Yayyy! NOTES OF A DEAF GAY WRITER: 20 YEARS LATER is out.

Hello:

Last August my 12th book NOTES OF A DEAF GAY WRITER was published in a very limited edition; I'd said then in my blog that I would have an ebook version out. That has come true today.



If you have an iPad, an iPhone, or an iPod touch, please click on this link to Apple's own iBookstore page featuring my book. Others using different ebook readers are welcome to use this link instead.

A brief video trailer in which I talk about the book will be posted on my YouTube page soon.

May everyone have a most warm holiday season!

Best,

Raymond

My poem "Orphans" and its ASL translation ....

Hello everyone!

I've uploaded a video of yours truly performing my poem "Orphans" from my book MUTE. The YouTube link is right here, but you know what's even more awesome? I wrote a piece about how I'd come up with its ASL translation and edited its video for Deaf Echo. Please check it out!

And if you haven't voted yet, PLEASE DO. You've probably heard this from other people, but it's truly very important that you do! Even my hearing service dog helped! Just look at the picture below.

Raymond

Whoa! MUTE has made it to #6!

Hello all:

I'm a bit breathless with excitement. Amos Lassen, one of the most influential reviewers on Amazon and elsewhere, has chosen my book MUTE as #6 in his list of Top 11 Books of 2010.

I feel so honored and flattered that out of the dozens of titles he's had to have reviewed this year, he'd remembered my book!

Sorry but I *just* had to share!

Raymond

Gotta shout this out loud! MUTE is on YouTube ...

Hello:

I've been very busy with a lot of projects these days, but at least I was able to finish one in particular: My book MUTE has a new trailer in which I talk about why I wrote it. :) You can check it out on YouTube. It's all subtitled in English for the signing-impaired, of course.

Have lots of exciting news in store, but I will share it as soon as details are confirmed!

Have a great week, all!

Raymond

Twitter, twitter ...

Hello all ...

Now that summer's gone (but only temporarily!), I've signed up for Twitter.

Search for "deafwoof" or my name (Raymond Luczak) on twitter.com, and if you want to sign up, you can do so and "follow" my tweets!

I'll share news and other tidbits as they tumble down my path!

Raymond

A fun photobooth strip of Rocky and me ...

Click on the picture for a better look. Hope you're having a grand summer!

My twelfth book just came out today!

NOTES OF A DEAF GAY WRITER: 20 YEARS LATER (published by Hot Off The, as in www.hotoffthe.net) came out earlier tonight. I'm very happy with the way the chapbook (a chapter-length book; in this case, it's 50 pages long) has turned out. It was published as an extremely limited print edition of only TEN copies. These precious few editions are unfortunately sold out already, but I do plan to have it put out as an ebook in the near future. [Noted on 11/26/10: It is now available as an ebook at this link.] (Thanks again, Kevin, for taking a quick snapshot of moi!)

This essay holds a very special place in my heart. As I've said elsewhere before, the piece was written during a very difficult summer of my life—added job responsibilities and stress, lousy love life, doubts about my abilities as a writer, and uncertainties about staying on in New York. I managed to piece together a string of short observations about being a deaf gay writer. After whittling down some 60 pages to a manageable 28 pages, I sent "Notes of a Deaf Gay Writer" off to the magazine CHRISTOPHER STREET. The rest, as one might say, is history, and it eventually inspired my eighth book ASSEMBLY REQUIRED: NOTES FROM A DEAF GAY LIFE some nineteen years later. This time I revisit the original essay with a 20-year hindsight and offer a running commentary on whether things have changed since its initial publication in December 1990.

I'm just very pleased with seeing this back in print, even if for a very short time. Be on the lookout for the ebook edition! Enjoy the rest of your summer, everyone!

I've got a brand-new fan, and I'm still hot and bothered!

Recently I had experienced one of the greatest pleasures in my writing life: a fan not just telling me how much s/he likes my work but explaining why s/he has enjoyed my work.

Bryan Borland, a young hearing poet in Arkansas whose debut book MY LIFE AS ADAM blew me away, blogged about me in terms that still embarrasses me (in a good way). This literally made my day because writing is such a solitary profession. Sometimes you wonder if it's worth the struggle to craft a better sentence, a better paragraph, and a better book. Then I get something like this. I think I'm more speechless than he is!

He went on to explain why he loved my book MUTE on Amazon in his five-star review: "... in the months since I've read it (several times now, in fact), that crush has blossomed into a full-on love affair, and I can say that Mute ranks as one of my all-time favorite contemporary books of poetry." Wow. How does one say "thank you" to something like that?!?

Yes, you could buy the book directly from Amazon, but my publisher, A Midsummer Night's Press, would be very happy to give you free prompt shipping within the US! Please order directly from A Midsummer Night's Press here.

