First Person Intense is a collection of first-person writing in a variety of styles - although "style" may be the wrong word for the integrity of the writing. First person writing means that someone is speaking directly to you, not crafting a story for your entertainment. And that's the power of first-person "intense," a face-out manner of writing that abandons much of the traditional structure of fiction (the arc of the narrative, omniscient viewpoint, dialogue, character development, denouement, beginning, middle, and end) and nonfiction (which often seems to be written by nobody or a committee, carefully refraining from bias or personal opinion). This anthology was originally published in 1978, and was popular with creative writing classes as well as the general market, as a study in writing with honesty, authentic voices speaking without the mask of characterization. This second printing retains most of the original pieces, including a Vietnam vet's powerful stories, a voyage across America in search of meaning, a prison letter, an excerpt from an as yet unpublished Charles Bukowski novel (by permission of the publisher), the admission by Fielding Dawson of first ambitions to be a writer (a young man wishing to be complicated). A few additions include a schizophrenic, a Peace Corps teacher, a story from junior high. None of these are perfect - perfection is not sought in real first-person writing - but all give plenty of taste of personality, vulnerability, openness. If you like, you can call this a "school of writing." First Person Intense was originally assigned an ISBN number by Mudborn Press. After the dissolution of that partnership in 1981, one of the partners, Sasha Newborn, established a new publishing operation, Bandanna Books. Although the original ISBN number is retained for the reprint of FPI, this book is now available only from Bandanna Books. A publication akin in spirit to FPI is Berlin (www.createspace.com/4329110), a bilingual anthology, guest edited by Mitch Cohen, who lived in the divided city of Berlin in the 1970s and 80s, gathering stories and poems from East Berlin and West Berlin. An inside look at a place of high art and high tension. A new chapter in publishing direct works has opened with TimeWell, an online litmag that mixes up contemporaries with classics. Subscribe at www.timewellsp.net, or submit stories or poems.

Richard Grayson has been keeping a daily diary compulsively since the summer of 1969, when he was an 18-year-old agoraphobic about to venture out into the world - or at least the world around him in Brooklyn. His diary, approximately 600 words a day without missing a day since August 1, 1969, now totals over 9 million words, rivaling the longest diaries ever written. But Grayson is not merely an eccentric with graphomania. His nonfiction has appeared in PEOPLE, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE ORLANDO SENTINEL, THE SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK POST and numerous other periodicals. Excerpts from his diaries have appeared online at McSWEENEY'S and THOUGHT CATALOG. ROLLING STONE called Grayson's first short story collection, WITH HITLER IN NEW YORK, published in 1979, "where avant-garde fiction goes when it becomes stand-up comedy," and NEWSDAY said, "The reader is dazzled by the swift, witty goings-on." In UNIVERSITY DRIVE, Grayson turns 30 and moving between New York and South Florida.

Richard Grayson has been keeping a daily diary compulsively since the summer of 1969, when he was an 18-year-old agoraphobic about to venture out into the world - or at least the world around him in Brooklyn. His diary, approximately 600 words a day without missing a day since August 1, 1969, now totals over 9 million words, rivaling the longest diaries ever written. But Grayson is not merely an eccentric with graphomania. His nonfiction has appeared in PEOPLE, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE ORLANDO SENTINEL, THE SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK POST and numerous other periodicals. Excerpts from his diaries have appeared online at McSWEENEY'S and THOUGHT CATALOG. ROLLING STONE called Grayson's first short story collection, WITH HITLER IN NEW YORK, published in 1979, "where avant-garde fiction goes when it becomes stand-up comedy," and NEWSDAY said, "The reader is dazzled by the swift, witty goings-on." SHORE FRONT PARKWAY covers the time from July 1980 to January 1981.

