EVERYONE POOPS

You poop and I poop. We all have something in common!!! Joy!

Read this book...better than this clip!



Love you!

ON MY BEATS HEADPHONES

Love this track. Sort of old...still gets me.

LET'S BE FRIENDLY!

Let's be friends! Find me on Facebook...here...www.facebook.com/michaelgravesauthor

I look forward to meeting you!

XO

NEW POEM - WIFFLE

WIFFLE


Sid
arrived home,
three
shirt buttons
already
free.
Sweat
lit up
his chin
and
drowsy
eyelids.

Sid
stumbled
over
William, the cat,
cursed,
slammed
the screen door.
“Watch it,
hey!”
I hollered.

Sid
asked for
a
wiffle.
“Huh?”
I asked.
“You know,”
he said.
“A buzz cut.
Shit’s drivin’
me crazy.
cut it
all off.”
I said,
“Meet me
in the front yard.”

Sid
groused,
real, real
pissy.
Neatening
his
neck line,
I watched
brown
globes of fuzz
float down
to the grass.

Sid
slugged
on a
brew
and relived
his
grocery
mart
tales.
“Lady said she wanted
the brown mustard,
but the brown mustard
that’s got seeds in it.
Lady left her carriage.
Total
bitch
fit.”

Sid
is
a barrel
packed with
sighs.
I told him,
“At least
Friday
is only
four days
away.”

JAM

Why not cut up the kitchen floor on a Wednesday???

READING

Tuesday, October 25 · 7:00pm - 10:00pm

Location:
Brookline Booksmith
279 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA

More Info:
Join us as we celebrate the releases of two debuts from local authors. Michael Schiavone has had his short work published in magazines such as Glimmer Train and Narrative as well as the Robert Olen Butler Prize Anthology. His debut novel, Call Me When You Land tells the story of a mother divided from her son by the death of his absent father.

Michael Graves' fiction has appeared in numerous journals, including Lodestar Quarterly and Velvet Mafia, and he has been nominated for a Pushcart and the Million Writers Award. In his first collection of short stories, Dirty One, he tells strange tales of adolescence in a dying town.

RSVP:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=152963461462859

Hope to see lots of friends there!!!!!!

PAL

Check out my pal, Tom Cardamone's collection of short stories, PUMPKIN TEETH. Some of my favorite pieces are included!"Let Tom Cardamone lead you into his wicked universe of changelings and mysterious creatures, where a boy transforms into lightning and illuminates his emerging sexuality. Where a man accidentally receives a package meant for his neighbor, a situation complicated by the fact that he lives next door to a Sphinx. A nurse finds herself working in a retirement home for vampires, while in the future a man questions his decision to live life as a manatee. Featuring tales of quiet suburban anomie, to superhero tropes, to intense erotic horror, Pumpkin Teeth spans the range from Palahniuk insanity to Bradburyesque tenderness. Warning, once you are bitten by Pumpkin Teeth, it will not let you go."Order now from...www.giovannisroom.com!

YAWN

Giddy to be working, but should be sleeping. Cuddles?

PARADE

I can't wait for the PARADE. ;)

AWESOMENESS

A very awesome review of my collection, DIRTY ONE. Giant, giant thank you's to Mr. Richard Labonte. You're the best!

"...this slim collection, brand(s) Graves as a next-generation master of prose that is at once remorseless and refreshing."

Go here for the full review! http://outlookcolumbus.com/2011/09/bookmark-september-19-2011/

ONE OF MY FAVORITES!

J

Here are some of my favorite J words.

JUNCTURE.

JAZZY.

JUNK.

JIZZ.

JUMPER.

JACK-O-LANTERN.

JOLLY.

JAILBIRD.

JASPER.

JUXTAPOSING.

COOLNESS

Very cool, kind words about my book, DIRTY ONE, from Mr. Amos Lassen. THANK YOU!!!!!

"I have a very strong feeling that DIRTY ONE is going to be an important and widely read book this year. Michael Graves gives us something that he can be very proud of."


