11AM-12:15PM 鈥 Griffin Gate (Student Center, Building 60) 鈥 reading and book signing
fiction writer, essayist, and memoirist JIM RULAND
Photo 漏 Jim Ruland
The 22nd Annual Literary Arts Festival launches this year with a reading from San
Diego memoirist, blogger, and fiction writer, Jim Ruland.
About the Author
Named by Los Angeles Magazine in 2014 as one of "Six Must-Read Books to Finish Out the Summer," Ruland's award-winning
debut novel, Forest of Fortune (Gallery Books), is set at a failing tribal gambling palace, the Thunderclap Casino,
and weaves together the stories of three struggling characters鈥攁n alcoholic, an epileptic,
and a gambling addict鈥攚ho change their luck. The Los Angeles Times Review of Books praises Ruland's novel for being "not your average casino story: ghosts, legends,
and mystery darken and curl at its edges. Desperation and the humor in desperation
run amok." Booklist says Forest of Fortune "is not quite a supernatural thriller, more like a stylishly written contemporary
noir with some seriously weird overtones. Ruland's character design is impeccable; these
are very real people, each with his or her personal issues to sort out and pretty
much the unlikeliest heroes you'll meet for the next while."
Ruland's other books include his short story collection, Big Lonesome (Gorsky Press 2017, and two co-authored nonfiction works: My Damage (DaCapo Press 2016) and Giving the Finger (Lyons Press 2014). As an article writer, Ruland regularly blogs on the subject of
punk rock for the indie nonprofit magazine, Razorcake, writes a monthly column on sports, gambling and casino culture for Eephus, and is a book reviewer for San Diego CityBeat, Los Angeles Times, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. His memoir and fiction have appeared in a variety of journals, including The Believer, Esquire, Granta, Hobart and Oxford American, and others.
A U.S. Navy veteran, a NEA award recipient, and a member of the Golondrina arts collective in Barrio Logan, Jim Ruland has for the past fourteen years run Vermin on the Mount, a Southern California-based reading series praised for being irreverent and controversial. Boasting its humble beginnings at a Chinatown bar, the highly praised Vermin On the Mount continues to showcase a variety of established and rising talents, including Amelia
Gray, Jami Attenberg, Scott O鈥機onnor, and many others. Jim Ruland currently lives and works in San Diego.
Resources
BOOKS
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Forest of Fortune. Gallery Books, 2014. ISBN: 978-1440579899. |
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Big Lonesome. Gorsky Press, 2005. ISBN: 978-0975396438. |
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Campbell, Scott and Jim Ruland. Giving the Finger: Risking It All to Fish the World's Deadliest Sea. Lyons Press, 2014. ISBN: 978-0762791316. |
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Morris, Keith and Jim Ruland. My Damage: The Story of a Punk Rock Survivor. Da Capo Press, 2016. ISBN: 978-0306824067. |
ANTHOLOGIZED WORKS
- 鈥淎t the Orpheu Cafe.鈥 Fiction. Nothing to Declare: A Guide to the Flash Sequence. Eds., Robert Alexander, Eric Braun & Debra Marquart. White Pine Press, 2016.
- 鈥淔lesh Air.鈥 Fiction. States of Terror Vol. 1. Eds., Matt Lewis and Keith McCleary. Ayahuasca Publishing, 2014.
- 鈥淗omeward Bound.鈥 Essay. Incoming: Veteran Writers on Returning Home. Eds., Justin Hudnall, Julia Dixon Evans & Rolf Yngve. So Say We All, 2016.
- 鈥淜essler Has No Lucky Pants.鈥 Fiction. California Prose Directory 2014. Ed., J Ryan Stradal. Outpost 19, 2014.
- 鈥淥de to Joy.鈥 Essay. Hobart Handbook on Baseball. Eds., Jensen Beach and Aaron Burch. Hobart Publishing, 2015.
AUTHOR RESOURCES
- Official author website:
- Jim Ruland on Facebook:
- Jim Ruland on Twitter:
- Jim Ruland on Instagram:
- Vermin on the Mount website:
- Vermin on the Mount on Facebook:
- Gallery Books (publisher):
- Gorsky Press (publisher):
SELECTED VIDEO [CC]
鈥溾橦omeward Bound鈥 by Jim Ruland.鈥 Posted 23 January 2015 by So Say We All. Duration: 00:08:14. [video]
鈥淛im Ruland reads 鈥楬orror Show鈥 at UCSD's Gillman Theater.鈥 Posted 19 October 2010 by So Say We All. Duration: 00:06:14. [video]
鈥淛im Ruland Reading 鈥楧utch Harbor Nights鈥 at Skylight Books.鈥 Posted by RazorcakeGorsky on 1 July 2013. Duration: 00:06:33.
SELECTED ON-LINE WORKS BY JIM RULAND
- 鈥淏ump in the Road.鈥 The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts 2011.
