all of us will be paid in full late this week, and, yeah, color me extremely skeptical. I’m psyched that the gif book is finally out, you bet. You know, and I’m hoping people like it and all that usual stuff. Polish, polish, enter, enter! That’s almost an order? May your Tuesday bring you tidings of great joy! Flashy love, Dennis. ** Misanthrope, Hi. If there was ever a movie whose destiny is to be a possible in-flight choice once I’ve watched all the other blockbusters I’m semi-interested in, it’s that ‘Solo’ movie. Yeah, you must be getting a shitload of rain since I think that poor town in Maryland that got deluged isn’t so far away from you? For me it’s heat and sun, i.e. ‘Get that fucking burning ball of whatever and its temperature raising bullshit out of my motherfucking face right now!’ ** Dóra Grőber, Hi, Dóra! She did send the script of the three episodes to ARTE yesterday, shockingly enough. But she demanded more revisions on the ‘Intention Note’, and even though we think she’s out to lunch, we’ve been making a few them to keep peace in the house, and hopefully that’ll be sent tomorrow, and then the whole thing will be out of our hair until ARTE reads it and comes back to us with their feedback. Because of said revising, Zac’s and my talk about the film has been slightly delayed. Wonderful, of course, about having one of your always amazing times with Anita. Makes total sense about waiting to see about the trans group and thinking seriously about ceasing at year’s end. I mean you need a lot more quality time and mental space for your own work, as I don’t need to tell you. Let me know if working at work between duties works out. That could really help, obviously, if it does. Fingers crossed. I’m good. A bit headache-y. I’m excited about the gif book’s birth, yeah. Zac and I are going to celebrate with cold sesame noodles, my favourite food in the universe. Have a completely wonderful week, and please remember the things that mattered to tell me. ** Wolf, I fare fairly, I think, and thank you for wondering about my faring. Wonderful wordage and mental flight about Berrigan. I had a headache, but I can feel my brain giving up its ghost. I can always count on you. The weather here is nuts too, yesterday included. Pounding, crazy rain storm out of fucking nowhere. Glorious. Completely drenched, unprepared Parisians charging down the sidewalks, and in this stylish, dress-up neighborhood where I am strangely living, it made for a devilish black comedy. If Ariana’s old email doesn’t work, let me know, and I can try to play Cupid. I will, re: Ghost Show. Done deal. How was today all in all? ** _Black_Acrylic, Excellent, excellent! YnY is the epitome of the little zine that could. ** Chaim Hender, Hi, Chaim! How’s it going? I guess it depends on your circles? Mine hear droll, I think, but I am in France where drollness seems both like a slight different kind of thing and more pervasive than where I come from. What’s up with you? ** Steve Erickson, Thanks. I don’t know if I can reveal or not? I’ll have to check. I don’t think the release stuff is figured out yet. I think the concentration is still on festivals and so on, but I don’t know for sure. Didn’t know there was a ‘Anthology 2’. I guess that explains why the Beatles are suddenly trending in my FB newsfeed. Oh, Richard Peña, that should be very interesting. What a smarty, that guy. No, you’re thinking of Daniel Berrigan. No relation as far as I know. ** Okay. Please go get and start perusing/reading ‘Zac’s Coral Reef’, if you don’t mind. Would be very cool. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
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Felicidades maestro
It’s an utterly GPF-tastic Day!
ANTHOLOGY 2 came out years ago, when the Beatles released three compilations of unreleased material. A lot of them consist of fairly dull acoustic demos – “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” does not sound better played solo on guitar. I just happened to listen to it for the first time in a long while yesterday. If the Beatles are trending now, this album has nothing to do with.
I know you’ve been frustrated in the past by my silence re: your GIF novels. One reason I’ve been mum is that I don’t have a background in “Web art,” which is one area they seem to draw on and possibly belong to. However, the stories in ZAC’S CORAL REEF and the strategies seem to borrow all over the place. I don’t know if the concept of polyrhythms means much outside music, but ZAC’S CORAL REEF uses images operating in different time signatures next to each other, one could say. I also thought of a *far* more complex version of the Tumblr pages that animate images from Japanese anime or photos of teen idols like Zayn Malik and Justin Bieber. If you’re trying to tell a narrative, it eludes me, but given your interest in language and its possibilities and limits, the way you’re telling the tale seems far more important than the specific images or even the direction they point in. I hope none of this is way off-base.
