Photo: Bill Pieper receiving Best Fiction/Drama Award for his novel Fool Me Once from Sacramento Bee book reviewer William Endicott.
[Items are listed from future to past in reverse chronological order]
October, 2007 – An eight-page interview with Bill Pieper is published in Conversations, Vol. 1 of the Rattlesnake Press Anthology Series. Also featured are the widely published poets D.R. Wagner and Ann Menebroker and the multi-genre poet/novelist Mary Mackey.
September, 2007 – Bill Pieper joins the board of Nevada County California’s premier literary organization, Literature Alive!, which stages a variety of events in conjunction with The Center for the Arts in Grass Valley. These include the annual Wordslingers Festival each fall and the nature-oriented Listening to the Wild in the spring. For more information, please see www.thecenterforthearts.org.
March, 2007 – The spring issue of the Rattlesnake Review publishes Bill Pieper's commissioned review of the documentary film I Began to Speak, a history of poetry in Sacramento, 1966 to the present.
January, 2007 – Ken Umbach, editor of the quarterly Pen & Press from the Northern California Publishers and Authors Association, gave GOMEZ a rave review. Starting with the words "Bill Pieper's Gomez, which I recently had the pleasure of reading, is a distinctive and engaging tale…", Ken ends with "Frankly, I doubt that any major publisher's catalogue carries a better novel." For more information, see www.norcalpa.org.
November 30, 2006 -- The Sacramento News & Review named GOMEZ one of their eleven gift picks for the holiday season. Under the droll headline Dick lit, here's what was said: "SN&R readers voted Bill Pieper Best Local Author this year, and we suspect the steamy mystery Gomez might have something to do with his popularity. Set in 1970s San Francisco and filled with historical touchstones from Annie Hall to Harvey Milk, the book plots an unstable love triangle hinged on a married woman with an Anais Nin fetish. This one's not for kids. Perfect for bookworms with a libido." In addition, Bill is quoted several times in the cover article about the film documentary I Began to Speak, by B.L. Kennedy and Linda Thorell, dealing with the history of local poetry, 1960 – 2006, and soon to premiere at Sacramento's Crest Theater.
September 28, 2006 – The Sacramento News & Review's annual "Best of" issue cites Bill Pieper on page 104 as Best Local Book Author, based on the late 2005 release of his San Francisco novel GOMEZ and the mid-year 2006 release of his Downieville novel BELONGING, each from a separate publisher.
September 18, 2006 – BELONGING, Bill Pieper's Downieville novel, was selected as the November title by the Sierra Oaks Book Club in Sacramento. He has also been invited to appear at the club's November 15 meeting and participate in their discussion of the book.
August 11, 2006 – The front page of the Auburn Sentinel featured a photo of Bill plus an interview and review of his novel BELONGING. Reporter Persia Woolley offered praise as follows: "One of the most gripping passages depicts a ne'er-do-well drunkard who comes to help dig a grave for the drowned boy the night before the funeral. The scene fumbles along for a page or two while the men jockey for pride and place, then in the space of three paragraphs becomes as anguished and primal as any Greek tragedy."
August 10, 2006 – The front page of The Mountain Messenger made further note of Bill Pieper's BELONGING, calling it "wildly popular" and saying a copy "should reside in every Sierra County household… The odd process of wringing out a community from disparate interests will be familiar to anyone with small town experience."
July 6, 2006 – In the Grass Valley Union's Prospector Section, BELONGING was touted as a "sizzling read for summertime" by reviewer Allison Jones-Pomatto, who also wrote that "Pieper is dead on in his descriptions of the area and what it means to belong."
July 6, 2006 – Page B1 of The Sacramento Bee carried a feature article and photo spread on Comstock Bonanza Press and Bill Pieper's BELONGING, the press's most recently published title. For the full text, please see: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14275203p-15084832c.html.
June 29, 2006 – The Mountain Messenger, California's oldest continuously published newspaper, gave BELONGING a lengthy and glowing review on page six, concluding with the words "…a thoughtful, well written examination of an era, a place and circumstances that don't come around all that often."
