Tuesday Evening in Greenwich Village: Reading and Publication Party for I BRAKE FOR DELMORE SCHWARTZ by Richard Grayson at B. Dalton Bookseller

A reading and book publication party for I Brake for Delmore Schwartz by Richard Grayson took place on Tuesday evening, March 23, 1983, at the B. Dalton bookstore on the corner of Sixth Avenue and Eighth Street in Greenwich Village. (We're pictured, top at right, holding a copy of the book.)

Publishers Weekly reviews Richard Grayon's I BRAKE FOR DELMORE SCHWARTZ

Publishers Weekly reviews Richard Grayson's I Brake for Delmore Schwartz in its March 4, 1983 issue:

I BRAKE FOR DELMORE SCHWARTZ
Richard Grayson. Zephyr Press (13
Robinson St., Somerville, Mass.
02145), $4.95 ISBN 0-939010-03-8;
hardcover $9.95 ISBN 0-939010-04-6


Most of the 15 stories here fall into three broad categories. Grayson is at his best in his most straightforward, traditional narratives, among them "That's Saul, Folks" and "Slightly Higher in Canada." Also pleasant are the author's obviously autobiographical stories, which are built of fragments of memories; he recalls his great-grandmother in "Reluctance," and an uncle dying of cancer in "Hold Me." Least successful are Grayson's more experimental pieces, many of which directly or indirectly deal with his perspectives on writing: "Y/Me" is a short diatribe on the letter "y." "Only Time Will Tell" presents an inconsequential self-interview. And in "Is This Useful? Is This Boring?" the author repeats these queries (asserting that it doesn't matter anyway), until the reader, alas, must answer both questions truthfully.
[April]

Fort Pierce-Port S. Lucie News Tribune reports on Richard Grayson's talk at St. Lucie County Library

The Fort Pierce-Port St. Lucie News-Tribune today, February 27, 1983, reports on author Richard Grayson's March 7 talk at the St. Lucie County Library in Fort Pierce:

AUTHOR TO SPEAK AT SLC LIBRARY

Writer Richard Grayson will speak at the St. Lucie County Library, 124 North Indian River Dr., as part of the author series, on Monday, March 7, at 7:30 p.m. in the library's meeting room.

Grayson teaches creative writing at Broward Community College. The author's book titles tend to be unforgettable. He has written With Hitler in New York and Lincoln's Doctor's Dog and Other Stories.

The Florida Arts Council awarded Grayson a $3000 grant for his paperback book, Eating at Arby's: The South Florida Stories. His career began in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he was an editorial assistant with the Fiction Collective.

Grayson has published more than 150 stories in periodicals and anthologies in the United States, Canada, England, France, and Australia.

Grayson has received a scholarship from the National Arts Council to study at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, a fellowship from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and an Ottille Grebanier Drama Award from Brooklyn College.

There is no admission charge for the lecture.

New York Times Book Review column "About Books and Authors" features Richard Grayson and LINCOLN'S DOCTOR'S DOG

The January 16 1983 "About Books and Authors" column of the New York Times Book Review features an item about Richard Grayson and Lincoln's Doctor's Dog:


New York Times
January 16, 1983
Book Review
Page 22

ABOUT BOOKS AND AUTHORS

By EDWIN MCDOWELL

An Anemic Send-Off

APRIL may be the cruelest month for poets and taxpayers, but for booksellers nothing approaches the cruelty of the first and second weeks after Christmas, when sales typically plummet by about 65 percent. Unit sales of hard-cover fiction during the last week of 1982 fell 71 percent compared with Christmas week, while sales of books on the hard-cover general list dropped 66 percent.
Given that anemic send-off into the new year, it is hardly surprising that most of the book industry can't wait for warmer weather. Look at January 1978:

According to New York Times computer-ranked sales of best sellers, sales of hard-cover fiction best sellers totaled only one-third of those of the previous month. The comparison was slightly better the following year. Last January, after an especially poor December, sales rose to 55 percent of the previous month's total. Sales of hard-cover general best sellers have followed a similar pattern over the past five years.

