Writer, indie publisher, et cetera
The Suburban Swindle
Write-up in The Reading Experience
01297 days
Daniel Green wrote a pretty lengthy post on The Suburban Swindle:
“One might say that the ‘radical exclusion’ manifest in these stories goes beyond the implicit narrowing of focus to be found in all short stories and extends to the exclusion of any extraneous plot devices and gestures at character ‘depth’ that inhibit immediacy of expression. Of course, one could also suggest that the sparseness in plot and character only reinforces the essential realism of the stories, since the kinds of lives they portray are themselves likely to be rather short on ‘plot’ and psychologically afflicted in generally similar ways. But whether form most often influences content or content determines form, the result in this collection is a kind of fiction in which the form of expression doesn’t merely point us to its subject but is dynamically a part of it in a way that I, for one, find impressive…
“I wouldn’t say that The Suburban Swindle is a flawless book–sometimes the familiarity of the material does subsume the liveliness of the writing–but it introduces a writer whose approach both to her subject and to the literary presentation it requires certainly makes me curious about what her future work might be like.”
Review at bookmunch
01304 days
Katherine Woodfine reviewed The Suburban Swindle for bookmunch. Here are some highlights:
‘…there is no doubt that ultimately the most powerful voices are those of the (often anonymous) female narrators – young women who may see themselves as just “some guy’s girlfriend” yet who are nevertheless sharp-eyed, unflinching observers. Though they share the tangible sense of uncertainty and confusion which runs through these stories, their narrative voices are able to offer us flashing instances of clear-sightedness, perhaps best seen in “Persons of Bondage” in which the narrator has a sudden sense of “the scene curved fresh in front of eyes that were holy and were mine.”
‘It is in these thoughtfully judged moments that Corley offers us, finally, the hints of hope and redemption that give these stories their kick.
‘Any Cop?: Whilst it may be raw in places, The Suburban Swindle fizzes over with an irrepressible energy and possibility, hinting at promising things to come.’
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Also, Steve Himmer wrote this on his blog the other day:
‘It’s the voice of Dashiell Hammett’s hardboiled detective, standing around on a stakeout and waiting for something to happen. Corley’s characters are often caught waiting for stagnant lives to change, as dependent upon that change being external as detectives are. They’re like detectives staking themselves out and finding nothing to watch, no more able to change their own lives than The Continental Op can make a suspect appear at the moment he most wants one to.’
Reading at Bluestockings
01304 days
Who: Marty Beckerman, Nick Antosca and Jackie Corley
When: Wednesday, October 22 @ 7 p.m.
Where: Bluestockings
172 Allen Street, New York, NY
About: Jackie Corley (The Suburban Swindle), Nick Antosca (Fires, Midnight Picnic) and Marty Beckerman (Generation S.L.U.T., Dumbocracy) read from their new books of cutting-edge fiction and political satire.
More info: Bluestockings event page
Facebook event page
The Suburban Swindle is now available on Amazon
01316 days
You can pre-order my book on Amazon.com here.
But pre-ordering directly from my publisher means So New gets more of a cut, so please support small press and order direct from them.
Reading at Morningside Bookshop
01318 days
I’ll be reading with Tony O’Neill at the Morningside Bookshop in the next couple weeks. Here’s the info:
Who: Tony O’Neill & Jackie Corley
Where: Morningside Bookshop
2915 Broadway, New York, NY
When: Thursday, October 16 @ 7 p.m.
Tony O’Neill’s books include Digging the Vein, Seizure Wet Dreams, Songs from the Shooting Gallery, and the New York Times bestselling Hero of the Underground. His essays, poems, and short stories have appeared extensively online and in print. He is a survivor of heroin addiction, crack abuse, rehab, fatherhood, and stints in the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Kenickie, and Marc Almond’s band. He lives in New York with his wife and daughter. His novel, Down and Out on Murder Mile, comes out Oct. 28 from Harper Perennial.
Jackie Corley was born in 1982. She co-founded Word Riot, an online literary magazine and small press, in 2002. Her writing has appeared online and in various print anthologies. The Suburban Swindle, a short story collection, comes out Oct. 15 from New Publishing.
Review at JMWW
01325 days
Catherine Harrison reviewed The Suburban Swindle for the Fall 2008 issue of JMWW:
“There are some books written by and about 20-somethings that fill you with nostalgia (or anticipation), a longing for new adulthood, a time full of potential and beginnings and pure independence. But Jackie Corley’s The Suburban Swindle isn’t one of those books. This short story collection is full of what the narrator in ‘Blood in Jersey’ calls ‘oiled sadness,’ meant to be read as you smoke a carton of cigarettes and a guzzle a bottle of booze. …
“Corley’s writing is concise yet provocative. She crafts her characters and images with precision and delicacy. Her writing is insightful and ultimately empathetic. Beneath these damaged people are souls craving redemption and grace, and occasionally they find them, if only through distorted memories.”
Interview at Red Bank Orbit
01346 days
I was interviewed by Tom Chesek, arts reporter and wear-er of a most awesome hat, for local web site Red Bank Orbit:
There’s no hope for someone like Jackie Corley.
By that we mean no hope of her ever gaining re-entry to the mainstream of suburban Monmouth County life. Not after an intense bunch of years spent as a young newspaper reporter and political blogger — first with Middletown’s venerably nutty weekly The Courier, then with her own Bayshore Journalista site and a whole lot of other online forums.
Earshot Reading Series
01347 days
I’ll be one of the non-MFA folks reading:
The EARSHOT Reading Series
Friday, September 26, 2008 — 8 p.m.
The Lucky Cat
245 Grand Street (b/w Driggs & Roebling)
Brooklyn, NY 11211
From The L Magazine‘s “Five Best Reading Series” list:
The Earshot Reading Series. Held in Williamsburg at The Lucky Cat, Earshot brings MFA students to the world outside the MFA bubble. Yeah, there’s a cover, but it’s only five bucks, which is only about 1/6,600th of one year’s tuition at Columbia’s MFA program. Plus you get a free drink once you’re inside. Beat that, Columbia.
GoodRead me
11372 days
If you’re on Goodreads, do me a favor and add The Suburban Swindle to one of your list.
I’ll think you’re just swell.
(And thanks to Steve Himmer for putting it on there in the first place. That was a really pleasant surprise.)
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