From the Depths of the Unknown

Emerges an Indie Writer & Book Publisher

It's All Back On with It's All Over Now

It's hard to believe that it has been nearly two whole years since the last time I wrote anything on this blog.

A lot has happened in my life and in the world since the last time I did in November 2020 but one thing that has not happened is me publishing anything. In fact, it has now been over four years since the last time that I committed anything to print. I suppose that's why my last few blog posts (when I was still doing them) had more to do with what was happening in the world at the time. Or whatever random bullshit that spewed out of my mind and found a home on this site. Let's be honest that there has been a fair amount of that over years as well. I am not ashamed of it. In fact, the sheer amount of random bullshit is kind of a point of pride for me.

Lately, I will be honest, my efforts to keep up with these things have been pretty minimal. I even considered (for a very short time) taking an indefinite break from writing. Thankfully, that thought did not stay in my mind for very long. At least not while I have ideas, and I always have ideas. At least, I have so far. This is just the pace that works for me, I suppose. Rest assured, I am living my life thoroughly between in the silences.

I do hope to do more writing on this blog again, but we'll see what happens. I need to knock some cobwebs off -- even though I do plenty of writing for work. That is just not the same thing, though. Sometimes, I still work on short stories, poems, and songs -- everything just takes longer nowadays. I need to do this type of writing occasionally for my soul (if that's a thing), and blogging usually scratches that itch in just the right way if the others things don't or I need to feel inspired, because for some reason blogging about them usually inspires me to work on those other things more.

Also, because I do slowly-but-surely work on the above-mentioned things, I do sometimes have something new to announce -- even if it might seem like it has been a while since the last update. Maybe it has been a while. Okay, it has. Today I actually break my unintional period of silence to write about a couple of developments, publishing-wise.

First, I am still working on my short fiction collection, Xennial. Basically, there are ten stories, and one needs to be finished, then all five of the new ones need to be thoroughly edited and rewritten, then everything needs to be copyedited and proofread. To be honest, a big part of the delay is that these stories aren't particularly timely and I have been working on this collection for what seems like forever so I am kind of burnt out on it. It is pretty much just some 30-something navel-gazing about a time in his life in his twenties that has long since passed. I am definitely going to finish it and publish it, but I am not setting a firm date on it until I am more done with it. It will probably be 2023 or later before it finally goes out. So that will make it a 40-something navel-gazing about a time in his life in his twenties that has been even longer since it passed. That's fine. I have already been working on it for like 12 years, what is another 1-2?

Second, I am focused on publishing a different, albeit much shorter, four-story short fiction collection called It's All Over Now. A bit fatalistic, I know, but it's fitting. See the Gott Press Home Page for a bit longer of a description of it. I am pretty excited to release this collection, which I hope to do in time for the 2022 holiday shopping season. It will definitely take some work on my part. I have to really thoroughly edit and rewrite a couple of these, and then copyedit and proofread all of them, but it's much more doable by the end of 2022 than the other collection. Plus, these stories are a bit more timely. I also have to do all of the cover art and design work for it, but that's not too bad. That part of it is actually pretty fun. I just have to figure out how I want to go about it this time. That is harder, but I do have a few ideas already.

That's okay. I have time to figure that out, because I need to focus on actually finishing it first before I can really safely start that. I actually have a deadline to finish it though (more to come on this soon), so that motivates me to think about it and work on it, and gives me a justifiable reason to complete it other than I just enjoy doing it.

You wouldn't think that it makes a difference but sometimes it just does. Let's see how it goes. Hopefully, more to come soon.

Rambling Nonsensical Post MCMXXXIII: Dead and Loving It Part Deux, Still Pretty Fucking Dead

Chapter One Section 3 Paragraphs 11-34

Might as well do another one. I mean, I'm on vacation, and I can't go anywhere, and I don't have a shortage of possible topics, so I suppose, let's do them shits.

I suppose there's probably one topic in particular that some folks would like to see addressed, but I hesitate for one reason and one reason alone. I just don't like eggnog.