In some parts of the country the lag continues well into February. ''We usually don't pick up again until almost March,'' a bookseller in Philadelphia said, adding that January is a great month for browsers, ''because they have the store practically to themselves.'' Yet because sales depend on the weather as well as on the availability of big books, January has occasionally lost out to February, April or even May as the worst month for hard-cover book sales.

During slow seasons, however, there is still considerable movement in the relative position of individual titles. A good example is ''In Search of Excellence: Lessons From America's Best-Run Companies'' by Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman Jr. The book sold few copies in the major chain stores during Christmas week and ranked only No. 29 on the Times list. But now it is eighth on the list, with the chains accounting for 31 percent of total sales.

Happy Anniversary

FEW books remain on the Times best-seller list for more than a couple of months, but this week ''Jane Fonda's Workout Book'' marks its 52d week, even moving up a notch to second place. Meanwhile, although Shel Silverstein's ''A Light in the Attic'' slipped from 5th to 13th place, the book of cartoons and verse is currently celebrating its 61st week as a best seller.

Unforgettable Titles

WE reported here some months back that Richard Grayson, searching for a formula that would guarantee best sellerdom, had titled his forthcoming collection "Lincoln's Doctor's Dog & Other Stories." A number of readers noted that George Stevens published a book titled "Lincoln's Doctor's Dog & Other Famous Best Sellers" in 1939. Mr. Grayson said he had not known of the Stevens book, but he was so taken by his version of the title that he decided to stick with it.

The idea sounded good in theory: Since individual titles about Lincoln, doctors and dogs have tended to do well, one that combined all three subjects might do three times as well. Alas, that has not been the case. Sales figures for the Stevens book are not available, although it does not seem to have been a best seller. But the Grayson book, published last spring, has sold fewer than 200 copies. ''The only thing I can come up with,'' the author said after making it clear that he does not regard the sales figures as a literary judgment, ''is that Lincoln isn't as popular as he used to be.''

Mr. Grayson, who teaches creative writing at Broward Community College in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has written four books that have sold a total of about 1,350 copies. Whether or not they are memorable as literature, their titles tend to be unforgettable: An earlier Grayson book was "With Hitler in New York," and Mr. Grayson's latest effort, a paperback for which he received $3,000 from the Florida Arts Council, is titled "Eating at Arby's." Scheduled for publication next month is a new opus: "I Brake for Delmore Schwartz."

THE JEWISH JOURNAL interviews author Richard Grayson

The Jewish Journal has an interview with author Richard Grayson this week (January 13, 1983).

Richard Grayson gets Honorable Mention in New York Magazine's Competition #478

Today, August 8, 1983, New York Magazine published some of the entries for its Competition #478, in which readers were asked to define invented words containing the continuous letters DGEB. Richard Grayson's entry was listed as an Honorable Mention.

Fort Lauderdale News features Richard Grayson's EATING AT ARBY'S: THE SOUTH FLORIDA STORIES

The Lifestyle section of the Fort Lauderdale News today (Thursday, December 30, 1982) features Richard Grayson's Eating at Arby's: The South Florida Stories.

Library Journal reviews Richard Grayson's LINCOLN'S DOCTOR'S DOG in "Small Press Roundup: Best Titles of 1982"

In its December 15, 1982, Library Journal features a brief review of Richard Grayson's Lincoln's Doctor's Dog in its "Small Press Roundup: Best Titles of 1982":


Library Journal
December 15, 1982

LJ's SMALL PRESS ROUNDUP: Best Titles of 1982
By Susan Shafarzek

Pages 2303-2308

THE TIME is long past—if indeed it ever existed—when the small press world could be regarded simply as a haven for the beginning. True, the beginner often finds a place there, but, increasingly, so does the season talent, to whom the major publishing houses can no longer offer a venue. It appears that the alternative presses have become just that, and they are an alternative for the libraries, as well. Those interested in keeping to the front of aesthetic and literary trends will find the small press world a rewarding, supplementary source.

Not everything from the small presses is outstanding, of course. Many are still the province of the cranky and the refuge of the uninteresting, but looking over more than 300 small press books seen this year, more were found that were valuable than not. This review aims to provide a rounded sample of the best of these. (2303)

. . . .

