“Comments R Literature”: Author Travis Nichols comes to Malaprop’s

“Charli and Nico’s wedding blog has an uninvited guest: a commenter convinced the bride is being romanced by the brother of the groom. To save her from a terrible mistake, he assumes multiple identities on multiple message boards, sharing, in an extended, epic blog comment, his fears for Charli, his outrage at being thwarted, and the romance, years ago in his analog past, that first attracted his meddlesome care.” So goes the description of The More You Ignore Me, by DC-based novelist Travis Nichols.

Nichols was inspired by the four years he worked as the administrator of the Poetry Foundation’s blog Harriet. In that position, he spent plenty of time trying to tame the internet trolls. “Nichols is a hilarious writer but the book is a very real look at the state of communication, the results of crippling loneliness, and our so-called internet ‘communities,’” says press for the book.

But, crippling loneliness aside, Nichols is firmly based in humor and currently tweets in the voice of the main character from The More You Ignore Me. Helpful tweets like “COMMENTS R LITERATURE! But U must B fully immersed in the stream 2 UNDERSTAND!!!” and “How do u think up yr headlines? “@HuffPostBooks: Tim O’Brien wins literary award http://huff.to/1aaUL76 ”” and “@Paula_Deen je suis un autre. AND JE SUIS AIN’T CHANGIN’!”

Follow him here.

Travis Nichols will read from his new novel at Malaprop’s on Friday, June 28. 7 p.m., free.

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About Alli Marshall
Alli Marshall has lived in Asheville for more than 20 years and loves live music, visual art, fiction and friendly dogs. She is the winner of the 2016 Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize and the author of the novel "How to Talk to Rockstars," published by Logosophia Books. Follow me @alli_marshall

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