Michael Hemmingson (July 12, 1966 – January 9, 2014) was a

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

, short story writer,

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

cultural anthropologist Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The portman ...

, qualitative researcher,

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, music critic and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

. He died in Tijuana, Mexico on 9 January 2014. The reported cause was cardiac arrest.

Publishing history

As an independent scholar, Hemmingson wrote the meditation, ''

Gordon Lish Gordon Lish (born February 11, 1934 in Hewlett, New York) is an American writer. As a literary editor, he championed many American authors, particularly Raymond Carver, Barry Hannah, Amy Hempel, Rick Bass, and Richard Ford. He is the father of t ...

and His Influence on Twentieth Century American Literature'' a short TV studies monograph on ''Star Trek'' (Wayne State Univ. Press), and an ethnographic research project, ''Zona Norte'' (Cambridge Scholars). At the time of his death he was working on a biography of

Raymond Carver Raymond Clevie Carver Jr. (May 25, 1938 – August 2, 1988) was an American short story writer and poet. He contributed to the revitalization of the American short story during the 1980s. Early life Carver was born in Clatskanie, Oregon, a mi ...

, set for publication in 2014 by McFarland & Company. Hemmingson was a prolific writer, often publishing 2-3 books a year. According to one reviewer, "Hemmingson has written over fifty books, and his experience shows. Not only does he inform the stories in This Other Eden with tangible details of the publishing industry, but he also imbues his characters with personalities that are displayed through his skillful use of highly individualized dialogue for each person." He was a staff writer at the

San Diego Reader The ''San Diego Reader'' is an alternative press newspaper in the county of San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a ...

from November 2004 through January 2014. The last public article he wrote for the San Diego Reader was
critical music review
of the rookie project,
Million Dollar Mixtape
' by San Diego recording artist The Toven released in 2012. The review was published by the San Diego reader on January 6, 2014 just three days before his death on January 9, 2014. For the Many of the photos that accompany his articles there were taken by San Diego's iconic brand photographer, Chris Morrow. In 2010 he joined the staff of ''Pacific San Diego Magazine''.

Film

As a screenwriter, his first indie feature, '' The Watermelon'', was directed by

Brad Mays Brad Mays (born May 30, 1955) is an independent filmmaker and stage director, living and working in Los Angeles, California. Background and education Mays was raised in the Edinburg section of West Windsor Township, New Jersey, attending the ...

and produced by

Lorenda Starfelt Lorenda Starfelt (January 11, 1955 – March 16, 2011) was an independent film producer, as well as a committed political activist and blogger who notably dug up president Barack Obama's birth announcement in an August 1961 edition of ''The Ho ...

at LightSong Films. He wrote the screenplay for the 2007 film ''Aliens'', based on a

one act play A one-act play is a play that has only one act, as distinct from plays that occur over several acts. One-act plays may consist of one or more scenes. The 20-40 minute play has emerged as a popular subgenre of the one-act play, especially in writi ...

. Maxim Dashkin produced and directed. Real Ideas Studio produced a short documentary, "Life in Zona Norte," that was screen at

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

's Short Film Corner May, 2009.

Awards and honors

Hemmingson won the San Diego Book Awards Association's first Novel-in-Progress grant for ''The Rose of Heaven'' and SDBAA's Best Published novel for ''Wild Turkey''. His media study monograph, ''Star Trek: A Post-Structural Critique of the Original Series'', was a 2010 finalist nominee for General Non-fiction Book. He was selected as the

toastmaster Toastmaster is a general term, prevalent in the United States in the mid-20th century, referring to a person in charge of the proceedings of a public speaking event. The toastmaster is typically charged with organization of the event, arrangin ...

for the

Death Equinox Death Equinox was a series of four conventions held in Denver, Colorado in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Sponsored by CyberPsychos AOD, and organized by Jasmine Sailing, they focused on alternative culture and art. A usual aspect was that they co ...

2001 convention. Recipient of two Everett Helm Research Fellowships at the Lily Library Indiana University for research on Gordon Lish, Raymond Carver, and William Vollmannn. He wrote multiple auto-

ethnography Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

articles for Forum: Qualitative Research.

Influences

Hemmingson acknowledged influences

Harlan Ellison Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. Robert Bloch, the author of '' Psycho'' ...

, and

William T. Vollmann William Tanner Vollmann (born July 28, 1959) is an American novelist, journalist, war correspondent, short story writer, and essayist. He won the 2005 National Book Award for Fiction with the novel ''Europe Central''.

for literature,

Wim Wenders Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (; born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker, playwright, author, and photographer. He is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among many honors, he has received three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Docum ...

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...

David Mamet David Alan Mamet (; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, filmmaker, and author. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony Award, Tony nominations for his plays ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1984) and ''Speed-the-Plow'' (1988). He first ...

