INDIES, ARISE! - Big Time Talker Podcast, CanvasRebel, and Foreword Magazine
I ponder the current zeitgeist shift as I increasingly pop up in the media and win awards
I write this after my return from book signing at the American Library Association (ALA) Conference in Chicago and with sunburnt shoulders after a day spent paddleboarding down the Fremont Cut here in Seattle. Bottom line, life doesn’t get much better than this and, as the online gurus say, I’m blissing.
I plan to write more about my wonderful time in Chicago soon, but in the meanwhile I’ve been popping up in the media lately. Herein is a round up for those of you who are interested. In addition to garden variety self promotion, I share to highlight the work of these various independent podcasts and outlets for you, dear reader, to explore. For those who crave original, positive, independent storytelling about the newest books and/or inspiring figures, the Big Time Talker podcast, CanvasRebel digital magazine, and Foreword magazine of Foreword Reviews are worth checking out.
I may dive into this in a future Norris Note, but there is a massive cultural zeitgeist shift underway at neck breaking speed. I daresay, perhaps the biggest in my 33-year life. Now in the summer 2023, my wee indie memoir about being a greenhorn commercial fisherman and outdoorsy hitchhiker in 2008 Alaska is attracting incredible positive energy and success while the newest aspiring blockbusters of the cash cow themes superhero (The Flash), Disney princess (The Little Mermaid live action remake), Indiana Jones, and others have become magnets of negativity, poor audience reception, and potentially historic financial ruin.
I don’t think anybody fully knows what’s going on, but I can tell you that the indie scene is its own wonderful and dynamic world parallel to the widespread mainstream carnage. And guess what? We’re original, vibrant, have lived a lot of life, generally don’t have chips on our shoulders, and are fun, cheap dates. If we are to think of the dueling vibes in terms of tropes, we indies are the vibrant young damsels who sing to the cute furry forest creatures versus the Machiavellian wicked queen who poisons apples and casts illusions from her throne.
Bottom line, I really think indie is where it’s at right now. Want originality? My new buddy and maverick indie author Daniel Finkel (The Fink) and I met at the Chanticleer International Book Awards ceremony in Bellingham. His psychedelic adventure Mr. Taffle’s Pants of Insanity might cure what ails you. Sick of feeling disassociated from American life and need a slice of the real stuff? Lauren Kay Johnson and I shared an author’s table at AWP in Seattle, and her memoir The Fine Art of Camouflage about being in the military beckons.
But it’s not just about us authors. We desperately need a humming Indie Propaganda Machine that elevates our collective best works. The Machine in turn thrives when people support it. See how this works? YOU have the power! So if you’re sick of culture being global corporate behemoths riding 50+-year-old franchises to mass destruction like Major T.J. King Kong riding the atom bomb as a cowboy at the end of Dr. Strangelove, give these outlets a listen or read.
Big Time Talker Podcast
Among the highlights I experienced in the massive and disorienting McCormick Place for the ALA Conference was the pleasure of being interviewed by the one and only Burke Allen for the Big Time Talker podcast. The podcast interviewed notable authors at the conference and I got a time slot in their sleek mobile studio for a chat.
Being in the experienced hands of Burke was great. An old school broadcaster, he has that great radio voice and conversational fluidity I as a listener never tire of. The notable Big Time Talker podcast has nearly 500 episodes up at the time of this writing with interviews with amazing folks from astronauts to artists.
Check out the full episode here. Big Time Talker is also available on platforms like Spotify and Apple. Check out the other episodes as well, this podcast deserves some love!
CanvasRebel Magazine Interview
Life continues outside of Chicago as well. CanvasRebel is a digital magazine that reached out to me some time ago for an interview. I was happy to oblige and now our article is up.
Their upbeat content focuses on the accomplishments of indie artists and small entrepreneurs. According to them, “Our mission is to create a space for artists, creatives and entrepreneurs to be able to learn from their peers through the magic and power of storytelling. Our love of the storytelling format comes from our founding of VoyageLA almost a decade ago, where we ask folks to share the story of their lives and how they got to where they are today.”
You can give the complete article a read here. Below are a few teaser snippets from the interview:
"My journey to living full-time off my creative work with my own company has not been a straight line at all. I think the trip resembles more of a crazy, twisty rollercoaster ride that threatened to fly off the track and crash into a ball of flame a few times."
"...I’ve developed a sort of Populist take on the relationship between society and its artist-creatives. I don’t really buy this idea that as an artist, I should ensconce myself as a protected class where society supports me or owes me anything. Nobody, and certainly not society at-large, owes me or a creative class anything."
"Writing, especially in school or working adulthood, is treated as a very technical and utilitarian enterprise. Writing is a “tool”, and I hear authors calling it a “craft”. Everyone is in the “industry” or “biz”. For me, writing creatively is the opposite of all that... It’s completely mad, magical stuff. And I love it."
For the record, this article is the first time I’ve been introduced as the “always interesting and insightful Norris Comer”. I’ll try not to let that go to my head.
Foreword Spotlight
My book Salmon in the Seine won Finalist in the Travel category of the annual Foreword Reviews Indies Book Awards this year. One of the perks of such an achievement is acknowledgment in their publication Foreword. It isn’t a cover page feature, but it’s infinitely more than the cavernous void of nothing.
I’m very honored to receive recognition from Foreword Reviews and even got to say hello to their booth at ALA. I appreciate what they stand for and here’s a snippet from their About Us section, “In the past, ‘indie’ mostly meant self-published authors. Now indie means anyone not published by HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, Macmillan, and Hachette. Larger indie presses include Bloomsbury, Sourcebooks, WW Norton, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Oxford University, and a dozen or so others.
Indies are not for everyone. Foreword is not for everyone. There are many booksellers who are only able to stay alive because they dedicate themselves to trying to keep up with the chains and stocking bestsellers. Same holds true for smaller libraries. But Foreword is essential for the librarians and indie booksellers who are working to establish themselves as a special place in their communities. They value what indie presses are doing in literature: quality assured by editorial teams who are all about keeping the art of publishing alive.”
C’mon, how great is that?