The full review...http://reviewsbyamoslassen.com/?p=7497

OVERDUE!

Must return library books today! But they are overdue! Hate feeling like a criminal.

SWEETNESS

Sweet thoughts from Mr. Eric Nguyen at his blog, You Fight Like Anne Rice! MANY THANKS!


“Graves explores that line between childhood and adulthood, pinpoints the way we linger there without even noticing it… Graves characters are outrageous drug fueled, sex crazed, self-centered teenagers. Whereas everyone in the eighties (or writing of the eighties) focused on dirty realism or America's golden age of padded shoulders, Graves's world is refreshingly queer and odd and fun.”

DANCE...LIKE IT'S A PARADE!

YAY!

PRAISE BUDDHA

A great book by a great writer!






The Third Buddha

Author Jameson Currier expands his richly detailed storytelling to an international level, weaving together the intertwining stories of the search for a missing journalist in the Bamiyan region of Afghanistan with a young man’s search for his older brother in Manhattan in the aftermath of 9-11 into a sweeping, multi-cultural novel of what it means to be a gay citizen of the world.

"A riveting tale of suspense, hardship and the human spirit to overcome all odds, making it a perfect choice for a reader who appreciates such efforts. Five stars out of five.”
—Bob Lind, Echo Magazine

NICENESS

Wonderfully nice words about my collection, DIRTY ONE, from Mr. Jerry L. Wheeler... THANK YOU!

One of the great joys of doing this blog is that occasionally I run across an author whose work I’ve never read before but grabs me almost immediately—seizing me by the throat and touring me around a twisted world I’ve never before experienced. Michael Graves is my latest demented tour guide and Dirty One, a collection of his short fiction, is a perfect gem of multi-faceted characters with flaws aplenty.

The young adults that populate Graves’ fiction are skewed, skittering through their adolescence with a drug- and demon-fueled intensity that leaves the reader breathless and aching to sit down with these poor kids to let them know that things do, indeed, get better. Still, the kids are only following the examples of their even more fucked up parents, most of whom have no business having kids in the first place. But the drama… The drama is delicious and makes for some of the finest reading I’ve had in months.

The nine stories comprising this slim, power-packed volume mostly take place in the suburb of Leominster, MA and while they don’t all have the same characters, they all have the same odd American Gothic feel of alienation and separation. For example, the opening story, “Comb City” features eight-year-old Philip, separated from his mother and his birth city because his celebrity father needs a place to recover from recent plastic surgery away from the paparazzi. Philip, of course, acts out—much to the dismay of his neighbor’s cat. In the sly “From Kissing,” a sixth-grader named Butch, who loves making friendship bracelets with his cousin Sherrie, goes to the monster truck rally with Milo, who slips Butch his first tongue kiss. When Butch comes down with the flu, he’s convinced Milo has given him AIDS. From the vaguely creepy “Bath Time” to “Do It,” in which Denise pines for a boyfriend who can make love to her and maintain an erection, Graves’ kids use every resource they can to cope with the unfair and unreasonable burdens with which they are saddled.

Two stories, however, continue to stick with me days after I finished the book. “A Snow Day” captures teen idol wanna-be Cassidy whose father is the town’s infamous gay pedophile. Its ending—which has nothing to do with molestation—is so shocking, so unexpected, that I had to read it a few times to confirm what was happening. Then, I closed the book and thought about how remorselessly evil some people can be. “Seahorse” is the story of a huffer named George, his boyfriend Woody and George’s quest to have a baby. And—as I now remember—it was one of the best tales in Blair Mastbaum’s terrific anthology of a few years ago, Cool Thing.

But none of these plots would mean a thing if it weren’t for Graves’ prose style, which incorporates all senses to hurl you into a world of simple images so startlingly true they could be poetry. Hell, they are poetry. His dialogue sounds so natural, it could have been overheard at the mall. Graves is one of the most original young voices writing for our community today—so pick up a copy of Dirty One and you can tell your friends that you were a fan from the beginning.

Because you will be.

Friday number for dancing in the kitchen while writing some things...