This is the archive page for the category [CCLaP news]; below you should see headlines and summaries of all entries found here on the subject. Click the appropriate link at each to read the entire entry.

"Get Up Tim" now live at Amazon! | February 2, 2012
Hooray! CCLaP's newest original book, the story collection "Get Up Tim" by Sally Weigel, is now available at the Amazon Kindle Store! Plus new 'amzn.to' URL shortcuts for each and every book that CCLaP sells! Click through for it all! | Read entire entry

It's Sally Weigel Day at CCLaP! | January 31, 2012
Yippie! It's release day for CCLaP's newest original book! In this case it's the story collection "Get Up Tim" by local author Sally Weigel, her second book for the center after 2009's youth/war/Radiohead novella "Too Young to Fall Asleep," available as always for free download if you want or as a special handmade paper edition. Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

CCLaP Podcast 82: Author Sally Weigel | January 31, 2012
Today on the CCLaP Podcast: It's my half-hour talk with Chicago author Sally Weigel, on the occasion of the release of her newest book with the center, the story collection "Get Up Tim." Also featuring the music of Coco Bryce and Earlimart. | Read entire entry

Passing the Torch: Katherine Scott Nelson on Sally Weigel | January 31, 2012
It's Sally Weigel Day at CCLaP! And in celebration of her new story collection, "Get Up Tim," I asked the author of the center's previous book, Katherine Scott Nelson of "Have You Seen Me," if ze might share some of hir own thoughts about the new book as well. Here's what ze had to say. | Read entire entry

Calling the CCLaP Army! Your proofreading help is once again needed! | January 23, 2012
It's time soon for another CCLaP original book -- in this case, the story collection "Get Up Tim" by local author Sally Weigel -- and you know what that means; that's right, I'm looking for blog readers who would be interested in doing some volunteer proofreading of the manuscript before it gets officially released next week, in that unlike a mainstream press, I can't afford to hire such people. Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

For your consideration: "Life After Sleep" for the 2012 Hugo | January 18, 2012
It's a long shot, but I wanted to remind everyone that the 2011 CCLaP science-fiction novel "Life After Sleep" by Mark R. Brand is eligible for this year's Hugo Award, the biggest award in the entire industry. They're being given out this year in Chicago, and CCLaP will be attending, so this would be a great feather in our cap if you can help out! | Read entire entry

Hey, Chicagoans! CCLaP's first major fundraiser is here! | January 9, 2012
Happy day! CCLaP is finally set to hold its first-ever major fundraiser on February 4th, in honor of the recent "New York Stories" deluxe illustrated book by Ben Tanzer with Laura Szumowski. $100 per couple gets you a copy of the book, free food and liquor, and a multimedia performance, all within the confines of a historic Victorian mansion in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. Click through for all the details, and to purchase tickets right this second! | Read entire entry

The Year In Books 2011: The CCLaP Guilty Pleasure Awards | January 6, 2012
Today at CCLaP, part 5 of our week-long look at our favorite reads of 2011. Today, the annual Guilty Pleasure Awards, for the genre books I loved much more than I probably should have. | Read entire entry

The Year In Books 2011: Best Experimental and Cutting-Edge | January 5, 2012
Today at CCLaP, it's part 4 of our week-long look at our favorite reads of 2011; today's list looks at my ten favorite experimental and cutting-edge titles from the last year. | Read entire entry

The Year In Books 2011: Also Worth a Second Look | January 4, 2012
Today at CCLaP, it's part 2 of our week-long look at our favorite reads of 2011. Today's list features ten titles that ranked near the top of the scores but didn't quite get there, although nonetheless are absolutely worth a second look. | Read entire entry

The Year In Books 2011: Best Of The Best | January 2, 2012
Today at CCLaP, part one of our annual best-of lists here at the end of every year; today's list covers the ten highest-scoring books at our blog in 2011. | Read entire entry

The Year In Books 2011 | January 2, 2012
It's finally here! CCLaP's look back at its favorite 40 reads in 2011, of the 120 books we ended up reviewing, starts today and lasts throughout the week, along with a special top-ten list from staff writer Oriana Leckert. Check this specific page throughout the week for all the latest! | Read entire entry

CCLaP's paying some artists on December 18th! Come join us! | December 8, 2011
Hooray! Time for CCLaP to pay some artists again! This time it'll be Jason Fisk of "Salt Creek Anthology" and Katherine Scott Nelson of "Have You Seen Me;" we'll be meeting up at the Swedish pub Simon's in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood on Sunday, December 18th. Click through for all the details, including the Facebook event page! | Read entire entry

Kirkus Reviews discovers CCLaP! AND THEY LIKE US! | December 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews, the second most popular lit-review publication in America, recently did its first write-up of a CCLaP book, the coming-of-age novella "Have You Seen Me" by Katherine Scott Nelson -- and they liked it! A lot! Click through for more, including the full review itself. | Read entire entry

CCLaP's two newest books are now (finally) here! | December 6, 2011
DOUBLE RAINBOW EXCITEMENT! Today sees the release of not just one but two new books at CCLaP: the electronic story collection "So Different Now" and the deluxe paper edition, "The New York Stories," both by Chicago author Ben Tanzer. Click through for lots more details, lots more photos, and direct links to both books' order pages. | Read entire entry

CCLaP Podcast 81: Author Ben Tanzer | December 6, 2011
Today on the CCLaP Podcast: It's an hour-long talk with Chicago author Ben Tanzer, on the occasion of the release of his two newest books with the center, the electronic story collection "So Different Now" and the deluxe paper version, "The New York Stories." | Read entire entry

No new book until December 5th! But lookit how purty it is! | November 21, 2011
Yes, dear reader, it seems that CCLaP has officially bitten off just a little more than it can chew this fall, and that Ben Tanzer's new book "The New York Stories" will be out on December 5th instead of today like planned. But I do at least have one copy done, and it's looking pretty freaking gorgeous! Click through for nine new photos of it! | Read entire entry

The Chicago Book Expo is this weekend! | November 18, 2011
The Chicago Book Expo is this weekend! CCLaP will have a booth at it, co-manned by the always vivacious Lauryn Allison; plus we'll having signing hours on Saturday from Sally Weigel (12 to 1), Katherine Scott Nelson (2 to 3), and Ben Tanzer (4 to 5). Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

And don't forget the big Chicago party tonight! | November 10, 2011
And don't forget, Chicagoans, tonight's the big release party for Katherine Scott Nelson's book with CCLaP, the runaway coming-of-age novella "Have You Seen Me," at Women & Children First Bookstore in Andersonville, then moving to a nearby wine bar afterwards. Click through for the details! Hope to see you tonight! | Read entire entry

Just look at all the busy crap coming up with CCLaP soon! | November 4, 2011
Frustrated by the lack of CCLaP blog updates recently? That's because we have a book release party for Katherine Scott Nelson next week we're working on, then a new book by Ben Tanzer and Laura Szumowski the following week, then our first book fair the next week, then our big high-ticket Victorian-mansion Christmas fundraiser the week after that! Whew! Click through for it all! | Read entire entry

Announcing the SHoP Reading Series podcast! | November 3, 2011
Today at CCLaP, I'm happy to announce an official new addition to our podcast -- regular live literary readings from a new Hyde Park arts organization I've gotten involved with, called the Southside Hub of Production or SHoP for short. Click through for the details, and to see photos from last night's inaugural event, a regular queer-lit showcase called "All The Writers I Know." | Read entire entry

Stickers! Get yer sexy new hipster CCLaP stickers! | October 19, 2011
Stickers! Get yer sexy new hipster CCLaP stickers! Designed by Laura Szumowski! Available for just two bucks! Click through to order one right now! | Read entire entry

Why I Signed 'Have You Seen Me' - An Apologia. | October 18, 2011
It's Katherine Scott Nelson Day at CCLaP! And in celebration of her new book with the center, the runaway coming-of-age novella "Have You Seen Me," here is an 'apologia' from me (or that is, a deliberately all-positive critical essay), on why I liked this manuscript enough to sign it in the first place. | Read entire entry

It's Katherine Scott Nelson Day at CCLaP! | October 18, 2011
It's Katherine Scott Nelson Day at CCLaP! And that's in honor of her new book with the center coming out today, the runaway coming-of-age tale "Have You Seen Me." Click through for a wealth of links, including to the book itself, a recent interview, its Goodreads listing, critical essays, a spoken-word MP3, info about the release party, and more! | Read entire entry

CCLaP Podcast 79: Author Katherine Scott Nelson | October 18, 2011
Today on the CCLaP Podcast: It's my twenty-minute talk with local author Katherine Scott Nelson, in celebration of her new book with the center, the runaway coming-of-age tale "Have You Seen Me." | Read entire entry

CCLaP Podcast Extra: Audio excerpt from 'Have You Seen Me' | October 18, 2011
Today, a special CCLaP Podcast extra: A twelve-minute spoken-word excerpt from the center's new book, Katherine Scott Nelson's runaway coming-of-age novella "Have You Seen Me," performed by professional voice artist Christopher Sullivan. | Read entire entry

Passing the Torch: Jason Fisk on Katherine Scott Nelson | October 18, 2011
It's Katherine Scott Nelson Day at CCLaP! And in celebration of her new book with the center, the runaway coming-of-age novella "Have You Seen Me," here's a "passing the torch" style essay from CCLaP's last published author, Jason Fisk of "Salt Creek Anthology," on what he likes about this newest book. | Read entire entry

We're having a party for "Have You Seen Me!" | October 18, 2011
It's Katherine Scott Nelson Day at CCLaP! And in celebration of her new novella with the center, the runaway coming-of-age tale "Have You Seen Me," we'll be throwing a release party on November 10th at Women & Children First Bookstore in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood. Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

Download a sneak preview of CCLaP's next book! | September 20, 2011
CCLaP's next original book, the coming-of-age tale "Have You Seen Me" by Katherine Scott Nelson, gets released on October 17th; and lo and behold, we're running so ahead of schedule with its editing, I decided to put together a little sneak preview that you can download right now! Click through to do so! Now! Do it! | Read entire entry

CCLaP Podcast 78: Live from the 'American Wasteland' release party | September 16, 2011
Today on the CCLaP Podcast: It's a special half-hour live-audience edition, recorded at the center's recent book release party for "American Wasteland," last September 9th at Quimby's Bookstore in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. Featuring performances from Delphine Pontvieux, Mark R. Brand and Lawrence Santoro. | Read entire entry

"American Wasteland" is finally here! | September 14, 2011
A home internet blackout has had this delayed, but I'm happy to announce that CCLaP's newest original book is finally out, the dark science-fiction 9/11 anthology "American Wasteland." Download the ebook! Order it in paper! Order all our paper books at once! Cringe at the pure darkness of these Tea Party cautionary tales! | Read entire entry

Hope to see you at the CCLaP Quimby's party tonight! | September 9, 2011
Just a short reminder about CCLaP's release party at Quimby's Bookstore tonight, for the dark sci-fi 9/11 anthology "American Wasteland." Free beer! Local performances! Sexy nerds! Hope to see you there! | Read entire entry

