Pamela Erens

7/​28/​10
Nearly three years after The Understory's publication, I hear that Baker & Taylor, which was (sorta, slowly) distributing the book, may not be carrying it anymore. That means that brick-and-mortar bookstores probably can't get it. Amazon usually has copies, but when they run out my publisher, Ironweed Press, can be slow to restock them. If you want The Understory and have been having trouble obtaining it, please know that it is always available through this website. Just go to the LInks page and look to the right-hand side of the page. A copy is $11.95--that's the cover price; I'll pay postage. And I'll even inscribe it for you if you request that.

6/​24/​10
I want to draw attention to two blogs connected to writers I know and admire. The first features an interview on One Life to Give, a unique self-help book that is more narrative than prescriptive, and which features a true story that will rattle you. My pal Mary Akers, who co-wrote the book with therapist Andrew Bienkowski, is also the author of the fine short-story collection Women Up on Blocks. Andrew Bienkowski is the interviewee here.

The second blog is simply called Claudia Putnam, though I know my friend Claudia could have come up with lots of clever names. The fact that she didn't is testimony to her desire to keep things bullshit-free. Read through her posts about literature and life and you'll hear a voice that's honest, intelligent, and well worth your time. There are lots of literary blogs out there, but I never feel disappointed by this one.

Check them out!

1/​1/​10
Happy New Year! The Emerging Writers Network is running an interesting series on writers' experiences with editors (both book editors and magazine/​journal editors) and my contribution is here.


12/​2/​09
My review of Pasha Malla's story collection The Withdrawal Method is up at Gently Read Literature. I was impressed by this unique and intriguing book, which won an important prize in Canada this year.

11/​2/​09
Gently Read Literature has reprinted The Smoking Poet's review of The Understory. Nice!

9/​28/​09
The Smoking Poet, which reviewed The Understory over the summer (see post below), presents me as Featured Author of their Fall issue. Zinta Aistars conducted an interview, and I thank her for her provocative questions. Click here to read that interview.

7/​29/​09
Nice to know that The Understory is still receiving some attention even nearly two years after its publication. The Smoking Poet gives it a very flattering review, right here (scroll down; it's the fifth review).

7/​7/​09
The Short Review reviews Visiting Hours (see below for more on this anthology), and reviewer Scott Doyle makes special mention of my contribution:

"Perhaps the most striking story in the anthology is Pamela Erens's oddly-titled "Gaarg. Gaarrgh. Gak." Here the approach is to show us something — a man emerging from a coma after a severe car crash — with utterly fresh eyes. At the center of the story is a complicated and shifting relationship between the man and his doctor. In prose that startlingly conjures the state-of-mind of a man who can now communicate only with his eyes, and who is in a place most of us will never go, Erens completely subverts my preconceived notions of the body's and mind's response to traumatic injury."

5/​27/​09
The new issue of Skidrow Penthouse (it's Number Ten) contains two of my pieces: "Taking a Walk on Hilltop Road" and "Right Here." Skidrow is publishing some of the most adventurous fiction, poetry, and art around, and I have the greatest admiration for editors Stephanie Dickinson and Rob Cook--both for the stuff they bring together in each annual issue and for their own work in fiction (Stephanie) and poetry (Rob). Check out Stephanie's story collection Road of Five Churches, her novel Half Girl, and Rob's poetry collection Diary of Tadpole the Dirtbag.

1/​26/​09
I just received my contributor's copies of Visiting Hours, the anthology that includes my short story "Gaarg. Gaargh. Gak." Editor Dan Wickett and publisher Kevin Watson of Press 53 have done a great job of assembling stories that are about, well, waiting. Waiting to arrive, waiting to leave, waiting to receive, waiting to live. And don't we spend a great deal of our lives doing just those things? Waiting is a state both thwarted and emotionally charged--so no wonder that vivid fiction can be made out it. Contributors include Ben Percy, Quinn Dalton, Joe Freda, Ron Rash, Bill Roorbach, Patry Francis... it's an anthology well worth reading, even if I have a vested interest in saying so.

