Things over at the Holiday in Cambodia project are going along swimmingly. So far we’ve had contributions and submissions from lovely people like Todd Dills, Doug Bond, Liz Grover, and Roxane Gay.

All this participation brings our donation total up to $100, and now that I’ve decided to match all the donations this brings our grand total up to $200! That’s $200 going to teach young Cambodian women how to make zines. Which is the coolest fucking thing I’ve ever heard of.

The mother of all American holidays is coming up! All your crazy family members are going to be in one place driving each other nuts! You know that one Aunt or Uncle that ends up drinking way too much and saying something offensive/cringe-inducing/lie-exposing/overtly-racist to your girlfriend or boyfriend who is meeting your family for the first time? Well, now you can turn that uncomfortable moment into something positive by writing it down and sending it to us to publish in a zine, the proceeds of which will go to an amazing cause. Notepads and pens at the ready…and…GO!

The Holiday in Cambodia project is going along quite well, I must say, but just to give it a good kick in the pants for the sake of pants-kicking, I’ve decided I’m going to match all the funds raised by the Holiday in Cambodia project. That’s right. From my own pocket. So far we’ve got something like $70. Which brings us to a grand total of $140. That’s $140 that goes to teaching young Cambodian women how to make zines. You are a simpleton if you do not think that is cool thing. So start submitting today and put me in the poor house!

We were so damn exited about the Holiday in Cambodia project that we just had to relay it to you, the public, as soon as we could. We knew you were hungry for this sort of thing, for an opportunity to save the world and tell your story all at once.

What we didn’t take into account was that everyone is very busy binge eating/drinking/working/crying/laughing/screaming/shopping to worry about a December 31st deadline for a zine. So we are extending the deadline to January 15th, 2010. Hopefully this will give you enough time to process all the fucked up shit that happened to you in these last few months and exorcise it from you consciousness in a healthy way by putting it into words on a page.

In case you have no idea what I’m talking about, click here.

Contributor Tim Jones-Yelvington was kind enough to include me on “Ten (of the) Best Indie Lit Editors of 2009,” which, of course, I’m proud to be a part of. Read my “found” bio here.

I finally saw Beautiful Losers last night (holy shit! Beautiful Losers is on Netflix! Drop whatever you’re doing and go watch this movie RIGHT NOW).

A part that really stuck with me was the section where Barry McGee is talking about getting your work out there. He said that once he was showing in galleries he felt that his work was being presented to a smaller audience than would see it if he had painted on a train or a billboard.

It got me thinking about writing in print and online. Most people who submit to us would rather be in the print version than online. Due to our small print run, the chances that any given contributors work will be read is exponentially greater if it’s posted on our website. So I ask you, what gives?

If the point is to get your stuff out there, wouldn’t you rather be published online?

(screenshot: R.I.P. the brilliant Margaret Kilgallen)

In the winter of 2007 editor, author, and activist Anne Elizabeth Moore was invited to live to Phnom Penh to teach Cambodian young women how to make zines. She plans to return December 24th to continue her ongoing project. We think this is awesome. We want to help her out and hope you do too.

Everyone has drama happening around the holidays and we all know drama makes for good stories. Send us your true stories of familial (or otherwise) conflict taking place around the holidays and we will then choose the best ones for publication in zine format entitled “Holiday in Cambodia: a Collection of Holiday Stories for a Good Cause”. There will be an open fee for submissions, meaning submitters are encouraged to send whatever they think is a fair submission fee. Could be zero dollars, could be $100. Yup, just like the Radiohead thing. This book will be available to purchase for $10 on January 31st, 2010 at annalemma.net. All proceeds from sales, as well as submission fees, will go directly to Anne’s amazing work with young Cambodian women.

UPDATE: I, Chris Heavener, hereby proclaim that I will match all funds generated by this project. Out of pocket.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: Please keep the stories under 3000 words. Only one submission per person. True stories only. If you have to change names or bend the truth here and there to make for a better story then that’s cool but we don’t want any Santa’s or Frosty’s or Hanukkah Harry’s showing up to the party.

Deadline is January 15th, 2010.

