I had my wife take some promo pictures of the new book.
Category: Uncategorized
Civilianized: A Young Veteran’s Memoir: Publicity Round UP
Here’s a round up of some of the publicity that my newest book: Civilianized: A Young Veteran’s Memoir, has received so far.
It’s a hard, sometimes difficult, tedious task, promoting and marketing a book, but it’s an important topic that I think has the opportunity to help a lot of veterans, so I’m going to keep trucking away…
Kate Tuttle, writing for the Boston Globe, wrote about Civilianized for her The Story Behind the Book column. She interviewed me about the writing process of the book and how it came about.
Kelly Lynn Thomas, writing for the Rumpus, did a write up for her This Week in Books column. She discussed the importance of war memoirs and war writing.
Litpick (a website made of high school book reviewers) posted a nice Youtube video review of the book on their booktube page, and a quick six question interview appeared on their website.
David Abrams, author of Fobbit, and owner of the blog The Quivering Pen, was nice enough to allow me to do a guest post of his “My First Time Experience,” where I shared a story about getting my first book deal.
20SomethingReads had a nice review of Civilianized that was posted today. Check it out if you get a chance.
Also, a few NPR radio interviews, but I don’t have the clips to those yet.
More to come soon, and if you have any tips/ideas for ways to spread the word about the book and the issues it discusses, please shoot me an email.
LitPick – BookTube Review of Civilianized: A Young Veteran’s Memoir
A quick Booktube review of my newest book: Civilianized: A Young Veteran’s Memoir.
Porter Square Book Talk — Civilianized: A Young Veteran’s Memoir
If you’re in the Boston area tomorrow: January 5th, 2017, I’ll be doing a book talk, reading and Q & A at Porter Square books in Boston. I’ll be talking about my newest book: Civilianized: A Young Veteran’s Memoir.
Time: 7:00pm – 8:30pm.
Address:PORTER SQUARE BOOKS, 25 WHITE ST, CAMBRIDGE, MA 02140 | 617-491-2220 |
About:
I’ll be part of a Q & A with Chris Walsh, a distinguished writer, scholar and teacher from the Boston area. We’ll be discussing: War, PTSD, Reintegration, and the Writing Process.
Print up from Porter Square books:
“Anthony navigates the dark side of a veteran’s homecoming with honesty, skill, and even a touch of humor. Prepare to be disturbed and entertained in equal measures.” – Brian Castner, author of The Long Walk
After twelve months of military service in Iraq, Michael Anthony stepped off a plane, seemingly happy to be home or at least back on US soil. He was twenty-one years old, a bit of a nerd, and carrying a pack of cigarettes that he thought would be his last. Two months later, Michael was stoned on Vicodin, drinking way too much, and picking a fight with a very large Hell’s Angel. Civilianized is a memoir chronicling Michael’s search for meaning in a suddenly destabilized world.
Michael Anthony is a writer and veteran of the Iraq War. He spent six years in the army reserves, with a sixteen-month deployment—twelve months in Iraq—where he served as an operating room technician. After his service in Iraq, he earned a BA in English literature from Bridgewater State University, and an MFA in creative writing from Lesley University.
Coward. It’s a grave insult, likely to provoke anger, shame, even violence. But what exactly is cowardice? Bringing together sources from court-martial cases to literary and film classics such as Dante’s Inferno, The Red Badge of Courage, and The Thin Red Line, Cowardice recounts the great harm that both cowards and the fear of seeming cowardly have done, and traces the idea of cowardice’s power to its evolutionary roots. But Chris Walsh also shows that this power has faded, most dramatically on the battlefield. Misconduct that earlier might have been punished as cowardice has more recently often been treated medically, as an adverse reaction to trauma, and Walsh explores a parallel therapeutic shift that reaches beyond war, into the realms of politics, crime, philosophy, religion, and love.
Yet, as Walsh indicates, the therapeutic has not altogether triumphed–contempt for cowardice endures, and he argues that such contempt can be a good thing. Courage attracts much more of our attention, but rigorously understanding cowardice may be more morally useful, for it requires us to think critically about our duties and our fears, and it helps us to act ethically when fear and duty conflict.