1/​1/​09
Happy New Year, and I want to express my gratitude to every person and institution--and there were many--who made 2008 a very, very good year for me and for The Understory. I include everyone who took a chance on the novel and plunked his or her money down for it at a reading or a bookstore or online; everyone who checked it out of a library; everyone who took the time, after reading, to drop me a line; everyone who gave the novel to a friend; everyone who invited me to do a reading or make some other appearance; everyone who interviewed me or wrote about me or reviewed the novel; everyone who gave advice and/​or bucked me up; The L.A. Times and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize committee; The William Saroyan Foundation and Stanford University; the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and Playwrights Theater; my friends, family, and neighbors; and the wonderful folks at Zoetrope.com. Thank you!!

12/​11/​08
It's still not too late to buy friends and family good books for the holidays. I'd like to recommend a small number of volumes, read over the past few months, that have particularly impressed me. They include works both old and new. In alphabetical order:

Apologies Forthcoming, by Xujun Eberlein. An unusual, graceful, and compelling collection of short stories about life during the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, by Michael Pollan. Why we've been eating what we've been eating, and what might be better for our health and the environment. Like everything Pollan writes, this brief book is commonsensical, insightful, elegant, and useful.

New Grub Street, by George Gissing. Though this novel was written in 1891, its insights about writers and the writing life couldn't be fresher. Plus there's a bang-up plot. Gissing's The Odd Women, about proto-feminists in 1890s England, is also surprising and immensely enjoyable. Gissing is a superior and subtle psychologist. Why don't more people read him?

Road of Five Churches, by Stephanie Dickinson. A collection of powerful, brave stories primarily about women in a variety of perilous--yet unfortunately not unusual--situations.

Stoner, by John Williams. This 1965 novel about the life of a Midwestern academic can't be easily described, but cuts deep and isn't like anything else you've ever read.

Then We Came to The End, by Joshua Ferris. Hilarious and moving, this fine novel captures everything true about life in the workplace.

And of course I can't help wanting to mention the just-published anthology that contains a short story of mine: Visiting Hours, edited by Dan Wickett, published by Press 53 (more info below).

12/​1/​08
The free-download offer for The Understory is now over--my thanks to Ironweed Press, and to everyone who participated in this experiment.

11/​30/​08
The short-story anthology Visiting Hours (Press 53), which contains my story, "Gaarg. Gaarrgh. Gak," is now available for purchase! The stories in Visiting Hours all deal with situations in which, in the words of editor Dan Wickett, "one person must stay, and the others involved are only allowed to be present during specific hours." Think hospitals, jails, nursing homes, etc. The collection features a very strong lineup of writers, including Benjamin Percy, Quinn Dalton, Joseph Freda, Ron Rash, and Patry Francis; I'm proud to be in their company.

11/​29/​08
The 2009 issue of Skidrow Penthouse will include two new (very) short stories by me: "Right Here" and "Taking a Walk on Hilltop Road." Skidrow Penthouse, co-edited by Rob Cook and Stephanie Dickinson (of whose fiction I am an enormous fan), has become one of my favorite literary magazines for the bold, high-quality work it publishes.

11/​24/​08
If you're interested in the free download of The Understory, act now: the offer (which has generated a very positive reaction) will be ending on December 1, 2008!

11/​1/​08
Jessica Lipnack's Endless Knots, a very intriguing blog about networking, communications, and the Web, talks about the "freeconomy" version of The Understory. Lipnack is the author of six books, a longtime consultant and educator, and the CEO of NetAge. Click here for the post!

10/​23/​08
I'm very pleased to announce The Understory's trial entrance into the "freeconomy." Ironweed Press has generously offered to make a FREE digital copy of the novel available via this website for a period of time. It's hard to beat free! For your copy, go to the Press page and click on the appropriate icon. I hope you'll take advantage. Print copies are of course still available through the usual channels.

