Jim Ruland / New Voices

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11AM-12:15PM • Griffin Gate (Student Center, Building 60)

^{fiction writer, essayist, and memoirist} JIM RULAND

reading and book signing

The 22nd Annual Literary Arts Festival launches this year with a reading from San Diego memoirist, blogger, and fiction writer, Jim Ruland. 

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—an alcoholic, an epileptic, and a gambling addict—who 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’Connor, and many others. Jim Ruland currently lives and works in San Diego.
 

RESOURCES

BOOKS

Forest of Fortune. Gallery Books, 2014. ISBN: 978-1440579899.			Big Lonesome. Gorsky Press, 2005. ISBN: 978-0975396438.
Campbell, Scott and Jim Ruland. Giving the Finger: Risking It All to Fish the World's Deadliest Sea. Lyons Press, 2014. ISBN: 978-0762791316.			Morris, Keith and Jim Ruland. My Damage: The Story of a Punk Rock Survivor. Da Capo Press, 2016. ISBN: 978-0306824067.

ANTHOLOGIZED WORKS

^{“At the Orpheu Cafe.” Fiction. Nothing to Declare: A Guide to the Flash Sequence. Eds., Robert Alexander, Eric Braun & Debra Marquart. White Pine Press, 2016.}

^{“Flesh Air.” Fiction. States of Terror Vol. 1. Eds., Matt Lewis and Keith McCleary. Ayahuasca Publishing, 2014.}

^{“Homeward Bound.” Essay. Incoming: Veteran Writers on Returning Home. Eds., Justin Hudnall, Julia Dixon Evans & Rolf Yngve. So Say We All, 2016.}

^{“Kessler Has No Lucky Pants.” Fiction. California Prose Directory 2014. Ed., J Ryan Stradal. Outpost 19, 2014.}

^{“Ode to Joy.” Essay. Hobart Handbook on Baseball. Eds., Jensen Beach and Aaron Burch. Hobart Publishing, 2015.}

AUTHOR RESOURCES

^{Official author website: jimruland.net}

^{Jim Ruland on Facebook: facebook.com/public/Jim-Ruland}

^{Jim Ruland on Instagram: www.instagram.com/jimvermin}

^{Vermin on the Mount website: verminonthemount.com}

^{Vermin on the Mount on Facebook: facebook.com/VerminOnTheMount}

^{Gallery Books (publisher): simonandschusterpublishing.com/gallery-books}

^{Gorsky Press (publisher): razorcake.org/gorsky-press}

SELECTED VIDEO [CC]

SELECTED ON-LINE WORKS BY JIM RULAND

^{“Bump in the Road.” The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts 2011. matterpress.com}

^{“Cat Party.” Shadowgraph Quarterly March 2016. shadowgraphquarterly.com/spring-2016/jim-ruland}

^{“Dutch Harbor Nights.” Granta 29 July 2013. granta.com/dutch-harbor-nights}

^{“Future Vermin: What I’ve Learned After 13 Years of Running a Reading Series.” Medium 17 April 2017.medium.com/@JimVermin/future-vermin-d9df464581a}

^{“Handful of Dust.” Esquire 2007. esquire.com/entertainment/books/a2257/esq0207handful}

^{“The Interlopers.” The Diagram 3.1. thediagram.com/3_1/ruland.html}

^{“My So-Called Life: Jim Ruland on Writing Memoirs for Other People.” Los Angeles Times 24 December 2015. latimes.com/books/la-ca-jc-jim-ruland-20151227-story.html}

^{“Paper Masks.” Electric Literature Recommended Reading March 2018. jimruland.net/?page_id=1952}

^{“Stupendo.” Flash Flash Click February 2016. flashflashclick.com}

^{“Spirit of Gravity.” VLAK 5 (April 2015). vlakmagazine2.wordpress.com/2015/04/22/vlak-5}

^{“Teenage Wastelands.” Granta 29 January 2014. https://granta.com/teenage-wastelands}

^{“Uncatalogued.” Alebrijes April 2016. facebook.com/alebrijeslit}

^{“Winnebago.” Green Mountains Review August 2016. greenmountainsreview.com/winnebago}

^{“With Mournful Tread.” pacificREVIEW February 2018. pacificreview.sdsu.edu/casa1.html}

SELECTED WORKS ABOUT JIM RULAND

<sup>Browne, Michael. “Interview with Vermin on the Mount founder Jim Ruland.” Angel City Review 17 May 2017. angelcityreview.com/interview-with-vermin-on-the-mount-founder-jim-ruland/

Crew, Adrienne. “Jim Ruland.” Interview. LAist 12 September 2005. laist.com/2005/09/12/laist_interview_jim_ruland.php

French, Agatha. “Total eclipse, Vermin on the Mount and 'The Outsiders' at 50.” Los Angeles Times 17 Aug 2017. latimes.com/books/la-et-jc-litweek-20170817-htmlstory.html

Ju, Siel. “The Reading Series That Wants Writers to Feel like Rock Stars Vermin on the Mount Does Things a Little Differently.” 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.” LA Weekly 12 November 2013. laweekly.com/arts/vermin-on-the-mount-the-underground-literary-series-celebrates-10-years-4180093
McMahon, Tyler. “Forest of Fortune, by Jim Ruland.” Review. Fiction Writer’s Review 31 July 2014. fictionwritersreview.com/review/forest-of-fortune-by-jim-ruland/

Mohr, Josehua. “Jim Ruland: Forest of Fortune.” Interview. Booksmith 11 September 11 2014. booksmith.com/event/jim-ruland-forest-fortune-conversation-joshua-mohr

Olivas, Daniel. “Big Lonesome: Stories by Jim Ruland.” Review. The Quarterly Conversation 2 (Winter 2006). quarterlyconversation.com/big-lonesome-stories-by-jim-ruland-review

Stradal, J. Ryan. “The Rumpus Interview with Jim Ruland.” The Rumpus 26 August 2014. therumpus.net/2014/08/the-rumpus-interview-with-jim-ruland</sup>

^{Wakim, Marielle. “Six Must-Read Books to Finish Out the Summer.” Los Angeles Magazine 21 August 2014. lamag.com/culturefiles/six-must-read-books-to-finish-out-the-summer}

SELECTED ON-LINE AUDIO

^{Marshall, Colin. “Podcast #70: Jim Ruland.” Interview. Los Angeles Review of Books 10 October 2014. [audio] lareviewofbooks.org/article/podcast-70-jim-ruland}

^{Listi, Brad. “Episode 307: Jim Ruland.” Interview. Otherppl 27 August 2014. [audio] otherppl.com/jim-ruland-interview}

7-8:15PM • 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.

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 Grossmont College, 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

<sup>Acorn Review official website

Acorn Review on Submittable</sup>

^{Chest-O-Drawers Press [coming soon]}