Don't forget the big CCLaP Quimby's party this Friday! | September 6, 2011
Only four days until CCLaP's big "American Wasteland" release party this coming Friday, at famed Wicker Park destination Quimby's Bookstore! Free beer! Readings from Mark R. Brand, Delphine Pontvieux and Lawrence Santoro! Many, many sexy nerds in funny glasses! Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

Hey, Traci Kim, how was the internship? | August 22, 2011
As the summer closes out, we must say goodbye to CCLaP's hardworking 2011 intern, Traci Kim, editor of the new center anthology "Amsterdamned If You do." Here, a final report and thank-yous from Traci, now that she's back at school. | Read entire entry

You're invited to the "American Wasteland" Quimby's release party! | August 22, 2011
Hot damn! Fresh on the heels of its big quadruple book release party the other week, CCLaP is happy to announce its newest event, a release party at Quimby's in Wicker Park for the new anthology "American Wasteland: Bleak Tales of the Future on the Tenth Anniversary of 9/11." Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

The paper version of "99 Problems" is now available! | August 19, 2011
Happy news -- today finally sees the release of the very last paper edition of an old CCLaP ebook, in this case Ben Tanzer's remarkable essay series on running and writing, "99 Problems" from 2010. Click through for a lot more, tons of photos, and direct links to the purchase buttons. | Read entire entry

Hey, Jason Fisk, how was Minnesota? | August 18, 2011
Writer Jason Fisk recently became CCLaP's first author to officially travel to another state to attend a bookclub discussion, in this case to Minnesota to discuss his story collection "Salt Creek Anthology." Click through for photos and a field report. | Read entire entry

CCLaP Podcast 76: Live from the CCLaP Book Party | August 17, 2011
Today on the CCLaP Podcast: It's a special one-hour, live-audience edition, recorded at the center's big book release party at Chicago's Beauty Bar on August 10th. Featuring performances from Jason Fisk, Sally Weigel, Ben Tanzer, Mark R. Brand, Delphine Pontvieux and Robert Duffer. | Read entire entry

CCLaP's new summer anthology is here! | August 16, 2011
Excelsior! CCLaP's newest original book is here! It's a new anthology, in fact, "Amsterdamned If You Do," a look at the subject of setting and how it affects modern literature, conceptualized and edited by the center's 2011 intern, Traci Kim. Click through for more, and to start the downloading/purchasing process. | Read entire entry

CCLaP's book release party was a big success! | August 12, 2011
CCLaP's big quadruple book release party this past Wednesday was a huge success, with 75 people in attendance altogether and a fun drunken (DRUNKEN) time had by all. Click through for a longer recap and lots of photos! | Read entire entry

CCLaP's big book release party is tomorrow! | August 9, 2011
Holy crap! CCLaP's giant quadruple book release party is tomorrow! Here, final details for those who need them, and links to a series of long interviews and profiles about the center that have recently been showing up around the blogosphere. | Read entire entry

Only one week until CCLaP's big book release party! | August 3, 2011
Hey hey! Just one week until CCLaP's big quadruple book release party and performance extravaganza, taking place August 10th at Beauty Bar over at 1444 W. Chicago Avenue. Click through for more details, and to see a new profile of CCLaP published today by Lori Hettler's "The Next Best Book Blog." | Read entire entry

The paper version of "Too Young to Fall Asleep" is here! | July 18, 2011
Happy day! The latest of CCLaP's special new "Hypermoden Editions," a series of high-quality, paper editions of all our electronic books, is now available; in this case it's Sally Weigel's youth/war novella "Too Young to Fall Asleep," originally published electronically in 2009. Click through for lots of photos and to order a copy right this moment! | Read entire entry

A chat with Sally Weigel | July 18, 2011
It's release day for CCLaP's latest "Hypermodern" paper book, in this case Sally Weigel's youth/war novella "Too Young to Fall Asleep," originally published electronically in 2009. Here I sit and talk with Sally via text chat about all the things that have been going on with her in the two years since the book first came out. | Read entire entry

Announcing the CCLaP Quadruple Book Release Party! | July 11, 2011
It's official -- CCLaP is throwing its next big live event on Wednesday, August 10th, a special group party celebrating all four paper books the center will have out by then, from local authors Ben Tanzer, Sally Weigel, Mark R. Brand and Jason Fisk. It's at Beauty Bar in the Noble Square neighborhood and will feature free food and performances; click through for all the details, including links to its Facebook page and iCal file. | Read entire entry

CCLaP Podcast 74: Author Jason Fisk | July 5, 2011
Today on the CCLaP Podcast: It's my half-hour talk with Chicago author Jason Fisk, telling us everything we ever wanted to know about his new book with the center, the "micro-story" collection "Salt Creek Anthology" which came out right before the July 4th weekend. Click through to download or stream in real time. | Read entire entry

It's Jason Fisk Day at CCLaP! | June 30, 2011
Hooray! CCLaP's newest original book is finally here! It's the micro-story collection "Salt Creek Anthology" by local author Jason Fisk, and today the entire day has been given over to it here at the site, including a series of new essays, a "making of" photo essay regarding the paper book, a new interview with Fisk for the podcast, and more. Click through for links to them all. | Read entire entry

Personal essay: "Why I Signed 'Salt Creek Anthology' - An Apologia." | June 30, 2011
It's Jason Fisk Day at CCLaP! And in celebration of his new book with the center, the micro-story collection "Salt Creek Anthology," here is an "Apologia" from me (i.e. a critical essay with an obvious bias), on why I signed the book in the first place, and more on the "hyperfiction" style that it's been released under. | Read entire entry

Passing the Torch: Mark R. Brand on Jason Fisk | June 30, 2011
It's Jason Fisk Day at CCLaP! And in celebration of his new book with the center, the "micro-story" collection "Salt Creek Anthology," here's a critical essay by Mark R. Brand, the center's last published author, on what he thinks of the new book. | Read entire entry

The Making of 'Salt Creek Anthology' - a photo essay | June 30, 2011
It's Jason Fisk Day at CCLaP! And in celebration of his new book for the center, the "micro-story" collection "Salt Creek Anthology," here's a special photo essay showing step by step what goes into making the special paper edition of the book, including a handmade, fabric-lined box. | Read entire entry

Metapost: Updates on CCLaP's coming anthologies | June 24, 2011
CCLaP's summer intern Traci Kim drops us another line to let us know how things are going, and also what the status is on the anthology she's putting together for the center this summer; and speaking of which, the deadline is fast approaching on CCLaP's other anthology as well, "American Wasteland." Click through for lots more on both! | Read entire entry

Metapost: Sorry it's been so quiet here this week | June 22, 2011
Sorry it's been so quiet at CCLaP this week; we're just a week away from the release of the center's newest original book, Jason Fisk's "Salt Creek Anthology," and the million final details are keeping me too busy for the blog. Anyway, click through for sneak-peek photos of it, and to learn more about the freelance book reviewers I'm looking to hire this year. | Read entire entry

Hey, CCLaP army! IT'S PROOFREADING TIME AGAIN! | June 14, 2011
We're two weeks away from the release of CCLaP's newest original book, Jason Fisk's "Salt Creek Anthology," and you know what that means -- that's right, we're looking for volunteer proofreaders again! Click through for all the details, and please consider helping us to get Jason's manuscript into as perfect a shape as possible before publication. | Read entire entry

How's the CCLaP book coming, Traci? | June 13, 2011
You remember CCLaP's summer intern, Traci Kim, right? She's in charge of a new anthology the center will be publishing in August on the subject of setting and place within contemporary fiction; and with the submission deadline of July 11th fast approaching, I thought I'd have her give us all a little update on how everything is going. Click through to read it! | Read entire entry

CCLaP now accepting international orders! | June 9, 2011
Happy day -- CCLaP is now accepting international orders for its first paper book, Mark R. Brand's "Life After Sleep!" Click through for the details; but in a nutshell, the grand total for purchase plus shipping will be around US$30 to just about anyone on the planet, equivalent to roughly 20 pounds or euros. | Read entire entry

Field report: 2011 Printers Row Book Fair and Lit Fest | June 6, 2011
As regular readers know, I had a chance this weekend to attend the annual Printers Row Book Fair and Lit Fest here in Chicago, so I thought I'd take a moment and post a few of the photos I took while I was there as well. Click through for them all. | Read entire entry

Going to Printers Row? Have a beer with us while you're there! | June 3, 2011
Chicagoans! Going to the big Printers Row Book Fair and Lit Fest this weekend? If so, make sure to join your fellow CCLaP readers at an ultra-casual pub meet-up, in the back of Kasey's Tavern at 701 S. Dearborn from 3:30 to 5:30 on late Saturday afternoon. Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

Traci Kim's "Settings" anthology: Call For Submissions | June 1, 2011
Earlier today, I introduced you to CCLaP's new summer intern, Traci Kim, and mentioned how her main thing for the center this summer will be a brand-new anthology on the subject of setting and milieu within contemporary fiction; here then is the actual open call for submissions, including lots more details on the subject itself. Both she and I look forward to seeing what you put together. | Read entire entry

Meet CCLaP's new cheap labor...er, summer intern! | June 1, 2011
Wow, whaddya know? CCLaP has a summer intern! Meet Traci Kim, a Chicago native who this fall will be starting her final year at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and learn more about the new anthology she will be putting together this summer for the center. Submissions being accepted as we speak! | Read entire entry

And did I mention the "Time Out" article? | May 27, 2011
And I can't send everyone off to their long Memorial Day weekends without first thanking Jonathan Messinger for so prominently featuring both CCLaP and the center's newest book, Mark R. Brand's "Life After Sleep," in a full-page cover story in the Books section of this week's "Time Out: Chicago." Click through for more! | Read entire entry

CCLaP's Etsy store is now open! | May 26, 2011
Double Rainbow Hooray! (What does it mean!?) CCLaP's Etsy store, selling the center's first two whimsically decorated, hand-made blank journals, is now open! Cotton sheets! Coptic stitching! 160 pages! Only twenty bucks! Buy! Buy! Buy! Click through for more, including lots of photographs! | Read entire entry

New to the Reading List: 20 May 2011 | May 20, 2011
Today, a look at the latest seven titles to be added to the center's unending "to-read" list, including the two latest releases from Pedlar Press, two academic story collections sent by Daniel Casey of "Gently Read Literature," two of this year's Hugo nominees for Best Novel, and David Mitchell's latest, the Booker-nominated "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet." | Read entire entry

The future is here: 'Life After Sleep' BookCard added to school library | May 18, 2011
How cool is this? A high-school library in upstate New York has added the experimental USB 'BookCard' version of Mark R. Brand's "Life After Sleep" to their permanent collection! Click through for a lot more, including photos of the BookCard actually at their library, as well as more about the surprising success of this little experiment in bringing ebooks out into the physical world. | Read entire entry

The Making of a CCLaP Book: Part 4 | May 12, 2011
Klasse! CCLaP's first paper book, for Mark R. Brand's "Life After Sleep," is now available! To mark the occasion, I'm doing a four-part photo essay here at the site this week, obsessively detailing each and every step involved with actually making one of these special handmade editions. Today we're wrapping things up, figuratively and literally, with not just the last few assembly steps but all the work involved with packing and shipping one. | Read entire entry