One other note before I resume researching and rewriting my new novel's second draft (yes, I've been working on a brand-new novel that's very different from my previous works of fiction, which is yet another reason why I'm so excited about it): The CHAUTAUQUA literary journal has brought out a new poem of mine ("Recital") in their "Words & Music" issue (#7).

And there's a brand-new poem ("In Edinburgh Castle") in the latest issue of KISS-FIST! Check it out here.

Stay cool, all!

Two quick things before I vamoose!

Hello:

Hope everyone's staying cool. I certainly am! :)

Seriously, though, I do want to call your attention to the existence of two new poems in print ("Guesswork" and "Bessie Smith's Advice to a Young Lesbian") in OFF THE ROCKS 14. (The cover is below.) The new edition is not yet mentioned in their web site, but do check it out anyway.



Just as importantly, I got a really thoughtful review of my novel Men with Their Hands by Robb C. Sewell. Please read his review here. If you haven't read my novel, please check it out! (Hint, hint ...)

Thanks, and may you all have a most Happy 4th!

Best,

Raymond

Guess what? I got a *new* dog!

... er, no.

My dog Rocky got such a transformative haircut earlier today that I hadn't realized just how big his tongue was in relation to his own body. At least he can cool off for the next few months. Hard to believe it's the *same* dog!

May everyone stay cool all summer long!

A long interview with yours truly at Lambda Literary!

Hi everyone!

Hope y'all are staying cool and dry these summery days!

Just wanted to drop a quick note about the interview I did about my experiences as a Deaf gay writer.

Check it out!

Thanks again.

Itsy-Bitsy Spider's Got Some Itsy-Bitsy News (and Reviews) ...

Hello ...

While I continue to await word on my second novel and work on my third novel, I did want to toss out a few shout-outs:

- Verse Daily. My poem "The Elegist," which comes from my book Mute, was chosen as today's poem. It's a huge honor because so many publishers have tried to get them to choose one poem a day. Needless to say, I'm very tickled pink!

- Wilde Oats. They published an old short story of mine called "They Come Crawling." Please enjoy!

- Out in Print. They gave my novel Men with Their Hands a rave review. Check it out!

- Lambda Literary. Mute scores a very thoughtful review. One of the best I've ever gotten for my work as a poet.

- Out in Perth. Over there in Australia, they gave Mute a lovely rave.

- We'll Never Have Paris. They've excerpted my poems "Marenisco Eyes" and "Pitch" for their sixth issue, which also features an interview with yours truly. Check out their cool zine!

- Minneapolis Observer Quarterly. Sharon Parker enjoyed my memoir Assembly Required: Notes from a Deaf Gay Life. While the review isn't posted online, I'll quote Ms. Parker in part: "Books often take us places we would not otherwise go and offer a glimpse of a life we would never experience⎯sometimes imaginary, sometimes real. Raymond Luczak shows us, through a series of vignettes and observations, his very real life, and what it’s like to be twice marginalized.

Luczak takes us through an awkward childhood; a series of awakenings as he realizes that his sexuality must be kept a secret; and the wonderful discoveries that there are others like him, with whom he can communicate more naturally.

Deafness is not just about the physical limitations of hearing loss, but a subculture as well. Luczak gets to know those who would as soon live apart from the society of the hearing, and those who feel compelled⎯as he does⎯to straddle both worlds. He shares some surprising insights on different ways of communicating. “When I translate from ASL to English, I am always struck by the baroqueness of our English language.”

- My web site. It's been slightly updated with a fresh header montage. Thanks again, Ron!

Even though it feels wet and nippy out there right now, I'm glad that spring is here. Let the groovy greenery begin!

Later,

Raymond

Miami, here I come!

Hello:

As I'm in the final throes of last-minute packing for my week-long sojourn in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, it just occurred to me that in this blog, I haven't mentioned a lovely media moment earlier this week: Time Out New York. For years, when I lived in New York, it was one of my favorite magazines because it had tons of listings, interviews, features, and whatnot to make a culture vulture like myself happy. Well, last Wednesday I found myself appearing in its pages for the first time, talking about my new book of poems Mute. Please, my dear friends, click on THIS and read what else I have to say. (By the way, the photograph should have been credited to Taras J. Dykstra, however; it's my understanding that the magazine reflects his credit properly, but not online.) Still, I felt quite honored to be considered worthy of coverage in such a major New York publication.

My little novel Men with Their Hands has scored two FIVE-star ratings on Amazon! And what do you know, it's also available for the Kindle.