, and

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...

for film. Hemmingson was called "

on acid" by literary guru

Larry McCaffery Lawrence F. McCaffery Jr. (born May 13, 1946) is an American literary critic, editor, and retired professor of English and comparative literature at San Diego State University. His work and teaching focuses on postmodern literature, contemporary ...

and "a disciple of a quick and dirty literature" by the ''American Book Review''.

Theater

From 1995 to 2000, he was Literary Manager of The Fritz Theater in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

, where he directed, produced, and wrote many plays there, as well as for his own company, The Alien Stage Project, that still produces theater in San Diego and Los Angeles. His full-length play, ''Driving Somewhere'', won the 1997 Ventana New Play Award in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. It was first produced in 1995 by The Fritz Theater. His one-act play, ''Iraq,'' was produced in the 2000 Samuel French, Inc. One-Act Play Festival in New York. His one-act, ''Milk'', has been widely produced and is published in the book, ''The Art of the One-Act''. It has been produced in Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, and San Diego. His full-length play, ''Erotic Scenes in a Cheap Motel Room'', has been produced by dozens of theaters and is available as a radio drama from Walcott & Sheridan Audio Library. Its debut was on March 11 at the Fritz Theatre. Fritz Theater original productions: ''Driving Somewhere, Iraq, Bosnia, Erotic Scenes in Cheap Motel Room.'' Alien Stage Project original productions: ''Erotic Scenes in a Cheap Motel Room, Milk''. Actor's Alliance Play Festival original productions: ''Milk, NASDAQ, The Aliens, Happiness''. Compass Theater (San Diego) production of full-length, ''Stations'' in Summer 2009. ''Stations'' was directed by David Meredith and performed at the Resilience of the Spirit Festival.

Independent scholarship

As an independent scholar, Hemmingson focused his studies on

and

, and the methodologies of critifiction and

autoethnography Autoethnography is a form of ethnographic research in which a researcher connects personal experiences to wider cultural, political, and social meanings and understandings. It is considered a form of qualitative and/or arts-based research. Autoe ...

. He published extensively in these areas of study, as well as critical monographs on

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

Barry N. Malzberg Barry Nathaniel Malzberg (born July 24, 1939) is an American writer and editor, most often of science fiction and fantasy. Biography Malzberg originated from a Jewish family and graduated from Syracuse University in 1960. He worked as an investi ...

Charles Bukowski Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his adopted ...

blogging A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

and

micro-blogging Microblogging is a form of social network that permits only short posts. They "allow users to exchange small elements of content such as short sentences, individual images, or video links",. Retrieved June 5, 2014 which may be the major reason for ...

. In 2009, at the National Communication Association convention in Chicago, Hemmingson was awarded, by the Carl Couch Center, the Norman K. Denzin Qualitative Research Award for his paper of auto/ethnography, "Fragments of my Grandmothers."

Radio

From April 2012 until his

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

, Hemmingson hosted the show ''The Art of Dreaming'' on

Revolution Radio ''Revolution Radio'' is the twelfth studio album by American rock band Green Day, released on October 7, 2016 through Reprise Records. A self-produced effort, it marked their first release since touring guitarist Jason White returned to his ori ...

at freedomslips.com.

Bibliography

Anthologies (edited)

* ''Expelled from, Eden: A William T. Vollmann Reader'' New York, co-edited with

: (

Thunder's Mouth Press Perseus Books Group was an American publishing company founded in 1996 by investor Frank Pearl. Perseus acquired the trade publishing division of Addison-Wesley (including the Merloyd Lawrence imprint) in 1997. It was named Publisher of the Ye ...

, 2004) * ''The Mammoth Book of Legal Thrillers'' New York: (

Carroll & Graf Carroll & Graf Publishers was an American publishing company based in New York City, New York, known for publishing a wide range of fiction and non-fiction by both new and established authors, as well as issuing reprints of previously hard-t ...

, 2001) * ''The Mammoth Book of Short Erotic Novels'' New York: Co-edited with

Maxim Jakubowski Maxim Jakubowski (born 1944) is a crime, erotic, science fiction and rock music writer and critic. Jakubowski was born in 1944 in England to Russian-British and Polish parents, but raised in France. Jakubowski has also lived in Italy and has tr ...

(Carroll & Graf, 2000) * ''What The Fuck: The Avant-Porn Anthology'' New York: (

Soft Skull Press Counterpoint LLC was a publishing company distributed by Perseus Books Group launched in 2007. It was formed from the consolidation of three presses: Perseus' Counterpoint Press, Avalon Publishing Group's Shoemaker & Hoard and the independent So ...

, 2000)

Novels

* ''Time Lust'' NY: (

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and is the largest publisher of Chinese scien ...

, 2014) * ''Judas Payne: A Weird Western / Webb's Weird Wild West: Western Tales of Horror'' (double book with Don Webb,

Wildside Press Wildside Press is an independent publishing company in Cabin John, Maryland, United States. It was founded in 1989 by John Betancourt and Kim Betancourt. While the press was originally conceived as a publisher of speculative fiction in both trade ...