The Making of a CCLaP Book: Part 3 | May 11, 2011
Cheers! CCLaP's first paper book, of Mark R. Brand's day-after-tomorrow novella "Life After Sleep," is finally available for purchase! I'm marking the occasion with a four-part photo essay this week, showing off in obsessive detail each and every step that goes into making these special handmade editions. Today, the longest part of the entire process, the stitching together of that exposed Coptic spine that makes these so distinctive. | Read entire entry

The Making of a CCLaP Book: Part 2 | May 10, 2011
CCLaP's first paper book, of Mark R. Brand's "Life After Sleep," is finally available for purchase! And to mark the occasion, I'm doing a special four-party photo essay here, showing in obsessive detail every step involved with making and shipping one. Here in day 2, I look at the surprisingly complex process of gluing the book's covers together. | Read entire entry

CCLaP's first paper book is finally ready for purchase! | May 9, 2011
Excelsior! CCLaP's first paper book, for Mark R. Brand's day-after-tomorrow novella "Life After Sleep," is finally available for purchase! Click through for a whole lot more, including a chance to order it right this second. | Read entire entry

The Making of a CCLaP Book: Part 1 | May 9, 2011
CCLaP's first paper book is finally available for purchase! And to mark the occasion, I'm running a special four-part photo essay at the site this week, showing in obsessive detail every single step that goes into making one of these handmade, special-edition titles. Today, printing and folding the manuscript, and cutting the materials needed for the covers. | Read entire entry

CCLaP Podcast Extra: "Life After Sleep" commercial | May 5, 2011
Surprise -- I made a creepy-feeling sci-fi online video commercial for CCLaP's newest book, the day-after-tomorrow tale "Life After Sleep" by Mark R. Brand. Click through to watch it right this second, then please spread the word if you can and help make this a viral hit! | Read entire entry

Only one week until CCLaP's first paper book is available! | May 2, 2011
Only one week now until CCLaP's first paper book, for Mark R. Brand's day-after-tomorrow novella "Life After Sleep," will be available for purchase! Click through for more on how the assembly process is going; and don't forget that an electronic version is available as well, completely for free if you so choose. | Read entire entry

New to the Reading List: 29 April 2011 | April 29, 2011
Today, short looks at the latest five additions to the center's unending to-read list, including nonfiction titles on the history of Britain and of Greek science being saved by Islamic scholars, two new intriguing novels, and an illustrated guide to throwing parties for five-year-old girls where they all get to dress up like fairy princesses. No, seriously. | Read entire entry

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a paper book. | April 22, 2011
They're not for sale yet, but I at least wanted to end the week with the fantastic news that CCLaP's first paper book (and I mean literally the first copy), of Mark R. Brand's "Life After Sleep," is finally finished and busy drying in my apartment. Click through for a ton of photos, and more on the center's coming "Hypermodern Editions" series of collector-worthy but affordably-priced paper titles. | Read entire entry

New to the Reading List: 22 April 2011 | April 22, 2011
Today, short looks at the newest five books to be added to the center's unending to-read list, including the latest by Myla Goldberg, the latest from Two Dollar Radio, a history of Mars-based literature, an anthology on time-traveling disasters, and a comedy about a dead slacker in a corporate-run Heaven. | Read entire entry

Chicagoans, hope to see you this Sunday at Orange Alert! | April 15, 2011
CCLaP will be at the Orange Alert Reading Series this Sunday, supporting author Mark R. Brand and selling for the first time our special "BookCard" edition of his novella "Life After Sleep," and hope to see all you Chicagoans as well. Click through for details on both the reading and this special project, including lots of photos of it in action. | Read entire entry

Only three months until the "American Wasteland" deadline! | April 11, 2011
Only three months until the submission deadline for CCLaP's latest anthology, "American Wasteland: Bleak Tales About the Future on the Tenth Anniversary of 9/11!" And this just in -- the release party is being held at revered local bookstore Quimby's! Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

Personal essay: CCLaP's wikicloud guide, a mid-project report. | April 7, 2011
Last November I started a long-term research project through CCLaP, recording my causal, stream-of-consciousness readings at Wikipedia on the subject of the Victorian Age and then presenting that in a graphical map/cloud format, using special software that lets others easily click through and read the entries themselves. Today, a mid-project report on how it's going. | Read entire entry

Metapost: Now post Facebook comments directly at the CCLaP website! | March 31, 2011
Yippee! Facebook recently made it a lot easier to do so, so this week I put the steps into place so that you can now post comments about CCLaP reviews directly at the website, with both your thoughts and other's replies appearing simultaneously at the blog and in your Wall feed. Click through for more! | Read entire entry

New to the Reading List: 25 March 2011 | March 25, 2011
Today, a look at the latest four books to be added to CCLaP's never-ending to-read list, including a collection of images from Victorian illustrator John Everett Millais, a history of the modern museum concept, a comedic thriller about death-obsessed teens from MTV Books, and the latest steampunk actioner from our friends at Pyr. | Read entire entry

It's Mark Brand Day at CCLaP! | March 7, 2011
It's Mark Brand Day at CCLaP! We're celebrating the release of his newest book for the center, the day-after-tomorrow tale "Life After Sleep," with a whole plethora of supplemental material like interviews and essays; click here for a round-up of links to everything now available. The book is free, so I hope you'll have a chance to check it out! | Read entire entry

CCLaP Podcast 68: Author Mark R. Brand | March 7, 2011
Today on the CCLaP Podcast: It's my talk with Chicago sci-fi veteran Mark R. Brand, detailing everything you ever wanted to know about his new book with the center, the day-after-tomorrow tale "Life After Sleep" which not coincidentally is also being released today. | Read entire entry

Personal essay: "Why I Signed 'Life After Sleep:' An Apologia." | March 7, 2011
It's Mark Brand Day at CCLaP! And as part of the celebrations over Mark's new book with the center, the day-after-tomorrow tale "Life After Sleep," here is a biased, deliberately all-positive analytical essay I wrote about the book, known in literary circles as an "Apologia." | Read entire entry

Passing the Torch: Ben Tanzer on Mark Brand | March 7, 2011
It's Mark Brand Day at CCLaP! And as part of the celebrations over the release of his new book with the center, the day-after-tomorrow tale "Life After Sleep," here is his fellow author (and previous CCLaP writer) Ben Tanzer, on the things he himself likes about this new novella. | Read entire entry

New to the Reading List: 4 March 2011 | March 4, 2011
Today, the latest five books to be added to CCLaP's never-ending "to read" list, including a new glossy coffeetable book on the history of world's fairs, a new biography of GK Chesterton, and yes! Finally! Franzen! Here! Finally! | Read entire entry

CCLaP releases a teaser poster for its newest book! | February 25, 2011
CCLaP releases a "teaser" poster for its newest original book, Mark R. Brand's day-after-tomorrow tale "Life After Sleep," coming out March 7th! YEAH, JUST LIKE HOLLYWOOD! Click through to see it! | Read entire entry

New to the Reading List: 25 February 2011 | February 25, 2011
Today, a look at the six newest books to be added to the center's never-ending reading list, including the latest by Pulitzer-winning Michael Cunningham, comic artist Julia Wertz's much-anticipated "Drinking at the Movies," Amber Dawn's Kathy-Acker-meets-magical-realism tale "Sub Rosa," and a lot more. | Read entire entry

Proofreaders needed for CCLaP's newest book! | February 22, 2011
We're two weeks away from the release of CCLaP's newest original book, the day-after-tomorrow tale "Life After Sleep" by Mark R. Brand! And you know what that means -- yes, CCLaP Army, we once again need our volunteer proofreaders, to help us catch the dozens of mistakes that history has taught us are still in the manuscript. Click through for all the details! Muchas gracias! | Read entire entry

My talk with Nathan Rabin will be on Chicago television tonight! | February 18, 2011
Just a reminder that my recent talk with "AV Club" head writer Nathan Rabin will be airing on Chicago cable's public access tonight, 11 p.m. on channel 19. Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

New to the Reading List: 18 February 2011 | February 18, 2011
Today, quick looks at the seven new novels I added this week to CCLaP's unending list of books to eventually read, including the latest by indie favorites Karen Russell, Jonathan Evison, Wesley Stace (aka musician John Wesley Harding), and a lot more. | Read entire entry

New to the Reading List: 11 February 2011 | February 11, 2011
Today, a look at the three latest books to be added to CCLaP's unending "to-read" list, including a history of the Chicago Housing Authority's various debacles over the years, as well as the two latest novels by our friends at Akashic Books. | Read entire entry

Meet Oriana Leckert, CCLaP's newest staff writer | January 19, 2011
I'm happy to announce that CCLaP's staff today has officially doubled, from one writer to two; meet Oriana Leckert, the center's latest book critic, who will be contributing both general reviews this year and a new special series on female-friendly graphic novels. Click through to learn more about her and what her new publishing schedule at CCLaP will be. | Read entire entry

CCLaP Podcast 65: An Evening with Nathan Rabin | January 17, 2011
Today on the podcast, the long-awaited audio transcript of the center's most recent big live event, a long-form interview with AVClub.com head writer Nathan Rabin last month at Chicago's Stage 773 theater complex. The special 90-minute episode also features an opening story by local author Ben Tanzer. | Read entire entry

CALL FOR ARTISTS: "American Wasteland: Bleak Tales of the Future on the Tenth Anniversary of 9/11" | January 11, 2011
Announcing a call for artists for CCLaP's newest anthology, "American Wasteland: Bleak Tales of the Future on the Tenth Anniversary of 9/11," in which a group of writers will create a shared dark future universe in which mismanagement has brought the US to the brink of collapse. Click through for all the details and submission rules; deadline is July 4th! | Read entire entry

The "Year In Books 2010" ebook is here! | January 10, 2011
Happy day! The electronic book version of CCLaP's "Year In Books 2010" four-part report is now online for your free downloading pleasure! Click through for all the details and links! | Read entire entry

New to the Reading List: 7 January 2010 | January 7, 2011
Today, the debut of a new weekly feature, in which I share the latest titles to be added to my unending 'to-read' list at CCLaP. Today's list consists of five titles, including brief descriptions of why I added them. | Read entire entry

New "99 Problems" ad! Look at all them nice quotes! | January 7, 2011
While preparing a new ad for Ben Tanzer's essay collection on running and writing, "99 Problems," put out by CCLaP about six months ago, I came to realize just how many nice things have now been said about it. Here, a reprint of the ad itself, as well as the text version of all those quotes. | Read entire entry

The Year In Books 2010: The CCLaP Guilty Pleasure Awards | December 31, 2010
Today at CCLaP, it's part four of the four-part look back I've been doing this week at my favorite reads of 2010; in this case, the revered Guilty Pleasure Awards, denoting excellence in the fields of nerdy steampunk, trashy melodrama and more. | Read entire entry

CCLaP's party was a snowy success! | December 30, 2010
We had a nice little crowd show up last night to CCLaP's Royalty Payout and Holiday Party, in which we celebrated Ben Tanzer earning his first royalty check for the running/writing essay collection "99 Problems." Click through for lots of photos, several of them thanks to local author Mark Brand. | Read entire entry