- 鈥淐at Party.鈥 Shadowgraph Quarterly March 2016. shadowgraphquarterly.com/spring-2016/jim-ruland
- 鈥淒utch Harbor Nights.鈥 Granta 29 July 2013.
- 鈥淔uture Vermin: What I鈥檝e Learned After 13 Years of Running a Reading Series.鈥 Medium 17 April 2017.
- 鈥淗andful of Dust.鈥 Esquire 2007.
- 鈥淭he Interlopers.鈥 The Diagram 3.1.
- 鈥淢y So-Called Life: Jim Ruland on Writing Memoirs for Other People.鈥 Los Angeles Times 24 December 2015.
- 鈥淧aper Masks.鈥 Electric Literature Recommended Reading March 2018.
- 鈥沦迟耻辫别苍诲辞.鈥 Flash Flash Click February 2016.
- 鈥ㄢ淪pirit of Gravity.鈥 VLAK 5 (April 2015).
- 鈥淭eenage Wastelands.鈥 Granta 29 January 2014.
- 鈥淯苍肠补迟补濒辞驳耻别诲.鈥 Alebrijes April 2016. facebook.com/alebrijeslit
- 鈥淲颈苍苍别产补驳辞.鈥 Green Mountains Review August 2016.
- 鈥ㄢ淲ith Mournful Tread.鈥 pacificREVIEW February 2018.
SELECTED WORKS ABOUT JIM RULAND
- Browne, Michael. 鈥淚nterview with Vermin on the Mount founder Jim Ruland.鈥 Angel City Review 17 May 2017.
- Crew, Adrienne. 鈥淛im Ruland.鈥 Interview. LAist 12 September 2005. laist.com/2005/09/12/laist_interview_jim_ruland.php
- French, Agatha. 鈥淭otal eclipse, Vermin on the Mount and 'The Outsiders' at 50.鈥 Los Angeles Times 17 Aug 2017.
- Ju, Siel. 鈥淭he Reading Series That Wants Writers to Feel like Rock Stars Vermin on the Mount Does Things a Little Differently.鈥 Literary Hub 19 September 2016. lithub.com/the-reading-series-that-wants-writers-to-feel-like-rock-stars/
- Lapin, Joseph. "Vermin on the Mount, the Underground Literary Series, Celebrates 10 Years.鈥 LA Weekly 12 November 2013.
- McMahon, Tyler. 鈥淔orest of Fortune, by Jim Ruland.鈥 Review. Fiction Writer鈥檚 Review 31 July 2014. fictionwritersreview.com/review/forest-of-fortune-by-jim-ruland/
- Mohr, Joshua. 鈥淛im Ruland: Forest of Fortune.鈥 Interview. Booksmith 11 September 11 2014.
- Olivas, Daniel. 鈥淏ig Lonesome: Stories by Jim Ruland.鈥 Review. The Quarterly Conversation 2 (Winter 2006). quarterlyconversation.com/big-lonesome-stories-by-jim-ruland-review
- Stradal, J. Ryan. 鈥淭he Rumpus Interview with Jim Ruland.鈥 The Rumpus 26 August 2014.
- Wakim, Marielle. 鈥淪ix Must-Read Books to Finish Out the Summer.鈥 Los Angeles Magazine 21 August 2014.
SELECTED ON-LINE AUDIO
- Marshall, Colin. 鈥淧odcast #70: Jim Ruland.鈥 Interview. Los Angeles Review of Books 10 October 2014. [audio] lareviewofbooks.org/article/podcast-70-jim-ruland
- Listi, Brad. 鈥淓pisode 307: Jim Ruland.鈥 Interview. Otherppl 27 August 2014. [audio]
Jump to the top of the page.7-8:15PM 鈥 Griffin Gate (Student Center, Building 60)
NEW VOICES student reading
Exceptional writers from this semester's creative writing classes and workshops come together to perform some of their best new and original works of fiction, literary nonfiction, poetry, drama, spoken word, mixed media word art, and other hybrid and innovative forms.
About This Event
This semesterly event is a crowd favorite for Grossmont faculty and students, alike,
and is a tradition dating back almost all the way to the beginnings of 小优传媒, itself. At the end of each semester, our Creative Writing Program faculty select
students from their courses who have composed stand-out original works, and invite
them to participate in an evening of readings. Students typically invite family members,
friends, instructors and peers, making it one of the more popular literary events.
The event features a New Voices booklet containing the printed versions of their works
that allows audiences to read along if they like, and gives participating students
take home a keepsake of the evening.
Students selected for inclusion in the New Voices program are also given priority
consideration for the campus literary journal, Acorn Review, which is edited and produced by students under the advisorship of Creative Writing
Program faculty member, Julie Cardenas.
The next eagerly awaited issue of Acorn Review will be available in 2018.
Resources
- Acorn Review official website
- Acorn Review on Submittable
- Chest-O-Drawers Press [coming soon]