We’re thrilled to be holding our 3rd episode of Functionally Literate: a literary function at one of Orlando’s hidden gems. The White House!  The Timucua Arts White House, that is. The event is on May 11th at 7pm and will feature:

Enid Shomer (an award-winning novelist visiting from Tampa)
Philip F. Deaver (an award-winning author and poet who teaches at Rollins College)
Monica Wendel (poet extraordinaire and current Kerouac Writer-in-Residence) and
John King (writer, UCF professor, raconteur, and host of The Drunken Odyssey: a podcast about the writing life).

This event is free, by the way, but you can support us by purchasing one of our books at the event, or just handing us some money (we’re a nonprofit, so it’s tax deductible!).

>> RSVP on Facebook <<

The White House is at 2000 S. Summerlin Ave. across from Boone High School. If you’ve never been, check out what they are about.

Typically the venue hosts some amazing contemporary musical acts, so we’ve concocted a literary playlist to get you psyched up for this Saturday. These songs don’t reflect the tastes of the White House, or even BP for that matter. We’ve just gathered these lit-inspired songs for kicks, so enjoy.

5. Nabokov via The Police’s “Don’t Stand So Close To Me”
The song that begs the question, is Sting as creepy as Humbert Humbert?

4. Hemingway via Metallica‘s “For Whom The Bell Tolls”
Combining literary minimalism with guitar-shredding maximalism.

3. Orientalism via Billy Woodz
A one-two combo of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and a shout out to Edward Said. English majors swoon.

2.  Thomas Pynchon via Andrew Bird’s “Imitosis”
Is this song actually about Thomas Pynchon? Who cares.

1. Kafka via Duane’s band on the show “Home Movies”
Because this is the best thing ever. With a bonus track about Louis Pasteur.

A few months ago, Burrow Press asked Orlando high schoolers to provide their own “view” of Orlando, in the form of a short story, to be considered for our third volume of 15 Views. The winning student’s story would kick off the entire story sequence and be followed up by some very talented authors, including local high school teachers and YA novelists. Now, a few months later, after some extremely good submissions and really tough choices, we’ve finally made a decision… The winner of our contest is…

Nadia Lindsey of Lake Nona High School!

Congratulations to Nadia, and a huge thank you to all the talented high schoolers who submitted their work. Nadia’s story will appear online first, followed by our 14 other contributors, later this spring. Then, sometime toward the end of 2013/beginning of 2014, we’ll put all the stories together in print for 15 Views of Orlando Vol. III. Be sure to check it out!

Release date: March 28, 2013
Paperback, 250 pages
Black & white illustrations
ISBN: 978-0-9849538-2-0
DOWNLOAD AN EXCERPT
BOOK TRAILER

SYNOPSIS: 15 Views Vol. II: Corridor further explores the literary side of Orlando with 15 linked stories, told by 15 authors, and set in 15 distinct locales. This volume also includes 15 more authors, writing linked stories set in the Tampa Bay area. The result is a literary portrait of both cities. The Orlando thread delves into a city plagued with violence and the large cast of characters who feel its effects, with stories weaving their way from the outskirts of Oviedo, down the Greenway Trail and into downtown’s Orange Avenue as the bars let out. The Tampa thread sprawls across the entire bay area to form a quirky tale involving Albanian myths, local history, an assassin, corgis, and a mysterious black plane.

The subtitle of this volume, “Corridor,” comes from the name given to the stretch of interstate connecting the two cities––the I-4 Corridor––which is often highlighted in the national media as a political battleground, but is better known to the authors in this collection as a commuter’s nightmare. The book also contains 30 black-and-white illustrations (originally paper cuts) by Orlando artist Lesley Silvia. Silvia also designed the book cover to be double-sided, so that when readers finish with one city, they can flip the book over to begin the next.

