Matt Cahill's blog
Also coming up in November, if you’re going to be in Toronto on November 2nd, I’m inviting you to the book launch for Radioland. It’s happening at Burdock Brewery, 1184 Bloor St. W (a few steps away from Dufferin subway) and I’ll be joined by fellow authors A.G. Pasquella (launching his novella collection, Welcome to the Weird America) and Amber McMillan (launching her poetry collection This is a Stickup).
Coming up in November! I’m sooo excited (and nervous!) to be interviewed by CBC Radio One’s Gill Deacon for her program Here and Now Toronto. It’s going to be LIVE on November 1st @ 4:45pm (and it will be archived for future listening). I hope you can tune in!
I had the pleasure of speaking with Richard Crouse for a nationally broadcast interview about Radioland. It was aired live last Saturday on NEWSTALK 1010, however now there is a permanent link, for anyone who would like to hear it. I really enjoyed the depth of our discussion and appreciated his attention to the mental health angle of the book.
As my second novel, RADIOLAND, nears bookshelves (the pub date has slid by about a week — it was supposed to be the 11th, but more likely the 17th, in case you’re waiting for yours) it’s been nice to see word get out. NO I’M NOT NERVOUS AT ALL WHY DO YOU ASK?
It was picked as one of CBC Books’ top 40 they’re looking forward to for October.
I just finished an interview with Richard Crouse which will be broadcast across the country — you can hear it this Saturday (it will be archived as a podcast which I will link to later).
The book got a nice shout-out from PinkPlayMags.
Regular visitors have probably been frustrated with the lack of updates here. So have I. The truth is that I’ve been swamped with doing the finishing touches on Radioland…and taking care of an ailing parent. I cannot express how exhausting the last while has been, on so many personal levels.
The good news is that, as of Friday, I signed-off on the last of the changes to the manuscript. It is, for all intents and purposes, out of my hands…which is both satisfying and frightening.
I finally have had time to update my website as well as post an update here (and add Radioland to the sidebar links). My next task is to gird myself for publicity, which I’m both excited for…and intimidated af. If there’s one thing I need to work on it’s getting out of my Writer Head and speaking about the book so that someone who isn’t in my head can understand what it’s actually about, which would be easier if I hadn’t written a fairly complex novel. There are worse problems.
Also…
I should mention that Radioland was picked as one of CBC Books fall fiction titles!
Anyhoo, I hope to be here more regularly.
Hello all,
It’s been a time-and-a-half to get to this point, so it’s with a mixture of relief and exhaustion that I’m able to share the cover for my next novel, Radioland.
Nice, eh? The cover is by designer extraordinaire Ingrid Paulson.
This book has taken a lot work, and I can’t wait for you all to read it. Here’s another thing: it’s now available for pre-order, which means that you can order it now, and when it’s released (currently looking like October) it will get shipped to you ASAP then. Presales are also cool b/c they can build interest from stores, retailers, etc, so there’s that too. I trust you to do the right thing.
You can read more about Radioland on the publisher’s site (where you can also pre-order it): Wolsak & Wynn
You can also bug your local independent bookstore or local library to order it for you.
You can also pre-order it from these folks, too:
Since my last post’s featured essay was a little on the theoretical side, I thought I would share another critical piece on the contemporary essay, albeit one that will perhaps feel more grounded and less equivocal than Mitch Therieau’s. I happened upon this one courtesy of local-ish author, Nathan Whitlock.
In this piece for The Drift, Jackson Arn takes aim at Anchor Books’ publication of The Contemporary American Essay, stares upon its entrails, and tells us (not unconvincingly) about what’s wrong with the state of the contemporary essay. There’s a lot here I agree with, with some of the preciousness (and vagueness) of the current style taken to task.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this piece by Mitch Therieau for the Chicago Review, called “Getting Personal”. It’s essentially a state-of-the-nation on the personal-critical essay, surveying where we’ve come since the latter part of the 20th century (starting with New Journalism) and bringing the reader to what might be termed “personal criticism”. Therieau’s piece defies easy summation (as you will see below), which is sort of the point, in a meta (though not conceited) way. Is there a crisis in the personal-critical essay? Yes, but it has less to do with the dominant style, which is ultimately downstream from the demands of the marketplace.
Along the way, Therieau makes use of indirect references to psychoanalysis, Marxism (neither of those in an overbearing way), feminist theory, as well as an overarching attempt to define where we’re at, which, to clumsily summarize, seems to be (here we go…) a pyretic hammering away with personal anecdote as a mimetic tool that risks exploiting the writer even though we know full-well that personal experience can only truly be secondary (and thus filtered) but what the hell let’s go out with a blaze of glory.
Anyways, it’s very good.
Welcome to my blog, where I write about writing, with excessive swooning over music and dashes of media marginalia. You can read more about me, etc., here.
For those who are new to the site, my latest novel is Radioland. You can read more about it on my author page along with my previous book, The Society of Experience, as well as other works.
A small request: I don’t have a Patreon, and I’m not interested in placing ads here, so ultimately whatever time I spend posting here I do on my own time and dime. I would be so thankful if you would consider buying either of my novels, which you can do here. Want to REALLY make my day? Request your local library to order copies! Yes, read it for free! Or you can visit my Goodreads page and consider rating them. You don’t have to write a review if that’s not your thing (although that’s mighty appreciated).
I’ve been putting some of the final touches on Radioland, and while I’m still convinced it’s going to be one of those books that is ultimately ripped out of my hands by my publisher, I’m happy with how this second round of revisions is coming along. Part of me just wants to walk away from it. It’s been five years, and that is a long time to work on something that is as dark and introspective as Radioland is. I’m confident that I’ve pulled it off, but there’s another part of me that wants to make sure that every. single. section. works. Ugh.
Book Three is looking to be sent out to publishers in early 2022, and at that point I will publicly reveal the title, and spill a little bit about what it’s about. Keeping the title and details secret is just a bit of prudence on my part; I think it’s natural for any writer to want to protect their works-in-progress from the possibility of someone else riffing on their material before it’s released, and I realize that this is probably a little bit of paranoia on my part.
And there’s a Book Four, folks. Yes. I’ve barely sketched it out, but I can tell you that it has good bones. I look forward to falling into its hole come December.
