Gone Gonzo - 16 Jul 2008

Hunter S. Thompson, the outlandish originator of Gonzo journalism, commandeered the international literary spotlight with his numerous best sellers, including Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Hell’s Angels. Even those who have never read his work have probably been exposed to Gary Trudeau’s Thompson-inspired “Duke” character in Doonesbury, or perhaps seen Bill Murray ( Where the Buffalo Roam ) and Johnny Depp ( Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas ) portraying Thompson in the movies. Conversations with Hunter S. Thompson, the newly released book by Beef Torrey and Kevin Simonson, is the first compilation of selected personal interviews that trace the trajectory of his highly visible, widely-publicized, prolific writing career. The engaging exchanges contained in Conversations with Hunter S. Thompson (University Press of Mississippi) reveal Thompson’s self-determination, self-indulgence, energy, wit and passions as he discusses his life and career. They reveal the intriguing development of the infamous outlaw journalist’s raging, wild mind and his unique contribution to American literature. Simonson first met Thompson over 15 years ago when he booked him to speak at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. They subsequently became friends and Simonson interviewed him for several magazines including SPIN, Hustler, the Aspen Daily Times and the Village Voice.

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Conquering the Slush Pile - 09 Jul 2008

Ex-Omahan’s debut novel hits stores by Kyle Tonniges They say everyone has at least one book in them, and a great many people do their damnedest to get that book out. They go to writers’ workshops, buy each new edition of Writer’s Market, and send out proposals and query letters in bulk. But mostly they write, write, write, often with no chance of ever seeing their work in print. Omaha native Jonathan Segura beat the odds. His debut novel, Occupational Hazards, was picked up by Simon and Schuster and hits store shelves this month. It’s a gritty, noir-like tale of corruption, rendered with acerbic wit. Kirkus Reviews called it “an auspicious debut.”

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Exclusive Excerpt - 09 Jul 2008

Following is an exclusive excerpt from Jonathan Segura’s debut novel Occupational Hazards. It’s an unremarkable yellow two-story in the middle of a block filled with the same. Based on the degree of decay most show, I assume they’re all rental properties. Two unmarked doors on the front and lights burning both upstairs and down. Total waste of electricity. My first instinct is to try the door on the left. Presumably, it has a flight of stairs behind it, and for whatever reason (Yeah, fine, because of that goddamned Suzanne Vega tune), I imagine she lives upstairs. Reaching for the buzzer when a white cat jumps onto the windowsill to my right. So I knock on the other door. Luka peeks between the curtains and unlocks what sounds like a dozen chains and deadbolts before the door swings open. She’s wearing a pair of black-faded-to-gray Jordaches and a hot pink pocket t-shirt. “Entrez.” She obviously tried to straighten up before I came over, but the cat hairs that cover her few pieces of assembly-required furniture give the place away. It’s like a cat exploded in here… probably fur balls in the ice trays, even. The place itself is your standard low-end rental property. Got the twenty-year-old shag carpet that probably started out white, but is now yellow-brown, the fifty layers of white paint on every vertical surface, including the woodwork. Furniture’s straight from Target. Woodgrain veneer and plastic done up like stainless steel. Kicker? A f****** macramé owl hung on the wall between the windows. “Where’d you get that thing?” I point to the owl. “Salvation Army. Have a seat.” I do. The couch, which isn’t all that bad to look at, is all that bad to sit on. The plywood just eats into your spine. “Got my cash?”

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Sassing Back - 03 Jul 2008

by Kate Oelke Turner Growing up in Nebraska, it was sometimes hard to be cool. Fortunately for girls like me in the early nineties, we had Sassy magazine as our guide. At the time, I thought my peers could be easily divided into two camps — those who read Sassy and those who read everything else. Like authors Kara Jesella and Marissa Meltzer, I was a proud Sassy girl. Each month, I knew precisely when my new Sassy would be delivered and I waited patiently for its arrival in the mail. Once in my hands, I’d pore through the magazine carefully, savoring each word and looking for insight into a cooler, hipper world. More than just a magazine, Sassy was culturally significant for some women; much more daring than anything we had seen or read. Tapping into subjects more taboo than I could even imagine at thirteen, Sassy addressed everything from teen sex to where to buy cheap Doc Martens — both subjects that I was eager to read up on.

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Shame Game - 25 Jun 2008

Jewish girl gone wild by Leo Adam Biga Omaha native Rachel Shukert is coming home to face the music after the publication of her first book, the nonfiction Have You No Shame? And Other Regrettable Stories (Villard). In it, the New York-based writer applies her unsparing satire to growing up here as a Jew and a rebel. For a long time she was hell-bent on being a sassy stage/screen actress for the XYZ Generation. In New York she grew disillusioned by the business of acting. She turned inward, where she’s most comfortable, and funneled her imagination into writing. The words poured out. Fast-forward a few years and the late 20-something now enjoys her status as a produced playwright, published journalist and acclaimed author.

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Sherlock Redux - 13 Jun 2008

Author paints a different portrait of Holmes by Matt Goodlett The intricately constructed scratchboard impression of a man in a vest and top hat on the cover of Omaha Perez’s first issue of Holmes is a prelude to the juxtaposition found throughout the four-part series, recently collected into a graphic novel. The man, presumably Holmes, would appear a proper gentlemen but for the grizzled look of his square jaw, wiry boxer’s arms and the pose he strikes: holding one arm with the other, with an expression akin to a junkie waiting for a fix. Perez’s alternate, illustrated version of Holmes is quite unlike the character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. As things progress Watson gives (unreliable) narration perpetuating the mythos surrounding the famed detective. But the new Holmes seems not to be the master sleuth that he’s been classically portrayed as.

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Hell and High-Water - 08 May 2008

Man sentenced to life may be innocent by Matt Goodlett M. Night Shyamalan probably would have stopped in his tracks to say, “What a twist,” if he’d seen the headlines in 1993. The man accused of breaking the levee that caused the flooding of Quincy, Mo., and 14,000 acres of farmland, was said to have done it because he wanted to strand his wife on the other side of the river and have a night of partying. It was the kind of “man bites dog” quirk that led newspapers and networks to run the story into the ground, and caused public opinion to convict the accused long before his trial. James Scott, who in 1994, and again in 1998, was the first to be convicted breaking an obscure Missouri law, Intentionally Causing a Catastrophe, was sentenced to life in prison. In Adam Pitluck’s Damned to Eternity: The Story of the Man Who They Say Caused the Flood both sides of the case are presented with little editorializing from Pitluck, but the narrative is steered to suggest Scott didn’t receive a fair shake. The book implies Scott was the fall guy for the Army Corps of Engineers whose reports — never entered into evidence at trial — concluded he didn’t cause the flooding. Also at stake was the property of farmers who lacked flood insurance and needed an act of vandalism rather than an “Act of God” to collect on their homeowner’s insurance.

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