Honestly, I am not sure how to talk about a topic that is already pretty well beat to death. Should I continue to take the more escapist route, though? Is that responsible of me? Do I need to be responsible? Can't I just play it safe, and do something unrelated but unquestionably still related, but more so as a subtext?

I mean, it's a subtext that no one can really escape at this point, anyways, so really, anything I write will somehow relate to it whether I want it to or not, even if the very nature of its relation is the unrelatedness of it... So I guess I might as well just discuss it.

It's amazing how something invisible to the eye can just change everyone's lives overnight, basically. It's no wonder that before science, people used to believe in magic. Hell, some people still do. It's amazing what ways the mind can twist itself to avoid the cold, hard naked truth, even if we're barreling our way towards a total systems collapse. Maybe.

I do hope everyone is staying as safe as possible given whatever circumstances they find themselves in. I do count myself as lucky. I mean, it's not really luck, because I did work hard to put myself here. Still, I did win the genetic lottery, to a large extent, being a cis-gender white male in the by-god greatest goddamn country anyone in the goddamn rest of the goddamn world has ever goddamn seen. Hoo-Rah!!!

However, when you're poor, if the virus doesn't kill you, then maybe poverty finally will. You finally run out of the means necessary to take care of yourself, or maybe your means doesn't necessarily fit the idea of what other people think it should, and then you get all persecuted and shit. But when you have no options, the only option is create your own options. Or die, I suppose.

Had this happened ten years ago, I would have been totally fucked financially immediately. Still, I did survive as a twenty-something with no college degrees or discernible skills during the 2008 recession in a big city with limited resources. However, that might to a large extent also go back to that thing that I mentioned a couple of paragraphs ago, and everything wasn't shut down then, either. It was just hard to find jobs outside of like fast food. Or "fast casual," as it so happened for me.

It was a weird time to be alive then too, but this is worse. Much weirder. Most people don't really even have the fast food option this time around. They're just stuck. Waiting to probably not die, but maybe die? The outcome of this we can't even begin to image yet, because we don't even know what next week is going to look like, at this point. That's the problem when you're trying to contain something that you don't fully understand. Sometimes it does stuff that seems like magic, that no one thought possible, but really it's just our ignorance of how it does the thing that is holding us back. I guess that's why it's important to get ahead of it--things could escalate very quickly.

Of course, it might not go that far or get too much worse than it is now. Hopefully not. I think as a society we have watched too many zombie and post-apocalyptic movies, but instead of preparing us for the possibility of a world-ending event, we have instead manifested it happening right before our eyes. I mean, the Spanish Flu didn't ring in the dawn of the end of humankind, and our understanding of viruses back then was much more remedial. I think, if anything, what's going to kill everyone this time around is not just straight ignorance, but something much worse: anti-intellectualism.

The powerful groups of obscenely wealthy people who control much of society can only shovel so much distrust of academia and learning, and the principles of enlightenment, for so long before the world around them just becomes a fucking Facebookcana American nightmare cesspool of sludge, while they hoard all of the resources and advancements for themselves. It might have finally bitten them in their asses, though. Not that they would admit that.

Oh hell, that last paragraph is going to get me put on some watchlists. I had better stop while I'm ahead. No need for any dissenters to rile up the masses. Don't want to get too crazy or they'll get all May 4, 1970 on us again. Tin Solders and Nitwits coming.

I'm just kidding **shrugs with a smirk and kicks the dirt**

Yay capitalism! **pumps fist in air**

Time for a new and more capitalism approved topic: Celebrity Worship!

I'm sad that Bill Withers died. I have had "Ain't No Sunshine" stuck in my head all day. Of course, he also wrote "Lean on Me," "Lovely Day" and "Just the Two of Us," and many more. What an amazing repertoire of songs--

No, this is not working. Damn. Sorry Bill. I do like your music, though. Might as well continue down the path that I have already created for myself... No reason to make any changes to the thing I can totally change, at this point, at a whim. It's really too bad. I guess whatever happens is just going to happen.

