Sunday, June 30, 2013

Bug Man/Writer?


It's been a little over a month since I last stood before a classroom of teenagers and I've been wrangling for a job as a bug man. I jokingly told my students I was leaving teaching to become a bug man and now here we are. It looks like I may very well be on my way to becoming a bona fide bug man. There just might  be a book in this mid-life career change.  Make way for the bug man/writer. I'm narrowing my niche. How many bug man/writers who sell their books at auto repair shops and barber shops could there possibly be?

By the way, the  mouth parts of insects are divided into four categories: piercing and sucking, siphoning, sponging, and chewing. I know. I'm showing off, but I can't help it.

And you can order my books THE EIGHT-FINGERED CRIMINAL'S SON and THE SPIRIT GUIDE BAR by clicking on this link:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Spirit-Guide-William-Snyder/dp/1483924211

Thursday, June 20, 2013

tHE coMedY GuyS


I give you the COMEDY GUYS. The five of us did a lot of comedy in the 80s. But now we don't care what the temperature is. More often than not, we performed well past midnight, for a handful of drunks, at the smallest of small-time clubs of LA and Hollywood.  We had a few adventures. For example, we were with Rosanne Barr the night before she got her big break on the Tonight Show. I should clarify that when I say we "with" Rosanne Barr I mean to say we were having a beer with her. Our comedy careers all ended a couple of decades ago. We've all moved on with our day jobs audience members suggested we refrain from quitting. One of us is a TV news cameraman, another is an airplane engineer, one of us is some kind of rocket scientist, another is a school district muckety-muck, and the last just quit his teaching job to write books and find a better direction in life and is writing this little blog entry when he really should be seeking for gainful employment.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

THE JUNE 8th SPIRIT GUIDE BAR REaDING AT THE BOOK FROG



These  photographs were taken by the talented writer/photographer Bryan Frank.
Find out more about Bryan's photography and writing here: http://coolshots.blogspot.com/2013/06/to-biker.html?spref=fb
Bryan and I have been good friends since 1981. That's...a long time.

My wife, four of my five daughters, four grandbabies, and a whole lot of old friends, classmates, neighbors and colleagues filled up that little book store.


Like any other red blooded American author, my pre reading routine includes a hard slap across the face. Really gets the blood flowing. Man it's the only way to go. The young man behind the hand is Adam Rodriguez.


This was my third Book Frog reading. Bookstore owner Pete Ledesma always takes care of me. Pete's a writer, stand-up comic, radio DJ, musician, and former teacher. Man, he does everything but sell popcorn.


It was a good crowd, upwards of 60 people and they even laughed at the funny parts.



 

 

 
 

 

 




I read three selections from Spirit Guide. I even had something for the kids, a detailed description of an exceptionally painful vasectomy procedure at the hands of a man hating lady doctor.

Here's my Camia Frank, an up and coming LA writer.





That's Kerry Anderson of the Groundlings improve troupe. Her son William the Kid is in the middle. And that's film maker Eric Tozzi. Eric worked with Ray Bradbury to produce a film version of the Bradbury short story "Kaleidoscope." It's a great little film.
In the background is Margie Galindo Lopez. We went to school together from first grade through high school. We hadn't seen each other since 1978. Margie informed me that when her young children asked what BS really meant she told them it meant Bill Snyder.  She said that even her husband has been known to say, "Awe, that's a bunch of Bill Snyder."


Here are a few members of Hawthorne, California's Frink family. Debbie, on the left, has been singing in the Saint Joseph church choir since the 60s. Debbie and the Frink ladies gave me a lot of scoop on the history of Hawthorne and Saint Joseph's Church that would have come in handy when I was writing The Spirit Guide Bar.


Here's the man who convinced me to publish my writing. He is the face behind CACTUS SURF BOOKS. He's Clif the Lawyer. I call him Clif the Lawyer because he's a dentist.


Here's yours truly with three Saint Joe's Catholic School vets.


We sold a whole mess of books.
It was a good day.