My book's out now

You can now order my book on Amazon.

In the next month or so there will be copies available in area Barnes & Noble stores and Foodtowns. (How awesome is it to get a book into grocery stores? So totally freakin' badass and awesome.)

I've done a good amount of readings in NYC lately and I'm hoping to arrange a few in Jersey soon. For event information and to learn more about the book, visit my writing site.

Why pick on all of Keansburg?

The APP ran the following story today about the Keanburg Board of Ed meeting following the revelation of the Barbara Trzeszkowski buy-out fiasco:

Despite furor, no crowd at school board meeting

I call shenanigans.

Once you get into the story, you realize that there was indeed a packed house at the board meeting. Folks just didn't wait 2 1/2 hours for the board to get out of executive session and many left. Of course, the APP reporters had to stay there the entire time to get a story. (Though, not surprisingly, Courier reporters had no problem getting the school board prez's statement on a YouTube video before the meeting even began.)

I'm sure the APP reporters were none too pleased to sit around an auditorium all night waiting to get a story. However, that's their problem, not Keansburg's.

Any reporter worth his or her salt would have had enough contacts built up in the Bayshore and thus had an idea what was going to happen that night before it did. There is no reason to insinuate that the entire town doesn't give a damn what happens in their school system by publishing a tantrum-like response to a wasted few hours.

Based on my experience covering the Bayhore, I'd say the typical Keansburg resident is more involved and more knowledgeable than wealthier folks in bedroom communities.

The APP owes Keansburg an apology.

Buy my book

I deliberately try to avoid mixing my literary endeavors with my Monmouth ramblings, but I have a book coming out and I owe my publisher some half-way decent local promotion.

My short story collection, The Suburban Swindle, is now available for pre-order direct from my publisher. The official publication date will be in the fall but copies ordered from the publisher should start shipping in a couple months.

Here are blurbs about the book:

"Sharp, bold, and deeply affecting, Jackie Corley's stories are like poetry made from the gritty stuff of hard-scrabble life. Dead garden snakes and forgotten video games, gravestone statues that seem to dance in the night: in Corley's able hands, the mundane, even the ugly, are transformed. The young men and women who struggle through her slim, piercing collection, stay with you long after you've finished reading; tough-talking and scarred, tattooed and tender, they search Corley's dirty, sparkling New Jersey streets for something always just out of reach.

"A fiercely original debut. Corley is a talent to watch."
-Scott Snyder, author of Voodoo Heart

"Finally a 20-something author who is neither precious nor coddled. Finally a young writer who writes about life as it actually is instead of some trust fund prick's fantasy of America. Jackie Corley is almost completely alone among the new set of writers in that she is actually telling stories about real humans. And she is telling them well, with the kind of immediacy that most young writers have had beaten out of them in MFA factories. Corley is original and unforgiving. I cannot say enough about Jackie Corley. She doesn't flinch. Read this book."
-Ian Spiegelman, author Welcome to Yesterday and Everyone's Burning

"I am tempted to compare Jackie Corley's writing to a strong cup of coffee. It wakes you up, it gets you addicted, and sometimes it's burning hot. Or I could say it's like whiskey--it's strong, it blurs your vision, and gives you the guts to face the hard truths and bitter pains of life. But forget about those liquid comparisons, because Corley's work is solid! The Suburban Swindle unleashes a new, bold, American voice that you'd be foolish to ignore."
-Kevin Sampsell, author of Creamy Bullets

NY Times takes Chris Christie down a notch or two

Check out today's New York Times article.

Here are some choice excerpts:

In 2002, when Mr. Christie’s office won an indictment against the Essex County executive, James Treffinger, a popular Republican, he was not permitted to surrender like most elected officials who find themselves in similar circumstances. Instead, Mr. Treffinger, who was about to begin a campaign for the United States Senate, was arrested at gunpoint and spent more than six hours in handcuffs and leg shackles. ...

But politicians and lawyers involved in the corruption case say that they knew that an informant had secretly recorded Mr. Treffinger making a vulgar derogatory comment about Mr. Christie’s hulking frame, and some former Treffinger aides contend that his harsh treatment was a payback.

Okay, the guy apparently doesn't like people picking on his weight. Got it.

Mr. Christie’s critics say he well knows the political damage a candidate can suffer from even the specter of an investigation. When he ran for freeholder in the mid-1990s, he was sued for defamation for falsely accusing a political opponent of being the target of a criminal inquiry. Mr. Christie ultimately offered a public apology as part of a settlement.

Remind me again how a lawyer with little criminal law or trial experience who had to settle a defamation case winds up Jersey's U.S. attorney?

This isn't a knock on the fact that Christie has locked up dozens upon dozens of angry pols. I'd just never heard the defamation case part of the story before, which I think is somewhat, like, important since he's someone who is supposed to be upholding the law in the middle of a highly politicized environment.

DWI legislator

The Star-Ledger has a solid editorial lambasting the Statehouse and Gov. Corzine for approving a measure to rename Route 23 for former Congressman Robert Roe.

Roe, who ironically served on the House Transportation Committee, caused a drunk driving accident in 1993 shortly after retiring from Congress.

You'd think this one would be a no-brainer.

Should Kyrillos run for Senate?

PolitickerNJ.com posted a poll and 38% of those who took it said they wanted to see Joe Kyrillos run for U.S. Senate.

I can't wait to see him go for it.

Comment to Abe

I wrote this comment on Honest Abe's blog, but I thought it was worth reposting:

William A. Newell said...
This might have something to do with that thing about getting Romney delegates on the June primary ballot.

I think that issue is over with unless Romney un-suspends his campaign, which isn't going to happen.

I wouldn't mind seeing Kyrillos enter the Senate race, just for the public scrutiny factor.

Keep in mind, I was barely 22 years old and two months on the job as a reporter when I dug up that info on the Matawan-Aberdeen Train Station project.

What do you think a seasoned opposition researcher is going to find?

IMHO, the APP has been relatively gentle with Kyrillos over the years. Understandably so: they're unwilling to go after Republicans in the Statehouse unless absolutely necessary, since Statehouse Dems have shown no means of being able to restrain themselves from spending.

But if any serious ethical questions or conflicts of interest are brought up during the course of a statewide campaign, I think the APP will be the ones to jump up and cut him down. They like to tend to their own backyard.

It's not going away

Less than an hour after Mitt Romney suspended his campaign, PolitickerNJ.com reported that Adam Puharic wants Joe Kyrillos to run for U.S. Senate.

Just a reminder, please enjoy your Joe Kyrillos literature. Read it now, read it in November. It'll still be here.