The Year In Books 2010: Best of the Cutting-Edge | December 30, 2010
Today at CCLaP, it's part 3 of my four-part look this week at my favorite books of 2010, this time concentrating on my ten favorite experimental or otherwise cutting-edge novels of the year. | Read entire entry

The Year In Books 2010: Worth a Second Look | December 29, 2010
Today at CCLaP, part 2 of my look back at my favorite 40 books of 2010, this time looking specifically at ten titles that were excellent for what they were, but that will only appeal to a more select group of fans. | Read entire entry

The Year In Books 2010: Best of the Best | December 28, 2010
Today at CCLaP, it's part one of the center's four-part look back at the best books of 2010, of the 150 titles that were read and reviewed here. Today's list looks at the ten top-scoring books of the year, all of which rated 9.4 or higher on a scale from 1 to 10. | Read entire entry

Come to CCLaP's royalty payout and holiday party! | December 27, 2010
It's time for local author Ben Tanzer to receive his first royalty check for his latest CCLaP book, the writing/running essay collection "99 Problems," so in usual fashion we're holding a public party to celebrate, this time at the Andersonville Swedish pub Simon's. Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

The Year In Books 2010: An Introduction | December 27, 2010
It's the last week of the year, which means it's time for CCLaP's four-part "Year In Books" roundup, taking a look again at my favorite 40 titles from the 150 I reviewed in 2010. Today, an introduction to what will be coming this week, plus some CCLaP statistics for those who are curious. | Read entire entry

Ben Tanzer's story-map looks freaking incredible in Google Earth 6 | December 16, 2010
I recently had a chance to open Ben Tanzer's "story-map," created as a promotional piece for his CCLaP essay collection "99 Problems," in the brand-new Google Earth 6 with thousands of 3D buildings and millions of 3D trees. The results are freaking incredible. Click through for lots of screenshots! | Read entire entry

CCLaP's event was a cold, rainy success! | November 30, 2010
We had eight hours of freezing rain in Chicago yesterday, which kept a lot of people home from CCLaP's "Evening with Nathan Rabin" event, but I and the intimate audience who made it out had a blast, and of course got a great recording to share with you via podcast next week. Click through for lots and lots of photos! | Read entire entry

CCLaP's big event is tonight! Broke artists...er, volunteers still needed! | November 29, 2010
Tonight finally sees CCLaP's newest live event, my live-audience talk with AV Club head writer Nathan Rabin, plus a special opening performance by Ben Tanzer! I'm still in need of a couple of broke artists who'd like to volunteer and earn free tickets and cocktails! Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

One week until my talk with Nathan Rabin! Volunteers needed! | November 23, 2010
Just one week to go until CCLaP's next live event, my talk with "AV Club" head writer Nathan Rabin! I'm still in need of a few more volunteers, so click through to learn how you too can earn yourself a free ticket and a cocktail after the show; plus, links and quotes from Rabin's latest book, the hilarious look at bad movies known as "My Year of Flops." | Read entire entry

Personal essay: CCLaP's "wikicloud" project is back on. | November 22, 2010
Good news -- almost two years since first mentioning it, I'm back at work on CCLaP's "Wikicloud Guide to the Victorian Age," in which I present nearly a thousand Wikipedia entries on the subject in a visual, non-linear map. Click through for lots of thoughts on the subject, as well as text and screenshots from the map's "creation journal." | Read entire entry

Contract: signed! Frightening amount of money: paid! | November 12, 2010
It's official -- the rental contract at Stage 773 has been signed, which means that CCLaP's next live event is a go, my coming long-form interview and Q&A session with Nathan Rabin, head writer of the AV Club. Click through for more, plus photos of the space I took while over there the other day. | Read entire entry

Announcing CCLaP's newest event: An Evening with Nathan Rabin | November 8, 2010
Happy day! It's time to announce CCLaP's newest live event -- a long "Charlie Rose" style interview I'll be doing on November 29th with Nathan Rabin, bestselling author and head writer of the cultishly popular AV Club, with an opening performance by local author Ben Tanzer. $6 tickets! At an actual theatre! Audience Q&A! Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

Metapost: WHY HAVEN'T YOU JOINED CCLAP'S FACEBOOK GROUP YET? | October 25, 2010
Have you joined CCLaP's Facebook group yet? Why the frak not? After all, almost a dozen industry professionals and over 35 published authors are there, and it's a great place to directly communicate with them all. Click through for details and links! | Read entire entry

The CCLaP 100: A mid-project report | October 25, 2010
Today at CCLaP, a special extra-long essay, examining all the surprises and things I've learned so far after recently completing the first half of the center's "CCLaP 100" essay series on so-called literary classics. Plus best-of lists! Lots and lots of best-of lists! | Read entire entry

Ben Tanzer's "The Gift" now available in Polish! | October 14, 2010
Attention, Polish readers -- the CCLaP story "The Gift" by Ben Tanzer is now available in your native language, thanks to European literary journal "minimalbooks." Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

How to know you've made it: Goofy parodies of your books | September 20, 2010
How do you know when you've really made it as a small publisher? Why, when others start doing goofy parodies of your latest book cover. Thanks, Caleb J. Ross! | Read entire entry

"99 Problems:" You like it! You really like it! | August 23, 2010
CCLaP's newest original book, the essay collection "99 Problems" by Ben Tanzer, enters its second week of release! Hundreds of downloads! Hundreds of dollars in donations! Critical praise out the yazoo! Amazon Kindle version now available! Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

CCLaP's newest original book is finally here! | August 17, 2010
It's the release day of CCLaP's latest original book, the running/writing essay collection "99 Problems" by Ben Tanzer! Here, the official announcement, containing all kinds of information about the book itself, plus screenshots of it running on an iPhone and a Sony Reader. | Read entire entry

Check out the '99 Problems' story-map! | August 17, 2010
It's the release day of CCLaP's newest original book, the running/writing essay collection "99 Problems" by Ben Tanzer! Here, information on a cool promotional project we were able to put together for it -- namely, we plotted one of the essays on an actual customized Google map, complete with placemarkers and photos illustrating many of the specific locations Ben mentions in the story. | Read entire entry

Personal essay: Why I Signed '99 Problems' -- An Apologia. | August 17, 2010
It's the release day of CCLaP's newest original book, the running/writing essay collection "99 Problems" by Ben Tanzer! Here, a critical essay on why I signed the book in the first place, written in the style of an "apologia" (or deliberately all-positive critical piece). | Read entire entry

And by the way, have you read CCLaP's other books yet? | August 17, 2010
It's the release day of CCLaP's newest original book, the running/writing essay collection "99 Problems" by Ben Tanzer! In this entry, a fond adieu to the center's last book, Sally Weigel's "Too Young to Fall Asleep," which today leaves the site's front page for CCLaP's dreaded dusty archives. | Read entire entry

Metapost: Commenting is moving permanently to Facebook | August 4, 2010
Big news from the CCLaP website today: I'm permanently shutting down the blog's own spam-vulnerable commenting system, in favor of people continuing the discussion at the center's Facebook page, where real names discourage trolls and flame wars, and I have much better moderation powers. Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

CCLaP's books are now available on the iPhone! | July 2, 2010
Just wanted to remind everyone that, now that Apple's iOS4 allows for iPhones and iPod Touches to run their new "iBooks" app, CCLaP's own electronic books can now run on those devices as well. Click through for plenty of photos of the books in action. | Read entire entry

Metapost: CCLaP's reader meetup cancelled | June 12, 2010
Just a short note, to inform people that inclement weather has convinced me to cancel CCLaP's Printers Row reader meetup, which had been scheduled for later today. Sorry! | Read entire entry

Hope to see you at CCLaP's Printers Row reader meetup tomorrow! | June 11, 2010
Just a reminder that CCLaP is holding an extremely informal pub-based reader meetup tomorrow in the late afternoon down at the Printers Row Book Fair -- we're meeting up in the back of Kasey's Tavern, located at 701 South Dearborn. Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

Won't you join us at CCLaP's Printers Row reader meetup? | June 9, 2010
It's official: CCLaP's pub-based reader meetup at this years Printers Row Book Fair will be taking place this Saturday, 4:30 to 6:30 pm, in the back of Kasey's Tavern at 701 South Dearborn, right in the heart of the fairground itself. Click through for all the details. | Read entire entry

John Reed's "TwitLit" story starts today! | June 1, 2010
All right! The latest story in CCLaP's Twitter-based serial publishing project "TwitLit" starts today, "A Cold Served Dish" by Californian John Reed, adapted from his forthcoming book "Tales of Woe." Click through for all the details, or simply visit twitter.com/cclapcenter for the actual story. | Read entire entry

CCLaP Podcast 56: Urban Decay/Urban Renewal | May 31, 2010
Today on the podcast: A recording of CCLaP's first-ever live literary event, held last weekend at the Hyde Park cultural center The Op Shop, featuring brand-new pieces by Sally Weigel, Ben Tanzer, Jason Fisk, Mark Brand and Katherine Hodges. | Read entire entry

CCLaP's first literary event: Success! | May 31, 2010
CCLaP's first live literary event, held this weekend in Hyde Park, was a big success, with more people there than I expected and a fun, slightly drunken time had by all. Click through for a wrap-up, as well as to see some photos from the evening. | Read entire entry

CCLaP's first live literary event is tonight! | May 28, 2010
It's here! It's here! CCLaP's first-ever live literary event is finally taking place tonight, down in Hyde Park. Admission is free! Bring your own spirits! Kick off Memorial Day weekend right! Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

Only five days until CCLaP's first live literary event! | May 24, 2010
Don't forget that we're less than a week away from CCLaP's first-ever live literary event, being held this Friday down in the Hyde Park neighborhood, and featuring brand-new pieces by Sally Weigel, Ben Tanzer, Mark Brand, Jason Fisk and Katherine Hodges. Click through for all the details, if you missed them the first time. | Read entire entry

Announcing CCLaP's first literary event! | May 13, 2010
Happy day! CCLaP's first-ever live literary event is finally upon us! Click through for all the details of the May 28th event, including links to iCal and Facebook, as well as an embeddable map of the venue. | Read entire entry

Ben Tanzer's TwitLit story is now available in poster form! | April 20, 2010
There's been some delays because of site upgrade issues, but I'm happy to announce that the poster version of CCLaP's latest TwitLit story, Ben Tanzer's "I Loved Gunther Gebel," is now available for your downloading pleasure. Click through for the direct links. | Read entire entry

Metapost: Still having big site problems | April 19, 2010
My apologies for the continued delays and brownouts with the CCLaP website; my site host recently installed Movable Type 5, and we're having a lot of problems getting it to work right. Click through for the details if you're interested. | Read entire entry

Ben Tanzer's TwitLit story starts today! | April 14, 2010
Happy day! Today starts the latest in CCLaP's "TwitLit" story series, "I Loved Gunther Gebel" by Chicago author Ben Tanzer. Click through for more, as well as a direct link to the Twitter-fueled serial story itself. | Read entire entry