Richard Grayson has been keeping a daily diary compulsively since the summer of 1969, when he was an 18-year-old agoraphobic about to venture out into the world - or at least the world around him in Brooklyn. His diary, approximately 600 words a day without missing a day since August 1, 1969, now totals over 9 million words, rivaling the longest diaries ever written. But Grayson is not merely an eccentric with graphomania. His nonfiction has appeared in PEOPLE, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE ORLANDO SENTINEL, THE SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK POST and numerous other periodicals. Excerpts from his diaries have appeared online at McSWEENEY'S and THOUGHT CATALOG. ROLLING STONE called Grayson's first short story collection, WITH HITLER IN NEW YORK, published in 1979, "where avant-garde fiction goes when it becomes stand-up comedy," and NEWSDAY said, "The reader is dazzled by the swift, witty goings-on." BEACH CHANNEL DRIVE covers the first half of 1980, when Grayson is struggling n New York.

Richard Grayson has been keeping a daily diary compulsively since the summer of 1969, when he was an 18-year-old agoraphobic about to venture out into the world - or at least the world around him in Brooklyn. His diary, approximately 600 words a day without missing a day since August 1, 1969, now totals over 9 million words, rivaling the longest diaries ever written. But Grayson is not merely an eccentric with graphomania. His nonfiction has appeared in PEOPLE, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE ORLANDO SENTINEL, THE SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK POST and numerous other periodicals. Excerpts from his diaries have appeared online at McSWEENEY'S and THOUGHT CATALOG. ROLLING STONE called Grayson's first short story collection, WITH HITLER IN NEW YORK, published in 1979, "where avant-garde fiction goes when it becomes stand-up comedy," and NEWSDAY said, "The reader is dazzled by the swift, witty goings-on." THE ROAD TO ROCKAWAY covers the months after the publication of his first book.

Richard Grayson has been keeping a daily diary compulsively since the summer of 1969, when he was an 18-year-old agoraphobic about to venture out into the world - or at least the world around him in Brooklyn. His diary, approximately 600 words a day without missing a day since August 1, 1969, now totals over 9 million words, rivaling the longest diaries ever written. Excerpts from his diaries have appeared online at McSWEENEY'S and THOUGHT CATALOG. Grayson's diaries from August 1969 to June 1978 were published in a number of previous volumes. A BROOKLYN AUTHOR covers the months leading to the publication of his first book, the hardcover short story collection WITH HITLER IN NEW YORK.

ROLLING STONE called Richard Grayson's first short story collection, WITH HITLER IN NEW YORK, published in 1979, "where avant-garde fiction goes when it becomes stand-up comedy," and NEWSDAY said, "The reader is dazzled by the swift, witty goings-on." THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW said Grayson's I SURVIVED CARACAS TRAFFIC (1996) was "entertaining and bizarre" and "consistently, even ingeniously funny." PUBLISHERS WEEKLY called Grayson's THE SILICON VALLEY DIET (2000) "compulsively talky and engagingly disjunctive"; and THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, reviewing AND TO THINK THAT HE KISSED HIM ON LORIMER STREET (2006), said, "Grayson has a fresh, funny voice." Grayson's diaries from August 1969 to December 1977 were published in a number of previous volumes. LUNCH AT JUNIOR'S covers the first half of 1978, when the 26-year-old author, having published over fifty stories, teaches college English classes in downtown Brooklyn and dreams about having his first book published.

Richard Grayson's diaries from August 1969 to June 1977 were published in eleven previous volumes. WEST EIGHTH STREET covers the second half of 1977, when the author has a fellowship at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference and returns to New York to make his way writing, publishing and teaching amid a tumultuous year in the city.

Richard Grayson has been keeping a daily diary compulsively since the summer of 1969, when he was an 18-year-old agoraphobic about to venture out into the world - or at least the world around him in Brooklyn. His diary, approximately 600 words a day without missing a day since August 1, 1969, now totals over 9 million words, rivaling the longest diaries ever written. Excerpts from his diaries have appeared online at McSWEENEY'S and THOUGHT CATALOG. Grayson's diaries from August 1969 to June 1978 were published in a number of previous volumes. MANHATTAN BEACH covers the second half of 1978, when the 27-year-old diarist, having published over seventy stories in little magazines, teaches remedial writing at a community college in Brooklyn and unexpectedly gets a hardcover book contract from a New York commercial publisher.

