- Michael Hemmingson
-
Michael Hemmingson 
Occupation novelist, journalist, short story writer, essayist, cultural anthropologist, qualitative researcher Nationality American Period
1982 - presentGenres Literary fiction, genre fiction Subjects culture, violence, autoethnography Literary movement Avant-Pop
Michael Hemmingson is a novelist, short story writer, literary critic, cultural anthropologist, qualitative researcher, playwright, and screenwriter.
Contents
Publishing History
Michael Hemmingson has been writing for over 20 years and his work has ranged from erotica to literary to horror. His zombie novella "Hardboiled Stiff" has been praised with "this story is cooooooooooool daddy-o. Zombies, hippies, orgies and a private eye with a necrophile secretary"[1]. Another critic stated that "I won’t go so far as to say that Hemmingson transcends or embodies his genre, but he offers a satisfying take on it. His protagonists are neither he-men nor whiners, and his women are, well, women—smart and motivated and rounded out. (You know, human beings.) He never guts stuck in props or proselytizing—no trench coats and no impassioned speeches about how awful poverty is. The characters get it done and live their lives; they don’t try to make a big thing about it."[2]
As an independent scholar, Hemmingson has written the meditation, Gordon Lish and His Influence on Twentieth Century American Literature[3] a short TV studies monograph on Star Trek (Wayne State Univ. Press), and an ethnographic research project, Zona Norte (Cambridge Scholars).[4] He is working on a biography of Raymond Carver, set for publication in 2011 by McFarland & Company.
He was a staff writer at the San Diego Reader from November 2004 through December 2009.[5][6] Many of the photos that accompany his articles there have been taken by San Diego's iconic brand photographer, Chris Morrow.[7] In 2010 he joined the staff of Pacific San Diego Magazine.
Film
As a screenwriter, his first indie feature, The Watermelon, was directed by Brad Mays and produced by Lorenda Starfelt at LightSong Films.[8][9][10]
He wrote the screenplay for the 2007 film Aliens, based on a one act play.[11] Maxim Dashkin produced and directed.
Real Ideas Studio produced a short documentary, "Life in Zona Norte,"[12] that was screen at Cannes Film Festival's Short Film Corner[13] May, 2009.[14]
Awards and Honors
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. His media study monograph, Star Trek: A Post-Structural Critique of the Original Series, was a 2010 finalist nominee for General Non-fiction Book.[15]
He was selected as the toastmaster for the Death Equinox 2001 convention.[16]
Recipient of two Everett Helm Research Fellowships at the Lily Library Indiana University for research on Gordon Lish, Raymond Carver, and William Vollmannn.
He has written multiple auto-ethnography articles for Denzin Qualitative Research. [17][18][19]
Influences
Hemmingson has acknowledged[20] influences Harlan Ellison, Raymond Carver, Gordon Lish, and William T. Vollmann for literature, Wim Wenders, David Lynch, David Mamet, and Stanley Kubrick for film.
Hemmingson 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.[21]
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[22][23], 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, Inc. 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.[24] 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. Its debut was on March 11 at the Fritz Theatre. [25]
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.
Compass Theater (San Diego) production of full-length, Stations in Summer 2009. Stations was directed by David Meredith and performed at the Resilience of the Spirit Fesitval.[26]
Independent Scholarship
As an independent scholar, Hemmingson focuses his studies on Raymond Carver and William T. Vollmann, and the methodologies of critifiction and autoethnography. He has published extensively in these areas of study, as well as critical monographs on Star Trek, Barry N. Malzberg, Charles Bukowski, blogging and micro-blogging.
In 2009, at the National Communication Association convention in Chicago, Hemmingson was awarded, by the Carl Couch Center, the Norman K. Denzin Qualitative Research Award for his paper of auto/ethnography, "Fragments of my Grandmothers."[27][28]
Bibliography
Anthologies - Edited by Hemmingson
- Expelled from, Eden: A William T. Vollmann Reader New York, co-edited with Larry McCaffery: (Thunder's Mouth Press, 2004) ISBN 1560254416
- The Mammoth Book of Legal Thrillers New York: (Carroll & Graf, 2001) ISBN 0786707135
- The Mammoth Book of Short Erotic Novels New York: Co-edited with Maxim Jakubowski (Carroll & Graf, 2000) ISBN 0786707135
- What The Fuck: The Avant-Porn Anthology New York: (Soft Skull Press, 2000) ISBN 1887128611
Novels
- Time Lust NY: (Tor Books, 2012)
- Judas Payne: A Weird Western / Webb's Weird Wild West: Western Tales of Horror (double book with Don Webb, Wildside Press, 2010) ISBN 143441194X
- The Trouble with Tramps: An Orrie Hitt Homage Rockville, MD: (Black Mask Books, 2010) ISBN 1596548592
- Shabbytown. Rockville, MD: (Black Mask Books, 2009) ISBN 159654869X
- The Yacht People (The Borgo Press, 2009) ISBN 1434477657
- In the Background is a Walled City. San Bernardino, CA: (The Borgo Press, 2008) ISBN 1434402428
