My latest novel, “The Dreamachine,” has hit bookshelves. I’ve long been fascinated with the device the book is named after. It is, indeed, a real device with a storied history—it has roots in the Beat Generation, and in a latter generation, some claim it was responsible for Kurt Cobain’s death. One can build a Dreamachine […]
The Books
The books of William Dickerson.
NO ALTERNATIVE: Project Semicolon
The issue of mental illness must be destigmatized. This is what compelled me to make “No Alternative” into a movie. My sister, Briana, was a victim of mental illness, and she fought against her illness with aplomb. She fought against it through her art—both painting and music. This battle in which she waged is something I […]
Why “Whiplash” Won an Oscar for Best Editing
whiplash (n): 1. the lash of a whip. 2. an abrupt snapping motion or change of direction resembling the lash of a whip. 3. a neck injury caused by a sudden jerking backward, forward, or both, of the head: “Whiplash resulted when their car was struck from behind.” Whiplash, written and directed by Damien Chazelle and edited […]
I SOLD MY JAG-STANG TO BUY A JAGUAR
But not any Jaguar, a scratch-specific replica of Kurt Cobain’s one-of-a-kind Fender Jaguar electric guitar he bought in a pawnshop in Los Angeles in 1991. Fender recently set about recreating Kurt’s guitar to the ding in their custom shop and rolling the product out on the 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s seminal and billboard-busting album, “Nevermind.” […]
NO ALTERNATIVE: “The Clarity of Regret”
I just completed my book tour. It was a great success, and also a heck of a lot of fun. I’m grateful to those bloggers who hosted my book and to Kriss and Kai of The Finishing Fairies for organizing the endeavor. On the tour, I released an exclusive clip from a reading I did […]
“NO ALTERNATIVE” – VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR
“NO ALTERNATIVE” is going on TOUR and we need FANS, GROUPIES and BAND-AIDS! It is perhaps fitting that a book about aspiring musicians is going on tour. I have been tasked to write a succession of blogs that will appear daily on a variety of cool sites over the course of the next two weeks. […]
BOOK REVIEW: "Kingdom" by Anderson O’Donnell
The asterisk – three lines intersecting, its limbs equidistant, enclosed in a circle – is not only a recurring symbol in Anderson O’Donnell’s novel, KINGDOM, but it is also the perfect visual metaphor for the overall theme Mr. O’Donnell is driving at in this impressive debut. On the surface, KINGDOM is a dystopian tale that […]
Publishers Weekly
I’m very excited to have “No Alternative” reviewed favorably by Publishers Weekly. http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-9851886-1-0 Thanks PW…it’s an honor!
Book Trailers
I’ve written & directed a few book trailers over the years, one of which was the successful preview for “The Four Fingers of Death” by Rick Moody. So I figured, hell I got the filmic resources (and God knows the time…us filmmakers in Los Angeles often find ourselves with a surplus of time at our […]