ROLLING STONE called Grayson's first short story collection, WITH HITLER IN NEW YORK, published in 1979, "where avant-garde fiction goes when it becomes stand-up comedy," and NEWSDAY said, "The reader is dazzled by the swift, witty goings-on." Grayson's other short story collections have also received acclaim. LIBRARY JOURNAL called LINCOLN'S DOCTOR'S DOG (1982) "excellent" and said of I BRAKE FOR DELMORE SCHWARTZ (1983) that "Grayson is a born storyteller and standup talker." THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW said Grayson's I SURVIVED CARACAS TRAFFIC (1996) was "entertaining and bizarre" and "consistently, even ingeniously funny." PUBLISHERS WEEKLY called Grayson's THE SILICON VALLEY DIET (2000) "compulsively talky and engagingly disjunctive"; THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, reviewing AND TO THINK THAT HE KISSED HIM ON LORIMER STREET (2006), said, "Grayson has a fresh, funny voice." Grayson has kept a diary since 1969. This volume covers the first half of 1977.

Richard Grayson has been keeping a daily diary compulsively since the summer of 1969, when he was an 18-year-old agoraphobic about to venture out into the world - or at least the world around him in Brooklyn. His diary, approximately 600 words a day without missing a day since August 1, 1969, now totals over 9 million words, rivaling the longest diaries ever written. But Grayson is not merely an eccentric with graphomania. His nonfiction has appeared in PEOPLE, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE ORLANDO SENTINEL, THE SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK POST and numerous other periodicals. Excerpts from his diaries have appeared online at McSWEENEY'S and THOUGHT CATALOG. ROLLING STONE called Grayson's first short story collection, WITH HITLER IN NEW YORK, published in 1979, "where avant-garde fiction goes when it becomes stand-up comedy," and NEWSDAY said, "The reader is dazzled by the swift, witty goings-on." SCHERMERHORN STREET recounts Grayson's nascent literary career in the 1970s.

Richard Grayson has been keeping a daily diary compulsively since the summer of 1969, when he was an 18-year-old agoraphobic about to venture out into the world - or at least the world around him in Brooklyn. His diary, approximately 600 words a day without missing a day since August 1, 1969, now totals over 9 million words, rivaling the longest diaries ever written. But Grayson is not merely an eccentric with graphomania. His nonfiction has appeared in PEOPLE, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE ORLANDO SENTINEL, THE SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK POST and numerous other periodicals. Excerpts from his diaries have appeared online at McSWEENEY'S and THOUGHT CATALOG. ROLLING STONE called Grayson's first short story collection, WITH HITLER IN NEW YORK, published in 1979, "where avant-garde fiction goes when it becomes stand-up comedy," and NEWSDAY said, "The reader is dazzled by the swift, witty goings-on." A BROOKLYN MFA covers the first half of 1976 as Grayson begins to publish his stories.

Richard Grayson has been keeping a daily diary compulsively since the summer of 1969, when he was an 18-year-old agoraphobic about to venture out into the world - or at least the world around him in Brooklyn. His diary, approximately 600 words a day without missing a day since August 1, 1969, now totals over 9 million words, rivaling the longest diaries ever written. But Grayson is not merely an eccentric with graphomania. His nonfiction has appeared in PEOPLE, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE ORLANDO SENTINEL, THE SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK POST and numerous other periodicals. Excerpts from his diaries have appeared online at McSWEENEY'S and THOUGHT CATALOG. ROLLING STONE called Grayson's first short story collection, WITH HITLER IN NEW YORK, published in 1979, "where avant-garde fiction goes when it becomes stand-up comedy," and NEWSDAY said, "The reader is dazzled by the swift, witty goings-on." FLATBUSH AVENUE covers the summer and fall of 1975.