SUBMISSION PROCESS: Login to Paypal.com and click the “Send Money” tab. Payment of your chosen submission fee should be sent to holiday@annalemma.net

Once paid, email your submission to holiday@annalemma.net (in Word or .rtf format) from the same email address associated with your Paypal account, or from a different account clarifying who you are and what email address the payment went through. Then kick your heels up by the fireplace, sip some eggnog and wait to hear back from us.

If you’re interested in donating directly to Anne’s project click here.

Anne Elizabeth Moore’s book, Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing, and the Erosion of Integrity (The New Press, 2007), received favorable reviews from Forbes, The LA Times, and The Guardian. Co-editor and publisher of now-defunct Punk Planet, founding editor of the popular Best American Comics series from Houghton Mifflin, Moore’s work has been the subject of films, college lectures, and police investigations. She teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. anneelizabethmoore.com

For more information on her work in Cambodia, click here.

For more info on “Cambodian Grrl: Self Publishing in Phnom Penh”, a 36 page collection of essays concerning Moore’s previous experiences teaching a large group of young Khmer women self-publishing in Cambodia, click here.

Stephen fields some questions from the audience in this last installment from his reading at Stardust in Winter Park, FL.

Recently, Publisher’s Weekly released the list of best books of ’09. Recently after that, Women in Letters and Literary Arts (WILLA) raised a bit of hell that there were no lady writers in the top ten. Even more recently than that, Issue Five contributor Amelia Gray wrote a lucid essay over at the Huff Post, which sorts the whole mess out in a level-headed, thought provoking manner.

Why are there more men than women on the PW list? Simply because there are more men submitting to publishers. Read the piece here.

Thanks HTMLGiant for the heads up.

Thanks Plan59 for the image.

Some random images from the holiday weekend:

This was Chase’s first attempt at a fried turkey. I thought it was delicious. But I think he was expecting the heavens to open up and waves of light to wash over him as he took the first bite. He was a bit let down.

Also, congrats to Chase for receiving the nod from Pitchfork for one of the best vids of ’09!

This guy was turning his beak up to all the turkeys that got screwed this year. Don’t get cocky dude, Christmas is just around the corner and I ain’t never cooked a goose before.

Or a turkeygoose.

We played a show. This guy’s band didn’t show up and he had to play all his jams solo. The brass balls on this dude. Hats off to you sir.

Viernes with their new multimedia setup.

It wouldn’t be Turkey Day without football.

And it wouldn’t be football without me wishing I was in the marching band.

I was about to make a joke along the lines that I was forming an all-tuba band and call it Tuba Gooding Jr. But apparently he already exists.

In other news, I met a Transformer.

And the cute alert has been ringing off the hook.

Back to work! Back to burning calories! Keeping the gut at bay! To pressing forward and pressing hard until the end of the year! Finish line is in sight everyone! Don’t give up yet! We believe in you if no one else does! Count on that! Set your watch to it!

Speaking of which, keep an eye out for a new video next week…

A couple weeks ago I traveled far. Saw much. Lived heartily.

Had one of the best weekends of my life. And then…

I moved to New York City. If developments here have seemed erratic and overall spacey, this is why.

I live in the same city as Rose! How cool is that?

I lost my wallet on the first day (long story) and had to go get a new credit card at the World Financial Center, which was right next door to ground zero.

Not much has changed.

I’ve been walking by myself alot. In Chicago this would make me lonely. There’s so much to see here. It’s more like exploring.

We went to the New York Tyrant Babyleg thing and it was too fucking crazy so we left immediately. I think we got there too late and missed Brian Evanson thumb-printing his book with blood. Kind of a bummer.

This was the moment when the feeling of being untethered washed away.

And this was the moment I realized I loved this city.

Oh! And I moved into our new office.

Which I will be sharing with none other than Mr. Todd Jordan!

So, preeeeetty fucking psyched about that.

As I unpacked all my stuff I jammed this and thought about Kurt Cobain and how people who kill themselves are fucking idiots. Then again, maybe they’ve been to a depth of depression that I’ll never know about. Or at least, I hope I never will.

I think it’s pretty unlikely seeing as I finally live in a city where I feel like I belong.