Big Ups, Myron McVeigh!

A fellow named Myron McVeigh is the latest member of our tattoo club. Myron got inked by Katie Sellergren of Mt Idy Tattoo in Montrose, Iowa.

"My name is Myron McVeigh. I am 31 years old and enjoy nature and reading. I was born and raised in Iowa. I also build acoustic guitars as a hobby. You can see some of my work on my facebook page, Facebook.com/woodenguitars. I work for a heating and air company doing custom Sheet metal. I enjoy moonshine and appalachian folklore. I also collect tattoos. I have decided to join the tattoo club because I enjoy books and have enjoyed Two Dollar radio's books thus far. Plus it's a good excuse to get a tattoo!"

Big Ups, Dan Smith!

"My name is Dan Smith and I am from Seattle, WA. I work for the City of Redmond and recently graduated from Washington State University. I served in the Marine Corps for six years prior to settling with my wife and our son in the Seattle suburb of Lake Stevens, WA. With all of the rainy days we have here in the northwest, I always seem to find myself curled up with a book from Two Dollar Radio.

"I first heard about Two Dollar Radio from my older cousin, Joshua Mohr. While we did not spend a lot of time together growing up (He is much older than I), I have always had a great deal of respect for him. Also, I must admit, a little envious of his musical and literary talents. Since the publishing of Some Things That Meant The World To Me, I have told anyone that will listen about his astute abilities to craft an imaginative tale. With the tattoo club, I think there is no better way to get out there and spread the word about all of the great literary works available from Two Dollar. With the publishing of Damascus, I felt it was time to put words into action and get my radio tat!

"I had this tattoo drawn up and inked in by Richard Choptij of Tattoo Nemesis in Lake Stevens, WA. It took a little longer than expected to heal, but worth the wait! Now life truly is looking bright and sunny... Now if only I could win the lotto."

Big Ups, Caleb Ward!

A warm welcome to the 13th member of our tattoo club, Caleb Ward. Caleb got his tattoo at Port City Tattoo Co. in Wilmington, NC, from "Little" Brian Leebrick, who has to be thinking these radio tattoos are good for business.

According to Caleb:
I'm a twenty-year-old junior at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. I'm a double major in both English Literature and Film Studies. I was just recently published for the first time and can't wait to see what the future holds. Two Dollar Radio is not only the reason why I'm planning to conquer the world, but it's also a great publishing house.

Big Ups, Brad Wojak!

Really happy to have as the 12th member of the tattoo club, Brad Wojak. We have listed in our criteria that we won't ship books internationally for the club, and Brad lives in Canada. But he sent us a really nice note and he seems like good people, so we agreed to make an exception for him. Tattoo courtesy of Art House Inc in Calgary.

In Brad's own words:
"I have worked in bookstores since I was in High School, and except for a brief decade when I also worked as bartender (to help pay the rent), I really don't know anything else besides books. I am super excited to join the Two-Dollar Radio tattoo club, as I hope it will provide an example to my 3 year-old daughter that you should always follow your passions."

Big Ups, Casey Jordan Mills

Big ups to Casey Jordan Mills, the latest member of our tattoo club!

Casey was inked by "Little" Brian Leebrick at Port City Tattoo Company in Wilmington, North Carolina.

In his own words:
"My name is Casey Jordan Mills. I live in Wilmington, North Carolina. I am a rising junior at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington. I am studying English Literature, Creative Nonfiction, and Journalism. I get tattooed at Port City Tattoo Co. in Wilmington. I support Veganism, a drug free lifestyle, and Two Dollar Radio."

Thanks for the support. As a member of the tattoo club Casey gets free Two Dollar Radio books for life.

Big Ups, Kyle Pratt

A gentleman named Kyle Pratt has recently gotten himself a new tattoo.

Here's Kyle himself on the process:

"I currently live in western Massachusetts and am studying English as an undergrad. I first heard about Two Dollar Radio through a guy who read part of Grace Krilanovich’s The Orange Eats Creeps aloud in my creative writing class. He was so giddy about it, about what the book was doing and the kind of books Two Dollar Radio was publishing. I was intrigued. He also suggested Joshua Mohr’s Some Things That Meant the World to Me.

"Well, I picked up Mohr’s book a few days later, and here were some of my thoughts while reading: does this novel really have a male main character named Rhonda? Did he just hug that bag of pruno? Hold on, there’re multiple Rhondas in this novel? I’m sold. I hadn’t read anything quite like it, but I wanted more.

"Later, while poking around your website a bit, I found this business about the tattoo. I liked the design and I liked the books, so why not? I had already been considering a tattoo, and what better one than this?

"It took me roughly 6 months before I finally got my radio. My friend’s girlfriend — who is a tattoo artist near where I live — did it for me. The pain was considerably less than I had imagined. (Worth it.) The tattoo has also generated multiple conversations, so that the rate at which I interact with other human beings has improved dramatically. My new life begins now."