Richard Grayson has been keeping a daily diary compulsively since the summer of 1969, when he was an 18-year-old agoraphobic about to venture out into the world - or at least the world around him in Brooklyn. His diary, approximately 600 words a day without missing a day since August 1, 1969, now totals over 9 million words, rivaling the longest diaries ever written. ROLLING STONE called Grayson's first short story collection, WITH HITLER IN NEW YORK, published in 1979, "where avant-garde fiction goes when it becomes stand-up comedy," and NEWSDAY said, "The reader is dazzled by the swift, witty goings-on." PUBLISHERS WEEKLY called Grayson's THE SILICON VALLEY DIET (2000) "compulsively talky and engagingly disjunctive" and THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, reviewing AND TO THINK THAT HE KISSED HIM ON LORIMER STREET (2006), said, "Grayson has a fresh, funny voice." The diary in OVER THE VERRAZANO covers Grayson's year in graduate school at Richmond College in 1973-74.

Richard Grayson has been keeping a daily diary compulsively since the summer of 1969, when he was an 18-year-old agoraphobic about to venture out into the world - or at least the world around him in Brooklyn. His diary, approximately 600 words a day without missing a day since August 1, 1969, now totals over 9 million words, rivaling the longest diaries ever written. But Grayson is not merely an eccentric with graphomania. His nonfiction has appeared in PEOPLE, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE ORLANDO SENTINEL, THE SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK POST and numerous other periodicals. Excerpts from his diaries have appeared online at McSWEENEY'S and THOUGHT CATALOG. ROLLING STONE called Grayson's first short story collection, WITH HITLER IN NEW YORK, published in 1979, "where avant-garde fiction goes when it becomes stand-up comedy," and NEWSDAY said, "The reader is dazzled by the swift, witty goings-on." In BOY FINDS BROOKLYN, Grayson is 19, a college junior trying to find himself.

Richard Grayson has been keeping a daily diary compulsively since the summer of 1969, when he was an 18-year-old agoraphobic about to venture out into the world - or at least the world around him in Brooklyn. His diary, approximately 600 words a day without missing a day since August 1, 1969, now totals over 9 million words, rivaling the longest diaries ever written. But Grayson is not merely an eccentric with graphomania. His books of short stories have been praised in reviews by ROLLING STONE, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, LIBRARY JOURNAL and BEST SELLERS. Grayson's nineteenth compilation of diary entries, WANDERYEAR, takes place between mid-1997 and mid-1998, when he quits his job as a staff attorney in social policy at a University of Florida law school think tank to move from place to place - South Florida, Brooklyn, Silicon Valley, Wyoming, Long Island, New Orleans, and suburban Phoenix, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia.

Richard Grayson has been keeping a daily diary compulsively since the summer of 1969, when he was an 18-year-old agoraphobic about to venture out into the world - or at least the world around him in Brooklyn. His diary, approximately 600 words a day without missing a day since August 1, 1969, now totals over 9 million words, rivaling the longest diaries ever written. Excerpts from his diaries have appeared online at McSWEENEY'S and THOUGHT CATALOG. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY called Grayson's THE SILICON VALLEY DIET (2000) "compulsively talky and engagingly disjunctive"; KIRKUS DISCOVERIES termed Grayson "an audacious and wickedly smart comedic writer" in its review of HIGHLY IRREGULAR STORIES (2005); and THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, reviewing AND TO THINK THAT HE KISSED HIM ON LORIMER STREET (2006), said, "Grayson has a fresh, funny voice." BOY GETS BROOKLYN covers Grayson's senior year at Brooklyn College in 1972-73.

Richard Grayson has been keeping a daily diary compulsively since the summer of 1969, when he was an 18-year-old agoraphobic about to venture out into the world - or at least the world around him in Brooklyn. His diary, approximately 600 words a day without missing a day since August 1, 1969, now totals over 9 million words, rivaling the longest diaries ever written. But Grayson is not merely an eccentric with graphomania. His books of short stories have been praised in reviews by ROLLING STONE, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, LIBRARY JOURNAL and BEST SELLERS. This is Grayson's diary for 1971, when he was a college sophomore and junior.

