Michael Hemmingson
Michael Hemmingson | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | novelist, journalist, short story writer, essayist, cultural anthropologist, qualitative researcher. |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1982 - present |
| Genre | Literary fiction, genre fiction |
| Subject | culture, violence, autoethnography |
| Literary movement | Avant-Pop |
Michael Hemmingson is a novelist, short story writer,literary critic, cultural anthropologist, qualitative researcher, playwright, and screenwriter who has been called “Raymond Carver on acid” by literary guru Larry McCaffery and “a disciple of a quick and dirty literature” by the American Book Review.[1]
Publishing History
Some of his books include the novels Wild Turkey (Forge Books), The Rose of Heaven (Prime Books), The Comfort of Women (Blue Moon) and In the Background is a Walled City (Borgo Press). He co-edited Expelled from Eden: A William T. Vollmann Reader (Thunder’s Mouth Press), wrote a critical study on Vollmann (from McFarland) and an annotated bibliography of Vollmann’s many words (from Scarecrow Press).
His first novel, The Naughty Yard, was published in 1994 from Permeable Press.
As an independent scholar, Hemmingson has written the meditation, Gordon Lish and His Influence on Twentieth Century American Literature (Routledge)[2], a short TV studies monograph on Star Trek (Wayne State Univ. Press), and an ethnographic research project, Zona Norte (Cambridge Scholars).[3]
His forthcoming monograph, iBLOGGER: Escribitionism, Symbolic Interactionism, and the Electronic Double in the Blogosphere is a study in cyber-psychology and the impact on physical culture blogging has done.[4]
Film
As a screenwriter, his first indie feature, The Watermelon, was produced by LightSong Films.
The adaptation of his novel, The Dress, was shot in New York.
He is set to direct his screenplay, Stations, produced by Hand Picked Films and Hemlene Entertainment Group.
Optioned projects: Mommy vs. the Evil Bank Robbers, The Wedding Stopper.
Maxim Dashkin directed and produced a short script, Aliens, based on a one act play.
Misc.
He is a staff writer at the San Diego Reader.[5] Many of the photos that accompany his articles there have been taken by San Diego's iconic brand photographer, Chris Morrow.[6]
His stories and essays have been published in journals such as Fiction International, ZYZZYVA, Gargoyle, Hobart, Onthebus, Life Writing, Critique, and Creative Approaches to Research.
Hemmingson won the San Diego Book Awards Association's first Novel-in-Progress grant for The Rose of Heaven and SDBAA’s Best Published novel for Wild Turkey.
Influences
Hemmingson has acknowledged[7] influences Harlan Ellison, Raymond Carver, Gordon Lish, and William T. Vollmann for literature, Wim Wenders, David Lynch, David Mamet, and Stanley Kubrick for film.
Playwrighting and directing influences include David Mamet,Harold Pinter, Nicky Silver, Mac Wellman, and Sam Shepard.
Critically, he has been influenced by Jean Baudrillard, Larry McCaffery, Norman K. Denzin, and Frank Lentricchia.
Notable women in Hemmingson's life who have influenced his novels and films, and have had works dedicated to them, include Gretchen Hawthorne, Trudi Adams (1965-1987), Dominique Bery, Rosina Talamantes[8], Karin Diann Williams[9], Christine Doyle, Tara Raines, Dominique Navarro[10] and Liv Kellgren[11].
Theater
From 1995-2000, he was Literary Manager of The Fritz Theater in San Diego, where he directed, produced, and wrote many plays there, as well as for his own company, The Alien Stage Project, that still produces theater in San Diego and Los Angeles.
His full-length play, Driving Somewhere, won the 1997 Ventana New Play Award in San Francisco. It was first produced in 1995 by The Fritz Theater.
His one-act play, Iraq, was produced in the 2000 Samuel French One-Act Play Festival in New York.
His one-act, Milk, has been widely produced and is published in the book, The Art of the One-Act. It has been produced in Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, and San Diego.
His full-length play, Erotic Scenes in a Cheap Motel Room, has been produced by dozens of theaters and is available as a radio drama from Walcott & Sheridan Audio Library.[12]
Fritz Theater original productions: Driving Somewhere, Iraq, Bosnia, Erotic Scenes in Cheap Motel Room.
Alien Stage Project original productions: Erotic Scenes in a Cheap Motel Room, Milk.
Actor's Alliance Play Festival original productions: Milk, NASDAQ, The Aliens, Happiness.
Music
He is former guitar player for the band Tyburn Jig, a short-lived four-piece act from 1987-88 in San Diego. Jordan Faris was lead singer. The name of the band comes from the tree outside the courthouse of London's Tyburn River. Those condemned to the death sentence were hung on the tree; observers would cry out when seeing the squirming bodies hanging: "Look, he's doin' dah Tyburn jig!" The impetus came from band names like Joy Division and Spandau Ballet.