Chris Walsh is Interim Director of the College of Arts and Sciences Writing Program at Boston University, where he teaches classes focused on the poetry of war. Walsh has also taught at Emerson College and the University of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), and he is currently teaching “The War Memoir” at the Harvard University Extension School. His work has appeared in Civil War History, Foreign Affairs, the New Republic, The New York Times, Salon, and The Yale Review, among other places.
Event date:
Thursday, January 5, 2017 – 7:00pm
Event address:
Porter Square Books
25 White St.
Cambridge, MA 02140
Thought for the Day – Miguel de Cervantes
My newest book Civilianized is released today. This quote felt appropriate for the release of a new book; a quote that I’m sure every writer needs to remind themselves of.
The Quivering Pen: My First Time
If you want to hear about how I got my first book deal, check out my article on The Quivering Pen (the blog of acclaimed writer David Abrams).
Link: The Quivering Pen: My First Time: Michael Anthony
Sales Pitch for the New Book…
I’ve been thinking about a few ways to pitch the new book. Here’s a couple I’m working on, shoot me an email and let me know which one you think works the best.
The Sales Pitch
In this dark humored War Memoir, Iraq veteran Michael Anthony discusses his return home from war and how he turned to the Pick-Up Artist Community to help defeat his PTSD.
“An intense memoir.” -Kirkus
“I wont soon forget this book.” -Mary Roach
“A must read.” -Colby Buzzell
The Sales Pitch
If you’re interesting in a book about an Iraq veteran who tries to cure his PTSD by becoming a PUA then pick up a copy of my newest book: Civilianized: A Young Veteran’s Memoir. Available at your local bookseller and all your online book retailers.
I don’t know though, it’s hard pitching a book and trying to capture it. Even the above doesn’t do it justice. In reality, it’s just a good book that any veteran who’s ever struggled will understand, relate to, and get something out of. And/or if you have a significant other or friend who’s a veteran who’s struggled with things, it’s a book that will help you understand things a little better. I guess that’s what I’m trying to say, but more elegantly though, you know?
Civilianized: Book Endorsements
Here are a few of the endorsements that Civilianized has received so far:
Praise
“Civilianized has the introspection of a literary memoir and the narrative momentum of a novel.”
–Booklist
“[T]his at-times darkly comic memoir serves as an important reminder of the human cost of America’s involvement in overseas conflicts. . . An intense memoir.”
–Kirkus Reviews
“Michael Anthony writes with emotional clarity, dark wit, and unpremeditated honestly. But what stayed with me most, I think, were the quiet punches to the gut: That to kill oneself, one must not only feel like dying, but also like killing, and the feelings could not be farther apart. That what messed with him the most was not the brutality of his foes but the moral bankruptcy of certain commanders. That it is not so much the intensity of combat that derails a soldier but the flatness of its absence. I won’t soon forget this book.”
–Mary Roach,
Author of Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War and Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
“Michael Anthony’s Civilianized howls with hard-earned wisdom. An unflinching story of homecoming and the after-war, Anthony has been to the brink and back. He writes with both soul and candor, and for that, contemporary war literature is in his debt.”
–Matt Gallagher,
Author of Youngblood and Kaboom: Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War
“Anthony navigates the dark side of a veteran’s homecoming with honestly, skill, and even a touch of humor. Prepare to be disturbed and entertained in equal measure.”
–Brian Castner,
Author of The Long Walk and All the Ways We Kill and Die
“In this tender memoir Civilianized, returning Iraq war veteran Michael Anthony hurls us into the raw, moral betrayals of war and the awful moral dislocation of coming home. At times hilarious, at other times harrowingly sad, Anthony’s memoir screams out at us to pay attention to the needs of our veterans.”
–Nancy Sherman,
Author of Afterwar: Healing the Moral Wounds of our Soldiers and Untold War: Inside the Hearts, Minds, and Souls of our Soldiers
“Important and essential, CIVILIANIZED is an unflinching look at the dark hell of reintegration. Michael Anthony’s personal story provides us with a deeper understanding of the war that many of us post 9/11 veterans face alone when returning home. A must read.”
–Colby Buzzell,
Author of My War: Killing Time in Iraq and Thank You for Being Expendable
NEW BOOK!!!
Hey Everyone! I wanted to let you know that my new book is officially for sale and available for Pre-Order.
