I Left My Heart In San Francisco; Tony Baker Came Along And Ate It

You're reading Books, Beer and BLOGshit! It's the only blog that is getting too old for this shit. I am your blogging pal, Mr. Frank.

Zombies. I can't help it. I'm sick of them and yet I keep going back to the well. It's a sickness. This time the virus that's infected me is author Tony Baker. I got to know Tony through the intertubes early on in his freshman writing venture. He was nothing short of a real nice guy and he had a passion to write his first book, SURVIVORS OF THE DEAD. Though he was proudly displaying book covers and advertising book trailers for the book, he had still to complete writing at the time.

Ballsy to say the least. If he failed to get it done he would have looked the fool who invested in a passing dream. If he succeeded he would have pulled off one of the most innovative pre-marketing campaigns I've ever watched conducted on social media.

Well, the later was the case and Tony Baker produced as promised. I was so impressed I invited Tony Baker to be interviewed here on The Blogshit. He was only too happy to take part.  So here is Mr. Get-It-Done himself, Tony Baker:

The Blogshi:  Welcome to Books, Beer and BLOGshit, author Tony Baker. How does it feel to have the moniker of author?

Tony Baker:  Thanks, Frank. I’m still not use to the title, but I guess I have claimed it. Hard to get my head around the fact that I have finished, let alone published, my very first book, and certainly hard to believe how well it seems to have been received in the genre.

The Blogshit:  Your first book, the zombie thriller, SURVIVORS OF THE DEAD, follows retired San Francisco police officer Harold Lancaster as he struggles to find a foothold of a safe haven for himself and those he finds still struggling for life at the start of a zombie outbreak. What sets your story apart from other zombie apocalypse stories?

Tony Baker:  I consider my series to be another installment in a genre that has been written about many times. I do not think there is anything specific or dramatic that sets Survivors of the Dead apart from the rest of the amazing work that has already been published. My work is just a different take, or perspective, on that same story. Like a different episode of a TV series, featuring different characters, and a slightly different story line. The end of the world as we know it, humanity brought to its knees, and survival. Good versus evil. The same story told through the experiences of a different group of characters and circumstances.

The Blogshit:  As stated before, the main character is a retired police officer, did you write this character from experience?

Tony Baker:  The best, and most common, advice I received prior to starting on my writing journey was ‘write what you know’. The short answer to your question, is yes, I developed the character of Harry Lancaster from direct experience

The Blogshit:  Have you learned anything about your first writing experience based on reader’s reaction to the book do far?

Tony Baker:  As of this interview I have received eighty-two reviews on Amazon. Mostly high praise for a first attempt at writing, but many of the reviews have offered insights that I will take into account going forward. I will not change my style, my voice, but there have been suggestions and observations that make sense to me. My goal is to produce the most enjoyable experience for a reader as possible, and to that end I am thankful for the input from those who have read the book, and shared their thoughts.

The Blogshit:  Will you be focusing exclusively on this series going forward or do you have plans to expand the scope of your writing as you continue the story of Harold Lancaster?

Tony Baker:  Harry’s journey has only just begun, and with at least three more books in the series I am not certain where I will go afterward. I have some ideas, but it is too early in my career to spend a lot of time dwelling on that right now. THE ROAD UNKNOWN, book two in the series, is on track to publish this Fall so that is what I am currently concentrating on. I certainly plan to keep writing as long as readers are interested in reading my work.

The Blogshit:  What was the toughest moment from the first word you wrote to the publication of SURVIVORS OF THE DEAD?

Tony Baker:  That could be an entire interview by itself, but I think the toughest was the learning curve. Not only writing, but learning how to market myself, the book, and how not to step on too many toes in the process. I can honestly say, however, that the past year has been one of the most exciting experiences of my life.

The Blogshit:  You had a very unique marketing technique leading up to the release of this book. Basically you had the cover, several book trailers and tons of social media hype before the book was even remotely complete. Did that technique serve as a personal motivator for you in addition to creating a lot of buzz and did doing things that way bring a lot of naysayers?

Tony Baker:  Oh yes, there were certainly naysayers. Some quite vocal, while others simply stood back, I’m convinced, and watched. I really did not have a specific strategy in mind other than to allow folks to get to know me as a person, and share the experiences I had while writing. I truly enjoy connecting with people, and what happened over the past year allowed for that. I certainly talked about this project I was working on, but I also shared, supported and promoted other folks work along the way. I was privileged to meet some incredible people who have shown a huge amount of support since the book published. 