, 2010) * ''Hard Cold Whisper'' Rockville, MD: (Black Mask Books, 2010) * ''The Trouble with Tramps: An Orrie Hitt Homage'' Rockville, MD: (Black Mask Books, 2010) * ''Shabbytown''. Rockville, MD: (Black Mask Books, 2009) * ''The Yacht People'' (The Borgo Press, 2009) * ''In the Background is a Walled City''. San Bernardino, CA: (The Borgo Press, 2008) * ''Wild Turkey'' (Forge Books, 2001) * ''The Naughty Yard'' San Francisco: (Permeable Press, 1994) reprinted in ''The Mammoth Book of International Erotica'' (Carroll & Graf, 1996)

Fiction collections

* ''Poison from a Dead Sun/The Chronotope'' (Wildside Press, 2012) (Novel + collected science fiction stories) * ''Vivacious Vixens and Blackmail Babes'' (Wildside Press/Borgo Press, 2012) (Novel + 4 crime noir stories) * ''This Other Eden: Three Novellas and Three Stories''. Brooklyn, NY: (The Dybbuk Press, 2010) * ''Pictures of Houses with Water Damage'' New York: (

Black Lawrence Press Black Lawrence Press is an independent publishing company founded in upstate New York by Colleen Ryor. It was an imprint of Dzanc Books from 2008 to 2013. It hosts the Big Moose Prize for the novel, the Hudson Prize and the St. Lawrence Book Awa ...

, 2010) * ''Desperate Women''. Rockville, MD: (The New Traveller's Companion/

Olympia Press Olympia Press was a Paris-based publisher, launched in 1953 by Maurice Girodias as a rebranded version of the Obelisk Press he inherited from his father Jack Kahane. It published a mix of erotic fiction and avant-garde literary fiction, and is bes ...

, 2010) * ''How to Have an Affair and Other Instructions''.

San Bernardino, California San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 cen ...

: (The Borgo Press, 2007) * ''Seven Women and Other Stories'' New York: (Venus Book Club, 2002) * ''My Dream Date with Kathy Acker'' Portland, OR: (Eraserhead Press, 2002) * ''Snuff Flique'' Denver, CO: (

CyberPsychos AOD Cyber-Psychos AOD (CPAOD) is a book and magazine publishing venture based in Denver, Colorado, focusing on avant-garde and unusual art, culture, and writings. Founded in 1992 (magazine), and 1995 (CPAOD Books) by Jasmine Sailing, it has released ...

, 1997) * ''Nice Little Stories Jam-Packed with Depraved Sex & Violence'' Denver, CO: (CyberPsychos AOD, 1995)

Poetry collections

* ''Ourselves or Nothing'' Rockville, MD: (The New Traveller's Companion/Olympia Press, 2010) * ''Rwanda'' (Yellow Bat Press, 2003) * ''Moving in on the Conservatives'' Detroit, MI: (Planet Detroit Press, 1995) * ''Reaching Into the Wet Darkness''. Stow, Ohio: (Impetus Press, 1986) * ''Nowhere is Safe'' (Samizdat Press, 1985)

Plays

* ''Milk'' Kalamazoo, MI: (New Issues in Poetry and Prose, 2007) * ''Driving Somewhere'' San Francisco: (Vantana Productions, 1997)

Literary criticism

* ''Women in the Short Fiction of Raymond Carver'' Jefferson, NC: (

McFarland & Company McFarland & Company, Inc., is an American independent book publisher based in Jefferson, North Carolina, that specializes in academic and reference works, as well as general-interest adult nonfiction. Its president is Rhonda Herman. Its former ...

, 2014) * ''William T. Vollmann: An Annotated Bibliography'' Lanham, MD: (

Scarecrow Press Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing compa ...

, 2012) * ''Gordon Lish and His Influence on Twentieth Century American Literature'' New York and London: (

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...

, 2013) * ''William T. Vollmann: A Critical Study and Seven Interviews''. Jackson, NC: (McFarland & Company, 2009) * ''The Dirty Realism Duo: Charles Bukowski and Raymond Carver on the Aesthetics of the Ugly''. San Bernardino, CA: (The Borgo Press, 2008, The Milford Series: Popular Writers of Today No. 70)

Anthologies (appeared in)

* ''Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues'' (Simon and Schuster, 2009) * ''The Urban Bizarre'' (Wildside Press LLC, 2004) * '' The Mammoth Book of Erotica'' (Carroll & Graf, 2000)Michael Hemmingson's ''Hollow Hills''
Google Books archived excerpt

Reviews

Wild Turkey review by Tim W. Brown

References

External links

*
Bibliography on Fantastic Fiction
*

from Raw Dog Screaming

from Cuauhtemoc's Celebrity Interviews

from the McCaffery Archive at Spineless Books {{DEFAULTSORT:Hemmingson, Michael 1966 births 2014 deaths American male writers American horror writers American erotica writers American book editors American anthropologists