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  Domy Books, in association with McSweeney's, is pleased to presentgod says no a signing and presentation with the author, James Hannaham Monday, September 14, 2009 at Domy Books, Austin 913 E Cesar Chavez, Austin, TX 78702 7pm Signing followed by a presentation at 8pm FREE ADMISSION  Tuesday, September 15, 2009 at Domy Books, Houston 1709 Westheimer, Houston, TX 77098 7pm Signing followed by a presentation at 8pm FREE ADMISSION
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Gary Gray marries his first girlfriend, a fellow student from Central Florida Christian College who loves Disney World as much as he does. They are nineteen, God-fearing, and eager to start a family, but a week before their wedding Gary goes into a rest-stop bathroom and lets something happen. God Says No is his testimony—the story of a young black Christian struggling with desire and belief, with his love for his wife and his appetite for other men, told in a singular, emotional voice. Driven by desperation and religious visions, the path that Gary Gray takes—from revival meetings to out life in Atlanta to a pray-away-the-gay ministry in Memphis, Tennessee—gives a riveting picture of how a life like his can be lived, and how it can't. “A tender, funny tour of a mind struggling to do the right thing. A revelatory and sympathetic guide to a misunderstood world.” —Steve Martin, author of Shopgirl and Born Standing Up "James Hannaham's God Says No introduces a groundbreaking new American voice: a writer of spectacular sentences who has trained his sights on a world that has hardly been touched by literary fiction. Topical and ambitious, disturbing and hilarious, God Says No is everything a person could ask of a first novel — and twice that much. " —Jennifer Egan, author of Look at Me and The Keep |
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James Hannaham, writer. Of what? Well, his stories have appeared in The Literary Review, Open City and Nerve, and one is about to show up in One Story. He has received fellowships from The MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, The Blue Mountain Center, Chateau de Lavigny, and Fundacion Valparaiso. He teaches creative writing at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and lives near there. His first novel, God Says No, came out through McSweeney's Books in late May of 2009. An excerpt from the book appears in McSweeney's 31, which looks a lot like a yearbook, binding-wise. He has also written reviews and profiles for The Village Voice, Spin, Blender, Out, Us, New York, The Barnes & Noble Review, and once, circa 1997, a tiny sidebar in the front section of The New York Times Magazine. He was on staff in the culture department of Salon for most of 2008. Then the crash came, and with it, layoffs. He's been okay since then--thanks for asking. Starting work on several new projects, applying for grants and fellowships and jobs, etc. |