If you can attend my reading as part of the GALLA Festival at the Stonewall Library on Saturday, April 10th at 10 a.m., please come to Fort Lauderdale! I'll be reading (or more accurately, signing) from three deaf LGBT books: Assembly Required: Notes from a Deaf Gay Life, Mute: Poems, and Men with Their Hands: A Novel. The event is FREE and voice-interpreted for those who don't know American Sign Language (ASL). The address (click on this link for the Googled map if you like) is:

Stonewall Library & Archives
1300 East Sunrise Boulevard
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304
(954) 763-8565

And one more thing: If you've *actually* read my entire novel Men with Their Hands, and if you're local to the Twin Cities, please email me privately for the location of a book club discussing the book in depth on Thursday April 15th. It should be very interesting to see what hearing readers think of the book!

Thank you all, and hope to see you on April 10th! Now ... where did I put that dang sunblock lotion?

Hugs,

Raymond

A few tidbits ... MEN WITH THEIR HANDS ...

Hello ...

These past few weeks have been a whirlwind (play rewrites, rehearsals, two presentations in Columbus, Ohio, performances of three of my plays, etc. to give you a rough idea), but I just had to share a lovely review of my novel MEN WITH THEIR HANDS from the web site OUT IN PRINT. Please check it out!

I'll be in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday April 10th (10 a.m. to 11 a.m.; please note this is the NEW time) to give a reading from three of my Deaf gay books: MEN WITH THEIR HANDS, ASSEMBLY REQUIRED, and MUTE. Where, exactly? Stonewall Library, of course! It will be voice-interpreted for those who don't know ASL, of course. If you're in Fort Lauderdale or the nearby Miami, please show up. I'd love to meet y'all!

A few days later, on April 15th, there will be a local book club discussing my novel MEN WITH THEIR HANDS right here in the Twin Cities. It's unfortunately not open to the public, so if you want to get in touch with the coordinator and RSVP, please let me know and I'll pass on his email address to you. The only requirement is that you HAVE to have read my novel first because they'll be discussing the book in detail. It should be a fun experience to see what people think of my little tome.

Spring's becoming clearer here in Minnesota every day, but I won't quite believe it until the residue of salt and gravel have been swept away from the streets ... Gotta scoot!

Raymond

What? An interview with moi as a Deaf poet?

Hello ...

This is an excerpt from a long interview I've done with Wordgathering, a fantastic online journal focusing on disability and literature. (I hope I haven't babbled too much!)

Wordgathering: Raymond, you are such a Renaissance person – a poet, playwright, translator, film maker, novelist and essayist – that it is hard to know exactly just where to begin, but one thing that I find particularly interesting is your work in translating the work of Clayton Valli [an ASL poet] and making it accessible to the non-ASL public. Can you talk a little bit about what that experience was like?

RL [Raymond Luczak]: When I first saw Clayton, I was an 18-year-old student in the New Signers Program (NSP) which I took for three weeks at Gallaudet University prior to becoming a freshman there. By this point I had been writing uninformed (and uniformly) bad poetry for seven years. I had never questioned the unspoken assumption that poetry was the domain of hearing people until our ASL teacher informed us that an ASL poet was coming to our class that afternoon. "ASL poet"? I knew ASL, and I knew poetry (or so I'd thought at the time), but together? How would that work?

Wanna read more? The rest of this interview is at this link.

They also have a very thoughtful review of my memoir Assembly Required: Notes from a Deaf Gay Life at this link.

Please check it out, and let me know what you think! Have a great week, all!

Raymond

Hey! I'm coming to Ohhhh-hi-o! (Two appearances.)

Wanna help celebrate the publication of my first novel Men with Their Hands and my third poetry collection Mute?

Then come on down to Columbus, Ohio! I'll be giving a presentation at the Ohio State University on Thursday, March 4th. Here's the info extracted from their PDF flyer:

The OSU American Sign Language Program and the Dorothy E. Ann Fund (D.E.A.F.) of the Columbus Foundation
proudly present

RAYMOND LUCZAK
deaf. author. editor. playwright. director. filmmaker. poet. gay.

Thursday, March 4, 2010, 7 – 9 p.m.
OSU Fawcett Center, 2400 Olentangy River Rd.
Free parking! Directions available at www.fawcettcenter.com/directions.asp

Free and open to the public!
Book signing and light reception to follow
Interpreting and real time captioning services provided

www.asl.osu.edu

=====
On Saturday March 6th, I will appear at the 10th anniversary bash celebrating the first decade of Buckeye Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf (BRAD). I will be selling books in the afternoon, and then I will share some Deaf LGBT stories with everyone after dinner. Please come join us for fun and friendship. For more information, please check out BRAD's web site.

=====

Hope to see y'all there! It's been years since I've been to Ohio.

Mwah mwah, everybody!

Holy-moly! Three of my plays performed the same weekend?

Hi everyone ...

Still busy with the rewrites of my new play The Darkest Room in the House, but I thought you should be aware of this. The ASL-interpreted performance of my three plays (the comedies Jackhammer and Unhappily Ever After are also performed) is on Saturday March 13th only. The ASL-interpreted performance of Mahmoud Hakima's Two Bowls of Cereal and Some Bacon is on Saturday March 20th only.