Metapost: Commenting down for next 24 hours | April 13, 2010
Just a short note, to let people know that I've been going through a massive spam attack today, so unfortunately had to take the commenting system here offline temporarily. I'm hoping to have things fixed by tomorrow - thanks for your patience! | Read entire entry

Sally Weigel's virtual book tour comes to an end! | April 12, 2010
This weekend finally saw the end of author Sally Weigel's virtual book tour, in support of her CCLaP novella "Too Young to Fall Asleep." Click through for links to the last two stops of the tour, Jason Jordan's "dcomP" and Kevin Neilson's "Between The Lines." | Read entire entry

Sally Weigel virtual book tour: Day Eleven | April 8, 2010
It's day eleven of local author Sally Weigel's virtual book tour, in support of her CCLaP novella "Too Young to Fall Asleep!" Today Sally stops by the blog of author Jason Riley, for a long talk about all kinds of issues; and don't forget that last night, she stopped by The Teenage Head as well, to offer up a playlist of music related in one way or another to the book. | Read entire entry

Sally Weigel virtual book tour: Week Two | April 7, 2010
It's week two of Sally Weigel's virtual book tour, in support of her CCLaP novella "Too Young to Fall Asleep!" Yesterday Sally was at JA Tyler's Mud Luscious Press; click through for the link, and to see the revised schedule for the rest of the week. | Read entire entry

Sally Weigel virtual book tour: Day Five | April 2, 2010
It's day five of Sally Weigel's virtual book tour, in support of her CCLaP novella "Too Young to Fall Asleep!" Today, Sally reads a bit from her book for the new podcast from pop-culture guide "What to Wear During an Orange Alert," produced by CCLaP friend Jason Behrends. | Read entire entry

Sally Weigel virtual book tour: Day Four | April 1, 2010
It's day four of Sally Weigel's virtual book tour, in support of her CCLaP novella "Too Young to Fall Asleep!" Today Sally is at the blog of our old pal Ben Tanzer, who does a Mel-Bosworth-type two-minute video reading from her book. Click through to see it yourself. | Read entire entry

Sally Weigel virtual book tour: Day Three | March 31, 2010
It's day three of Sally Weigel's virtual book tour, in support of her CCLaP novella "Too Young to Fall Asleep!" Today Sally is at Impose Magazine, talking with Josh Spilker about the five best books she's recently read. | Read entire entry

Sally Weigel virtual book tour: Day Two | March 30, 2010
It's day two of Sally Weigel's virtual book tour, in support of her CCLaP novella "Too Young to Fall Asleep!" Today, Sally joins Lori Hettler at the Next Best Book Blog, a side project from the single largest discussion club at Goodreads.com. Click through for the link. | Read entire entry

Sally Weigel's virtual book tour starts next week! | March 23, 2010
Happy day! We're a week away from the start of author Sally Weigel's virtual book tour, being sponsored by CCLaP in support of her novella "Too Young to Fall Asleep." Click through for all the details, as well as a full list of tour stops. | Read entire entry

Gwendolyn Glover's "TwitLit" poster is now available | March 12, 2010
Thanks again to everyone at Twitter this week who got to follow along in real time with CCLaP's latest "TwitLit" story, "Cat" by Gwendolyn Glover; here as promised is the downloadable PDF poster version for those who didn't get to do so. | Read entire entry

Gwendolyn Glover's "TwitLit" story starts today! | March 10, 2010
All right! The latest project in CCLaP's experimental story series, "TwitLit," starts later this morning; it's the 20-part "Cat" by local author Gwendolyn Glover. Click through for the details and direct links. | Read entire entry

Breaking news: Ben Tanzer's book no longer sucks! | March 1, 2010
Good news! The EPUB version of Ben Tanzer's story collection for CCLaP, "Repetition Patterns," has been enhanced for better reading on e-ink devices! And better news -- it's available for purchase at Amazon too! Click through for the details and links! | Read entire entry

Josh Spilker's TwitLit poster is now available | February 26, 2010
Thanks for following along this week with CCLaP's latest "TwitLit" story, "Angels" by Josh Spilker! For those who didn't get a chance to check it out through Twitter, here as promised is a free high-quality PDF poster version for your downloading pleasure. | Read entire entry

The new TwitLit story starts today! | February 23, 2010
Happy day! The latest story in the new CCLaP series "TwitLit," Josh Spilker's "Angels," starts over at Twitter in just a few minutes. Click through for all the details, or simply visit twitter.com/cclapcenter to start reading it right now. | Read entire entry

Poster version of "Jack & Jill" now available | February 12, 2010
Thanks to everyone who followed along live this week with CCLaP's first serial publishing project, JA Tyler's "Jack & Jill;" and for those who didn't get a chance to do so, a downloadable poster version of the entire story is now available. Click through for more. | Read entire entry

CCLaP's first TwitLit story starts today! | February 10, 2010
All right! CCLaP's new story series, the Twitter-based "TwitLit," starts later this morning with JA Tyler's "Jack & Jill." Click through for the details, as well as instructions on how you too can follow along in real time. | Read entire entry

Announcing "TwitLit," CCLaP's new story series | February 1, 2010
Happy day! CCLaP has started a new project! It's the center's first-ever story series, in fact, originally published serially at Twitter and then as printable posters at the site. Click through for a lot more. | Read entire entry

And did I mention that I'm reviewing children's literature now too? | January 28, 2010
Yes, the wild rumors are true -- I have recently started up a new blog just for reviews of children's literature (anywhere from third-grade to high-school level), essentially my research into trying to become a kid-lit author myself. Click through for much more. | Read entire entry

"The Year In Books 2009" eBook is now available! | January 8, 2010
Happy day! The free downloadable eBook version of CCLaP's "Year In Books 2009" report is here! Available for laserprinters, Kindles, Sony Readers, iPhones and more! Click through for the direct download links! | Read entire entry

New! Leave an audio comment for the CCLaP Podcast! | January 7, 2010
Happy day! You can now call CCLaP's voicemail anonymously and leave audio comments for the center's podcast! Click through for all the details, and a chance to try it out right this second. | Read entire entry

Field report: CCLaP 2009 royalty payout party | December 7, 2009
The center's social gathering last weekend, to celebrate CCLaP's first two published authors receiving their first $100 in royalties, ended up going well. Click through for the details and lots of photos. | Read entire entry

Don't forget tomorrow's party! | December 4, 2009
Don't forget, Chicagoans, CCLaP's latest social event is tomorrow night! Click through for all the details. | Read entire entry

CCLaP's throwing a party, and you're invited! | November 30, 2009
CCLaP's throwing a party! It's this Saturday! In Chicago! Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

Sally Weigel interviewed at Orange Alert; and did I mention CCLaP's next party? | November 5, 2009
CCLaP author Sally Weigel was recently interviewed over at "What to Wear During an Orange Alert," which I wanted to mention; and while I was on the subject, I thought I'd mention as well CCLaP's next party, a "royalty payout" party doubling as my Chicago homecoming. Click through for more on both subjects. | Read entire entry

Personal essay: Guess what? I'm writing a new novel. | November 2, 2009
Guess what? I've decided to participate in Nanowrimo ("National Novel Writing Month") this year, not for commercial reasons but to keep myself humble as a book critic instead. Click through for a personal essay explaining much more on the subject. | Read entire entry

CCLaP's newest book is here! | November 2, 2009
Happy day! CCLaP's newest original book is available for download! It's none other, in fact, than the first bound volume of the popular "CCLaP 100" series of classics essays; click through for more details, and instructions on how to download this free book yourself. | Read entire entry

Don't forget CCLaP's Facebook group! | October 30, 2009
Did you know that CCLaP has its own Facebook group? It does! Click through for more info on how to sign up, now that Facebook is starting to post group updates there on individual members' live-feed Walls. | Read entire entry

Guess who just got his invite to Google Wave? | October 14, 2009
That's right, it's me! But I'm having trouble finding other members who are actually creative and want to try out artistic experiments with the new interactive service, which is why I'm posting this open call for new "friends" there. Click through for all the details. | Read entire entry

"Too Young to Fall Asleep" reaches 500 downloads | October 13, 2009
Huzzah! CCLaP's newest original book, Sally Weigel's "Too Young to Fall Asleep," had its 500th download yesterday! Click through for all the details. | Read entire entry

CCLaP's FTC compliance statement | October 7, 2009
The Federal Trade Commission here in the US recently updated their guidelines for bloggers, and now require websites to fully disclose any and all forms of compensation they may receive while in the course of reviewing products. Here, CCLaP's official compliance statement. | Read entire entry

Guess who received a free copy of Bolano's "2666?" | October 6, 2009
That's right, it's me! Click through for why I'm so excited by this, who ended up giving it to me, and why it's going to take me two months to make it through this 900-page freaking saga. | Read entire entry

Huzzah! "Asleep" now has a Facebook group! | September 28, 2009
Happy day: As of two weeks since its release, CCLaP's latest book, the youth/war novella "Too Young to Fall Asleep" by Sally Weigel, has been downloaded 300 times! To celebrate, Sally has started up an official Facebook group for the book; click through for all the details and to join the group yourself. | Read entire entry

Yowza! 180 "Asleep" downloads in its first week! | September 21, 2009
It's been a week since the release of CCLaP's latest original book, Sally Weigel's "Too Young to Fall Asleep," and I have a surprise to report -- it's been downloaded over 180 times now, almost twice as much as the center's previous book has been downloaded in an entire year. Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

Why I signed "Too Young to Fall Asleep:" An Apologia. | September 15, 2009
It's Sally Weigel Day at the CCLaP website! In this entry, I write an "Apologia" (a purposely all-positive critical essay) on the reasons I ended up signing Sally's novella "Too Young to Fall Asleep" in the first place, and why I'm positive that she is destined to become a major force in the American arts. | Read entire entry

It's Sally Weigel Day at the CCLaP website! | September 14, 2009
It's Sally Weigel Day at the CCLaP website! And that of course means only one thing -- that Sally's new novella, "Too Young to Fall Asleep," is finally available to the public. Click through for a lot more, including links to the book itself and all the supplemental information about it being published online today. | Read entire entry

Sally Weigel: The CCLaP Interview | September 14, 2009
It's Sally Weigel Day at the CCLaP website! And as part of promoting her new novella, "Too Young to Fall Asleep," I recently 'sat down' with Sally virtually over Google Chat, for a lengthy interview regarding writing, this book and more. Click through for the entire thing. | Read entire entry

Too Young to Fall Asleep: Your comments wanted! | September 14, 2009
It's Sally Weigel Day at the CCLaP website! And as part of releasing her new novella, "Too Young to Fall Asleep," I'm of course interested in hearing your own opinion of the book. Click through to leave a comment, as well as for the link to the book's listing at popular social network Goodreads.com. | Read entire entry

Why yes, I'd be happy to read your f-cking manuscript | September 11, 2009
A new article in the Village Voice has been causing quite a stir this week, arguing how unfair it is to ask a professional writer to review your unpublished manuscript; but don't forget, as an arts administrator, I actually love receiving spec stories out of the blue. Click through for more. | Read entire entry

Personal essay: Where do litbloggers find their books? | September 9, 2009
A question recently left in a comment by a reader inspired me to write a whole essay today: Just how do litbloggers obtain the books they review, anyway? Click through for my own answer, as well as my advice to other aspiring bloggers. | Read entire entry

