ANN ARBOR, MI (2010) “Adventures in Alternative Literature"

In the car, nobody talked. So then I felt like I should stop talking.

“Brat Pack” author Bret Easton Ellis / “Alt Lit” author Szilvia Molnar

The year or two after the film version of my novel Paranoid Park came out—directed by Gus Van Sant—was the busiest time in my life as a writer. 

I traveled a lot.  I got invited to things.  I invited myself to things.  I did residencies and went to film festivals.  I got speaking gigs.  I was on Fresh Air with Terry Gross.

None of this was super big time stuff.  But it was fun, or at least interesting, and I made some $$$ when I could, knowing it wouldn’t last very long.

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I was glad when things calmed down again.  One thing about fame and attention:  it’s a lot more fun when you’re young.  The Paranoid Park situation was a lesson in that.

I’d been in a locally famous band for a brief period in my youth.  Being the cool musician guy, in a hot band—that feels good when you’re twenty.  It feels natural.  Like that’s the proper age to have your time in the spotlight.

Going through a similar process when you’re middle aged, grey-haired, a little thick around the middle:  it’s not the same.  In some cases it can be a negative experience. 

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By 2010, the Paranoid Park stuff was pretty much over. But then I got invited to Ann Arbor, to read at a benefit for 826 Valencia.  I figured this was probably the last interesting gig that would come my way thanks to Gus Van Sant’s film.

Elizabeth Ellen, the woman offering to fly me out, was a prominent writer/editor/publisher in the contemporary alt-lit scene.  There was a lot of good stuff coming out of that world. So I thought it would be fun to get a glimpse into that.

Plus, the benefit was in Ann Arbor, Michigan which seemed like an exotic locale to me at the time. 

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The 826 Valencia centers—including the one in Ann Arbor—were the brainchild of writer Dave Eggers.  They were kid-friendly urban spaces where disadvantaged local students could meet up with writers and other creative types to get help with their school work and art projects. 

Dave Eggers was the author of the best-selling memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius as well as the creator of the literary journal McSweeney’s which became a huge deal in the literary world of the 2000s, creating a quirky “old-timey” vibe and aesthetic that defined the entire decade. 

So this would be a prestige gig, besides being a fun couple days in the Midwest.

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I got a flight from LA (where I lived then) to Ann Arbor.  When I landed, I went outside to the pick-up area, noticing that it was nippy cold and there was still snow on the ground. 

Elizabeth Ellen—who was picking me up and housing me—was a writer of gritty, wild-girl fiction. According to the blurb on her story collection Fast Machine, her themes included: “driving, smoking, teenagers, drinking, escape, the Midwest, masturbation, self-loathing, blood and loneliness.” 

I didn’t know Elizabeth.  But I knew she was an energizing force within independent publishing.  She was a person who “makes shit happen” as they say.  This was definitely going to be interesting.