9/​5/​08
The William Saroyan International Prize for Writing in Fiction has gone to Nicole Krauss for The History of Love. Congratulations to her--well deserved. I read The History of Love two years ago and it's a terrific novel.

8/​14/​08
The Summer 2008 issue of Colorado Review contains a review of The Understory. Wendy Rawlings (author of The Agnostics), writes that "The Understory brilliantly charts the erosion of a psyche and suggests the larger ways in which the use of force to subjugate our our desires, the environment, or other people can have damaging and irreversible consequences."

8/​1/​08
The Understory is back in stock at Amazon. But I've decided to let the website offer (see below) stand.

7/​22/​08
Amazon, currently the most reliable purveyer of The Understory, is temporarily out of copies. They will be receiving more soon, but in the meantime, if you want a copy and are having trouble finding one, I've reduced the amount I charge for shipping a copy (signed!) direct--to only two dollars, less than it costs me for postage and packaging. Multiple copies are the same, or only fractionally more. Just click the Buy Now button on this website's LINKS page. I hope this will help bridge the distribution gap.

7/​18/​08
My first international review! The UK's Small Press Review writes of The Understory that it "gives the reader a rare experience--it allows a deep and engaged understanding of the emotions, temptations and compulsions of another."

7/​13/​08
The Understory has been shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. The prize is for a work of fiction published in 2005, 2006, or 2007. The other finalists are The History of Love by Nicole Krauss and Dead Boys by Richard Lange. Hoorah, and congrats to the other finalists! The winner will be announced in September.

5/​12/​08
Jim Ruland reviews The Understory and interviews me on The Elegant Variation.

4/​28/​08
I've just returned from a very enjoyable weekend in Los Angeles for the L.A. Times Book Prize ceremony and the L.A. Times Festival of Books. The prize in First Fiction went to Dinaw Mengestu for The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears--hearty congratulations, Dinaw. Three of the other finalists in the category-- Ellen Litman, Antonia Arslan, and I--took part in a panel discussing debut fiction with moderator Carolyn Kellogg of Pinky's Paperhaus. The audience was warm and attentive, the crowds at the Festival were incredible, and it's wonderful to know that so many people can get so excited about books.

If you'd like to read a more detailed report, I was asked to do one for Xujun Eberlein's Inside-Out China. Read it here.

3/​26/​08
The American Chronicle has published an interview with me about the writing of The Understory. You can access it here. The interview was first posted on the cultural-literary blog Inside-Out China.

3/​15/​08
The website Writers Read asked me, "What Is Pamela Erens reading?" and today it posted my response.

2/​28/​08
I'm thrilled to announce that The Understory was chosen as one of five finalists for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in First Fiction. I'm incredibly honored to join the other four writers on this short list, who are:

Antonia Arslan, Skylark Farm
Rebecca Curtis, Twenty Grand
Ellen Litman, The Last Chicken in America
Dinaw Mengestu, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears

As a result of the short-listing, I've been invited to appear on a panel and do a book signing at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books in L.A. at the end of April.

In case you're curious, in the (Non-First) Fiction category, the finalists are:

Junot Diaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Andrew O'Hagan, Be Near Me
Stewart O'Nan, Last Night at the Lobster
Per Petterson, Out Stealing Horses
Marianne Wiggins, The Shadow Catcher

You can check out the L.A. Times Book Prize website for more. And here's info on the Festival of Books.

Did I say thrilled? Thrilled.

2/​15/​08
The new press run of The Understory is IN and books will be shipping this coming week. Copies will again be available at the bookstore of your choice (other than Borders).

1/​3/​08
First, the good news: The first print run of The Understory has sold out! Now, the bad news: this happened so quickly that Ironweed Press was caught by surprise and was not able to do a new print run in time. Right now bookstores that don't already have copies can't get them in. However, The Understory should be available again by month's end. In the meantime, Amazon still has copies for sale.