CCLaP's new book has a release date! Proofers still needed! | August 31, 2009
CCLaP's newest original book, Sally Weigel's youth/war novella "Too Young to Fall Asleep," finally has an official release date! Oh, and we're still looking for proofreaders too! Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

Metapost: My daily reads now available as a Google Reader bundle | August 26, 2009
Ever been interested in what feeds I read daily, in order to find the items I highlight in CCLaP's "Yet More Interestingness" feature? Well, thanks to Google Reader's new "bundle" feature, you can check out the 50 I like the most with the click of a single button. Check out the full entry here for a lot more. | Read entire entry

...And we're back | August 18, 2009
Happy day -- the CCLaP website starts getting updated again daily starting today! Click through for all the details. | Read entire entry

Sorry you haven't heard from me; I've been recovering from a shattered hip | August 11, 2009
I had a bicycle accident! I shattered my hip! I broke my hand! I've been in the hospital the last two weeks! That's why you haven't heard from me in so long! Yikes! Yikes! Click through for all the details. | Read entire entry

Sorry for the scattered schedule; my internet is out yet again | June 24, 2009
Yes, it's true; my home internet connection is down yet again, a semi-regular occurrence in my life that always means a scattered posting schedule here at the CCLaP website. Click through for the details. | Read entire entry

Algren at 100: An introduction | June 10, 2009
Announcing CCLaP's summer reading project for 2009, "Algren at 100," whereby I read for the first time nearly the entire ouevre of this controversial 20th-century Chicago author, on the occasion of his 100th birthday. Today, an introduction to Algren and the series. | Read entire entry

Metapost: Facebook commenting gone! Beware the deceptively simple-looking webapp! | April 27, 2009
Frustrating behind-the-scenes news today: I'm getting rid of the Facebook-powered commenting system I had been trying out here this year. Click through for the reasons why, and info on what will be replacing it. | Read entire entry

Metapost: CCLaP on hiatus until Monday | April 23, 2009
My apologies, but commitments in my daytime work life are forcing me to put CCLaP on hiatus for a few days, as I deal with a sudden new deadline. New entries again starting Monday! | Read entire entry

Justify My Netflix: An introduction | April 1, 2009
Today, an introduction to CCLaP's newest series of mini-reviews, "Justify My Netflix." | Read entire entry

Metapost: Goodbye, never-used CCLaP community microblog! | March 30, 2009
Sad but expected site news today: I'm shutting down the community microblog that's been up and running for the last four months, due to a complete and utter lack of community interest in it. Click through for all the details. | Read entire entry

Metapost: {mud luscious} calls 'Repetition Patterns' a "graceful, subtle" delight | March 29, 2009
Great news: Author JA Taylor this weekend got a chance to review CCLaP's first original book, last fall's story collection "Repetition Patterns" by Ben Tanzer...and he liked it. A lot. Click through for all the details. | Read entire entry

The Ben Tanzer virtual tour wrap-up; and have I mentioned CCLaP's next book yet? | March 2, 2009
Happy! Sad! The two-week "virtual book tour" by Chicago author Ben Tanzer, in support of his CCLaP book "Repetition Patterns," is finally over. Here, a wrap-up, including links again to all the guest entries, official numbers for the tour, and the first announcement of CCLaP's next original book, coming this summer. | Read entire entry

It's day thirteen of the Ben Tanzer virtual book tour | February 28, 2009
It's day thirteen of CCLaP's latest artistic experiment, a two-week "virtual book tour" being conducted by Chicago author Ben Tanzer. Here, Ben officially ends the tour at the blog of JA Tyler, author and founder of lit organization "mud luscious." | Read entire entry

It's day twelve of the Ben Tanzer virtual book tour | February 27, 2009
It's day twelve of CCLaP's latest artistic experiment, a two-week "virtual book tour" being conducted by Chicago author Ben Tanzer. Today, Ben stops by the blog of fellow author and CCLaP friend S. Craig Runfroe, for a guest essay regarding the topic of self-marketing. | Read entire entry

It's another internet postcard from the virtual-touring Ben Tanzer! | February 26, 2009
Hey hey, it's another internet postcard from the virtual book-touring Ben Tanzer! Seems that Ben had an electronic run-in with Perez Hilton lately, was given a personal assistant over at Orange Alert, and is still whining about a lack of per diem. Whine whine whine, you writers, that's all you ever do! | Read entire entry

It's day eleven of the Ben Tanzer virtual book tour | February 26, 2009
It's day eleven of CCLaP's newest artistic experiment, a two-week "virtual book tour" by Chicago author Ben Tanzer. Today, Ben stops by the blog of fellow Chicago author and former RAGAD runner Nick Ostdick. | Read entire entry

It's day ten of the Ben Tanzer virtual book tour | February 25, 2009
It's day ten of CCLaP's latest artistic experiment, a two-week "virtual book tour" being conducted by Chicago author Ben Tanzer. Today Ben sits down for a chat with California writer Jason Riley, author of "Until the Clouds Are Empty." | Read entire entry

"Repetition Patterns" now available for iPhones and Kindles | February 24, 2009
Great news to announce today: Ben Tanzer's "Repetition Patterns," the first original book by CCLaP Publishing, is now available not only for the Amazon Kindle 2 but in two different versions for Apple iPhones. Click through for all the details. | Read entire entry

It's day nine of the Ben Tanzer virtual book tour | February 24, 2009
It's day nine of CCLaP's newest experiment, a two-week "virtual book tour" being conducted by Chicago author Ben Tanzer. Today, Ben lands at the offices of one of the only legitimate journalism outlets of the tour, the Chicago Literary Examiner. | Read entire entry

It's day eight of the Ben Tanzer virtual book tour | February 23, 2009
It's day eight of CCLaP's latest artistic experiment, a two-week "virtual book tour" being conducted by Chicago author Ben Tanzer. Today, Ben stops by the blog of fellow Chicago author Amy Guth, where the two create the very first video interview of the entire tour. | Read entire entry

New to the CCLAPocracy: Now comment here through your Facebook account | February 22, 2009
Big day for the burgeoning CCLAPocracy community! You can now leave comments at the CCLaP website in a traditional (end of entry) way, through your existing Facebook account, and even have the comment show up in your profile's "Wall" if you want as well. Click through for all the details. | Read entire entry

It's day six of the Ben Tanzer virtual book tour | February 21, 2009
Huzzah! It's day six of CCLaP's newest experiment, a two-week virtual book tour being conducted by Chicago author Ben Tanzer. Today Ben visits Montana author Michael FitzGerald (Radiant Days), where the two discuss marathons, kids, the difference between a 'writer' and an 'author,' and a lot more. | Read entire entry

Virtual postcard! Ben Tanzer visits the "Land of the LOLCats" | February 20, 2009
We're just wrapping up week one of Ben Tanzer's virtual book tour; and what do you know, we finally received his first virtual postcard from the road! Here, Ben tells us about his various travails across the information superhighway, and lets us know that the Land of LOLCats didn't have him laughing at all. | Read entire entry

Personal essay: First thoughts on CCLaP's coming "wikicloud" experiment | February 19, 2009
Today, I present my first thoughts on CCLaP's newest bizarre weekend creative project idea for smartypants middle-agers; I'm reading a thousand Wikipedia entries on the subject of the 19th Century, and tracking the results in a dynamic "mind-map" graphic format. Here, an essay on why that is, and what I've already learned just a few weeks into the process. | Read entire entry

It's day four of the Ben Tanzer virtual book tour | February 19, 2009
It's day four of CCLaP's latest experiment, a two-week virtual book tour by Chicago author Ben Tanzer. Today, Ben lands at the pop-culture journal "What To Wear During An Orange Alert," where he's interviewed by fellow author Pete Anderson (PeteLit.com). | Read entire entry

It's day three of the Ben Tanzer virtual book tour | February 18, 2009
It's day three of CCLaP's latest artistic experiment, a two-week "virtual book tour" by Chicago author Ben Tanzer, in support of his CCLaP original book "Repetition Patterns." Today, Ben stops by the blog of author and "decomP" editor-in-chief Jason Jordan. | Read entire entry

It's day two of the Ben Tanzer virtual book tour | February 17, 2009
It's day two of CCLaP's newest experiment, a two-week "virtual book tour" by Chicago author Ben Tanzer. Today he's over at the blog of fellow Chicago author Elizabeth Crane, being interviewed on a variety of funny subjects; click through for the direct link to the finished entry. | Read entire entry

It's day one of the Ben Tanzer virtual book tour! | February 16, 2009
It's the official kickoff today of Ben Tanzer's virtual book tour, in support of the CCLaP original book "Repetition Patterns." Today, Ben finds himself at Chicago literary website PeteLit.com, where he turns in a guest essay that's "pure prose gold." | Read entire entry

Announcing the CCLaP "Repetition Patterns" 2009 virtual book tour | February 9, 2009
Happy day! CCLaP announces its next weirdo fun project, a 12-day "virtual book tour" supporting the original book "Repetition Patterns," by local author Ben Tanzer. So what's a virtual book tour? And how can you become a virtual groupie? Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

Okay, you freaking nerds, CCLaP finally has a Facebook page | January 13, 2009
Rejoice, freaking Facebook nerds; CCLaP finally has its own official group over there. Click through for all the details, you friending fiend! | Read entire entry

Announcing CCLaP's new microblog -- the "CCLAPocracy" | January 6, 2009
Announcing the latest online experiment from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography: The center's own Twitter-style microblog, in which readers debate recent reviews, announce local artistic events, post goofy personal updates and more. Today, all the details. | Read entire entry

CCLaP's newest eBook, "The Year In Books 2008," is here | January 2, 2009
CCLaP's third "white paper," minor publications that gather up longer material first published here at the site, is finally here; it's a collection of the four-part "Year In Books 2008" report that's been running here all week. Today, every bit of information you need about the book and how to download a free copy. | Read entire entry

The Year In Books 2008: The CCLaP Guilty Pleasure Awards | January 1, 2009
It's the fourth and final report from this 2008's Year In Books report, the awarding of the coveted CCLaP Guilty Pleasure Awards; these are titles I ended up slavishly loving like the fanboy I am, but for one rational reason or another I probably shouldn't have. Yay, my favorite books of all! | Read entire entry

The Year In Books 2008: Best experimental | December 31, 2008
It's part three of the four-part CCLaP look at 2008's reviewed books, being posted here all week; today, eight of the best experimental or cutting-edge books to be originally reviewed here over the last twelve months. | Read entire entry

The Year In Books 2008: Worth a second look | December 30, 2008
It's part two of the four-part report I've been filing here this week, looking back at the forty most interesting books reviewed here at CCLaP in 2008. Today, ten books that are worth checking out again, sometimes phenomenal titles that nonetheless will only appeal to a limited audience. | Read entire entry

The Year In Books 2008: Best of the best | December 29, 2008
It's part one of CCLaP's four-part look at the year in books for 2008, being published throughout this week. Today, the ten highest-rated books of the year, of the 83 contemporary titles that were reviewed. | Read entire entry