Le sigh...

The real reason the concept of staying home is hard for some is not sheer ignorance or arrogance, but it is because for them, there is little else to do but sit around all miserable like, hyperventilating and obsessing over their own mortality. Trust me, that's no fun.

That's why it's good and cathartic to use your imagination to make some kind of art, and pour those feelings into something that might actually, eventually, help others feel better too. Don't go out, get inward.

Or at least, you know, entertain and distract yourself for a little bit. Make yourself feel better.

And on that note, here's some Don Hertzfeldt to maybe inspire you or at least cheer you up while you wait this mothefucker out:

A Book Description, A Bio, and a Fun Fact

In case you were wondering,  here is the book description, the bio, and the fun fact from the back of the last edition of my first novel, Escapes (formerly Out in the Garage). I am very excited about this project, and I think that people are going to really like this final version. After a lot of careful thinking and some effort, I have been able to transform it into its best version. Over the past year, I have really grown as an editor, thanks to being a grad student and working as an adjunct. This is by far my favorite version, and I am proud to say that it is finally the satire I intended when I started writing it ten or eleven years ago. The first two versions had some good qualities, but they both also fall short in a number of ways. The novel is now more focused and cohesive than ever, and it is organized how it needs to be to give people the effect I was intending while playing on my strengths (and hopefully minimizing my weakness) as a writer. Please take the time to check this out on JUNE 1 when it comes out:

Some people escape from life’s track to avoid confronting the hurdles. For Lance Adamson, anyway, that is the case—although, he came by it naturally. After all, like anyone, he is the product of his upbringing. Born poor in the Republican stronghold of Nodtown, Ohio, he quickly realizes that life for some people is more difficult than it is for others—some people just have more shit to deal with. Some, like Lance, find out that there are problems you cannot escape, no matter how hard you try. In fact, most catch up with you sooner or later, and when they do, your life really gets turned upside down. Fortunately, someone as resourceful as Lance can always find a new distraction.

Gabe Gott is a husband, writer, human being, music geek living in Akron, OH. He has degrees in literature from Kent State University and The University of Akron. You can find his short story collection, his blog, and his flash fiction in various locations around the web. Fun fact: he prefers creamy peanut butter over crunchy.

New Flash Fiction!

The Consumers and the Consumed

Carlos paused in the middle of a crowded boardwalk to open a bottle of Coke. Much to his surprise, a genie appeared out of an explosion of foam—although no one around him seemed to notice.

“YOU HAVE AWAKEN ME FROM MY SLUMBER!” the genie thundered, folding his arms across his chest. “For that, I will grant you ONE wish!”

“Only one?” Carlos said, “I thought it was three.”

“Well,” the genie replied, shrugging, “This ain’t Disney.”

With his hand to his chin, Carlos tried to think of the one perfect wish as the bottle of Coke continued spewing out foam on the ground between them, and people walked all around them in and out of the shops and cafés, going about their day, absorbed into their iPhones and Androids. Finally, after several minutes…

“I wish for…POPULARITY!”

The genie smiled and rose up to his full height, seeming to tower over Carlos.

“Your wish is my command,” he said, raising his arms in the air, twiddling his fingers in Carlos’ direction, “ABRA CADABRA!”

POOF! Carlos disappeared and in his place sat a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos, which was immediately scooped up by a passing stoner, who high-fived the genie, ripped open the bag, and popped some into his mouth.

“Mhm…Best Doritos ever!” he proclaimed as he disappeared into the crowd.

Good news!