- The Naughty Yard San Francisco: (Permeable Press, 1994) ISBN 1882633024 reprinted in The Mammoth Book of International Erotica (Carroll & Graf, 1996) ISBN 0786703733
Fiction Collections
- This Other Eden: Three Novellas and Three Stories. Brooklyn, NY: (The Dybbuk Press, 2010) ISBN 0976654660
- Poison from a Dead Sun/The Chronotope (Wildside Press, 2010) (Novel + collected science fiction stories)
- Pictures of Houses with Water Damage New York: (Black Lawrence Press, 2010)
- Desperate Women. Rockville, MD: (The New Traveller's Companion/Olympia Press, 2010) ISBN 1596548312
- How to Have an Affair and Other Instructions. San Bernardino, California: (The Borgo Press, 2007)
- Seven Women and Other Stories New York: (Venus Book Club, 2002) ISBN 0739421719
- My Dream Date with Kathy Acker Portland, OR: (Eraserhead Press, 2002)
- Snuff Flique Denver, CO: (CyberPsychos AOD, 1997) ISBN 1886988048
- Nice Little Stories Jam-Packed with Depraved Sex & Violence Denver, CO: (CyberPsychos AOD, 1995) ISBN 1886988005
Poetry Collections
- Ourselves or Nothing Rockville, MD: (The New Traveller's Companion/Olympia Press, 2010) ISBN 1596548606
- Rwanda (Yellow Bat Press, 2003)
- Moving in on the Conservatives Detroit, MI: (Planet Detroit Press, 1995)
- Reaching Into the Wet Darkness. Stow, Ohio: (Impetus Press, 1986)
- Nowhere is Safe (Samizdat Press, 1985)
Plays
- Milk Kalamazoo, MI: (New Issues in Poetry and Prose, 2007)
- Driving Somewhere San Francisco: (Vantana Productions, 1997)
Literary Criticism
- Women in the Short Fiction of Raymond Carver Jefferson, NC: (McFarland & Company, 2011)
- William T. Vollmann: An Annotated Bibliography Lanham, MD: (Scarecrow Press, 2011)
- Gordon Lish and His Influence on Twentieth Century American Literature New York and London: (Routledge, 2011)
- William T. Vollmann: A Critical Study and Seven Interviews. Jackson, NC: (McFarland & Company, 2009) ISBN 0786440252
- The Dirty Realism Duo: Charles Bukowski and Raymond Carver on the Aesthetics of the Ugly. San Bernardino, CA: (The Borgo Press, 2008, The Milford Series: Popular Writers of Today No. 70) ISBN 1434402576
Anthologies - Appeared In
- Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues (Simon and Schuster, 2009)[29] ISBN 1439124663
- The Urban Bizarre (Wildside Press LLC, 2004)[30] ISBN 193099740X
- The Mammoth Book of Erotica (Carroll & Graf, 2000)[31] ISBN 0786707879
Reviews
- Wild Turkey review by Tim W. Brown
- 5 reviews of Nice Little Stories Jam-Packed With Depraved Sex & Violence
- This Other Eden reviewed by Romie Stott
- BADASS HORROR featuring Michael's story "Hardboiled Stiff" reviewed by Garry Charles
References
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ Gordon Lish and His Influence on Twentieth Century American Literature Routledge Press
- ^ Zona Norte : the post-structural body of erotic dancers and sex workers in Tijuana, San Diego and Los Angeles : an auto/ethnography of desire and addiction. Michael Hemmingson
- ^ San Diego Reader staff bio
- ^ San Diego Reader stories by Michael Hemmingson
- ^ see www.gigglecam.com
- ^ The Watermelon IMDb
- ^ TheWatermelon.net
- ^ B Side
- ^ Aliens IMDb
- ^ Zona Norte
- ^ Short Film Corner
- ^ Ireport
- ^ San Diego Book Awards 2010 Finalists
- ^ Essay about Hemmingson's selection as the Death Equinox 2001 Toastmaster, written by the organizer.
- ^ Make Them Giggle: Auto/Ethnography as Stand-up Comedy. Creative Approaches to Research, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2008: doi: 10.3316/CAR0102009. ISSN: 1835-9434.
- ^ Here Come the Naval Gazers - Definitions and Defenses for Auto/Ethnography (2/27/08). Available at SSRN
- ^ Anthropology of the Memorial: Auto/Ethnographic Notes on Cultural Rituals Associated with Death (April 15, 2008). Available at SSRN
- ^ see http://www.angelfire.com/zine2/thedreampeople/aug04/hemmingson.html
- ^ American Book Review, Vol. 3, 1996, review of Crack Hotel by Daniella Mayz
- ^ Heavy fare Nicky Silver returns to San Diego with taboo-rich Food Chain by Anne Marie Welsh (Apr 30, 2004) The San Diego Union - Tribune, Lifestyle section
- ^ Stylized comedy is Honeymoon promise by Michael Phillips (Apr 12, 1996) The San Diego Union - Tribune, Lifestyle section "While continuing their association with the Fritz producing director Karin Williams and literary manager Michael Hemmingson have formed Alien Stage Project"
- ^ Art of the One-Act: An Anthology
- ^ Erotic Scenes debut Playbill article
- ^ San Diego News Network review: Resilience of the Spirit Festival; July 16, 2009
- ^ Black Lawrence Wordpress
- ^ Carl Couch Center Norman K. Denzin Award
- ^ Michael Hemmingson's The Barbie Wrecking Yard Google Books archived excerpt
- ^ Michael Hemmingson's Tuck Google Books archived excerpt
- ^ Michael Hemmingson's Hollow Hills Google Books archived excerpt
External Links
- Michael Hemmingson at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Bibliography on Fantastic Fiction
- Internet Movie Database Filmography
- Michael Hemmingson interview from Raw Dog Screaming
- Michael Hemmingson interview from Cuauhtemoc's Celebrity Interviews
- Larry McCaffery's Avant-Porn anthology preface from the McCaffery Archive at Spineless Books
Categories:- Living people
- American writers
- American horror writers
- American erotica writers
- American book editors
- American anthropologists
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