The CCLaP Year In Books 2008 | December 28, 2008
It's here! It's here! It's CCLaP's look back at the 83 contemporary books reviewed here this year, highlighting slowly over the week almost 40 of them again, grouped into themes each day and with brand-new micro-reviews of them all. Here, the roundup and main index. | Read entire entry

Announcing CCLaP's newest book: "The Great iPod Indie Rock Challenge of 2008." | December 16, 2008
Today, I'm happy to announce CCLaP's third book, the second in its "White Paper" series, minor reprints of longer material that original ran at the site; in this case, a new collection of the four essays that originally chronicled the "Great iPod Indie Rock Challenge of 2008," in which I dared my lazy middle-aged self to get all my sad old '80s and '90s rocks off my little 1-gig iPod Shuffle and replaced with brand-new music by brand-new bands as quickly as possible. | Read entire entry

The Great iPod Indie Rock Challenge of 2008: A wrap-up. | December 16, 2008
(UPDATE, DECEMBER 2008: All four essays in this series are now available as a free downloadable eBook, for those who are interested.) Well, so here we finally are, at the end of the Great iPod Indie-Rock Challenge of 2008;... | Read entire entry

CCLaP Podcast 30: Monthly Music Special | December 15, 2008
Today on the podcast: It's the last monthly music special of 2008 (doubling as the last podcast episode ever of 2008), wherein I look back at all the songs I've been downloading legally online in the last month, and share around a dozen of them with you "college radio style." | Read entire entry

People have been saying some nice things about "Repetition Patterns" | November 28, 2008
Now that it's Thanksgiving week here in the US and I'm taking a break from major site updates, I thought it'd be a good time to mention some of the nice things people have recently started saying about CCLaP's first original book, Ben Tanzer's "Repetition Patterns." Click through for all the details. | Read entire entry

Announcing CCLaP's newest book: "Yet More Interestingness: The 2008 Election." | November 24, 2008
Happy day: Today marks the beginning of CCLaP's new "white paper" series, minor publications that simply collect and reprint material originally published at the website. Here, the first in the series, collecting nearly 400 bookmarks to "interesting things" concerning the 2008 US Presidential election. | Read entire entry

"Repetition Patterns" is throwing a release party! Er, kinda! | October 31, 2008
Great news -- looks like CCLaP will be throwing an official release party next week for it's first-ever original book, Ben Tanzer's "Repetition Patterns." Even better, we're saving money by "piggybacking" to the existing event "Reading Under the Influence," which was already planning on featuring Ben at their next show. Click through for all the details. | Read entire entry

It's Ben Tanzer Day at CCLaP! | October 27, 2008
Happy day! It's the official release day of CCLaP's first-ever original book, the story cycle "Repetition Patterns" by local author Ben Tanzer. Here, a little reminder of the fact, and an explanation for all the supplemental "Patterns" entries you're seeing at the blog today too. | Read entire entry

CCLaP Podcast Extra: Ben Tanzer's "Life As He Had Known It" | October 27, 2008
Today on the podcast: A special edition! Please enjoy this spoken-word version of the Ben Tanzer story "Life As He Had Known It," from CCLaP's new book "Repetition Patterns." Performed by Jason Pettus, CCLaP's executive director. | Read entire entry

Oh, and could any Sony Reader downloaders please send some photos? | October 27, 2008
Oh, and yet another note about CCLaP's new book, "Repetition Patterns" by Ben Tanzer: that if any of you end up downloading and installing the Sony Reader version, I'm hoping you'll take some photos of the experience and share them with us. Here, the reasons why, and also the reasons why this book is not available for the Amazon Kindle. | Read entire entry

CCLaP Podcast 28: Author Ben Tanzer | October 27, 2008
Today on the CCLaP Podcast: A new interview with local author Ben Tanzer, chatting exclusively about his new book "Repetition Patterns," which happens to be CCLaP's first-ever original publication as well. | Read entire entry

"Repetition Patterns:" Official critique/opinion page | October 27, 2008
The official blog entry tracking all things said (both good and bad) about the book "Repetition Patterns," by Ben Tanzer. Have you own opinions to share? By all means, leave them as a comment at this entry! | Read entire entry

All about "Repetition Patterns'" Creative Commons license | October 27, 2008
Today, as part of Ben Tanzer Day here at CCLaP, in celebration of the organization's very first original book, a detailed look at the Creative Commons license under which "Repetition Patterns" has been released, and what that exactly gives you as a reader permission to do and not do. | Read entire entry

Curious about what's coming next from CCLaP Publishing? | October 27, 2008
With all this talk today about CCLaP's first original book, Ben Tanzer's "Repetition Patterns," are you curious about what the organization's next book is going to be? Here, the official announcement, with a release date of Christmas 2008. | Read entire entry

Personal essay: Regarding the iPod as personal mainstream adult-contemp radio station. | October 24, 2008
Today: We've officially reached the three-quarters mark of the Great iPod Indie-Rock Challenge of 2008 (in which I as a middle-ager am trying to replace all my sad old '80s college-rock with brand-new contemporary music). Here, a tenth-month report. | Read entire entry

Interestingness Special: What is a "neocon?" | October 21, 2008
It seems like all Americans have at least partly turned into political pundits these days, no matter what their blog is supposed to be about. Today, my self-indulgent moment to do so. I promise, this is the only thing like this you'll see here until the election is over. | Read entire entry

One week until "Repetition Patterns!" Er, wanna be a proofreader? | October 20, 2008
It's official -- exactly one week to go before the release of CCLaP's first-ever original book, the "story cycle" "Repetition Patterns" by local author Ben Tanzer. Here, details, a plea for volunteer proofreaders, and a look at the brand new Chuck Klosterman ripoff...er, front cover. | Read entire entry

Sorry for the light posting schedule; here's some things that are coming up | September 20, 2008
Sorry for the light publishing schedule here at CCLaP recently; various behind-the-scenes things with this center and also my day job have conspired against me. Anyway, I thought I'd take a moment on a quiet Saturday afternoon to let people know what some of those upcoming things are. | Read entire entry

Thanks for the free book, LibraryThing! | August 12, 2008
Cool news in the mail today: After months and months of applying, I finally hit the jackpot over in the "Early Reviewers" (i.e. free books) section of literary social network LibraryThing.com. Click through for the details, as well as to see which book I got. | Read entire entry

Personal essay: Gadzooks! I added 600 new book ratings at Goodreads this weekend! | August 10, 2008
Some interesting news for my fellow book nerds: I've decided to start profoundly expanding my personal library listed at social network Goodreads, and started by rating 600 old books this weekend while watching the Olympics. Click through for the reasons why. | Read entire entry

Yeehaw! CCLaP is finally reviewing DVDs again! | July 25, 2008
Good news; I finally have a DVD player in my apartment again, which means that CCLaP can start publishing movie reviews again! Today, more details, as well as my newest "queue list," showing off the next 25 films I'll be reviewing. | Read entire entry

A frustrating week, but here's the good news | July 11, 2008
Sorry you haven't heard from me in a week! Here, read why, and also see the schedule of the next ten books to be reviewed here (all of them finished, just waiting for the reviews to actually be posted). | Read entire entry

CCLaP 100: Okay, I give up! I give up on "Kim!" Er, for now! | June 27, 2008
Today, a short entry detailing the latest with the "CCLaP 100" series of all-classics essays here; basically, I've been stuck on Rudyard Kipling's "Kim" for six weeks now, so today am finally officially calling it a lost cause and moving on. Click through for more details. | Read entire entry

Personal essay: Here's why I'm dropping the "Too Awful To Finish" series. | June 24, 2008
A recent accusation of bad criticism here, along with an interesting reaction by CCLaP's readers, has had me thinking a lot this week about fairness, critical responsibility, and the hipster douchebags I hate so much. Today, the conclusions I came to. | Read entire entry

And by the way, I'm trying out a Nokia N95 this week | June 23, 2008
Hey, guess what? One of those annoying "word-of-mouth marketing" agencies recently shipped me a Nokia N95 "smartphone," which I am trying out this week here in the Chicago area. Here, details on where you can track the photos I'm taking from it this week. | Read entire entry

Wanna see CCLaP review a specific book? Check out our new wish list! | June 20, 2008
Yes, it's true; due to popular demand, I am now listing online the various books that CCLaP will be reading and reviewing soon; and it's over at Amazon too, in the form of a wish list, so that you can help get me review copies if you feel like assisting a broke critic. | Read entire entry

Disaster. | June 16, 2008
Mac broken. Software gone. Publishing program and virtual gallery once again postponed. Unhappy day at CCLaP headquarters. Click through for all the details. | Read entire entry

Toot that horn! CCLaP celebrates its first anniversary | June 11, 2008
It was CCLaP's first anniversary last week! Here, a few notes and photos from the Chicago get-together held last weekend to mark the occasion. | Read entire entry

CCLaP is back on its "lite" publishing schedule...sigh. | June 10, 2008
It's the beginning of the month, which like clockwork means that my home internet connection is screwed up (it's provided by a freelance client of mine, and is notoriously spotty, as regular readers know); and that of course unfortunately means... | Read entire entry

See you tomorrow at Printers Row; and don't forget the colored stickers | June 6, 2008
Just a final reminder that CCLaP is celebrating its first anniversary tomorrow, down at the Printers Row Book Fair here in Chicago. Click through for details, plus more on the colored miniature name tags that will help you spot all of us when you get there. | Read entire entry

CCLaP turns one: Meet Ben Tanzer | June 3, 2008
CCLaP is celebrating its first anniversary this weekend at the Printers Row Books Fair, basically by a bunch of readers meeting up for drinks. Here, a mini-profile of one of the people planning on attending, Chicago author Ben Tanzer. | Read entire entry

CCLaP turns one: Meet Amy Güth | June 2, 2008
It's CCLaP's first anniversary this week, and I'm celebrating by inviting readers out for a drink this Saturday, and to send in a mini-profile if they're planning on attending. Here, the profile of Chicago author and Pilcrow Lit Fest founder Amy Güth. | Read entire entry

CCLaP's turning one! At Printers Row! We're having drinks! Holy crap! | June 2, 2008
CCLaP turns one this week! And I've decided to use it as an excuse to throw CCLaP's first social event, down at the massive Printers Row Book Fair this weekend. Click through for all the details. | Read entire entry

CCLaP's virtual headquarters starts coming together | June 1, 2008
CCLaP's virtual photography gallery opens in two weeks (er, maybe)! And as part of that, I'm getting CCLaP's virtual headquarters finished as well, within the pervasive 3D online environment known as Second Life. Click through for many nerdy screenshots! | Read entire entry

There's been a small change to the "CCLaP 100" schedule | May 14, 2008
Just a small programming note for the "CCLaP 100" series of essays: that I've decided to swap Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" (which had been scheduled for two weeks from now) with his "A Farewell to Arms." Click through for all the details. | Read entire entry

CCLaP consolidates some of its master lists | May 4, 2008
Just a small programming note here on a quiet weekend; I wanted to let people know that I've gotten rid of the main backlist of mini-reviews, and have enfolded them instead into the main lists for longer book and movie reviews. Click through for all the details. | Read entire entry