The title is: Civilianized: A Young Veteran’s Memoir. It’s a story about my homecoming from Iraq and some of the struggles I faced (though it’s a bit darker, and funnier than it might sound/seem). Here’s the text from the jacket:
“After twelve months of military service in Iraq, Michael Anthony stepped off a plane, seemingly happy to be home–or at least back on US soil. He was twenty-one years old, a bit of a nerd, and carrying a pack of cigarettes that he thought would be his last. Two weeks later, Michael was stoned on Vicodin, drinking way too much, and picking a fight with a very large Hell’s Angel. At his wit’s end, he came to an agreement with himself: If things didn’t improve in three months, he was going to kill himself. Civilianized is a memoir chronicling Michael’s search for meaning in a suddenly destabilized world.”
Pick up a copy today!
Why U.S. Veterans Are Returning From The Wars And Flocking To The Pick Up Artist Community
The term Pick Up Artist or PUA community may sound ordinary and uninteresting to many people; thus, you may wonder why U.S. war veterans are flocking to these groups or sites. What makes this group different from others, and what does it have to offer for U.S. veterans in particular?
What is the PUA community?
The Pick Up Artist community is a seduction society that was established by men, whose main objective was to learn how to successfully seduce or attract women, and create sexual encounters or relationships with them.
Why would veterans returning from war go to the PUA Community?
As expected, soldiers who have been deployed to war zones may spend some eight to 18 months in the field. This separation from their normal day-to-day routine in a peaceful home and community has surely affected their ability to relate with others, especially with the opposite sex. Therefore, the major reason why U.S. veterans go to PUA communities is to be aided in their emotional and psychological expression.
Coping with relationship with their spouses. Lack of physical, emotional, and social communication with their wives or partners could make these former soldiers feel inadequate. They need coaching as to how to win their partners back. The PUA community’s role is to teach them the techniques to be in control of their emotions and restore their self-confidence in relating to their spouses or sexual partners.
Search for sexual relief and lasting relationships. A number of those men who go to war are in their late teens or have just finished high school and may not have experienced a serious relationship with women prior to their deployment. Like the married guys, they also lack the self-confidence to attract or start a relationship with women. Some may even have no knowledge in relating with the opposite sex at all. Going to the PUA community can boost their male prowess and teach them how to make the first move and win girls.
Be in touch with reality and be back to some kind of “normal” status. A community that shares and understands their struggles and needs will surely benefit war veterans. Once they know that they are not alone, they begin to learn to trust again and let go of inhibitions that were developed during their overseas assignment.
What are the techniques taught by the PUA community?
The techniques that Pick Up Artists suggest are based on psychologically proven steps in winning the opposite sex, namely: attraction; comfort and trust; and seduction and sex.
- Building attraction. Men are mentored as to how to appear and behave appealingly, to be sure of themselves, to start interesting conversations, and other related tips.
- Increasing comfort and trust. The next step is to establish rapport. Making the other person feel comfortable in your presence would eventually lead them to trust you. This way, one can have successive encounters that may lead to a more intimate relationship.
- Improving seduction and sex techniques and strategies. The veterans are taught or reminded about tips for successful sexual encounters, such as: how to be a good kisser; how to use touch effectively; how to motivate each other for sex; as well as topics for conversation and other related matters.
Conclusion
Reports show that the PUA communities have been met with opposition by feminists because they are reputed to be misogynists. Men are conditioned to believe that women are more challenged when they are treated or spoken to negatively, and that women are willing to be manipulated by men at a certain stimulus. However negative PUAs may be considered, they have filled a gap in the veterans’ lives that no other community can provide or has provided so far.
It is the concept of a community wherein they are understood and can freely express their inadequacy, learn from the PUA’s and from their peers, realize that they can be successful in seduction and sex, and to some extent, be brought back to reality and normal life with some help from pick up artists, that makes this group effective and attractive to many U.S. veterans.
P.S.
Now, having said that, there are definitely a lot of weirdo’s in the PUA “scene,” and if a veteran gets in with the wrong crowd, things can definitely head down a dark and narrow path. Message me if you’re interested in some of the organizations that I would and would not recommend!
The Sales Pitch
In this dark humored War Memoir, Iraq veteran Michael Anthony discusses his return home from war and how he turned to the Pick-Up Artist Community to help defeat his PTSD.
“An intense memoir.” -Kirkus
“I wont soon forget this book.” -Mary Roach
“A must read.” -Colby Buzzell