fiction files redux discussion

So here we are, Ben's book is out, a number of us are reading it or have read it so let's talk about it.

I found the book hard to put down so I didn't. I read it in three sessions over the course of the last 24 hours. Most of it I read sitting in a pool, which is a good way to read it if you have the chance.

There were a numer of stories I loved, so I am not sure I can pick a favorite. One that I was touched by was the Ferris Wheel. What about you, is there a clear standout in your mind?

I haven't read it all yet...I'm reading it in small doses because I'm super busy right now...but I love what I have read.

The first time I read the opening story The Book, I was at Ben's house in L.A. He was having a "Hurrah I finished my manuscript!" Party and I just so happened to be in L.A. that weekend and happily attended. In the midst of his crowded little house, as people drank and ate and talked and laughed and caroused, I sat in a chair next to his bed and started reading his manuscript (which at that time was 100 stories and a joke, not the 40 stories that Penguin published). The Book was the first story I read and it brought me to tears. Ben was kinda hovering nearby as I read and he felt bad that he made me cry! But I was so happy to know that he could write beautifully enough to make me cry in the middle of a party...that's the power of his work. As readers, aren't we lucky?

Dan, didn't it freak you out a bit to read the pool story... By the pool? I'm only a few stories in and they are haunting and sweet all at the same time. I'm kinda taking this one slow to give each story it's own space in my head.

Luckily, I had read that story on land, rather than at sea...umm in the pool.

I could imagine it being scary, especially if it were night, though that may have precluded me from reading the story in the first place.

I blasted through the book in a 12 hour fever dream. I plan to re-read it as soon as I manage to finish up the library books I have out.

As for picking out a favorite, I'm not sure I can, my brain keeps trying to unify them into a whole. A wonderfully contradictory whole, but a whole nonetheless.

. . . for the record, ben's book is doing great in the world! . . . so glad it's finding the audience it deserves!

. . .by world, i mean people who buy things . . .

My six year old son found me reading it a few weeks ago at 4am. Instead of ushering him back to bed like I usually do when I'm reading something, I asked him to sit down. You should have seen the way he looked at me at the end of "The House on the Cliff and the Sea."

Thank you, Ben!

I really like the earnestness of each story. Especially when the moose is skydiving with the man who saves him, and the moose says, 'I hope we can be friends.'

oh wow, there's a thread about me! sorry for not seeing this before! thanks for all your comments, i'm glad you've been enjoying the stories. especially glad to hear about your son, elizabeth! for some reason i get all weepy when i hear the kids like it.

dan and kerry, it's especially nice to hear you mention the ferris wheel and the book, because those were the last two problematic endings i finally figured out... i was kinda chasing my editor down the hall at the end on the way to the printer's... i'd been beating my head against the wall for a couple years before i finally figured them out... it was close!!!

I still haven't read all the stories which I'm happy about actually, because I'll be sad once there are no new ones for me to discover. But so far there's one that I've read at least three times because I like it so much and that is The Duck. I just love the idea of this boy duck in love with a rock and this girl duck pining away for the boy duck as he pines away after a rock! I've totally done that...gotten a crush on someone that everyone else thinks is an odd duck - pun absolutely intended! I've pined for these oddballs waiting for them to notice me outside of their own odd worlds. But I've never had the courage of the girl duck to put myself forward and engage. Maybe next time this happens to me (and I'm sure there will be a next time) I will find the courage.

Definitely interesting. I like how the fantastical is often told in a sort of logical way throughout the story, which sort of forces us to accept it, and then the ending ditches the logic and you realize you were floating on it all along. And you get this flashing "error" thing somewhere in the back of your head.

Hey everybody! Ben is going to be reading his story The Duck (one of my favorites!) on this weekend's episode of This American Life on NPR! Isn't that so cool???? It's the Valentine's Day episode and is titled What I Did For Love.

Here's a link to the promo for the episode (which sadly doesn't mention the story): http://www.thisamericanlife.org/?next_week=1

And here is the link to subscribe to the This American Life podcast: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/podcast

I am a huge fan of TAL and have been a loyal listener for years. I'm so excited that Ben's story will be featured! Good work Ben! And good work Maureen too! Every writer needs a good editor and Ben and Maureen worked well together. Aren't we lucky to know such fabulous folks???

Thanks, Kerry. Yea, Ben!

Woohoo!!!!

Rocking it, sir.

. . . this is too awesome! . . . destiny, sir!

Way to go, Ben!!! :D

thanks everybody! it's shaping up to be a good week!! :)

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/play_...

hey kids: just to let anybody who doesn't already know that there's a kickstarter project to fund a short animated film based on "the duck", the story that he read on TAL.

A link to it here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/s...

i have already shown my support, and there are lots of cool premiums that can be yours if you donate!!!

mo
xo

p.s. little known fact: ben showed me the final list of stories for this collection when he'd settled it with Penguin, and i noticed the duck had dropped off the list. i nearly had a heart attack, but guess what? IT HAD JUST BEEN A MISTAKE. :) still, i'm glad i caught it. :)

I backed the film!

thanks kerry! and thank you, mo! i hope it makes it cuz it's giving me an ulcer. :)

Ben interviewed:

http://www.fantasy-matters.com/2012/0...

"Writing is complete freedom... and then it becomes work. After that first burst is over, then the hard part sets in, where you have to figure everything out and make sense of it all, and make all the pieces fit together. And that part's fun, too, but is the opposite of being free. It's like doing archaeology or something-- dusting off bones and photographing and cataloging and examining and thinking and turning and trying and sweating and getting hot and angry and pissed off in the sun... but at the end of the day, you get a great sense of satisfaction (if you manage to figure it all out), and, also-- if you do it right-- you always learn something you didn't know about yourself."

Hey guys! Ben read one of his own stories on this week's This American Life! You can listen here:

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio...

Heard it Saturday morning!