Big Ups, Mike Brezinski!

Mike Brezinski says it best himself:

"the first time i heard of two dollar radio was while browsing htmlgiant. i noticed that there were a lot of posts devoted to a book with a really weird title and amazing jacket art. shortly after, upon reading reviews and excerpts, my book club friends and i decided to read the orange eats creeps. grace krilanovich punched me directly in the throat and i couldn't have been happier.

"a friend of mine (also in book club) told me about the promotion and, well...yeah. here we are. i'm excited to read more of what y'all have published.

"a couple things: yes, that is a burning man tattoo. yes, the placement of the radio is kind of a nod to say anything. no, i've never actually seen the movie. i'm kind of weird like that, i guess.

"the tattoo was done by my friend mikey vigilante (who also, coincidentally enough, executed sanjay bisht's tattoo) at our friend sean's place in the mission district of san francisco."

Big ups, Mike.

Big Ups, Debbie Paredes!

Big ups to Debbie Paredes, the latest member of our tattoo subscription club!

Debbie, out of Vacaville, CA, who "loves peanut butter and drawing," gets extra credit for getting it done grande, making the boys look like wusses (I'm including myself in with the wusses with my baby wrist tat -- although it could be argued that the inside of the wrist was a pretty painful spot).

Welcome to the fam, Deb.

Big Ups, Sanjay Bisht

Apparently we belong on the West Coast. I feel like it would be kinda like the Bee Girl finding all those other Bee People in the Blind Melon video for 'No Rain.' We lived in San Diego for two years and are often haunted by the urge to return.

Here's another West Coast-er who has gotten the TDR tat, Sanjay Bisht out of San Francisco. I think Shawn Mitchell, of Carbondale, IL, is the only one not stationed on the left coast who has gotten the tattoo.

From Sanjay: "After touching down in the middle of the delta blues in the middle of the pouring rain, I went to sit in the dock of the bay, and ran into my teenage hobo vampire junkie friends. We sucked down GK's Orange Eats Creeps, and craved more Two Dollar Radio blood and hence the tattoo!"

Big Ups, Brian Manning

Here's a guy named Brian Manning out of Portland, Oregon, who heard about our Tattoo Subscription offer (get a Two Dollar Radio-logo tattoo, get TDR books for free for life) from the MobyLives blog.

Brian claims to have a video, so you may be seeing that sometime soon . . .

Big Ups, Shawn Mitchell

Shawn Mitchell done got inked up in November, and while we've had his pic up in our virtual wall of fame since then, I'm just now getting around to posting a note to this here blog.

Shawn is "pursuing my MFA in fiction at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. I contribute to the Fiction Writers Review, and my fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Torpedo, NANO Fiction, and Crafty Magazine. This bio sounds so formal compared to the others. I like your books. I like your colophon. I'm looking forward to having both around."

You should also lay your eyeballs upon this often hilarious interview Shawn did largely concerning his tattoo with Fiction Advocate.

Jason Jefferies: Iron Man

Big ups, Jason Jefferies, our newest lifetime subscription holder. Jason got inked up by Steven at Artful Tattoo in San Francisco, California, smack on the bicep.

Above are some pictures of Jason's tat and the fingers of an employee of Artful Tattoo.

In Jason's own words: "I am a writer/professional reader here in downtown San Francisco. I love your books, and I love radios that are too loud to ignore, so I think we have a win/win situation on our hands."

As a lifetime/tattoo subscription holder, Jason will get every book we ever publish.

Cory Bennet: Iron Man

We've got a new 'Iron Man' and he goes by the name of Cory Bennet. Cory hails from Vacaville, Cal-i-for-ni-a, and got himself inked up by Jeremy Bolding at Electric Voodoo Tattoo.

Per the Iron Man, himself: "I'm a four time college dropout who loves to skateboard and read, and get tattoos of awesome publishing houses."

Nice to see the tat prominently featured beside 'Shit.'

Big ups, Cory B. As the tattoo subscription stipulates, Cory will receive every book we ever publish.

Kevin Thomas: Iron Man

Kevin Thomas is our first 'Iron Man,' who will be receiving an almost free lifetime subscription of books -- every book we've published plus every book we will publish. Forever.

I say "almost" free because he had to tattoo the Two Dollar Radio radio on his body. Inked by Lisa at Icon Tattoo in Portland.

Kevin is an unemployed cartoonist living in western Washington. So the free books should help. Last year he started a webcomic called Horn Comix Supplement that recently turned into a biweekly book review for The Rumpus, everyone's favorite books and culture site. Check out his work -- it's pretty rad.

Kevin will be the first member of a virtual plaque on the wall that we have yet to create, which will be special for lifetime subscription holders. Some light-website lifting will likely take place, but be prepared.