Humor is also the hallmark of Richard Grayson's excellent collection, Lincoln's Doctor's Dog and Other Stories (White Ewe, $11.95, cloth). These range from the surreal and punning to the poignantly reflective. (2306)

_____________________________________
Susan Shafarzek, co-editor of the Washout Review, is on the staff of the Graduate Office of the State University of New York at Albany, in addition to her doctoral studies in the writing program there.

Fort Lauderdale News & Sun-Sentinel reports on Richard Grayson at Broward Community College's "The Art Explosion: New Video"

The Fort Lauderdale News & Sun-Sentinel reports today (October 28, 1982) on Richard Grayson at Broward Community College's "The Art Explosion: New Video," a monthlong "happening" sponsored by the school's Art Department. Grayson will read his story "Inside Barbara Walters," about video literacy.

Miami Herald reports on Richard Grayson's $3000 Florida Arts Council grant to write EATING AT ARBY'S

The Miami Herald today (Sunday, October 17, 1982) reports on Richard Grayson's $3,000 Florida Arts Council grant to write Eating at Arby's: The South Florida Stories.

Hollywood Sun-Tattler "Names and Places" column reports on Richard Grayson's EATING AT ARBY'S: THE SOUTH FLORDA STORIES

Today, Thursday, October 7, 1982, Carol Brzozowski's Names and Places column in the Hollywood Sun-Tattler has an item on Richard Grayson's Eating at Arby's: The South Florida Stories:

IT'S TRUE: JUST TELL 'EM
READ RICHARD'S BOOK

So the folks back home don't believe your horror stories about driving on I-95?

You get a few chuckles when you spin your favorite yarns about shopping at our area malls?

Fear no more! Davie resident and Broward Community College English teacher Richard Grayson has published a book entitled "Eating at Arby's: The South Florida Stories." It puts into print those daily dilemmas only we South Floridians can truly appreciate.

Richard, known for his witty sarcasm and last March a hardly serious candidate for Davie's council, had received a $3,000 grant from the Florida Arts Council to produce a series of "documentary" stories on South Florida life.

"It's a pleasure to bring great literature to South Florida," he says. "I hope the taxpayers of Florida agree that the grant money I received was well spent."

You can be the judge of that if you care to part with $3 to buy the book.

Fort Lauderdale News: Gary Stein column on Richard Grayson and EATING AT ARBY'S

In the Fort Lauderdale News today (Wednesday, September 15, 1982) Gary Stein's column discusses Richard Grayson and Eating at Arby's.

Coda: Poets & Writers Newsletter features Richard Grayson Report on Literary Activity in South Florida

In the September/October 1982 of Coda: Poets & Writers Newsletter, Richard Grayson reports on literary activity in South Florida.

Small Press Review reviews Richard Grayson's LINCOLN'S DOCTOR'S DOG

The Small Press Review has reviewed Richard Grayson's Lincoln's Doctor's Dog on page 8 of its September 1982 issue and included the book as one of the month's selections in the Small Press Book Club:

#1905
Lincoln's Doctor's Dog & Other Stories by Richard Grayson (White Ewe Press). 5½x8½; 187 pages, $11.95/cloth.

Lincoln's Doctor's Dog & Other Stories is a collection of 22 fictions by Richard Grayson, all funny, all playful and all engaged in the shift from persona to person, from voice to voice that characterizes the wit of experimental fiction. Grayson achieves some startling effects in "A Sense of Porpoise," in which a porpoise replaces a boy's dead father. The situation produces the pun, but also some fine speculations on the relationship of child to parent. "Why Van Johnson Believes in ESP" has the character of both parody and the play that is at the heart of the new narrative technique. The complications of narrative voice become even greater, often funnier, sometimes more frightening, in the autobiographical stories about growing up in New York in the late 60s and early 70s.

Richard Grayson to Appear at Winthrop College Writers' Conference November 11-13, 1982

Richard Grayson will be among the writers who will be staff members at the Winthrop College Writers' Conference in Rock Hill, South Carolina on November 11-13, 1982.