The Blogshit:  Do you plan on a similar campaign leading into the next book in the series?

Tony Baker: Yes, but I suspect it will be slightly different. I am thinking that folks will take me a bit more seriously? I am well into book two, and there is a video book trailer planned for release sometime this summer. I plan to continue to do what I always have; have fun writing, share other writers successes, and promote my friends work whenever possible.

The Blogshit:  I'm sure you've accomplished a great many of your goals upon completion of SURVIVORS OF THE DEAD, are there still some goals that have eluded you however?

Tony Baker:  From the Ashes is the first book in the Survivors of the Dead series, and with at least three more books planned this series remains my primary goal. The biggest accomplishment with this first book is very simple; I finished it.

The Blogshit:  In three sentences or less, tell us why we need to read SURVIVORS OF THE DEAD.

Tony Baker:  Harold Lancaster, a retired San Francisco police officer, as he witnesses the devastation of humanity after a worldwide viral terrorist attack that will change the course of history forever.

Harry learns that he and his family, as well as a portion of what remains of the population, is immune to the mutated virus that has been unleashed. During forced relocation, his young nephew is separated from his parents and left in a world now ruled by anarchy and filled with horrors beyond comprehension. Harry's unshakable resolve, his only reason to exist, is to reach his nephew and reunite with the rest of his family. Along with a small band of friends who refuse to leave his side, and after assisting in establishing a safe haven on Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay, Harry embarks on an arduous twenty-three hundred mile trek across a ravaged country.

Although Harry faces the infected and unspeakable horrors, he also discovers incredible acts of courage and resolve by those who remain among the Survivors of the Dead...

Well, that wasn't three sentences, but we've all learned by now that Tony Baker is a rule breaker. That is why he's here. 

SURVIVORS OF THE DEAD is available on Kindle for only $2.99 as well as paperback. Please take a moment to check out Tony Baker's web site and add him as a friend on Facebook. He is about the most modest, humble writer you could ever meet. Don't let that fool you though, his zombies are anything but friendly...

Website www.tonybakerauthor.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/tonyb415

FB Author Page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tony-Baker-Author/394853683936399

Twitter https://twitter.com/Tony415SF

LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/pub/tony-baker/84/a7/59b

Authors Supporting Our Troops

You're reading Books, Beer and BLOGshit. It's the only blog with a heart of steel and a rectum of gold. I am your charitable blogger, Mr. Frank!

This time out on the BLOGshit we'd like to take a pause from the calamity to discuss a noteworthy and noble cause. Armand Rosamilia is spearheading an organized collection of books to send overseas to our troops stationed in Kuwait and Afghanistan. This is not the usual book donation to the brave men and women protecting our national interests overseas either.

This is a call for authors to send in copies of their own books, personally signed as an extra special gift to the members of the United States military. If you are a writer or a reader you understand that having a book personally signed from the writer adds a special warm, fuzzy feeling to the book. It is a gift more intimate and treasured then most gifts you could possibly send. A great diversion for the men and women serving our country overseas while missing their own families back here at home.

If you are a writer and would like to donate a signed book or three to this VERY worthy cause you can join the event page on Facebook at: Authors Supporting Our Troops Facebook Event Page

Here are some of the event specifics:

I'll be collecting fellow author's books to send to our troops stationed in Kuwait in April. Interested in donating some of your books? The men and women of the Armed Forces love receiving signed books from authors to read and pass around while they're over there! If you're an author and want to help, join this page and then get in touch with Armand Rosamilia for the address to send your copies. Let's do something positive for someone else! And thanks to Joe McKinney for previously doing an event like this and giving me the idea!

Quite a few non-authors have asked how they can help... get in touch with me, I will gladly collect donations to offset the shipping costs from me as well as purchase more books from authors I know at cost so there will be more books in the boxes to ship.

At this time I am only interested in author-signed books to ship overseas. I think the troops will love the read and also knowing the actual author sent the books or the actual publisher. I'm not looking for your used books to donate or perishables or anything other than print books. This is not an eBook event, and not a forum for your political statements. It is simply to help those in the trenches who might want to read a book they can't get their hands on right now.

Fairly simple! The short and sweet of it: if you are interested in helping out in ANY way you can simply join the Authors Supporting Our Troops Event Page OR contact Armand Rosamilia directly via email at ArmandRosamilia@gmail.com. Let him know in what way you are looking to contribute and he will give you the mailing addresses necessary.