My flash fiction, "Current Events" is being published by Flash Fiction Magazine! I will keep you posted as to when it is published, which should be on September 29, but, for now, here is a link:

The Epic Job Hunt of 2014

Things are going well.  The weather has been nice (for a few days anyways), and I am getting stuff done.  I am spending my days job searching, doing my homework, and finishing Out in the Garage, once and for all.  While I have a job for the fall, it is as a Part-Time Faculty Instructor at Akron, and, while I have grown to like the challenge of teaching and it would be nice to experience and focus on it more fully, it doesn't pay very well, so I am searching for a full-time gig that will actually pay the bills and hopefully leave me some extra.  I could get a second part-time teaching gig somewhere, and that would help pay the bills, but it is certainly not enough to live on for very long (especially with student loan payments).

I have long since grown tired and frustrated with being poor and having to stretch my finances further than they really reach (as I have taken out loans to get through grad school).  It's too bad, because I do think, as I continue getting experience teaching composition, I am getting better at it, and it can be fun (with the right group of students, anyways).  

It wouldn't be a bad way to make a living, you just can't make a living doing it (unless you want to spend another 5-6 years in school and get a Ph.D., which is still no guarantee for a full-time position).  I guess, if it comes down to it, if I wanted to teach but not spend another five years in school, I could get an MFA or a Masters in Education.  If it came down to that, I would probably go the MFA route, since it would be the best synthesis between my hobbies, my dream goals and real life, and I could get a tenured position at a university (if I am successful enough in publishing).  On the other hand, if I went the education route, I could teach high school, and since I would have two master's degrees, I could probably get into a pretty good school district.  That would be challenging, though, and I am firmly against standardized testing, so I don't know if I could do it and keep my sanity (which is already probably in question by some, including myself, but I guess, if I am aware of it, that means that I am not crazy, right?).

I think I would rather get a writing/editing job, quite frankly in any kind of industry, although preferably for a news/entertainment website or for a marketing, PR or advertising firm.  The problem with this route is there are not many entry level positions in this field (which doesn't entirely make sense), and, although I do have writing experience, it is never exactly the right kind (even though I had to be a pretty decent writer to get into grad school [I did score in the 93rd percentile in writing on the GRE] and especially to get the graduate assistantship) and I did work for one of the better college newspapers in the Midwest as a reporter--so it's not like I have no experience and I am not qualified.

Along these same lines, I think I would also be good as a social media manager or a Search Engine Marketing Specialist, which is part of the point of this blog, the social media I update, and my experimentation in publishing--because I can see myself working as a professional in this industry, and I believe I would be good at it and an asset to any company.  I do come from a blue-collar sort of work ethic, and I am always trying to be the best at what I do (which can sometimes be a character flaw if I don't keep it in check some, which I am learning to do as I grow older).

What I need to do is spend more time deep searching for a job, finding companies along the lines I am seeking, continuously updating my resume and cover letter and making them fit for whatever qualifications (i.e. highlighting how I am qualified for the position), and applying for jobs on the companies' websites (which I have done some, but I need to do more thoroughly).  The job boards are mostly filled with trash, and what is not trash is usually some kind of sales job, which is not a bad career, but it is not what I see myself doing.  Maybe I am being too picky, but I feel like, to a certain extent, I need to hold myself to higher standards, otherwise I will just settle for whatever comes along--and, while it might be better for the current moment, it will only carry me further away from my goals, and I don't think I would be any happier, since for me, the key to happiness isn't money (it's in living the kind of life that I wish and sharing my life with the people who I care about and admire).

If I can't find a full-time writing/editing job, or something along those lines with the sort of company in the sort of industry where I am wanting to get my foot in the door, then maybe I should teach part-time at a couple of universities and start freelance writing and trying to get some of the papers, stories, etc. I have already written published.  I don't know.  If that is what happens, I will try to make the best of it and keep moving forward and keep working towards the next opportunity.

Out in the Garage [Second Edition] Preview Available via Goodreads

Follow this link for a preview of the upcoming July 4th release of the second edition of Out in the Garage

Bring Chaos to Order

As a writer and a student of English Literature, I have a diverse range of influences, which can be exemplified in the two final papers I am writing this semester: one on John Updike's "Pigeon Feathers" and "Packed Dirt, Churchgoing, A Dying Cat, A Traded Car" from Updike's collection, also called Pigeon Feathers; and the other on Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions.  While stylistically the authors are very different, the more I look at these texts I am studying, the more I realize that, while they are stylistically very different, in some ways they are similar.