Richard Grayson has been keeping a daily diary compulsively since the summer of 1969, when he was an 18-year-old agoraphobic about to venture out into the world -- or at least the world around him in Brooklyn. His diary, approximately 600 words a day without missing a day since August 1, 1969, now totals over 9 million words, rivaling the longest diary ever written. Grayson's seventeenth compilation of diary entries, AUTUMN IN GAINESVILLE, alternates among the three fall seasons he worked as a staff attorney in social policy at University of Florida law school think tank. Taking place from 1994 to 1996, Grayson's diary chronicles his adventures as a legal researcher, college instructor, gay rights activist, candidate for Congress and columnist for New Jersey Online. Working for a education project called Schoolyear 2000 and one of the first experiments in web-based journalism projects, Grayson moves into his mid-40s and finds himself surprised with a book contract for a new collection of short stories.

It's the summer of 1990, and writer Richard Grayson -- about to turn 39 and having recently lost forty pounds -- has come up from Florida to spend the summer in his native New York City, shuttling between a friend's Upper West Side apartment where he's lived for the previous six summers and his grandmother's apartment on the beach in Rockaway, where she is suffering from depression and other problems of old age and is ultimately hospitalized for weeks. For most of the 1980s, Grayson has gotten by as a writer through combining literary grants and income from part-time college teaching and computer education workshops -- and a scheme relying on constantly moving cash advances from the over 40 credit cards that Grayson accumulated during the Greed Decade. Now Grayson's credit card chassis is spinning out of control, with him $150,000 in debt. What do do next? Grayson has previously published a dozen volumes of his diaries for the twenty years preceding 1990.

Acclaimed short story writer Richard Grayson has been keeping a diary since the summer of 1969 when he turned 18, a time recounted in his first published book of diary entries, SUMMER IN BROOKLYN. In LAST SUMMER IN ROCKAWAY, it's 1991 and he's turning 40 and spending his final summer in New York City, living in the beachfront apartment that had been his grandparents' longtime home. Having just survived bankruptcy, Grayson is about to shake up his life by moving to a strange city and becoming a first-year law student in middle age. Richard Grayson's previous diary books include SUMMER IN BROOKLYN: 1969-75; MORE SUMMER IN BROOKLYN: 1976-79; WINTER IN BROOKLYN, 1971-72; SPRING IN BROOKLYN, 1975; AUTUMN IN BROOKLYN, 1978; A YEAR IN ROCKAWAY, 1980; SOUTH FLORIDA WINTERS, 1981-84; WEST SIDE SUMMERS, 1984-87; LATE SPRING IN SUNRISE, 1982; INDIAN SUMMER: PARK SLOPE, 1985; SPRINGTIME IN LAUDERHILL, 1986; EIGHTIES' END: 1987-89; SUMMER IN NEW YORK, 1990; and FIRST FALL IN GAINESVILLE, 1991.

In the fall of 1991, Grayson is 40 years old. He's published some well-reviewed books of short stories and has worked as a college English teacher for 16 years, but he also has recently gone bankrupt and feels that his career as a fiction writer is over. So he enters law school at the University of Florida, moving alone to Gainesville, a town he'd never been in before and where he knows no one. FIRST FALL IN GAINESVILLE is Grayson's diary from his first semester of law school. Like Scott Turow's memoir ONE L or John J. Osborne Jr.'s novel THE PAPER CHASE, it gives the reader a sense of the process fledgling law students go through as they learn to "think like like a lawyer" -- except that it's from the day-by-day perspective of a 40-year-old who knows that he will never practice law and who is cynical about the process from the start.

The author of WITH HITLER IN NEW YORK, LINCOLN'S DOCTOR'S DOG, I SURVIVED CARACAS TRAFFIC and other short story collections has kept a daily diary for forty years, since he was 18 in the summer of 1969. Here are entries from his diary for the winter of 1971-72, when he was a 20-year-old junior at Brooklyn College.