REMEMBER even if you are not a writer or don't have print books you can still help out by making monetary donations to help offset the shipping costs. Also many of the writers like Armand Rosamilia, Tim Baker and John Pascucci will additional copies of their books to send if you purchase one on their behalf. Again, any way you want to help (including spreading the word) is greatly appreciated.

As of right now there are over 200 books committed to this worthy cause!  

Raising Hackles

You're reading Books, Beer and BLOGshit! It's the only blog that enjoys breaking down cheesey 80's metal videos! I am your Aqua Netted blogger, Mr. Frank!

We have a guest writer on The BLOGshit for this installment. The catch? They aren't going to discuss writing. They are going to discuss Ratt's definitive rock video, Round and Round. That can only mean one man, Douglas Hackle, author of CLOWN TEAR JUNKIES will be joining us to give the ultimate break down of Ratt's 1985 video of Round and Round, one of the crowning achievements of MTV's heyday.

     

As a special treat, Douglas Hackle also appears in the newly published installment of Tall Tales With Short Cocks, Vol. 4!  Listeners to the Books, Beer and Bullshit Podcast may recall our review of Tall Tales Vol. 3. This new collection is chock full of great names in Bizarro Fiction and could prove to be the best collection of 2013! We implore you to check this and Clown Tear Junkies out.



So watch the video along with Douglas Hackle and pause at the appropriate time stamps in the video breakdown below.

0:02 - What would you like more than anything to be in that silver bowl?

Mashed potatoes and gravy. Nah, scratch that—I changed my mind. A miniature
version of one-hit-wonder, Canadian rapper Snow performing his hit song “Informer”
(accompanied by a miniature, dancing, batwinged, fetal polar bear cub with a Chicken
McNugget for a head.)

0:17 - Would you rather sport Stephen Pearcy's hair style for one month or have your entire
wardrobe consist of Stephen Pearcy-cut shirts for an entire season?

Alas, although it pains me to admit it, I think I actually had that hair style at one point.
Folly of youth and all that. So I guess I’ll go with the Stephen Pearcy-cut shirts. I’d just
avoid going out in the sun while wearing them, lest I get a really stupid looking tan line,
what with those necklines going all the way down to the bellybutton.

0:43 - Does this video still hold weight if Uncle Miltie isn't in it?

Uncle Militie exits the house and, consequently, the video rather early on—right at
about the 1:07 mark—after he decides he can no longer endure the loud rock music
being played by Ratt up in the attic. But, however briefly we get to see the man, Milton
Berle remains a powerful cultural, psychological, political, and aesthetic force in
the video. Even after he leaves the premises accompanied by himself in drag (Uncle
Miltie was doing that sort of shit decades before Eddie Murphy ever thought to do
it), his presence is still felt through the duration of the video, all the way up until its
denouement. The director of the video achieves this enduring presence-through-absence
effect, this lingering atmosphere of power-through-gender-obfuscation, using a film
editing technique borrowed from early 20th-century German expressionist cinema. The
technique is known only by its untranslatable German name: rechtkaftfahrzeugerung-sesellschaftensschutzversichhaftpflichtversicherungrechtkaftfahrzeugerungsesellschaften 

schutzversichrechtkaftfahrzeugerungsesellschaftensschutzversichgeschwindigkeitsbegre
nzungrindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetzschaftennübertr
agungschwindigkeitsbegrenzün. Indeed, apropos of this technique, many believe “Round
and Round” represents the finest modern example of it usage, or as French philosopher

Michel Foucault once declared, “Un, deux, trois, Pepe Le Pew, Francois-Pierre-Jean-
Claude, Le Freak C’est Chic, bon appétit, crème de la crème, Van Damme, soup du jour,
faux pas, French fries yum yum, Savoir-Faire is Everywhere, Pierre!!!!!!!!!!!!”

1:08 - Do you think synchronized rock moves need to make a comeback?

Man, I don’t even know. What I do know, however, is the only thing that is quite
possibly more bad-ass than a good old-fashioned Duran Duran table flip is busting
through the goddamn ceiling, falling onto a table, and sticking your guitar is someone’s
face while shredding that shit like mozzarella cheese, yo. Take that, ya fancy-pants,
richy-rich assholes!!

1:26 - Is that Pee Wee Herman’s bicycle in the foreground?

No. However, that bike is on display at the official Ratt Museum, which is located in the

city of . . . of . . . my imagination. *hangs head in shame*

2:00 - As a juggalo yourself, do you think these guys have too much make-up on or not quite
enough?

