An Interview With Stephen Elliott, Who's Giving Away His New Book The Adderall Diaries
The Huffington Post (Newspaper) - 7/24/2009 by Greg Boose
I don't remember if I caught wind of it through Facebook or Twitter, in an e-mail or if I just stumbled across a headline on the Web, but when I heard that author Stephen Elliott was sending around a limited amount of advance copies of his new book, The Adderall Diaries, for free, I kept the information to myself and e-mailed him immediately.
He calls it the Lending Library.
Asks that people read his book in a week and then send it along. Just pay for the first-class postage and don't mistreat the book for the next person.
I got my free copy on a Saturday, finished it the following Saturday, and am sending it on its way to the next cheapskate, er, reader on Monday.
The Adderall Diaries is the story of how Elliott battles writer's block and an Adderall addiction in San Francisco until hearing that an old acquaintance from his S&M community has confessed to killing eight or nine people and won't say who they are. The acquaintance is also the best friend of a man who is about to stand trial in a high-profile case, a guy accused of killing the mother of his two children, a Russian woman he met through a bride service. It's framed by the complicated relationship between Elliott and his father, who killed a man right before Elliott was born, or didn't. But probably.
It's a fast and brilliant read; it's New Journalism-y, where the writer sets out to report on an event but writes just as much, or more, on himself and his role in the event. It's a true-crime memoir. It's written on drugs, like On the Road and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The speed that Elliott is swallowing and snorting gives the book a jumpy feel, but the chronology doesn't suffer. Unlike the author at times.
The book is brutally honest.
The book is immediately current, it's eye-opening into the world of sado-masochism sex play (unless you've already read some of Elliott's best work), and it invites you to investigate the lives of your parents before they were your parents.
And the book is, if you sign up before it's too late, totally free (save for the postage).
Stephen and I e-mailed back and forth:
Greg Boose: The idea behind the Lending Library reminds me of a site I used to participate in, PaperBackSwap.com, where you list some used books on your shelf that you were totally done with, and if someone wanted it, the owner paid the shipping. Which was cool because I had too many copies of The Great Gatsby and The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, and I wanted to collect all the books in the Fletch series. But here you are sending out your book that hasn't been on anyone's shelf yet. For free. Could you tell me how this came about, if this was your idea or something Graywolf Press was looking to do with the right writer? And how did the second party react to the first party's proposal?
He calls it the Lending Library.
Asks that people read his book in a week and then send it along. Just pay for the first-class postage and don't mistreat the book for the next person.
I got my free copy on a Saturday, finished it the following Saturday, and am sending it on its way to the next cheapskate, er, reader on Monday.
The Adderall Diaries is the story of how Elliott battles writer's block and an Adderall addiction in San Francisco until hearing that an old acquaintance from his S&M community has confessed to killing eight or nine people and won't say who they are. The acquaintance is also the best friend of a man who is about to stand trial in a high-profile case, a guy accused of killing the mother of his two children, a Russian woman he met through a bride service. It's framed by the complicated relationship between Elliott and his father, who killed a man right before Elliott was born, or didn't. But probably.
It's a fast and brilliant read; it's New Journalism-y, where the writer sets out to report on an event but writes just as much, or more, on himself and his role in the event. It's a true-crime memoir. It's written on drugs, like On the Road and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The speed that Elliott is swallowing and snorting gives the book a jumpy feel, but the chronology doesn't suffer. Unlike the author at times.
The book is brutally honest.
The book is immediately current, it's eye-opening into the world of sado-masochism sex play (unless you've already read some of Elliott's best work), and it invites you to investigate the lives of your parents before they were your parents.
And the book is, if you sign up before it's too late, totally free (save for the postage).
Stephen and I e-mailed back and forth:
Greg Boose: The idea behind the Lending Library reminds me of a site I used to participate in, PaperBackSwap.com, where you list some used books on your shelf that you were totally done with, and if someone wanted it, the owner paid the shipping. Which was cool because I had too many copies of The Great Gatsby and The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, and I wanted to collect all the books in the Fletch series. But here you are sending out your book that hasn't been on anyone's shelf yet. For free. Could you tell me how this came about, if this was your idea or something Graywolf Press was looking to do with the right writer? And how did the second party react to the first party's proposal?