NOW HEAR THIS! Second Annual One-Act Festival
by Raymond Luczak, Stanley Toledo, Mahmoud Hakima.
Performed by: Bridge Productions.

Location: Lowry Lab Theater, 350 St. Peter Street, St. Paul, Minnesota (inside Lowry Bldg.).

Darkest Room in the House, Jackhammer, Unhappily Ever After by Raymond Luczak:
ASL: Saturday, March 13, 8:00 PM.
Interpreters: Mary Catherine, CI/CT, & Gretchen Toay, NIC; Krystal Riordan & Renee Kerrigan.

Two Bowls of Cereal and Some Bacon by Mahmoud Hakima:
ASL: Saturday, March 20, 8:00 PM.
Interpreter: Heather Ortiz, CI/CT.

Tix: Reduced to $8 for ASL patrons; (regular $10-18). phone: 651-501-9273; email: plays@bridgeproductions.info
Website: www.bridgeproductions.info

Description: Festival featuring five new and developing works by three emerging playwrights. Scripts available upon request prior to performances. Three staged readings of Raymond Luczak's plays: The Darkest Room in the House: An intimate family drama about a long lost father. What is faith's nature and how do we hold on? Adult language and situations. Jackhammer: Two competing office workers blackmail and bribe their way to the top in this David Mamet parody. Unhappily Ever After: A Cinderella spin on gay marriage! A full production of Mahmoud Hakima’s Two Bowls of Cereal and Some Bacon: The product of a fractured and violent household, boy Mahmoud finds innocent joy in the attentions of a lovely, older Mystery Girl in his gifted and talented class. A moving and original one-man show.

There's also a workshop reading of Stanley Toledo’s Better Than a Good Beginning and other works from Disabilityland: A place everyone wants to go. A place where no one wants to go. Visit Disabilityland, the dark side of “the happiest place on earth.”

Run: one to two hours (varies according to show; see website); March 12-21, 2010.

Hope to see y'all there!

Raymond

I shouldn't shout ... but MUTE is coming out!

Hello, everyone!

While I've been busy rewriting my new play The Darkest Room in the House for Bridge Productions these days for its performance in March 2010, I got word that my newest book of poems, Mute, will be shipping within two weeks. (OMG.)


Here's what A Midsummer Night's Press had to say about my book:

"Do not be afraid of your face.
Move into a beam of light
in the bar. Smile openly.
Watch his hands move
quicker than strobe lights
as he surveys the crowd with his friends.
Do not think of how hard
it might be to have a casual
conversation.

-- From “How to Fall for a Deaf Man”

Silence is always a powerful statement, but even more so in the hands of Raymond Luczak, who demonstrates in his third collection what it’s like to navigate between the warring languages of confusion and clarity.

As a deaf gay man in the hearing world, he lends an unforgettable voice to his reality of ache and loss beyond the inadequate translation of sound."

Kinda flattering, no? I have absolutely no idea who those two sexy guys on the cover are, but I like how they seem to be listening for each other's silence. Heck, you can "listen" to my new poems by preordering a copy of Mute at this link. (Yep, shipping is FREE within the U.S.!)

If you want the book's ISBN number for ordering through your favorite bookstore, please copy the product information from here. You can also preorder the book from Amazon, but it won't likely ship as quickly.

In a week or so, I will post a few samples and a trailer for the book on YouTube and elsewhere online. I've also consolidated all my book trailers into one place on YouTube. Check them all out!

Thanks again for your continued support. May your toes stay warm and toasty!

Hugs,

Raymond

Hey, I'm back!

The first month of 2010 is almost over, and I still feel like I've been on a whirlwind between a number of projects that will see fruition later this year. (I'll share more details in due time when they're ready.)

For now, I've uploaded a brand-new clip promoting my novel MEN WITH THEIR HANDS which I'd taped on January 10th, and yes, I've also included a new PDF sampler from the book as well. Go to this link for the PDF and check out the video below. (The look is a bit different as I'm using a new Flip video camera that does hi-def.)



If you don't know American Sign Language (ASL), relax. The clip is subtitled in English, and there is no soundtrack. Give your ears a break!

My next book of poems, MUTE, is practically good to go. Within the next two weeks or so, I'll post a copy of the cover for your enjoyment. A Midsummer Night's Press is publishing it in April. I don't have a page about the book on my web site yet, but as soon as you can preorder the book, I'll create a page (or two) with a few poem samples.

And what other projects have been keeping me out of trouble these days? A few new books, including two non-Deaf novels in search of a publisher, and a renewed interest in cooking new recipes, making breads, and baking cookies. Yum yum yum!

So it isn't just my poor addled brain that I've been pushing hard lately. I'm feeding it with exciting new flavors. Here's hoping (however belatedly) that 2010 will be an exciting new year!