Yesterday, May 8th 2014, in 1983 was the day John Fante died from diabetes. He was an amazing writer. There is no other writer who has inspired more than Fante. I just finished re-reading Dreams From Bunker Hill, his last novel that was written as a dictation to Fante's wife, his vision had been taken by diabetes at that point in his life. At the end of the book I always read the little bio. It was May 9th, 2014. I realized his death anniversary was yesterday. Because I didn't know what to do in honor of the anniversary of his passing, I decided to write this.
He was one of the greatest authors that I have read as of now. I learned of his work through reading Charles Bukowski. Bukowski loved Fante. Worshipped at his alter.
I received his novel Ask The Dust as a gift. The book sat in the gift bag for months. I was put off by the year that Fante wrote. Most old or classic things carry a level of boredom. Not with Fante. He had a way with words, a charm if you will. I eat up his words far more than that of Bukowski or any other writer living or dead.
I was saddened knowing I could never be as good as he was. Much like him however, I feel my writing is a little ahead of its time. Maybe I am wrong, maybe Fante was wrong, maybe even Bukowski was wrong. Either way these two men had an impact on my soul in a way no one living or dead in fiction will ever have. And for that, they at least deserve a blog post. It's the least I could do.
If you are a fan of either writer and if you've got the sand. Check out my various stories for free at the link below.
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/156220
Twitter: @Greyebooks
Showing posts with label Bukowski. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bukowski. Show all posts
Friday, May 9, 2014
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Fucking and Drinking
The short novel that will be coming out soon. The story follows a psych hospital worker struggling with sex and alcohol addiction. Maybe struggling isn't the correct way to phrase it. The story is loosely based on the things that I went through the three years I worked in a psychiatric hospital, which I lovingly refer to as the madhouse. The title does not disappoint and in a way it is my own homage to Charles Bukowski's novel Women, which is one of my favorite novels by Buk, second only to Factotum and Post Office.
Fucking and Drinking will be
available through my smashwords profile www.smashwords.com/profile/view/shanegrey
and of course on
Nook, iBooks, Kobo, and Diesel.
If you haven't yet, take this time to
check out some of the free short stories on my profile, or you can go
to either store on Nook, iBooks, Kobo, Diesel. Just search Shane
Grey.
I'm trying to bring unique and
different stories in a lot of my short stories. Less biographical
stuff, more things that just pop into my brain and I think, hey, that
would be interesting if that was a story. I also strive to be
different. Meaning, a lot of mainstream fiction is so far from
Bukowski and John Fante, which are my literary father and
grandfather, that I don't have a lot of options out there. So I try
to write for those who are dying for something different.
A lot of readers look at my stories as
pornographic or just about boozing, I always wonder what else in the
world would I write about. The mainstream limits us as authors. It's
either vampires, romance, spies, police, supernatural, or memoir. And
quite frankly I'm sick to death of all that trash. I want to read
about a real person. I want it to be fiction, but know that it's based upon
something true. Too much of the shit coming out isn't gritty or raw
enough. It all reads like educated lemmings pouring out boring story
after boring story.
Vampires that do this, investigators
that do that, love stories that are about this. It's all fucking mind
rot. The most original shit I've read in the mainstream are by the
following authors: David Wong. Chad Kultgen. Charles Bukowski. John
Fante. Paul Neilan. Mykle Hansen. Chuck Palahniuk. Jeff Lindsay.
For now that is all. The rest them are
just, Meh. These writers write in a straight forward fashion. If you
have to explain it, it's not a good story.
So read my shit and decide for
yourself, but quit drowning in a sea of regurgitated bullshit, trash,
and literary garbage. I think it is these opinions that classify me
as an artist, though I despise the word “art” or “artist” it
sounds like a lame excuse.
Thanks for reading my insane rambling.
You can check out facebook.com/Greyebooks and like that page. That
would make you a supreme human being!
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Shane Grey's Shameless Self Promotion...
2104 is upon us. So it's time for me to
peddle some of my short stories and ebooks. I should be completing my
first novel this year, it's about 68,000 words in. I know a lot of
you folks got awesome tablets and phones this year for xmas. This the
perfect opportunity to check out some of my work!
You can download them to iBooks on your
iPad or iPhone. If you have a Kindle or Nook you can download them as
well! I'll post a complete an easy guide below!
Android, Blackberry, Kindle users can find my books and stories via this use this link and scroll down to the story you want to read: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/shanegrey
Nook users can click here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/all-kinds-of-girls-shane-grey/1111299074?ean=2940033203130
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-last-story-i-will-ever-write-about-her-shane-grey/1109155843?ean=2940033043859
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sincerely-me-shane-grey/1110197175?ean=2940033117369
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/phoebe-shane-grey/1110621902?ean=2940033165933
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