Master of my Domain

Oh hey. I'm here now: brianoliu.com

Won't be updating this one anymore. Goodbye, blogger, goodbye.

There is nothing new to report.

Summers in Tuscaloosa usually mean that the heat slows everything to a crawl, despite air conditioning, (that is such a weird word...the air is being conditioned?) and not much happening and little to no excuse to not do anything but write, but writing does not happen. I've always been the type of writer that works much better when I have a ton of stuff on my plate; I like to absorb and absorb and then explode all sorts of literary stuffs when the timing is right. I can firmly stand by the idea that a writer is always writing even when s/he isn't 'writing'. At least I hope so. Ha.

I've finished one project for the most part: a collaboration with Jeremy about Romania that will be going through the spit and polish ringer in the upcoming weeks. I'm quite proud of the stuff that has come out of it and hopefully there will be a place for it in the literary planet that we hover above. Whoosh!

I've started a new series of lyric essays about 8-bit Nintendo games as a result of busting out my old NES and grinding through a handful of games with my roommates and friends. Dangerous. I figure with all of the videogame playing going on I can turn it into something literary, yes? I'm about halfway through my entry for Castlevania II: Simon's Quest and have an outline for about 10 others. Although I need a good number of essays...16 for 16-bit? Maybe.

In professional news, I have accepted a position at the University of Alabama as an Instructor for the 09-10 (10!!!) school-year. I'll be teaching three composition courses with a theme of 'The Arts' and an advanced-level Creative Writing course.

Other than that, be on the lookout for an actual author website at some point in the upcoming weeks when I feel like actually paying money for webhosting.

bye!

Lighter Than Air: A Brian Oliu & Michael Martone Collaboration

Hi all,

The illustrious Michael Martone and I worked together to create some limited edition postcards for Story County Books. For more information, feel free to contact me (beoliu@gmail.com), or get your Martone-loving self to Tuscaloosa in November for the Black Warrior Review auction and win them outright.

UAEDFL McSweeney's Update

For those interested in such wacky things, the newest 'E-Mails Sent to the University of Alabama English Department Flag Football Team' is up on McSweeney's this afternoon. Lots of old school videogame references!

My favorite part about the fact that these things are being published is that my friends (all of whom are rather talented writers) are becoming characters in this bizarro UAEDFL-world. It's spectacular. Truly.

This also gives me an opportunity to challenge all other MFA programs at AWP Denver this year to a flag football match. We will destroy you. We will sleep in hyperbaric chambers to adjust to the increased altitude. Bring it on.

Ninth Letter

My piece siren(1).exe is in the newest issue of Ninth Letter. The new issue is absolutely gorgeous; they have a new art director and the amount of work put into creating the issue must have been astronomical...it definitely shows because it's definitely the coolest publication I've ever been a part of...the graphic design, the letterprinting, the photographs, the old school postcard...it's beautiful and intricate and way too cool. Not to mention the folks in there (including Travis Hessman who is a UA ex-MFA) are fantastic and the writing is superb (there's a whole nonfiction piece about finishing videogames! is that in my wheelhouse or what???). I highly suggest picking up a copy...not just for your ol' pal Brian's sake, but it really is a really wild reading experience. Many many thanks to Brian Kornell and the 9L crew for selecting my piece and multiple congrats to an issue that folks will be talking about for a while. The bar has been raised, kids.

Beeswax Magazine

My piece 'Strategy Pattern Guide' is forthcoming in Issue 6 of Beeswax Magazine. The magazine is absolutely gorgeous with a focus on printmaking and bookmaking elements and I am super excited to see how everything looks in the new issue.

Furthermore, the piece that was published is the first piece I ever wrote for workshop in Alabama, so that's pretty exciting! To add to the sentimentality; I read that at my first reading ever, which was ridiculously nerve-wracking but was my introduction into the 'Writing Life', if you will. So, I am super excited about it on multiple accounts. Besides, who wouldn't love a piece that compares Ms. Pacman to sexual encounters?

Michael Kimball Writes My Life Story

Straight outta Baltimore, Michael Kimball (author of the awesome Dear Everybody) has been writing life stories of various folks on postcards, and he generously wrote mine, which can be read on this website or on my refrigerator. Considering my fridge is not as omnipresent as the Interweb, I suggest you scope it out. Make sure to browse the others; some other pretty rad names up there, including postcard aficionado Michael Martone.

Thieves Jargon

My piece in Thieves Jargon is up. The design of the website looks awesome as usual. And it's Thieves Jargon 187; how rad is that? And Dave Housely, one of the Barrelhouse folks is up there. I'm not one of those folks who enjoys logging every single rejection and complaining about 'wah u dont like my work and therefore u dont like me as a person wah' like (scarily) a lot of folks on the Internet do (there's this thing called a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, folks...keep it on your harddrive) but I will say that I did get the second nicest rejection letter EVER from Dave. The best rejection letter I ever received was from Kim Liao over at Redivider, who was the one who told me to send to Thieves Jargon! So, anytime a rejection letter can get you a publication elsewhere, well, that's probably the best rejection letter you could ever ask for. Unless maybe they sent you a cupcake in the mail too. That'd be pretty great. And then you could speculate if it's a positive rejection or negative rejection depending on what type of cupcake you received.

I guess people need to remember sometimes that these literary journals are not nameless machines; they're operated by people just like you who are trying to get their stuff published, just like you. And these people are proud of their journals and google their names to see what press their journals are getting, and will come across your website with you acting childish about who you were rejected by and they'll remember your name the next time you submit something. Sure, I have 'personal vendettas' against what my friends and I like to refer to as 'nemesis journals', but that's more in the spirit of things. And when you do finally get into those journals it's like conquering some great beast...wherein actuality, some cool people liked your stuff enough to think that it'd represent their publication properly.

Speaking of rejection, I'm currently printing out my book to send out to Greywolf Press; it's already at FC2. Get psyched ladies and gentlemen.

Slash Pine Poetry Festival

I live in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. There isn't much culture here, aside from the Alabama Crimson Tide, which, to be fair, is as culturally significant as Miro's murals scattered around Barcelona or the Theatre District in Midtown. And you think I'm being facetious. Come on down for a game and some BBQ Nachos, son.

That's why when something like the Slash Pine Poetry Festival is put together and run with great enthusiasm and without a hitch, it's, well, kinda a big deal. It's the equivalent of building a giant spirally building in Chicago, or, at the very least, a new exhibition at the Museo El Prado.

The venues were swanky, the readers were lovely, the booze was boozy, and overall it was one of the most fun and fulfilling weekends I've had in our fair city in a long time. Three cheers.

And, considering it's my blog and I can't be entirely altruistic, I'll be giving a reading this evening at Little Willie's in Downtown Tuscaloosa starting at 7pm tonight. Hope to see some of you there.

Marginalia

My piece 'Virus Profile' is out now in Marginalia Vol. 4, 2009. Lots of great people in there, including Brian Evenson and Jac Jemc, and it includes a beautiful little insert of a homophonic translation by Dana Burchfield.

Also, this is the journal that offers its infamous 'send 10 rejection letters and a dollar' and they'll send you a free issue! I know you have a handful of them hanging around...I used to keep all of mine like some sad mosaic, but I have since learned to crumple it up into a little ball and throw it across the room. I'd recycle the rejection slip, but I have a feeling that someone on the staff would be really against me NOT recycling it, so there. Take that, economically snobby editors.