Listen to Stories from the Book

Greenyway by Susan Hubbard
Retention by Vance Voyles
What Sorry Feels Like (a script) by Pat Rushin (read by Pat Rushin, Vance Voyles, Susan Hubbard, Nathan Holic, Jocelyn Bartkevicius & Jamie Poissant)
The Books of Names by Jocelyn Bartkevicius

Full wrap-around cover:

This spring marks the launch of Burrow Press Writes, a series of 12 creative writing workshops we’ll hold throughout the year. Six in the spring, six in the fall, all focused on various themes and genres of creative writing, and taught by the talented locals who live in this secretly literary city. We know you aspiring writers are there, too, so we hope you decide to sign up for a few workshops, hone your skills, and support Burrow Press and the local writing community all at the same time. Here’s a quick list of what spring looks like (we’re still confirming one more workshop for April) but get the full rundown HERE.

2/2 Love Poems with Susan Lilley (click for details)
2/9 The Modern Love Essay with Vanessa Blakeslee (click for details)
3/2 Crafting Short Stories with David James Poissant (click for details)
3/30 Writing about Sports with Philip F. Deaver (click for details)
4/20 Crime Fiction with Vance Voyles (click for details)

If you weren’t aware, BP has teamed up with the Kerouac Project to start a new reading series. Functionally Literate (a literary function) is a quarterly-ish reading series that aims to connect, entertain, and possibly intoxicate, Orlando’s larger community of writers, bookworms, lit nerds, and the intellectually curious. Each event features one visiting writer, and three talented locals from all over the Central Florida lit community. Our first episode featured Don Peteroy, John Henry Fleming, Susan Lilley & Caitlin O’Sullivan.

>> CLICK HERE TO WATCH EPISODE ONE ON THE F.L. WEBSITE <<

Burrow’s latest book is here: Wally, by Don Peteroy, an “epistolary confessional road novella,” as writer Chris Bachelder describes it. You can order the book from our store now (which helps us the most) or purchase/order it from all the typical venues. Burrowpress.com/wally, however, will be the place to check back for more blurbs, reviews, and readings (see below for the Orlando release party poster) if you’re not already following BP on Facebook or getting our monthly emails. Either way, we hope you’ll check out the book and, if you like it, give it an Amazon or Goodreads review. It’s pretty much the best way to support us.

Download the first chapter of Wally here.
And here’s the book trailer.

And finally, the beautiful Orlando book release party poster, designed by Lesley Silvia:

Release Date: October 9, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-9849538-1-3
Paperback, 214 pages
DOWNLOAD AN EXCERPT
WATCH THE BOOK TRAILER

SYNOPSIS: Charming, manic Wally Tiparoy has done something awful to his wife, Elizabeth, and he’s determined to prevent it from happening again. Knowing that his problem is too big for medication, and complex enough to baffle an entire team of psychoanalysts, Wally takes Elizabeth’s Honda and puts all his faith in a therapeutic road trip from Cincinnati to Inuvik, the northernmost town on the continent. He’s got a score to settle with Santa Claus, a lifetime of traumas to amend, and a marriage in need of repair. Told in letters to his wife, Wally retraces where his marriage went wrong, and recounts his encounters with diner patrons, a prayer hotline counselor, and the inventor of Memory Foam. But Wally has no more control over the momentum of his letters than he does his highway encounters, and ends up unearthing memories of his abusive grandfather, Marvin. What begins as a trip about reflection and redemption, quickly becomes a narrative of rationalization and evasion, as Wally’s mental state deteriorates. It could be that he’s off his meds, or it could be that he’s been hiding something else from Elizabeth, something far worse than his original transgression, something that only the loathsome Marvin would understand, and if Wally doesn’t tell her, he’s wasted a lot of gas.

Review Wally on Goodreads.

INTERVIEW: Don talks with John King about Wally, Playboy, and a bunch of other stuff on The Drunken Odyssey podcast.