1/​2/​08
Meredith Sue Willis of Books for Readers has named The Understory one of the best reads of 2007. (Scroll down to see the item, entitled "Your Best Books?")

12/​22/​07
In today's weekend book section, Chicago Tribune calls The Understory "an elegant, understated study of physical and psychic dislocations," adding that it is "artfully detailed and beautifully rendered." Read the full-length review here, on this website's Press page.

12/​19/​07
"We have such a deep understanding of and sympathy for the engaging but troubled Jack that we willingly follow him into the dark corners of his wounded psyche," writes the quarterly review journal Rain Taxi of The Understory's main character. Unfortunately Rain Taxi does not post reviews from its print editions online, but you can read a PDF of the review by clicking on the PRESS link above.

12/​18/​07
The Emerging Writers Network includes
The Understory in its list of recommended books of 2007.

12/​5/​07
Mary Akers reviews The Understory on her literary blog. "The Understory crackles with the energy of compulsion and unrequited obsession... [it] is a book that relentlessly and incrementally pulls you forward on intelligent tenterhooks." Check it out the full review here.

12/​3/​07
I've only just learned of a review of The Understory that appeared in the September/​October issue of Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide and that proclaims: "The Understory comes to a gripping finale. Erens ... is a very talented writer, and this slender volume is a welcome contribution to contemporary fiction." This link unfortunately doesn't offer the full review, but if you select "See the Full Review" you can get free access to the rest in a few keystrokes.

12/​1/​07
Barnes & Noble has announced that it will soon start carrying The Understory.

Also, the problems that have bedeviled distribution for the past many weeks appear to have been resolved. Baker & Taylor has corrected an error in its database and is now shipping copies to just about any bookstore in the country. So mob your local brick-and-mortars, folks!

11/​01/​07
A nice review on the literary/​cultural blog Capone's Hit List.

10/​28/​07
New review in the El Paso Times! To read it, click on the PDF link on the PRESS page of this website.

10/​9/​07
Small Spiral Notebook's review of The Understory remarks: "Erens's narrative is not your typical debut. The soul of this novel is its meditative lyricism, rendered in language that is as exquisite as it is penetrating." SSN adds, "The Understory is successful at the most difficult of fictional forms--the novel of ideas distilled through the ordinary life of its protagonist." Wow! Thank you, Small Spiral Notebook!

10/​1/​07
The latest issue of "Books for Readers," the online newsletter produced by novelist and short-story writer Meredith Sue Willis, recommends The Understory, saying, "the great value of this novel is Jack’s self awareness as he falls in love and falls apart.... It’s an interior, precise, and carefully imagined novel that makes a powerful social statement in an oblique but focused way." For the full review, click here (scroll down to get to issue 100).

10/​1/​07
Nice review in the American Library Association journal, BookList.

9/​14/​07
According to the September/​October issue of ForeWord magazine, the venerable publication for reviews of independent and small-press books, The Understory is "a mesmerizing tale... a universal human cry for love."
Click on the link for the complete review.

9/​2/​07
The Understory is featured in the October issues of New Jersey Savvy Living and Writer's Digest. In Writer's Digest, the writeup appears in the "First Impressions" column, which covers debut books. In New Jersey Savvy Living, it's in the "Sightings" section.

6/​11/​07
Publishers Weekly has pronounced! It calls
The Understory "skillfully rendered," "hauntingly abject," and "a sensitive, restrained debut." Read the whole review here (scroll down; it's the ninth review).


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Upstreet #3 (Spring 2007), Skidrow Penthouse #8 (2007), and Redivider 5:2 (Spring 2008) include recent short stories by me. "Saving Me," the selection in Skidrow Penthouse #8, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.


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My review of James Salter's Light Years can be found on Jesse Kornbluth's terrific website Head Butler. I love Salter's work and was delighted to have a chance to proselytize for this beautiful novel. Here's the review.