When the Peña interview is posted on Medium, I’ll certainly put up a link here. I don’t know how much time we’ll have to talk, but he’s not doing a junket or anything, obviously. On the other hand, an hour-long interview will be a time-consuming pain to transcribe.
Congratulations, Dennis!
It’s beautiful. The cover gif alone is magic.
My download didn’t work though, so I’ve been looking at the online version. This could well be my fault, but I followed the instructions and just kept on getting ‘page not found’ stuff, so thought I should say in case it’s a ‘thing’. Online looks totally amazing, in the very quick browse I’ve had. I’d forgotten about Space War!
I’m in a little rush, between work and poetry night. Ta for saying that to Ariana – very sweet of you. Guess I’ll see what the vibe’s like.
Let’s catch up tomorrow, please!
Hope you’ve had a good day and are rightly pleased with your new ‘baby’. How was it?
May your Thursday be filled with strangers who’ve become to addicted to and infatuated by gif fiction and want to know more.
Gentle yet intense love,
Jamie
Hey Dennis!
Oh, awesome, the new gif novel is out!! I’ve been looking forward to this release, I can’t wait to scroll through it later today. I remember really liking stories like Pearlescence when you posted them on the blog, so it’ll be fun to revisit. Did you edit the stories in any particular way to come together in book? I remember you were thinking about editing one of them differently for the book, I’m pretty sure. All sorts of congratulations your way!
Sorry for commenting so sporadically, I’ve been home for the summer and focusing pretty intensively on work and writing, spending time with high school friends and shit like that in-between. I have actually been keeping up with the blog, and really dug stuff like the outdated Thurston Moore day and Mark Morrisroe day. Also, since my summer is now going to be in close proximity to NYC, I’m definitely going to try and make it out to see Them this June!
How’s work on the TV show coming? And did you ever get that payment situation figured out?
Hey Dennis, congratulations on the release of your new GIF book. As is usually the case with these things, I feel that what you’re trying to say with it is over my head (the psychiatric community should start utilizing these GIF books as Rorschach tests), but I pretty much enjoy these almost as a kind of interactive silent film. I especially enjoyed the “Space War” story with it’s sci-fi UFO/alien imagery (the “I’m significant” panel from Calvin & Hobbes juxtaposed with the void of outer space was especially evocative), and I liked the 4th part a lot as well, with its corridor crawls and demonic light shows (I think I’ve mentioned to you how I want my 3rd short story collection to be called LAST DARK RIDE). I noticed that this most recent work kind of dialed back on the blood, guts & gore a bit, which is probably a good thing as I read it right before lunch… hell, the final story seemed downright upbeat to me, though maybe I’m just saying that because Lady Gaga made a cameo, ha ha (funny how Justin Bieber always works his way into these things as well… nice to see he’s still getting work at least, ditto for… was that Aaron Carter?). And some of the image juxtapositions were quite clever, such as the burning dollar bill/lighter in “Death Spiral,” the pizza being cooked by the burning pentagram in part 6, the Pokemon tongue thing that appears in the final story. In any event, I liked it a lot!
A few of these GIFs seemed somewhat familiar to me, mainly the fist punching the inflatable dancing balloon man thing in the first part. Refresh my memory: did you do a preview for this day at some point before on your blog, because I know I’ve seen that one already, as it served as the basis for my holiday card to you last year!
hi dennis
thank you for this ! im gonna download it tmr at work on my tablet as the wifi is superfast ( yes i have a tablet and i can also have an abortion if im bored )
its really good of you to give this away for free, seriously, your one of the few
no news here, its hot and god damn the sun, love you dennis, alex,x
dennis, im a ghost ! i left a comment and it disappeared so i looked at my phone and i wasn’t there (as it was my shoe)
but again, thank you for this free gif book, il download tmr at work
love you, ar,x
Dennis, you total postmodern baddie!