Both Updike stories are about the character David Kern, in his teenage years and as an adult, one from a third person perspective, the other from a first person--although the third person is closely focused on Kern's perspective and thoughts, so in many ways it matches closely with the first person, later in his life.  It actually makes a lot of sense that Updike would make this change from Kern's teenage story to his adult story, since adults are much more cognizant than teenagers.  Probably more significantly, Kern becomes a writer, and the latter story represents his writerly musings--he is taking ownership over his thoughts.

Like all of Updike's work (at least of it that I have read), in both stories a significant part of understanding what is happening in the story involves seeing the character's inner-lives realized in the descriptions--as a certain professor of mine would say, Kern is "reading the world like a book."  He is looking for signs of God in the material world, seeking faith in a way that makes sense to him.  However, in "Packed Dirt, Churchgoing, A Dying Cat, A Traded Car", Kern is not merely reading the world like a book, he is forcing the audience to do the same--he is creating elaborate metaphors to signify the ideas he is attempting to get across to his audience.  While, clearly, Updike is doing this in both stories, as the author of the stories, his changing from the third person to the first person illustrates how he as a writer does this.  In effect, he is illustrating how he as a realist sees the world and then uses it as a part of his writing to as a way of creating meaning.  While there might not be that sort of meaning, in the real world, in the things that he describes, it is interesting to see how as a writer he does this.  It is definitely something that I am keeping in mind.

Conversely, rather than mimicking the real world in an attempt to convey his ideas, Vonnegut creates his own universe of characters, which are not intended to be realistic, and, as is the case of Breakfast of Champions, they are, by the admission of the author, characters in a book.  Vonnegut is drawing attention to the writing process and showing how we understand the "real" through language, and thus, anytime we use language we are giving our own subjective viewpoint, no matter how objective we are attempting to be, we can't help but be subjective, since language is our only way of making sense of everything.  

To Vonnegut, and other post-modern/metafiction writers, there is no such thing as realism.  No writer is actually being any more realistic than any other, since it is impossible to be anything other than subjective.  The styles might be different, one might focus on the setting and the scenery and describing what how he perceives through his senses the world around him, it is still his subjective point of view, and thus no more "real" than any other writer.  True, it might be easier to picture what he is describing, but each person will picture it in his own way.  In other words, not only is Vonnegut calling attention to fictional writing, but he is calling attention to the real world, as well.  While there might be an objective reality, there is no way for any one to get more in touch with it than any one else.

Vonnegut's view, therefore, allows you, if you are so inclined, to question the narratives that you have come to believe as fact, since every narrative, be it history, or science, is someone else's subjective viewpoint on whatever it happens to be.  What Vonnegut is questioning is our we all seemed trapped in some sort of materialistic mindset where we are all programmed like robots to spend our whole lives desiring and working towards owning stuff--but the irony of it is, no matter how much stuff we have, we only continue to want more stuff.  There is no end to it.  We go to school, get jobs, go into debt, all just to have this stuff, which is never as fulfilling and wonderful as it seems like it will be before we get it.  We all go about our lives like characters in a story, with a beginning, middle, and end, and everything turns out alright--there is some sort of resolution in the end, if you live your life the right way.  And that is the danger of "realism" and writing that purports to be "real" or "nonfiction", because it gives people a false perception that reality is shaped by external forces.

But that isn't the case.  We each shape reality in our own subjective way, through the language that comes naturally to us, through experience.  This is what Vonnegut is getting in Breakfast of Champions at when he says,

"Once I understood what was making America such a dangerous, unhappy nation of people who had nothing to do with real life, I resolved to shun storytelling.  I would write about life.  Every person would be exactly as important as any other.  All facts would also be given equal weightiness.  Nothing would be left out.  Let others bring order to chaos.  I would bring chaos to order, instead, which I think I have done.

