Sunday, September 28, 2014

You Can Never Have Too Much Ernie!


Fellow Kovacs fans!

It seems counter-productive, on some level, to plug one of my best sellers. It's almost the same anti-logic that crops up at supermarkets, the ones that have special displays for dogfood and toilet paper.

Why do you need a special display for items that people need and would be compelled to search out anyway... even if those items were at the back of the store, under camouflage, with an electrified fence around them?

Not to compare Ernie's Journeys to dogfood, or multi-ply buttwipes.

Its full title is ERNIE'S JOURNEYS: A SOMETIMES WAXING, SOMETIMES CRITICAL, MUSING APPRECIATION OF ERNIE KOVACS.

The title may give you a clue what the book is, but it may also be easier to describe what the book isn't.

A definitive Kovacs biography?
No, not by any means... there are other much larger books that are better candidates for that.

Another re-re-rehash of Kovacs's genius?
Yes and no... again, you can read that "sermon" all over the Internet. This is more a collection of esoteric essays of how he changed our perception of the medium, not just its cosmetic evolution.

Have you ever wondered what Ernie would have done with the advances that came along after his death, which he influenced? What would he make of the Internet? Were there meaningful comparisons, and points of commonality, between Ernie and say, Buster Keaton? Or Lenny Bruce?

This book attempts to respond to these and other slanted, intriguing questions.

Available in e-book format and paperback, Ernie's Journeys is a launch point for anyone who has newly discovered Ernie for themselves and wants more, more, more... and a provocative brain jump for veteran Kovacsphiles!

Already have Everything Ernie in your library, from books to DVDs? This is the icing on the cake; a capstone addition to your Kovacs Kollective!

Friday, September 19, 2014

Any Night Live!


This week's plug is also my latest addition to the Fosterical Library!

EIGHT SHORT PLAYS THAT SCIENTIFICALLY DISPROVE THE EXISTENCE OF LOVE

Don't let the title tighten your jaw... or maybe, let it!

Get it! Read it! Prove me wrong!

In 2002 I wrote a short play entitled Anonymous, that was performed by Santa Cruz Actors' Theater, as part of their annual Eight Tens At Eight short play festival.

I'd written full-length comic plays before, but it was the first time I'd ever seen what one might call my "stand-up" comedy before an audience – not performed badly by myself in a failed stand-up routine, but by others with way better stage legs – and actually get the laughs that I thought the material deserved!

The experience opened a flood gate. I was about to move to Los Angeles, and delayed myself with a fury of new writing. A small tsunami of sketch comedy flowed, most of it hurried and crappy, but some pieces worth putting aside to incubate.

Anonymous went on to further success, becoming the basis for an experimental film by director/photographer Patrick V. Brown. The film starred myself, and actress Layne Littlepage, who weeks earlier had read it while standing in line with me at an art exhibit in Carmel, and laughed herself to tears. We nearly upstaged the art. She knew Patrick, and thus, the ball was set rolling.

So here at long last, is the cream of that 2002 crop of frenzied funny, now honed by years of over-thoughtful revision – usually during bouts of distraction between larger projects.

WHAT ARE MY OTHER COMEDY CHOPS, YOU ASK?

Well, I made up for years of bad stand-up by winning the Aristocrats Joke Contest, sponsored by ThinkFilm and the producers of the documentary The Aristocrats, starring over 100 top comedians whom must all now grudgingly accept me among their ranks anyway. My winning entry is a special feature on the DVD.

To get back to the book... I've made it as inexpensive as the publisher will allow, for the sake of theatrical groups with low-to-no budgets. It's available in e-book format for those who just want to drop their Kindles or Nooks with a belly-laugh.

You can just read it in paperback too, but dropping a paperback book isn't nearly as epic.

***

If you prefer not to shop at Amazon, the book is available from other fine online retailers as well. Type the title, and author name, into your search engine to locate the book seller of your choice.

Monday, September 15, 2014

WELCOME to MMCD...

You've stumbled upon the domain of insanely good reading!

All of my titles (11 so far) are available in both paperback and e-book format, from Amazon, or a slew of many other online book retailers! Type any of my titles, and author name into your search engine, and before too long, you'll find the book seller you prefer, who is able to hook you up with any or all of my books!

More titles are coming, as soon as my fevered mind can create them and my bloody fingers can type them – all with due editing diligence. There's bound to be something here you'll enjoy. I'll keep you updated on all relevant developments as they happen, so bookmark this blog and stay tuned! Happy reading!

Is your Fall reading list complete? May I offer one more suggestion?

Do you like swan dives into insane stories that just might be slightly colored by actual events? Would you like to read all about an innocent band of theater brats tossed into the cannibalistic inferno of an old, deranged director's lust for immortality? Sound interesting?

Are your therapy payments up to date?


"JUST WRONG, A NOVEL ABOUT HOLLYWOOD"
by Rob Foster

GET IT HERE!