Frank, do your homework before you do these interviews: I’m a bruggalo. Or a
juggaroni. Or…or…or something. Regardless, I believe that federal law should require
U.S. citizens, even babies (especially babies) to wear clown make-up 24/7/365. So to
answer your question, not nearly enough.

Breaking Bruggalo

2:23 - Has there ever been a more convincing look of utter satisfaction in this medium before or

since?

There has not. Nor, I daresay, is that look likely to be bested in the future. Nor would I
restrict the claim merely to the medium of music videos. That facial expression may very
well be the most convincing look of utter satisfaction ever to be filmed anywhere. That
butler my dog.

2:27 - Is it true you are working on a similar entrance for all your book signings?

As I indicated in my answer to the “synchronized rock moves” question above, nothing
quite says “Hello, here I am—betta recognize, bitch!” like busting down through a ceiling

while playing a blaring electric guitar. That as an entrance for a book signing? Aw, hellz
yeah.

3:02 - Have you ever considered writing a bizarro piece based solely around the setting of this video?

No. However, the song “Round and Round” seems to get referenced in at least every
other short story I write, regardless of what the story is about. The song is even
mentioned in my contribution to the latest volume in the Tall Tales with Short Cocks
anthology series from Rooster Republic Press (Volume 4—the ebook version was just
released on 12/16). Yes, these days it’s difficult for me to pen a short story and not
mention that song. (See below for more on this.)

3:13 - Is it the song or the video that does it for you?

Neither. I think the whole Hackle-“Round-and-Round” phenomenon is the result of
nothing more than an irrational compulsion. It’s what Edgar Allan Poe called “The Imp
of the Perverse”: i.e. the irrational desire to do something self-destructive specifically
because it is self-destructive. In other words, I know I should not reference the song
“Round and Round” in my short stories, I know that absolutely no good can come of out
of the practice, therefore I continue to reference “Round and Round” in my short stories.
Follow?

3:20 - Remake the band using only people from Rooster Republic Press (bonus points for
creating a stage name for each.)
Lead Vocals – Douglas “D is for motherfuckin’ Douglas” Hackle

Lead Guitar – Arthur “I’m too cool and pretty for Facebook” Graham

Drums – Etienne “How the hell do you pronounce my Frenchy, fancy-pants first name?”
DeForest

Bagpipes – John “Da Loch Ness Monsta” McNee

Bass Guitar – Danger “Um ... Danger Slater??” Slater

3:58 - Do you like Ratt at all outside of this song?

No. Aside from the song “Round and Round,” the only music I can stand to listen to
nowadays is this defunct Estonian-Indonesian trio that played a mixture of various jazz
styles, baroque classical, Hindustani classical, Celtic-funeral-doom-grindcore-death
metal, noise, psychedelic funk, punk-prog, bluegrass, unhip hop, post-1997 acid techno,
pre-2006 Euro trance, proto-2013 Eskimocore igloo anti-pop, and sampled authentic
whale song. This band didn’t even have a name. What’s more, all three band members
promptly committed suicide after recording there first and only album. I’m the only
person who has ever heard said album. Yeah, what can I say—I’m cooler than most folks.
I’m sorta hardcore.

Douglas Hackle

Douglas Hackle is the author of CLOWN TEAR JUNKIES published by Rooster Republic Press. Here is some wonderful praise for that book:

“Hackle may be the best absurdist story writer working today [...] I enjoyed this book more than

any other book that I've read in a long time." - Bradley Sands, Author of TV Snorted My Brain

"He sits up there with his pen and paper or word processor or baby seal skin and razor blade

(or whatever fucked-up instruments he uses to write stories like this) and he tells us the kind of

tales we didn’t even know we were thirsty for in the first place. The kind of tales that matter,

in their own weird way. The kind of tales that make reading a joy." - Danger Slater, Author of

DangerRAMA

"You walk away [from Clown Tear Junkies] with a clear feeling of how odd Doug Hackle is.

It's almost like finding an anonymous notebook in the halls of a high school that was dropped

by someone who wrote these twisted little things never intending anyone else to read them. But

share them he did!" - Ray Fracalossy, Author of Tales from the Vinegar Wasteland

Also, Karen Brissette, the #1 reviewer on Goodreads in terms of votes—and she's #1 by an

extremely large margin of votes at that—weighed in on Clown Tear Junkies. Here is what she

had to say:  http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/755536483