Hell freezes over

Saints win the Super Bowl. I actually don’t even know what to do. That’s unprecedented. That’s like me winning a tall-man contest. That’s . . . uh . . . I don’t even know what to do.

Stacking Up

Watch me mumble. Watch my shirt dance. Here I am on Stacked Up TV. And if you get tired of looking at me, you can read a little rant I posted about the process. According to me, “at times it looks like I’m doing a bad job of trying to pass a lie-detector test, what with the shifty eyes.” Hey, they asked!

Also, I totally tried to promote all the kind people who’ve helped me out in some way or other, but it all went out in the editing process. So, if you haven’t already, go buy the following books.

Darren Campo’s Alex Detail’s Revolution

Matthew Quick’s The Silver Linings Playbook

Peter Melman’s The Landsman

Luis Urrea’s Into the Beautiful North (and any of his other six million awesome books)

So I’m Holding a Glass

I’m holding a high-ball glass. Ice. Some Rebel Yell. Sitting by my computer. Pick the glass up. The glass breaks. The base of the glass separates from the rest of the glass. Clean break. Bourbon and ice everywhere.

I blame poltergeists. Prohibitionist poltergeists.

A Barnes & Noble In Brief Review

“Chock-a-block with Cajunisms, quirky characters, and divine descriptions of food, Wheaton’s work never stumbles into cliché. Instead he delivers a accomplished debut that ends too quickly, and leaves the reader imagining a return to future festivities.”

Just thought I’d share. Read the whole thing here.

BookReporter.com Says . . .

Another review:

THE FIRST ANNUAL GRAND PRAIRIE RABBIT FESTIVAL succeeds nicely at being a light-hearted, enjoyable story yet with some challenging concepts in the background. Many of these are approached sympathetically, with approaches to racism and sexual preference immediately coming to mind. But the book focuses to a much greater extent on the ways in which Christians approach each other and also other congregations. Perhaps the greatest focus of all is the ways that people choose to view human vices. Yet the book never comes off as entirely serious and is always enjoyable to read. From the beginning, author Ken Wheaton does a fabulous job of acquainting readers with his great community and also integrating his writing with authentic Louisiana culture.

The site was also kind enough to interview me. Why did I write this book? Who is Father Steve based on? How much French do you need to speak in Louisiana? All those answers and more right here.

After-Action Report: Louisiana Readings

The first two things confronting me when I arrived at the Barnes & Noble in Lafayette, Louisiana: 1) a stack of 75 copies of The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival sitting on a table and 2) a woman sitting nearby reading a copy of my book.

I don’t know which made me more nervous.

Tips for Attending a Book Reading

Don’t forget. I’m reading this Saturday in Lafayette and Monday in Baton Rouge. Now, I know this is almost as exciting as the NFC Championship on Sunday and this may cause you to become confused. So I thought I’d make like Jersey Shore and tell you about the situation. (Note for New Yorkers, there will be a reading in Brooklyn on Feb. 11. Mark your calendars now)

Basic ground rules.

Louisiana Book News says …

Chere Dastugue Coen, who runs Louisiana Book News, reviewed The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival yesterday. She liked it! The review ran in The Daily World (out of Opelousas) and The Daily Advertiser (out of Lafayette). That’s right, Acadiana has as many (or more) daily newspapers as the New York Metro area. At any rate, you can find her full review here.

The humor in Wheaton’s novel emerges from the cast of characters and their simple everyday occurrences, and when you live in the South you know how humor stares you in the face, just waiting to be written down. However, capturing that essence that is all Southern — or in this case Cajun — takes a special creative pen and Wheaton wields with aplomb. The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival is laugh-out-loud, recognize-your-mawmaw funny.

We Welcome Our Monkey Overlords

Monkeys picking fruit and using tools.

Via Cute Overload.

Meanwhile, In the Real Grand Prairie

So apparently The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival was a topic discussion during Mass this morning in the real Grand Prairie. By the real priest. In the real St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church. It seems he was a little put out — he’d been expecting perhaps a non-fiction account of the real festival, not a first-person fictional account of a laughingly bad priest.