Jonathan Evison

I'm a happy guy. I like rabbits. I have eight of them. They're cute little fuckers with names like Javier and Little Turkey. I live out in the woods on an island in puget sound, where I spend the majority of my time writing and sitting in the bathtub. I make all my business calls from the bathtub. People are always saying: "What's that echo? Are you in a bus station?" I say: "No, I'm in my office." Pretty cool, huh? I'm developing something I call the sweats to pants ratio (SPR), by which success is measured relative to the days one spends in formal versus casual attire (formal being anything with pockets). By this measure, seven days a week in sweats is the pinnacle of success. I'm at about five-to-two right now. Pretty damn succesful. I think Rick Rubin holds the record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .If you want to know more about me, or my writing, just ask: Also, if you love books, check out my book discussion group (not MY book, but general discussion): . . . . . . . . . . . . http://groups.myspace.com/thefictionfiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . if you have some sort of an aversion to ellipses, i recommend you read no further than this . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . if you want to read some excerpts from my forthcoming collection THE REVISED FUNDAMENTALS OF CAREGIVING, go here: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/jonathan_evison/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . also, my novel, ALL ABOUT LULU, will be released by SOFT SKULL PRESS in July of '08, and is currently available for pre-sale on amazon, powells.com. borders.com, etc, etc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . somebody called ALL ABOUT LULU "a freakishly charming tale of star-crossed would-be step-sibling love in a family of failed bodybuilders in suburban los angeles." . . . i can live with that . . . the movie rights have been optioned by crossroads films . . .maybe someday i'll get to have sex with bette davis (oh, wait, she's dead) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .here's what some book people have said about ALL ABOUT LULU in advance-- i didn't even pay them (much): . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."Most novels in which a boy must oil up his bodybuilder father for competition would merit our attention, but that detail is just one of many amazements on offer in All About Lulu. Will the Thrill is a great literary charmer, and through his rich voice Jonathan Evison has concocted a funny and painfully honest piece of fiction." -Sam Lipsyte, author of Homeland . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."All About Lulu is a novel of tremendous energy and heartbreaking, hilarious insight, a novel with a heart of gold. In a manner that is both breathless and effortless, Evison reminds us of life's beautiful oddity. A remarkable debut." -Brad Listi, author of Attention Deficit Disorder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."All About Lulu is an exhilarating, wholly original and brave novel about obsession, love and becoming. With Will Miller, Evison has created a thoroughly modern protagonist steeped in Dickensian complexity, pure yet conflicted, lost yet driven to find truth in the dysfunctional American abyss." -James P. Othmer, author of The Futurist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .“At once exuberant and clear-eyed, scabrous and wise, Jonathan Evison's All About Lulu has something for every reader--love, betrayal, growth and, ultimately, redemption--all wrapped in the addictive voice of William Miller, Evison's fiercely likeable narrator. A fine debut from a writer to watch.” -Keith Dixon, author of The Art of Losing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."Evison's voice is as fresh as this morning's rain . . . read this book and realize you're not the only one knocked stupid for love." -Tim Sandlin, author of Western Swing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."Evison’s debut is an absolute knockout . . .this novel will invite its readers to redefine love and the functional family and the promise of America all at once. All About Lulu is a marvel, a book to savor and reread." -Natalia Rachel Singer, author of Redemption Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .“All About Lulu is a fascinating meditation on growing up and growing inward, a wry portrait of the American family in all its excessive, dysfunctional, heartbreaking purity.” -Josh Emmons, author of The Loss of Leon Meed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."The star-crossed lovers at the center of All About Lulu forge a middle ground between Archie and Veronica and Kurt and Courtney. Evison has delivered a witty, understated, heartfelt, and, at times, almost unnervingly honest debut." -Adam Langer, author of Crossing California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."Jonathan Evison is a killer talent, and "All About Lulu" is the kind of novel readers have been hungry for: Funny, smart, entertaining -- an all around delight. Literary fiction needs more books like this; maybe then people would stop talking about the Death of the Novel and just read and enjoy themselves" - Darin Strauss, author of Chang and Eng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."Evison keeps all kinds of balls up in the air, seemingly without effort. All About Lulu is the happiest sad story around, a meditation on the meaning of family, and how we fit amongst the people we love and misunderstand." - Greg Downs, author of Spit Baths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .UPDATE: my SPR has slipped back to 4-3 in recent days-- let's hope this isn't a trend. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .UPDATE UPDATE: back at 5-2 with me eyes on the prize, baby! sweats 24/7!!! . . . i'm going to stop washing them once i hit 6-1 . . . and maybe add an old bathrobe or a bedsheet to the ensemble . . .and a bottle of jack daniels . . . and once i hit 7-0, and i have nowhere to go but the other direction, i'll get one of those controlling business managers who ends up embezzling from me and trying to steal my wife . . . and i'll start collecting my urine in baby food bottles like howard hughes . . . oh yeah, and i'll invite people over for big yahtzee parties, and when i beat them, i'll make them cut off their pubic hair and put it in marked envelopes, and i'll keep them in a filing cabinet, so they can try to win it back next time . . . eventually, they'll come for me . . . i don't know who they are-- whether it will be aliens or dudes with butterfly nets or just some irs stooges, but somebody will come for me and take me away somewhere (either a spaceship, an institution, or just down to my office where i keep my tax forms next to my pubic hair envelopes) . . . i hope you guys will still be my friends after that happens . . .cheers, je