Author Archives: Anthony D Jacques

The Whiskey Review: Jack Daniels Old No 7

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[Originally published February, 2012 at Manarchy Magazine]

“This week, each one of you has a homework assignment. You’re gonna go out, you’re gonna start a fight with a total stranger.” ~ Tyler Durden

Now substitute “start a fight” with “have a drink” and “total stranger” with “drinking buddy” and you’re right on track.

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In the first article, we covered the very basics of whiskey, how it’s made, and how to sip it right, noting color, smell and taste. This is a man’s world, after all, and the modern man knows when to order a Jack and Coke, and when to order a Highland Park 12 year, neat. And not just because your date will think you’re a genius for knowing how to order whiskey, but because these drinks really are worth tasting.

It may seem that we’re just railing on Jack Daniels here, so rather than give the impression that the Old No. 7 is a whiskey for the undiscriminating palette, let’s take a closer look to see if deserves the popularity it enjoys. Continue reading →

In Christopher Hitchens’ Wake : New Essay

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My latest essay is up over at An American Atheist : In Christopher Hitchen’s Wake : Reflections on Cancer and Losing My Religion.

I nearly died of cancer five years ago, so when I heard the news that Christopher Hitchens was facing esophageal cancer in early 2010, it struck one hell of a nerve. I was on my way out of Christianity at the time and had only just discovered the polemical pundit a few months earlier. I found him compelling, well-read and debonair, brilliant and, when needed, rather scathing. Now, it looked like the beginning of my non-religious road may coincide with the end of his.

Read on –>

Stop Drinking and Start Tasting: The 21st Century Man’s Guide to Whiskey

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[Originally published January, 2012 at Manarchy Magazine]

Childhood doesn’t last forever, and though the memories may be fond, you probably haven’t sipped juice from a box in longer than you can remember. Why is it, then, that the average adult’s taste in alcohol rarely evolves beyond those first pivotal experiences in college?

If all you know about whiskey is that it can be either shot from a glass or drowned in dark cola, then it’s time for a reality check, because your taste in liquor is the grown-up equivalent of sippy-cups and safety-scissors. Continue reading →

Warmed and Bound News and Interviews

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Warmed and Bound is now available at Amazon.com, and was so popular on Barnes and Nobles’ site that we effectively broke the computer (and until they get things figured out, I suggest ordering through Amazon.)

The good news out of all that, however, is that we climbed the B&N sales charts, becoming the #1 trending book the day of release, and finishing the night #7 overall and #3 in paperbacks, just above the Harry Potter boxed set. Which is quite an accomplishment, to say the least.

In other news, many of the authors from the collection have been interviewed by Booked Podcast and many of those interviews are available now, with many more to come in the following days. Mine just went live today, as a matter of fact.

The Johnnie Walker Gold Label I'd been saving for the release.

All in all, we’re selling like hot cakes and getting some real recognition.

I’m sure all you who read the blog have already ordered a copy, and if it was cancelled form B&N due to the popularity, you’ve likely placed your order elsewhere.

How you can help, of course, is by spreading the word and keeping the momentum going.

Many thanks to those of you who have been supportive of me and the rest of the Velvet writers, for your loyalty and your friendship, and for making this whole experience such a rewarding success, and cheers to all of you.

ADJ

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To order Warmed and Bound : A Velvet Anthology on Amazon, click here.

To check out my Booked Podcast interview click here. (And be sure to check out the other contributors as well. There’s some real gold in these interviews.)

To stay up to date with more book news faster than I am able to post, check out Warmed and Bound dot com.

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© Anthony David Jacques MMXI

Please allow Steve Erickson to tell you about Warmed and Bound

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Front cover design

The book is called, Warmed and Bound : A Velvet Anthology, and among such notable writers as Craig Clevenger, Stephen Graham Jones and Brian Evanson, you’ll find a short story of my own. For a complete list of authors, click here or go to the official site (which looks hauntingly like my own, and that’s awesome).

Steve Erickson has written up his take on the collection in the form of a foreword, so here’s a little taste of that.

 The writers of the Velvet are contemporary fiction’s most effective and least self-conscious aesthetic guerrillas and obliterators of “literature,” vaporizing arbitrary distinctions intended to tame a spirit that needs neither distinctions nor quotation marks.  The result is fiction at once conceived from high artistic intent and executed with depraved populist energy.

Warmed and Bound : A Velvet Anthology will be available on Friday, July 22 on Amazon both in print (15.95) and as an eBook.

You can “like” the book on facebook and stay up to date on the release either here, on twitter @WarmedAndBound, or on the official website.

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© MMXI