June 16, 2006 – Nevada City, California's highly regarded river-conservation quarterly, the Sierra Citizen, says of BELONGING, "Everything that makes the Sierra such a glorious environment is featured in these pages…mountain scenery, trout fishing, verdant forests, pristine rivers, gold mining, crusty characters, and unique traditions of honoring the land." In fact, the book is partly dedicated to "…the abiding spirit of the North Yuba River."
June 16, 2006 – In his Rattlesnake Review #10 piece on BELONGING, columnist B.L. Kennedy writes, "…a must-read…filled with insight and humor. Bill Pieper…never shortchanges the reader of contemporary American fiction and is unafraid to take chances."
Beginning in Summer 2006 – you can browse selected text and/or buy downloadable E-books of any Bill Pieper title, please visit http://books.google.com/books?q=Bill+Pieper&btnG=search+books. Browsing is free and Ebooks are only $5.95 each. Be sure to take a look.
June 15, 2006 – Bill Pieper's Sierra foothills novel BELONGING was published by Comstock Bonanza Press of Grass Valley, CA. Please see the Events page of this site for readings and appearances scheduled in support of this new title.
April 2006 – The Metro Section of the Sacramento Bee ran two articles highlighting Bill's work with poet B.L. Kennedy to expand public knowledge of Sacramento literary history from the Gold Rush to the present. Sacramento State University's College of Continuing Education (CCE) produced a street map researched by Pieper and Kennedy documenting the presence of twenty prominent personalities (Mark Twain, Herb Caen, Joan Didion, William Vollmann, etc.) and ten institutions shaping local literary culture. In addition, CCE sponsored a half-day class/tour on this subject taught by Pieper and Kennedy. Both the initial session on April 29 and a repeat on May 10 were sold out. (A third session is scheduled for September 23. Please see the Events page of this site for details as the date approaches.)
February 2006 – This month the San Francisco Public Library, the Sacramento Public Library and the Henry Miller Library at Big Sur added copies of Bill Pieper's novel GOMEZ to their collections.
January 27, 2006 – A large, appreciative crowd heard Bill Pieper read a chapter from his new novel GOMEZ last night at Luna's Café in Sacramento and responded by demanding an encore. Bill happily obliged and a good time was had by all.
Rattlesnake Review #8, Winter 2005-06, Pge 20 - Novel Gomez reviewed in the 418 BUZZ Column:
"Gomez is Bill Pieper's latest tome, which deals with a man who has many disguises. I found reading it to be a treat that will entertain anyone with a love of good literature. The novel, for the most part, is a lyrical exploration of identity and self-styled reincarnation, written with an attentive heart and mind. I often thought of some fantasy head-on collision between Philip K. Dick, Keith Abbott and Robert Anton Wilson. This novel has moxie. Its author impressed me with his deep explorations of identity culture and sexual culture in the out-of-synch world in which we all walk. I also found Gomez to be tightly constructed and a kick-ass read. Bill Pieper's novel touches its reader on many levels and, unlike other contemporary novels, maintains an original and interesting approach. I suggest readers of the 418 BUZZ check out his book for themselves, for Gomez is, in my opinion, a classic."
November 15, 2005 - Novel Gomez published and released to bookstores through Ingram Book Company.
Nov. 13, 2005 – GOMEZ LAUNCH PARTY DRAWS STANDING-ROOM-ONLY CROWD Midtown Sacramento's Book Collector store, long a popular poetry venue, was thronged out the door for the 4 p.m. launch of Bill Pieper's new novel Gomez. Pieper read from and discussed the story behind his book, lingering nearly two hours to sign copies for the line of buyers, which stretched even longer than the lines for food and drink.
Nov. 10, 2005 – Allen Pierleoni in the Sacramento Bee's Between the Lines column, features Bill Pieper and GOMEZ, "…Fact: Legendary erotic writers Henry Miller and Anais Nin met in Paris in 1931 and began a long love affair. Fiction: Pieper revives the couple and relocates them to freewheeling 1978 San Francisco…" |
