Bloggasm

Levi Asher is a writer and web developer from Queens,New York. Siince launching Literary Kicks in 1994, he’s co-edited two books of internet-based fiction and poetry, Coffeehouse: Writers from the Web in 1997 and Action Poetry: Literary Tribes from the Internet Age in 2004. In 1998 he directed a critically acclaimed digital movie based on Dostoevsky’s Notes From Underground which he plans to re-release on YouTube as soon as he finds the time. As a web developer, Levi has led the development of sites including PearlJam.com and WordsWithoutBorders.org, and has worked on sites such as BobDylan.com, HistoryChannel.com and many others.

Simon Owens: How did you get the idea for October Earth, and did it turn out any differently than you had hoped?

Levi Asher: This took place in October 2004, back when nobody knew how the upcoming Bush/Kerry election would turn out. With the direction of American foreign policy at stake and the intensity of emotion very high on both the pro-war and anti-war sides, I thought it’d be a good idea to use LitKicks to put a literary spin on all the hot topics of the day. We picked a bunch of quotes from the widest variety of texts we could find — some Jean-Paul Sartre, some Gilgamesh, some 50 Cent — and we followed each quote with a question that you could only answer by choosing a side: “yes” or “no”. You couldn’t post without voting — you were forced to stake a position if you wanted to participate. In a way I was hoping to make people feel uncomfortable with the very concept of taking a side on an issue, because anytime you vote one way and not another you are oversimplifying something — you are leaving something out. I loved the way October Earth turned out — many people participated, and I think everybody “got it”. The only thing that didn’t turn out the way I wanted is that two days after it ended, on November 2, George W. Bush was re-elected.

Simon Owens: How has your experience been with the Lit-blog Co-op? How effective is it in promoting overlooked titles?

Levi Asher: I haven’t been there long enough to have had an experience yet, but I have a very good feeling about it so far. One reason I think they might be effective is that I went to my local bookstore to pick up “Michael Martone,” the Co-op’s Summer 2006 Read This selection, and the clerk told me it was way sold out, their distributor couldn’t keep up with the demand, it would take four weeks. This tells me two things — first, the Litblog Co-op is generating real sales, and second, this bookstore should get a better distributor, since they are obviously at the bottom of the food chain.

Simon Owens: How do you go about choosing which books to review for your site and which to skip over?

Levi Asher: Many litblogs only review books from established publishers, but I’ve made a point of opening LitKicks up to poetry chapbooks, self-published novels and small-press books. I review books from corporate publishing houses as well, but I get much greater satisfaction from being the first one in the world to praise, say, a wonderful chapbook that comes straight out of Kinko’s that only a few people in the world have ever seen. I don’t know if a good review from me will actually generate sales, but I hope it helps these poets in some way. On a practical level, I also like reviewing poetry chapbooks because I can read them pretty quickly. I hate getting 600 page novels in the mail, though I understand that this is an unavoidable occupational hazard.

Simon Owens: When you wrote and finished your novel, The Summer of the Mets, were you able to use the blog to market it at all?

Levi Asher: I didn’t, and I wish I had! I published this for the first-time as an e-book on September 25, 2001, and like the rest of the world I was still reeling from the shock of September 11. I wasn’t thinking about publicity at all. Well, the Mets are in first-place again this year, and it’s the 20th anniversary of the 1986 World Series (which is the backdrop of the novel’s love story). I am thinking of buying some blog-ads on some baseball sites in October. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. I think it’s an excellent story, if I say so myself, but I’ve done a horrible job of marketing it.

Simon Owens: What upcoming book publications are you looking forward to the most?

Levi Asher: I am not a big Thomas Pynchon fan, so I can’t say I’m looking forward to his upcoming monolith of postmodern obscurity. I’m not a Jonathan Lethem fan so I’m not looking forward to his upcoming novel either. I really can’t think of a book I’m looking forward to. Maybe I think all the writers of the world should shut up for a while so I can catch up. Oh, I think it’s ridiculous that Rick Moody’s The Diviners is still not out in paperback. His publishers were not kind enough to send me a review copy and I don’t like paying $25 for a book so I guess I’m looking forward to reading this book when it finally comes out in paperback so I can read the damn thing.

Simon Owens: What are the five blogs you’d recommend to supplement the reading of your own?

Levi Asher: There are probably at least thirty literary blogs I check on a regular basis. Here are the five I probably check most often:

– Ed Champion’s Return of the Reluctant. I am glad Ed Champion is around because, like me, he’s not afraid to be an asshole in public. I think too many litbloggers are hung up on politeness, and often hold back on saying what they really think. And then there are a few like Ed who just let it rip, and if people are offended that’s their problem. This is a good way to run a blog.

– Jeff Bryant’s Syntax of Things. Jeff is much politer than Ed (or me) but I think it comes naturally to him. He happens to like many of the same authors I do, he’s a good writer, and he often adds a welcome personal touch.

– Bud Parr’s MetaxuCafe. This is a collective of many up-and-coming litblogs. You can always find something new to read there.

– Bookslut. What can I say? Everybody knows about Bookslut and they don’t need more publicity, but they do a great job and I’d be lost without them.

– Words Without Borders. I’m actually part of the WordsWithoutBorders staff, so maybe I shouldn’t include them here, but I want to so I will. Their agenda is to promote international literature, and I can’t think of a better reason for a website to exist.