Launching in Toronto and Vancouver

Just a reminder that I’ll be launching The Warhol Gang at the Taddle Creek event this Friday, June 11, in Toronto. I’ll be reading alongside Dani Couture, who’s launching her new poetry book, Sweet, so it promises to be a good time. I’ll be in Toronto Thursday-Sunday, so message me if you want to grab a coffee, do an interview, attack a Banana Republic, or some similar thing. I’m partially booked up, but I’ve got a few hours free here and there, and I’d love to hang out.

The Vancouver launch for The Warhol Gang is scheduled for Tuesday, June 22, at The Railway Club — 7 pm. More on that to follow.

Here are the details for the Toronto event:

Taddle Creek’s long awaited Out-of-Towner issue finally launches on Friday, June 11th, at the Jet Fuel Coffee Shop, 519 Parliament Street, beginning at 8:30 P.M. As always, there will be free beer (courtesy of Steam Whistle), a free barbeque (courtesy of no one), and free full-colour magazines (courtesy of a five-dollar subsidy from you).

This historic issue sees Taddle Creek temporarily remove its Toronto-centric restrictions, and features authors and artists from coast to coast in all directions. To celebrate further this one-time-only event, June 11th will also kick off The Taddle Creek Travelling Series of Happenings, a tour that the magazine hopes will see it play to tens of people across Canada and the U.S. this summer and fall (more info to come).

Given the lack of local talent in the summer number, readings will be provided by two regular contributors not appearing in the issue: the special Out-of-Towner guest Peter Darbyshire (Vancouver), who’s breezing though town hot on the launch of his new novel, The Warhol Gang, and the extra special guest Dani Couture. Dani will be launching her new poetry collection, Sweet (Pedlar), alongside the Out-of-Towner issue that evening, so bring some extra cash to buy a book and maybe she’ll get behind the grill and make you a burger.

We are the Warhol Gang

Sean Cranbury has posted the podcast of the interview we did the other day for Books on the Radio. It’s two hours or so cut down to a half hour, but a lot of that extra time was spent eating nachos. Anyway, check it out for my thoughts on the editing process of The Warhol Gang, the inefficient spam filter of my new son, war porn vs. war porn, and the inevitable colonization of your mind.

Also, see my writing tips that were published online at the Post this week.

Here’s a video we did in an alley after the interview:

Some Warhol Gang news

My new novel, The Warhol Gang, will be hitting the shelves at bookstores across Canada in the next few weeks. An exciting time for me. It’s nice to see those years of writing finally materialize into something real — thanks in large part, of course, to all the great people at HarperCollins. I’ll probably have lots to say about the book and the various contests, giveaways, etc. to promote it, but I don’t want to bombard people here with that kind of thing. That’s what my other blog is for. So I’ll just do roundups every now and then. Today, I’ll point people to

• my Warhol Gang info page
• post about The Warhol Gang and win a prize!
• the rewards program I set up to say thanks to readers
• today’s Bookninja post about The Warhol Gang, which has one of the best quotes yet. A snip: “Denis Johnson stomping Chuck Palahniuk into William Gibson while Kurt Vonnegut cheers him on”

I’m a Savvy Reader!

A little while ago I did a Q&A with HarperCollins’ Savvy Reader to promote my new book, The Warhol Gang. It’s up now, and the book will be following next month.

1. Give it up –what’s the most embarrassing song on your iTunes? Why did you download it in the first place?

“Champagne Supernova” by Oasis. I don’t know how it got there. It just showed up in my library after a night hanging out in Russian chat rooms while drinking scotch. What the hell do those lyrics mean?

Why posting has been so light lately

It’s hard to type one-handed….

Video from the W2 reading

The people behind the Real Vancouver Writers’ and Culture Series have posted video of last night’s event (hit the archived video tag). It was a fun evening, with great readings by all. I was so impressed by Charles Demers‘ work that I picked up a copy of his new book, Vancouver Special. (He also led me to a great blog, Past Tense Vancouver.) And I can’t wait to read Kevin Chong’s new book about horses. That’s right — horses. Anyway, I’m in the third video, around the 38 minute mark.

I’m reading tonight at W2

Just a reminder I’m reading tonight at the Real Vancouver Writers’ and Culture Series at the W2 Culture and Media House. My first reading in five years! I’ll be doing a little bit from my new book, The Warhol Gang. The location is 112 West Hastings Street — just look for the burning building:

My first reading in years

I’m reading at the Real Vancouver Writers and Culture Series in downtown Vancouver Feb. 10 (a Wednesday night). I haven’t read in years, so this should be fun. I plan on reading a bit from the new book, The Warhol Gang. I’ll post more details as I have them. (Apologies for cross posting, but this series looks great so I want to get the word out.)

New comics and new shorts

I’ve posted a couple new comics, Schooled! and A lifetime of regrets, over at Shrapnel, my other blog. I’ve also posted a couple of shorts: The bride wore a price tag and Eclipse.

Q&A about The Warhol Gang at the National Post

UPDATE: The Warhol Gang has also made the Post’s list of the most anticipated books of 2010. Well, if I didn’t have nerves before.

The Post has just published a Q&A I did with Mark Medley about pre-publication nerves, last-minute edits and other delights. I’ve really got to come up with a couple of snappy lines summarizing the plot….

Q: Are you noticing a huge difference between this go-round and when Please came out?

A: Absolutely. When Please came out, it was really strictly at that point get some ads in the paper. That was what your publicity consisted of, and trying to sell to your friends and family, and try and generate word of mouth. Now you have to get noticed online. You ask the questions ‘Do you want to create a blog for the book? Do you want to create a fake Facebook personae for the book? What’s your Twitter presence going to be. Are we going to do online videos? How are we going to handle e-books, because that technology is changing every day?’ So, in a sense, the writing of books I don’t think has changed much but the publishing of them has become – everything about them is last-minute now, because there’s going to be changes between now and when the book comes out in how we want to market things and how we want to adapt to this changing world that we find ourselves in, both as writers and as publishers.

Cover art for my new book

I think the cover art for my new book, The Warhol Gang, is more or less finalized, so here it is. Jacket copy and such to follow. (Release date is this spring.)

Shrapnel: Nothing but the truth

I’ve posted a new comic, Nothing but the truth, over at my other blog, Shrapnel.

Shrapnel: Remember, the glass is half broken

I’ve posted a new comic, Remember, the glass is half broken, over at my other blog, Shrapnel.

New comics, etc.

I’ve posted a couple of new comics over at Shrapnel — one featuring writer Kevin Chong and one about porn that riled up my wife. Also, I created a Livejournal account to mirror my personal blog for those who prefer that service. Oh yes — and a piece of odd sidewalk graffiti outside my home.

Comic: Crazy from the heat

I’ve posted a new comic over at Shrapnel.

Comic: Space—The roaming charges will kill you

I’ve posted a new comic over at Shrapnel, my other blog.

Comic: Does this exoskeleton make me look fat?

I’ve posted a new comic about some strangers I photographed in the woods over at Shrapnel.

Comic: The book of psychotic birdmen

I’ve posted a new comic about the Bible over at Shrapnel. This’ll probably get me hacked or something….

Comic: You are what you eat

I’ve posted a new comic, “You are what you eat,” over at Shrapnel.

Peter Darbyshire’s Short Story Stimulus Package

To do my part to turn the economy around, I’ve reduced the price of my short stories on my online store to 99 cents. Details can be found at peterdarbyshire.com.