Bibliography
- Nowhere is Safe. Samizdat Press, 1985. {Poetry chapbook}
- Reaching Into the Wet Darkness. Stow, Ohio: Impetus Press, 1986. {Poetry chapbook}
- Moving in on the Conservatives. Detroit, MI: Planet Detroit Press, 1995. {poetry chapbook}
- The Naughty Yard. San Francisco: Permeable Press, 1994. {Novella}
- Crack Hotel. San Francisco: Permeable Press, 1995. {Novella}
- Nice Little Stories Jam-Packed with Depraved Sex & Violence. Boulder, CO: Cyberpsychos AOD Press, 1995. {Collection}
- Minstrels San Francisco: Permeable Press, 1997. {Novel}
- Driving Somewhere San Francisco: Vantana Productions, 1997. {play}
- Snuff Flique. Boulder, CO: Cyberpsychos AOD Press, 1997. {Collection}
- The Mammoth Book of Short Erotic Novels. New York: Carrol & Graf, 2000. {Anthology co-edited with Maxim Jakubowski}
- WTF: The Avant-Porn Anthology. New York: Soft Skull Press, 2000. {Edited anthology}
- The Mammoth Book of Legal Thrillers. New York: Carrol & Graf, 2001. {Edited anthology}
- Wild Turkey. New York: Forge, 2001. {Novel}
- The Comfort of Women. New York: Blue Moon Books, 2001. {Novel}
- The Dress. New York: Blue Moon, 2002. {Novel}
- Drama. New York: Blue Moon, 2002. {Novel}
- Seven Women and Other Stories. New York: Venus Book Club, 2002. {collection}
- My Dream Date with Kathy Acker. Portland, OR: Eraserhead Press, 2002. {Collection}
- The Rooms. New York: Blue Moon, 2003. {Novel}
- The Lawyer. New York: Blue Moon, 2003. {Novel}
- The Case of the Missing College Student. New York: Blue Moon, 2003. {Novel}
- Rwanda. Yellow Bat Press, 2003. {Poetry chapbook}
- The Classics Professor. New York: Gotham Books, 2003. {Novel}
- My Fling with Betty Page. Portland, OR: Eraserhead Press, 2003. {Novel}
- The Rose of Heaven. Halicog, PA: Prime Books, 2004. {Novel}
- The Garden of Love. New York: Blue Moon, 2004. {Omnibus edition of three novels}
- Amateurs. New York: Blue Moon, 2004. {Novel}
- House of Dreams Book I: Aurochs and Angels. New York: Blue Moon, 2004. {Novel}
- House of Dreams Book II: Prophetic Sonnets. New York: Blue Moon, 2005. {Novel}
- House of Dreams Book III. New York: Blue Moon, 2005. {Novel}
- Expelled from, Eden: A William T. Vollmann Reader. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2004. {Anthology co-edited with Larry McCaffery}
- Las Vegas Quartet Book I: Melody. New York: Blue Moon, 2005. {Novel}
- Las Vegas Quartet Book II. New York: Blue Moon, 2006. {Novel).
- Las Vegas Quartet Book III. New York: Blue Moon, 2006. {Novel}
- Las Vegas Quartet Book IV. New York: Blue Moon, 2007. {Novel}
- How to Have an Affair and Other Instructions. San Bernadino, CA: The Borgo Press, 2007. {Collection}
- Milk Kalamazoo, MI: New Issues in Poetry and Prose, 2007. {Play}
- In the Background is a Walled City. San Bernadino, CA: The Borgo Press, 2008. {Novella)
- The Dirty Realism Duo: Charles Bukowski and Raymond Carver on the Aesthetics of the Ugly. San Bernadino, CA: The Borgo Press, 2008. The Milford Series: Popular Writers of Today No. 70. {Literary criticism}
- Zona Norte: The Post-Structural Body of Erotic Dancers and Sex Workers in Tijuana, San Diego, and Los Angeles: An Autoethnography of Desire and Addiction . Newscastle-on-Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars, 2008. {Socio-anthropological study)
- This Other Eden: Three Novellas and Three Stories. Brooklyn, NY: The Dybbuk Press, 2009. {Collection}
- William T. Vollmann: A Critical Study and Seven Interviews. Jackson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2009. {Literary criticism}
- Gordon Lish and His Influence on Twentieth Century American Literature. New York and London: Routledge, 2009. {Literary criticism}
- Autoethnographies: Sex and Death and Symbolic Interaction in the Eighth Moment of Qualitative Inquiry. The Borgo Press, 2009. {Essays}
- Conversations with Wim Wenders. Lanham,MD: Lexington Books, 2009. {Edited anthology)
- Star Trek. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 2009. {TV/media study)
- The Yacht People. The Borgo Press, 2009. {Novel}
- Women in the Short Stories and Life of Raymond Carver. Jackson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2009. {Literary criticism)
- iBLOGGER: Escribitionism, Symbolic Interactionism, and the Electronic Double in the Blogosphere. Catskills, NJ: Hampton Press, 2010. {Cultural study}
- William T. Vollmann: An Annotated Bibliography. Lanham, MD:The Scarecrow Press Press, 2010. {Bibliography}
- Pictures of Houses with Water Damage. New York: Black Lawrence Press, 2010. {Collection}
References
- ^ American Book Review, Vol. 3, 1996, review of Crack Hotel by Daniella Mayz
- ^ see http://www.routledge.com/books/Gordon-Lish-and-His-Influence-on-Twentieth-Century-American-Literature-isbn9780415991773
- ^ see http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/ZONA-NORTE--The-Post-Structural-Body-of-Erotic-Dancers-and-Sex-Workers-in-Tijuana--San-Diego-and-Los1-4438-0010-4.htm
- ^ see http://the-escribitionist.blogspot.com/
- ^ see http://www.sandiegoreader.com/staff/michael-hemmingson/
- ^ see www.gigglecam.com
- ^ see http://www.angelfire.com/zine2/thedreampeople/aug04/hemmingson.html
- ^ http://www.rtalamantes.org/index.htm
- ^ http://www.jadecookie.com
- ^ http://www.dominiquenavarro.com
- ^ http://www.consciousenvironments.com
- ^ see http://wsapl.com/sonicsearch.asp?SearchString=Erotic+Scenes&DisplayAmount=5&SearchSpecific=ALL&Submit=++Search++