BOOK TRAILER:

FULL BOOK COVER:

Cover Art by Brian Philips, Book Design by Tina Holmes

LIT EVENTS
A very incomplete list.

6.10 ~ Parcels: MFAs in Progress Reading Series. UCF MFA Reading, 7pm @ Urban ReThink. Free.

6.12 ~ There Will Be Words, featuring Nick Brown, Bryce Emeley, Adriana Paramo & Karen Price. Readings start at 7pm @ Urban ReThink. Free.

6.16 ~ BLOOMSDAY at Urban ReThink, hosted by John King. Celebrate James Joyce’s Ulysses. Whether you love it, hate it, haven’t read it, haven’t read it but pretend you have, there’s going to be whiskey. Free.

6.17 ~ Time for Prose. Long form fiction reading series at Urban ReThink. Free.

6.19 ~ Speakeasy. Almost anything goes open mic, optional theme, imbibing guaranteed. 9-ish PM @ Will’s Pub.

OUTSIDE THE BURROW
BP authors doing awesome stuff elsewhere.

Ashley Inguanta immortalizes Big Daddy’s karaoke in a story at PANK called “It’s End of the World Karaoke.”

Jonathan Kosik’s depressing awesome “Pensacola” appears in Bartelby Snopes.

Nathan Holic’s candidate for best title (and short graphic narrative) ever–“On Seeing Yourself In A Comment Board For A Movie In Which You Starred At Age 15, Which You Had Hoped Was Forgotten But Has Now Reappeared on Netflix ‘Instant Play’”–appears in Palooka.

John King’s podcast The Drunken Odyssey sets sail soon.

GUESS WHAT?
A new Burrow Press book, a novella, due out in October, soon to be announced in our monthly email. Sign up for it, quick! And soon to be mentioned in this newsfeed.

A list of Central Florida Literary Events for May 2012:

5/3 ~ Sam Gennawey, author of the newly released Walt and the Promise of Progress City, will be doing a reading and signing at the Downtown branch of the Orlando Public Library in the Albertson Room at 6pm. His new book is a behind-the-scenes look at the process of conceptualizing, constructing and purposing Disney’s EPCOT project.

5/ 8 ~ The Best of There Will Be Words, year one! The Burrow Press prose reading series yearly capstone event is 6pm at Urban Rethink. The talented J. Bradley rides again as the fan favorites – James Fleming, Whitney Hamrick, Hannah Miller and Burrow Press’ own Ryan Rivas – read their latest. Limited edition chapbooks of the evening’s prose are $5.

5/13 ~ Parcels: MFAs in Progress. The UCF Creative Writing MFA’s reading series. 7pm @ Urban ReThink. It’s FREE. It’s CONSISTENTLY GREAT. Be there!

5/15 ~ Speakeasy open mic night is 9pm at Will’s Pub, hosted by Tod Caviness.

5/18 ~ Page 15 book release party for Wars are Dumb: Orlando High Schoolers Write the Wrongs of Adults. 6 – 9pm @ Urban ReThink. Free. Come support the young authors featured in the book, and support Page 15 by purchasing a copy.

Outside the Burrow

Vanessa Blakeslee has a great Florida essay at PANK about gators and yankees (er… Mets).

Nathan Holic chats about FL vs. Cali settings with Lavinia Ludlow at Curbside Splendor.

J. Bradley’s got a chapbook out, We Will Celebrate Our Failures, published by NAP.

Recent Stories, Articles & Books We Found to Be Exceptionally Good

As for what we’ve found fascinating from April, Nick Harkaway’s genre-bending and Colson Whitehead’s Zone One continue to impress. We’re a bit late for the unfortunate two-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf, but China Mieville’s hyper-imaginative, surrealist short on the subject never fails to give chills.

What have you been reading? Let us know in the comments.

As soon as we figure out how to feed recent posts from there onto our homepage, there will be no more need for this note. But for now, go to BP Review and read some stuff.