ABOUT THE BOOK
These poems leave no doubt in our minds that the poet is a great artist and poet by birth. The poet's mastery of words is remarkable and incomparable. All these poems reveal the concrete and artistic expression of the poet's various moods and emotions.
Book Details:
Title: Cocktails with a Dead Man
Author: Joe Albanese
Genre: Poetry Collection
Publisher: Cyberwit.net (Jan 15, 2019)
Print length: 106 pages
LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH JOE ALBANESE
A few of your favorite things: My family. Awww…nothing?
Things you need to throw out: Not throw out, but last week I donated a bunch of books. I got rid of half, but had to hold on to a lot. I need to donate them too.
Things you need in order to write: Time.
Things that hamper your writing: Unwanted noise.
Things you love about writing: You start with nothing, then create an entire world. There are no rules. Well there are, but most of them can be broken.
Things you hate about writing: Once you hit that spot where you have no idea where to go, the work stops. There’s no progress, not even a little. You hope you can claw out of it, and most of the time you do, but you’re never really sure you will.
Easiest thing about being a writer: I make my own hours, so I can get out of social situations by saying I need to do work. It’s a lie, I never work.
Hardest thing about being a writer: No guarantees, but I guess it’s that way with most jobs. Just different.
Things you love about where you live: I get every season. Sometimes too much of a season, but it’s easier to appreciate the nicer days. I live in a small enough town, with Philadelphia only twenty minutes away. So I get a little of both worlds.
Things that make you want to move: Sometimes it feels like there’s nothing to do around here. There actually always is, but I never want to do any of it, so it’s not like that would change if I moved. I convince myself things would be different.
Things you never want to run out of: Love. Awww… still nothing?
Things you wish you’d never bought: DVDs. That technology got outdated fast. I don’t even think I own a DVD player, but I own a ton of DVDs.
Words that describe you: Well my psychiatrist says I’m—wait, what?
Words that describe you but you wish they didn’t: Needy. Insecure. Paranoid. Obsessive.
Favorite foods: I’m in the middle of a stomach bug and spent the first half of today vomiting, so no food sounds good right now.
Things that make you want to throw up: I’d say my own writing, but I don’t think my publishers would appreciate me insulting the work they invested in.
Favorite music or song: I like like most music, but say ambient music to be different. I’ll say my favorite song, currently, is Njosnavelin by Sigur Ros. That will probably change as soon as I hear a different song.
Music that make your ears bleed: Not all, but most country and rap.
Favorite beverage: Well since my book title references alcohol, my favorite alcoholic beverage is a Tom Collins, though vodka and Red Bull gets me to my destination fastest.
Something that gives you a pickle face: No clue. Side note: don’t Google “pickle face.”
Favorite smell: A bag of fast food.
Something that makes you hold your nose: Oh, many, many foods.
Something you’re really good at: Interviews, am I right?
Something you’re really bad at: Liking myself.
Something you wish you could do: Be better at predicting lottery numbers.
Something you wish you’d never learned to do: Procrastinate.
Something you like to do: Watch sports. Only pro teams. If they’re not getting paid millions of dollars, I don’t care.
Something you wish you’d never done: It would take less time to say the things I’m glad I’ve done.
Last best thing you ate: Sour fruit snacks.
Last thing you regret eating: Whatever made its way through my nasal passages when I vomited earlier.
Things you’d walk a mile for: Exercise.
Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: My reflection.
Things you always put in your books: A crumpled up bookmark in the wrong spot because my nephews insist on taking it out constantly and crushing it.
Things you never put in your books: I don’t dog-ear them anymore.
Things to say to an author: Where I can I buy your book, handsome?
Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: Have you written anything I would know?
Favorite places you’ve been: Disney is my go-to.
Places you never want to go to again: High school.
Favorite book: I usually say A Clockwork Orange. I feel the least bad about saying that one.
Books you would ban: Books better than mine. So most.
People you’d like to invite to dinner: Tom Hanks. Andrew W.K. They just seem like delightful people.
People you’d cancel dinner on: Insert politician you disagree with.
Favorite things to do: Sleep.
Things you’d run through a fire wearing gasoline pants to get out of doing: Like most writers, writing.
Things that make you happy: Sleep.
Things that drive you crazy: When someone takes something out of the microwave before the timer goes off, so instead of the time, the display says two seconds.
Most embarrassing moment: Nice try.
Proudest moment: Yet to come.
Biggest lie you’ve ever told: I’m fine.
A lie you wish you’d told: I’m fine.
Best thing you’ve ever done: Be nice to people.
Biggest mistake: Be not nice to people.
Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Looking in the mirror sometimes takes more guts than you’d think.
Something you chickened out from doing: Asking a girl out I like.
The last thing you did for the first time: Gotten a poetry book published!
Something you’ll never do again: Well, I hope I never throw up again.
OTHER BOOKS BY JOE ALBANESE
Caina
Smash and Grab
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joe Albanese is a writer from South Jersey. His short fiction, nonfiction, and poetry can be found in publications across the U.S. and in ten other countries. Joe's novel, Caina, and his novella, Smash and Grab, were published in 2018. His poetry collection, Cocktails with a Dead Man, was published in 2019.
Connect with Joe:
Twitter | Goodreads
Buy the book:
Amazon