Today was uneventful. I spent far too much time trying to figure out the restructuring of French regions they did in 2015 because of course my data was mapped to the old regions and it was a nightmare to get hold of some useful information re: what became what. France: lovely bread, great landscapes, criminally subpar digital maturity. Of course if all the computer nerds fuck off to London like I did that’s kindof our fault.
We had more thunder and lighting today. I can see they still have them in Aix and you did as well – what the fuck? Who pissed on your cheerios, Powers That Be?
Right.
I’ve got your first Graphics Interchange Format (PEARLESCENCE – ‘who’s a good word? yes you are, yes’) chapter open next to the box I’m typing in, and that pizza gif is doing something weird to me; plus there is a women outside Fucking Roaring LOOK WHERE YOU’RE GOING, LOOK WHERE YOU’RE GOING to her kid, with I shit you not the voice of someone trying to sound like Satan on those pseudo-spooky tapes. Man, what a combo.
Hahahaha holy shit the first gif under that actually IS Satan!! I had not even scrolled down yet. As Mulder wisely said once: ‘But Scully, if coincidences are only coincidences, why do they look so contrived?’. Innit.
Ok. I’m taking my time with this – the first chapter is fucking awesome. My fav of all your gif stuff I think. Totally metal. I’m off to cook some chickpeas and will check out the rest later. Congratulations dude!
Great work Dennis! Im at chapter 4, looking foward to the rest.
Hey Dennis, congrats for another great one! Fun to watch a story at a time. Just caught Space Wars as a treat before dinner. Some of these make me laugh, which is def a good thing. God doesn’t exist? That’s surely a page-turner to be debated. As Aleister Crowley said, “I’m an atheist, thank God.” I relate. Wait’ll you see what I say about that in my upcoming novel. I don’t think you’ll disagree. Thanks a lot, looking forward to the rest later. Speaking of “later,” I checked out the DVD of “Call Me By Your Name” from the library and saw it again. I still find the characters obnoxious, though the acting is very good. Later, man…
So far today I’ve just checked PEARLESCENCE which I know has barely put a dent in this thing. I’ve loved what I’ve seen so far though, and will be back tomorrow to give a considered view of the novel in full.
Will see a chiropodist in the morning to look at my poorly toe. Which may not be so sore lately but still, I look forward to some expert toenail clipping advice.
Hey Dennis –
So excited for Zac’s Coral Reef! Downloaded it and looking forward to spending time with it later this week. Love the outtakes, too. Congrats!!
Really enjoyed the Alexander Kluge post this weekend. I’ve seen a number of his films, but you spotlighted a few I hadn’t caught yet. New Directions is putting out a collection of his short stories later this summer, I believe. Have you read much of his fiction?
I was able to spend a bunch of the weekend on the new novel, partly wrestling with the structure which has been ballooning at an alarming rate.
Weirdly, everything blog-wise worked for me the middle of last week, but now it won’t remember me for comments or show any other comments, and the only way to access the day’s post is via your FB link. I’ve tried Safari and Firefox. Which browsers work with the site?
So excited for this, but I’m going to save it for the right moment. Congratulations, and I look forward to the time when I will hopefully be totally immersed in it.
Dennis, Congrats on the new novel. I’ll be getting to it this weekend. (I just don’t have the time during the work week to give it the time it deserves. But it’ll be done sure enough.)
We got the rain but not that flooding. Ellicott City is 55 miles north of us, near Baltimore. Seems more rain is on the way, probably starting tomorrow night, with the worst on Thursday, and then continuing on through Sunday on and off.
Btw, I now hate cold and rain.
That city’s gotten this before. They obviously need to do something infrastructure-wise to get a handle on it. I feel bad for the people up there. It’s gotta be horrible. It’s a pretty nice little city too.
I’m think I’m going to try and see the new Deadpool movie this weekend.
If you’ve noticed, I’m a lot more into going to the movies these days. I like it. They’re fun. Except that piece of shit 15:17 to Paris. Ugh, what a horrible movie.
Shit, I gotta start planning my NYC adventure in June. That’ll be fun.
I’m three stories in. What a dizzying array of visual stimulation. The range of interplay between images, and the precision of the effects, seem a few steps beyond some of older pieces that I remember. Are you post-processing and/or controlling the synchronization of some of the image groups? Some of the white space placement is very effective and fascinating.
Bill