If all writers would do that, then perhaps citizens not in the literary trades will understand that there is no order in the world around us, that we must adapt ourselves to the requirements of chaos instead." (215).

And this is what I intend to do as a writer.  Maybe it will never bring me fame and fortune and everything, but I feel like it is the right thing to do.  This is how I choose my priorities.  While maybe their is no universal moral code, I do follow one of my own.  Maybe it's not religiously based, but I know when something feels right--because it feels right.  It is really just that simply.  It might not work universally, but, as a writer, it works for me.

Top Five Top Lists from the Interwebs

Lists are everywhere around the Internet these days.  From Buzzfeed to the Washington Post, it is hard to get through the day without reading some kind of ranking of something.  Who are the top ten celebrities with eating disorders, you wonder?  I am sure there is a list out there to fulfill your curiosity.  I don't know whether it's a cultural need to put random things in some sort of arbitrary order, or what, but I kind of hope it's a fad that will eventually die out--although, with the Internet, things never really die out for very long, just look at those quizzes that pop up every six months or so.  Anyways, I am certainly fascinated with this phenomenon, and I hear it helps bring in readers, so I have shamelessly decided to put together my own list, a list of lists--the list of lists, in fact:

Top Five Top Lists from the Interwebs

5. The Richest: "10 Things You Didn't Know About Disneyland"

I have never heard of this website, but I am guessing by the name that it is not for poor people?  I guess that makes sense, since you have to about be rich to afford to get into Disneyland or Disney World.  I have never been to either, but these sorts of lists always fascinate me, especially since most of the time, I know most of the facts that I am not supposed to know.  That's one thing that I do like about this list--I didn't know any of these "facts".  I don't exactly feel enlightened, though.  One thing I really hate about sites like this with lists: you have to watch out for the ads that have arrows in them to make it look like you are supposed to click on the arrows to keep following the list--you savvy bastards.

4. Answers.com: "22 Shocking Celebrities Who Used to Be Young & Hot"

As if the name of their website wasn't pretentious enough, these people actually have the gall to point out that people age!  Shocking, I know, right?  I guess this list blows my theory that all celebrities are actually robots.  Actually, they could still be robots.  They could get refitted every few years to keep up the illusion.  Either way, this is one of those lists where you click through the pictures on the same page, rather than having to follow like fifty links or having to scroll down the page--how annoying, right?

3. Mental Floss: "12 Directors Who Hated Their Own Movies"

Probably not the first list like this, probably not the last.  Probably picked randomly as the next list I came across.  Okay, so maybe this list is more like the first five lists I found.  Still, though, this list has a certain something that makes it stand out.  Oh wait, I follow Mental Floss on Facebook.  Yeah, that's probably it.

2. The Huffington Post: "Top 50 Successful Marijuana Users Who Prove the Person Matters More than the Plant"

It's no secret that the Huffington Post supports marijuana legalization, so it's no surprise that they would make a list about this issue.  I am sure it is not the only one, but, like many of the stoners who would read this, I am too lazy to actually commit to the amount of research it would take to actually prove this without a doubt.  This particular list shows how many hypocrites there are in politics, people that dictate what the rest of us should be doing, but have done the exact opposite themselves.  And, wait, hold up, Snoop Lion has smoked pot?  What?

1. Rolling Stone: "1994: The Top 40 Best Records From Mainstream Alternative's Best Year"

Rolling Stone is not one to shy away from making lists, but, maybe because I am a big music nerd, I don't usually mind their lists as much.  This is a actually good list, although I don't think the order necessarily matters.  Actually, it doesn't.  The order in none of these matter, because they don't matter, they are...  Distractions?  Yeah, that sounds about right.  I actually read this one through, though...  Oh wait, I mean, I read them all...  Or did I?  Did I really read them?  Is this list for real?  As real as any other list, I guess...  That's not a very solid answer, though.