Chapter 1

On 82nd just after the tire shop I drove past an old lady holding up this sign. I parked the van and walked over, dropped to my knee and shot her. She said something about the vet not properly sedating her rabbit, which caused it to go into heart failure. Then she told the vet that she would stand out there every day for the next seven years, since it's the normal life span of a rabbit. I put my camera in my pocket,
"You're going to stand out here every day for seven years."
"Yes."
I walked to the van and continued the test drive. I had to turn it around so I could get the other side of the van and trailer aired up, and I got a crash course in reversing the trailer, which is heavy with 2,000 books. One is my novel, March of Time and Skin and the other is a novel by Kurt Eisenlohr, Meat Won't Pay My Light Bill, which was originally published by Future Tense Books in 2000, a small press run by small press savior Kevin Sampsell, a writer and long time Powell's Books events organizer, who is single-handedly responsible for most of the underground to small to pristine literary scene in Portland. Powell's, as well as a few other bookstores and readers who showed up to some of the best dives in town to meet Kurt and I at our signings were a huge help in getting the work out there as fast as it got out there.


But I had decided to do this tour because I can't afford professional advertising, and because I think the books are strong enough to put Rose City Publishers on the map permanently. I had also decided to do it because I missed the road. I missed the long drives and the feel of constant inspiration, good and bad. The miles laid to dust for years behind me now, the strange feeling of prison within the freedom of a big city. The failing jobs, the failed ventures and the inevitability of another job acted like a catapult. I loaded up the van, the trailer, my two dogs, my BMX bike and a few other necessities and I left. Those of you who have read March of Time and Skin have an idea about my relationship with the road and the work in involved, but also involved is the economy of motion and the poetry of motion. The idea here is to go place to place and sell the books, get another print run going for other titles, and sell those books, and to meet good writers who deserve some recognition.