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DC TRIVIA CONTEST: WE HAVE A … TIE!?!: Thanks for the flood of entries in our Dennis Cooper Trivia Contest. They came in from all over the world, even from some countries where DC’s books haven’t been translated yet! Some of the questions were pretty difficult, as some of you were unafraid to tell us, but there was only one question that nobody answered correctly (#6), so we don’t think we were too hard on you.

So we’re going to announce the four run off candidates, followed by the names of the top ten runners up. Runners up don’t win anything, sorry, but these ten non-winners came close enough that we think they deserve some kind of recognition as particularly knowledgeable fans. Many entrants didn’t provide us with their names. In those cases, we will identify you by the name on your email address (but not the domain part, don’t worry). But before we announce our near-winners and worthy also rans, here are the correct answers to the trivia questions. (Scroll down to last month’s news to see the questions themselves):

1. Answer: Robert Bresson. Bonus answer: ‘The Devil, Probably’ (Le Diable Problement).
2. Answer: ‘Wrong’ (the Serpents Tail, UK edition, to be technical about it). Bonus answer: Christian Bale’s foot.
3. Answer: We thought the answer was a definite no. We thought we knew it all. But one eagle-eyed contest entrant pointed out the following passage from ‘Frisk,’ which we must admit could qualify as cannibalism. So we accepted both ‘yes’ and ‘no’ as correct answers. Here’s part of the passage: ‘I’m pretty sure if I tore some guy open I’d know him as well as anyone could, because I’d have what he consists of right in my hands, mouth whatever …. I guess in a perfect world I’d eat and drink all that stuff and not just get nauseous.’
4. Answer: Richard Nixon.
5. Answer: (c) rimming.
6. Answer: ‘Evol’. Bonus answer: ‘Nurse’.
7. Answers: (Closer, for Richard): boyfriend; (Frisk, for Mark Ewert): boyfriend; (Try, for Casey): friend; (Guide, for Joel Westendorf): friend; (Period, for Vincent Fecteau): friend.
8. Answer: 1987. Bonus answer: 1957.
9. Answers: (Since everyone got this question right, and we’re lazy, let’s move on.)
10. Answer: Los Angeles, New York City, Amsterdam.
11. Answer: Shaun Cassidy
12. Answer: Leonardo Di Caprio. Bonus answer: Bob Mould

And now we’re happy to announce that the run off candidates for the special, goodies-packed, personally inscribed copy of ‘The Sluts’ are ….

Lon (location unknown)

Gareth Pitkin (New South Wales, Australia)

Ryan Scanlan (Brooklyn, USA)

Garret Scullin (Los Angeles, USA)

Here are the ten closest runners up:

FelixR (Dortmund, Germany)

James Mansfield (Staffordshire, UK)

Crazy Face (Osaka, Japan)

Aaron Nielsen (Castro Valley, USA)

Kjell Bielke (Malmo, Sweden)

Michael Miller (location unknown)

J-Y Pichot (Paris, France)

Joseph Marcure (Fresno, USA)

Emmanuel Caron (Paris, France)

Aya Tsuji (Tokyo, Japan)

Finally, here are the five DC trivia questions for our four runners up. Remember, the final deadline is January 5th. Good luck, quartet.

1. Name as many books as you can that have blurbs by DC on the front or back cover. You can list any published book, in print or out-of-print.
2. Here’s a ‘slutty’ one. When DC was a younger, wilder, and not yet famous, he had sex with a member of a well-known (at that time) rock band. Who was it? Choose from the following five people. (Bonus question: Which of these five wanted to have sex with DC, but DC turned him down?)

(Unless you have ESP, you won’t find the correct answer

to these questions anywhere. May we suggest you either

make a wild guess or search for pictures of these five faded

stars then use what you know of DC’s taste in guys from his

novels to make an educated guess?)
(a.) Dave Davies of The Kinks

(b) Matthew Ashman of Bow Wow Wow

(c) Richard Butler of Psychedelic Furs

(d) Robin Guthrie of Magazine

(e) Nicholas Throp of Curiosity Killed the Cat

(Note to everyone: Before you get too excited, the answer to

these questions will not be announced publicly, seeing as how

DC said he would kill us of we did. If you want to know, you’ll

have to ask DC, not that he’ll tell you either.)

3. When one of DC’s novels was first published in the US, there was a mishap at the bindery, and one chapter of DC’s novel was accidentally bound into a popular children’s book. The DC-polluted children’s book was distributed to bookstores. Luckily, an employee quickly discovered the problem and the children’s books were recalled before more than a handful of copies were sold. Still, the mishap made the news. Which of DC’s novels was the culprit?
4. One of the following bands has never mentioned DC as one of their favorite writers, in any public forum at least. Which one?
1. Manic Street Preachers
2. Placebo
3. Blur
4. Radiohead
5. Camper Van Beethoven
5. Finally, in case of a tie, tell us in 50 words or less why you deserve to win. We don’t know you guys from Adam or Eve, and vice versa, so we’ll be objective, and you won’t know how to melt our hearts. Sounds fair to us. This answer will only count in case of a tie.

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International: ‘I Apologize: The Official Soundtrack’ (winter ’05)

USA: ‘The Sluts’ (January ‘05), ‘Dennis’ (spring ‘05), Richard

Hell, Godlike’ (LHotB/Akashic, July ‘05); ‘God Jr.’ (August

‘05), ‘Enter at Your Own Risk: The Dangerous Art of Dennis

Cooper,’ edited by Leora Lev (fall ‘05), Trinie Dalton, ‘Wide Eyed’

(LHotB/Akashic, early ’06).

UK/Australia: ‘God Jr.’ (winter ‘05/’06).

France: ‘The Sluts’ (fall ’05), ‘God Jr.’ (spring ’06)

Spain: ‘Guide’ (spring ’05), ‘God Jr.’ (spring ’06).

Catalan: ‘My Loose Thread’ (spring ’05)

Italy: ‘All Ears’ (November ’04), ‘Period’ (spring ’05), ‘God Jr.’ (fall

or winter ’05), ‘The Sluts’ (fall ’06).

Sweden: ‘’Frisk’ (fall ’05)

Denmark: ‘My Loose Thread’ (fall ’05).

Russia: Travis Jeppesen, ‘Victims’ (fall ’05): Benjamin Weissman,

‘Headless’ (winter ’06).

China: ‘Try’ (’06)

Japan: ‘God Jr.’ (fall ’05)

There are also deals in the works for several other countries, and we expect to announce other international release dates next month.

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Wes Anderson’s THE LIFE AQUATIC

Scooop!!! 10: Heritage of Hardcore (Coat Kuratatsu DVD)

Darcey Steinke MILK (Bloomsbury Press)

James Schuyler JUST THE THING (Turtle Point Press)

THE BELIEVER ‘The Visual Issue’

Slater Bradley, ‘The Doppelganger Trilogy’ (Blum & Poe Gallery, LA)

Excepter KA (Fusetron Records)

Echo and the Bunnymen (HEAVEN UP HERE, PORCUPINE)

Iron and Wine WOMAN KING (Sub Pop)