Literago and I both declare: "You will never see 'Chicago Lit 100' lists at our sites" | April 24, 2008
So have you heard about this "Brooklyn Lit 100" list that has everyone so up in arms? It inspired Eugenia Williamson of Literago to declare that they will never do a similar Chicago list; I thought this was a good idea, so have decided to declare it too. Click through for more! | Read entire entry

CCLaP breaks top ten of "Best Reviewers" at Goodreads | April 1, 2008
Just a little self-congratulatory news I wanted to quickly share: CCLaP has been voted this week into the top ten of all reviewers at Goodreads.com, out of a total user base of one million. Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

If CCLaP laid out a new classic book, which would you rather see? | March 23, 2008
I'm thinking of doing a new layout of an obscure "classic" book, one of the titles I'll be reviewing later this year as part of the CCLaP 100 essays, in a variety of formats for free download and hopefully a little publicity for the center. But which book should I do? Click through for the choices and to vote in CCLaP's online poll. | Read entire entry

CCLaP's spring publishing schedule starts Monday | March 21, 2008
Some short news about the center today -- that the site will be switching back to its warm-weather publishing schedule (one review a day instead of two), starting this Monday. Also, a reminder that CCLaP is about to start publishing writers and photographers; your submissions wanted! | Read entire entry

The latest with the CCLaP website | March 16, 2008
Just a small update on a Sunday evening, letting those who are interested know about the latest nerdy little updates at the CCLaP website itself. | Read entire entry

And speaking of classics... | February 5, 2008
Hey, thanks for all the nice emails and comments so far regarding the CCLaP 100 list! In fact, so many readers have been sending their own recommendations for online guides to the classics, I thought I'd finally collect them into a public entry for all of you as well. Click through as always for the details. | Read entire entry

Site all fixd now, k thnx | January 30, 2008
Happy day: Version 4.1 of Movable Type has finally been installed and debugged at the CCLaP site, with all the back pages not only working again but better than before. Click through for all the nerdy programming details! | Read entire entry

Yes, there are problems at the site right now, I know | January 29, 2008
Just a short note, apologizing for the problems the site is going through this week; we are converting the Movable Type installation to the latest version (4.1), and working out all the kinks as we go. Sorry! | Read entire entry

Useless site update of the week: Apple iPhone icon | January 26, 2008
Silly small news about the CCLaP website to report this weekend: I have created a customized icon for Apple iPhone users, whenever they save a shortcut to the CCLaP site on their "home" page. Rejoice, middle-class nerds, rejoice! | Read entire entry

The Ridiculously Long Guide to CCLaP's 10-Point Scoring System | December 17, 2007
I'm putting together CCLaP first-ever top-ten list of the year right now, and realized something important recently -- that I've never really explained how the 10-point scoring system here works. Today, the ridiculously long and overwritten guide. | Read entire entry

Yet more interestingness: An explanation | December 11, 2007
Today, announcing a new type of blog entry that will start getting published here -- a daily roundup of interesting stuff I come across on the web, otherwise known as a "link blog." Click through for more on how I compile this list, and what software I use. | Read entire entry

Personal essay: Announcing the CCLaP 100 | December 3, 2007
Announcing a new project: A list of 100 so-called "classic" books, all of which I'll be hopefully reading and writing essays about over the next two years. Here today, the master list, as well as the reasons why I decided to put it together. | Read entire entry

So did I not mention CCLaP's upcoming publishing program? | December 1, 2007
An offhanded remark at the website last Friday, followed by two dozen emails from frazzled writers and editors in 48 hours, makes me realize: I never really have explained CCLaP's upcoming publishing plans. Today, all the details. | Read entire entry

It's a miracle! CCLaP iTunes channel now working again! | November 15, 2007
Some great and unexpected news to report today -- that after a month and a half, I finally figured out how to get CCLaP's iTunes channel working again. Click through, fellow Movable Type customers, for the ridiculously long and detailed explanation of how it was done. | Read entire entry

CCLaP back online! Finally! | November 14, 2007
Hooray; my home internet connection is back on again, meaning that CCLaP's publishing schedule can be cranked back up to full gear again. Today, more details for those who are curious, including what I've been doing with my time while away from the site. | Read entire entry

Personal essay: Some early thoughts regarding the CCLaPocracy | November 6, 2007
Today, a few early thoughts regarding a possible online community site for CCLaP's readers, a project I cheekily call the "CCLaPocracy," plus how Cory Doctorow's idea of a reputation-based economy may provide the key to its self-policing. Click through for more nerdy goodness! | Read entire entry

The good news: CCLaP is updating again. The bad news... | November 1, 2007
Good and bad news to report today: The good being that the CCLaP website will start getting updated again starting today, the bad being that this will be a "lite" version for the next two weeks, in that my home internet connection is still down. Click through for more! | Read entire entry

Sorry for the silence; yes, my internet is down yet again | October 25, 2007
Hey, sorry for the lack of updates here this week; yes, you guessed correctly, my home internet connection's been down for three days and counting. Today, a little more details, and some news about what I've been doing offline during the downtime. | Read entire entry

CCLaP (reluctantly) becomes an Amazon Associate | October 14, 2007
Okay, I'm trying out something I'm hesitant about -- the Amazon.com "Associate" program, by which they pay me whenever one of my readers buys something through a CCLaP link. Click through for all the details. | Read entire entry

New keyboard! And it's all thin and aluminum too! | September 24, 2007
Hey hey, CCLaP has a new keyboard! And it's cool, too, a brand-new type of cutting-edge aluminum keyboard just released by Apple. Click through for more details, and to see a photo. | Read entire entry

Keyboard broken! CCLaP on short hiatus! Crap! | September 18, 2007
Bad news -- my keyboard at home broke this morning, and I can't afford to buy a new one just yet, so I unfortunately have to put the CCLaP website on hiatus until then. Click through for all the details, if you're curious. | Read entire entry

CCLaP adds a linkroll | September 17, 2007
For those who don't know, I maintain a list of public bookmarks at del.icio.us, pointing to an interesting collection of artists, projects and the like that I'm always stumbling across. Today, news that I have started reprinting this list in the CCLaP sidebar, via a piece of Javascript code that del.icio.us provides, and why I've decided to do such a thing. | Read entire entry

And speaking of podcasts... | September 4, 2007
It's a podcast-heavy day here at the site, so I thought I'd go ahead and share two more pieces of news concerning the subject: that the CCLaP Podcast is now being listed over at Digg; and that I have finally moved to a streaming-audio service that's a little more reliable than my old one. Click through for all the details! | Read entire entry

UPDATE: The latest with CCLaP in Second Life | August 17, 2007
Today, some more screenshots from a freaky little videogame called Second Life, showing the latest on the construction of CCLaP's virtual art gallery there, plus a link to my Flickr account where you can a lot more. Did I mention, by the way, that I'm a complete dork? | Read entire entry

Personal essay: Oh Lord, CCLaP enters Second Life | August 14, 2007
Today's personal essay: An image-heavy look at the construction of CCLaP's new virtual headquarters, within the virtual reality of Second Life. Click through for all the details. | Read entire entry

The CCLaP Digest: A sneak peek | August 10, 2007
Today, a sneak peek at something I'm not sure now if I've mentioned yet or not; that four times a year, I'll be collecting up all the essays published at CCLaP, and releasing it in a printer-friendly PDF format. Think of it as a paper literary journal without the paper. | Read entire entry

Personal essay: The CCLaP Manifesto | August 5, 2007
Today, a semi-silly but semi-serious personal essay: The CCLaP Manifesto, or those lessons and rules about the underground arts that I in particular believe in, and that I'm constantly trying to reinforce in this site's artistic reviews. Click through for a formal examination of these lessons. | Read entire entry

The CCLaP Podiophonic Laboratory? | July 25, 2007
Today, a question for the dear readers of this website: that if I were to start a new podcast here at CCLaP dedicated to experimental work from a variety of audio and video artists, would you audio and video artists participate? Click through for the details! | Read entire entry

CCLaP reviews -- now in convenient spreadsheet form | July 24, 2007
More in-house news about the CCLaP website today: namely, that I now offer the center's database of movie and book reviews as a downloadable spreadsheet, for those who wish to sort the information by any criteria they wish. Click through for the details and links. | Read entire entry

CCLaP: Cosmetic changes have occurred. | July 23, 2007
Just a small update about some cosmetic changes to the CCLaP website: to be specific, comments are now being displayed on the site's front page, and the site also finally has its own favicon as well. And aren't you excited about THAT? | Read entire entry

CCLaP files its 50th book review | July 10, 2007
Interesting news to report today: that I recently filed my 50th book review online, in my newish role as executive director of CCLaP. Click through for more, and to learn where the majority of these reviews can be found; it's not actually this website, believe it or not. | Read entire entry

Announcing the CCLaP Movie Club | July 9, 2007
It's official; I've set up a Google Group as a complement to CCLaP's "Movies for Grown-Ups" series of film essays! Click through for more on how it works, how to sign up, and what you can expect as a member. | Read entire entry

UPDATE: Photos of my childhood library, revealed! | June 25, 2007
Hey, you remember that personal essay I posted two weeks ago, about the public library I used to go to as a kid that had been fashioned out of an old Victorian mansion? Yeah, I finally tracked down some photos. Click through to see them, as well as to get the story of how the photos came about. | Read entire entry

Breaking news: CCLaP joins another social network for book nerds | June 22, 2007
Hey, fun news -- CCLaP has joined yet another specialty social network for book lovers, this one entitled GoodReads.com. Check out this entry for all the details. | Read entire entry

The CCLaP Movie Club? | June 19, 2007
And speaking of movies....I got an email from a CCLaP reader yesterday that made me laugh, where she admitted that each time I announce what's next on my Netflix* queue list, she runs out and rents the movie herself, so... | Read entire entry

Personal essay: "Oh, if we could all grow up with the kind of library I did." | June 12, 2007
Today, the first in a semi-regular series of personal essays, since I don't have a book or movie review ready to post today; in this case, a memoir of the first public library I started using, converted from an old Victorian mansion in St. Charles Missouri, and which helped to cement my love for books at a very early age. | Read entire entry

Don't forget, CCLaP's on LibraryThing and Shelfari (with even more material than here) | June 9, 2007
Don't forget, CCLaP maintains accounts at the nerdy-book-lover social networks LibraryThing and Shelfari; read this entry for an explanation of what they are, how to join, and what exclusive content you'll find there but not here at this website. | Read entire entry

More about the Printers Row Book Fair, and CCLaP's first social event! | June 8, 2007
It's official -- CCLaP is throwing its first social event at tomorrow's Printer Row Book Fair! Read this entry for all the details. | Read entire entry

Commenting system now working! | June 7, 2007
Good news -- CCLaP's commenting system is now working, although I'm still having some problems with the software that's supposed to inform me when a new comment's been submitted. Read all about it in this entry, including a detailed look at CCLaP's ethical guidelines concerning comments. | Read entire entry

Welcome to CCLaP. Version 2. | June 4, 2007
Greetings from the official web presence for the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography, or CCLaP. Today, a little introduction to who the organization is and what its goals are. | Read entire entry