News & Reviews
New Personal Essay in The Queer South Anthology
I’m honored to be included with Dorothy Allison and a generous selection of other writers in the anthology The Queer South, edited by charming man of letters Douglas Ray. My contribution is a new personal essay. You can order the book anywhere, including from the publisher, Sibling Rivalry Press.
Mission at Tenth Publishes Excerpt from My Memoir of Madness
Writing is hard; mostly you fail. What you think is passable meets constant rejection. It gets a bit much. This is why so many writers have memoirs of madness in them. Mission at Tenth, published by California Institute of Integral Studies, located right here in Fog City, which I think is a way of referring to San Francisco, is hefty and shockingly slick for an arts journal. It’s got a lot of everything, including my piece “Feeling, Better,” from my own memoir of madness in progress.
Storyville Chooses “The Golem” for Story of the Week
Storyville, an app that brings a story from a published collection each week to its subscribers, has chosen “The Golem,” from Fire Year, for its story of the week. Check it out at http://storyvilleapp.com/.
Out in Print Reviews Fire Year
Thanks, David Pratt, for the kind words in the gay book review blog Out in Print.
http://outinprintblog.wordpress.com/2014/06/09/fire-year-jason-a-friedman-sarabande-books/
Rukkle Puts Fire Year Atop Top 10 Summer Reading List
As much as I want everyone to read my book, even I wouldn’t go so far as to call Fire Year beach reading. But I’m happy that the gay “distraction” site Rukkle did.
http://rukkle.com/features/best-gay-books-summer-2014/
New York Times Publishes My Opinionator Draft Piece
This is a story about unpublished books and digital second lives. Check it out at this link:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/14/the-book-that-didnt-exist/
Fire Year Chosen as Finalist for Lambda Literary Awards
The Lammys are the LGBT literary prizes, and Fire Year is a finalist in the Gay General Fiction category. Thank you, Lamba Literary Foundation! Half the finalists are books of stories, which attests to the strength of short stories these days–and the willingness of publishers to publish them.
Los Angeles Review of Books Reviews Fire Year
I’m humbled by the attention, brainpower, and erudition Douglas Ray brought to the task of reviewing my book for this classy publication. The piece is as much explication de texte as review, and it taught me a thing or two about my own work.
http://lareviewofbooks.org/review/kosher-hushpuppies-douglas-ray-reviews-jason-k-friedmans-fire-year
Minneapolis Star Tribune Reviews Fire Year
I don’t think I’ve ever seen my pores as up close as here, but I’m happy the reviewer chose “All the World’s a Field” as his favorite story. The other six were already other people’s favorites; this was the last one waiting to be claimed. Very interesting, though, the way people feel obliged to choose a favorite. Or maybe it’s just a natural thing to do–for everyone, that is, but the author.
http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/books/237340801.html