Shoes
—by Steven Paul Lansky
The novella shifts between places, a possible diagnosis, a change of heart, and/or venue, that keeps the reader in a rather delightful attempt to keep up with or abandon meaning in a literal sense. Take the rich detail and let the author’s sure hand move the narrative smartly back and forth through the doorway. Understand that the instrument of illustration is unnecessary for genuine pleasure in getting a little lost in the story and getting a little lost in the author, but the graphic element helps. There is a personal metaphor in all the mileage piled up, in the distance, from place to place recounted, time travel, from footnote to footnote.
Steve Lansky has a unique perspective, from the doorward gaze, drawn either way, of the neurotypical, or the neurospectacular. Somewhere in between ambition, and accomplishment (something of a bipolarity itself, eh?). He starts a conversation with a version of himself, and flexes outward, as the reader becomes the most colorful of chameleons. Sure, there’s some shapeshifting here, and a relaxation of the serotonin guardrails, that order memory, and experience, to behave in a linear way, but it’s supposed to be fickle.
Bio: Steven Paul Lansky
Steven Paul Lansky wrote Main St. (2002) and Eleven Word Title for Confessional Political Poetry Originally Composed for Radio (2009), published by Seaweed Sideshow Circus. His audionovel Jack Acid (2004) is available on Spotify. His memoir: The Break (Arbitrary Press 2022) had chapters previously published under the title: the citizen, in The Brooklyn Rail (2005), ArtSpike, CityBeat, Streetvibes and Article 25. His animated videos: Bratwurst (with Leigh Waltz), Exit Strategy, Harvest, and The Broken Finger Episode A-8 or the Cigarette Break are on YouTube channel: lanskysp. For more: Whole Terrain, New Flash Fiction Review, Black Clock 20, and St. Petersburg Review Issue 8.5. The novella, A Black Bird Fell Out of the Sky was published on Seaweed Sideshow Circus (2017). Life is a Fountain, a collection of vignettes and sketches was published by Dos Madres Press in 2018. Published under the heteronym, Paul Thanas, and illustrated by Steven Paul Lansky, And Then the Cow Was Drownded (2024) is his latest novel on Arbitrary Press. Original art, links to writings, the music of Lansky’s harmonica heteronym, Flem Snopes and other tidbits are all found on this site.
– Writers praise: and then the cow was drownded
"Why read this book? Well, the first is easy, it’s a look through a disturbingly clear window into the schizophrenia of gifted thinker, athlete, harmonica player and writer. And whether you’re a friend, medical worker, or simply a curious reader, Steven Paul Lansky shows it all: his hopes, dreams, crashes, broken relationships, family turmoil, and his long journey to a productive life. As a reader, I came to see it as a book of triumph. The second reason surprised me. The more I read, I came to see Steven Paul Lansky’s life, all twisted up by mental disease and an epic struggle to find balance through evolving therapeutic meds and therapy, had essentially the same elements as my own life and other “normal” folks. We all struggle through conflict, ego power, love dynamics and jobs in the ultimate pursuit of happiness. I came to see that, sure, schizophrenics experience frightening breaks with reality that leave lots of emotional blood on floors all over their lives, but so do the rest of us in our own ways and to various degrees. So in that sense, And Then the Cow Was Drownded is relatable and shockingly universal. Who knew?"
—Jene Galvin —retired educator
“In the novel, AND THEN THE COW WAS DROWNDED, Steven Lansky portrays his life, a life of remarkable events and adventures, but one often pervaded with the delusions of schizophrenia. The reader experiences the world through his eyes, a world peopled with both meaningful and disappointing relationships, frustrations, highs, lows, humor, adventure, successes and failures, but we are aware of the hallucinogenic lens of his mental illness. We experience his world intimately, from the freedom and danger of cross country biking, to months spent in mental hospitals. We feel his heartaches and celebrate his many accomplishments. These include his success as a writer of prose and poetry, several years as a social worker, the host of a radio show, and even Poet Laureate of Over the Rhine (a Cincinnati neighborhood). The reader is offered a rare glimpse into an incredible mind."
—Donna Perzigian—retired ninth grade English honors teacher Walnut Hills High School
“What a wild and schizophrenic (bike) ride through the back roads and pages of the author and creator’s (or is it authors and creators?) mind(s) Schizophrenia is front and center in this narrative of artistic growth and struggle against medication going back to the 1970’s. And there’s artwork to prove it! From time to time, you may want to put down And Then the Cow Was Drownded, but you’ll be eager to pick it up again and keep reading."
—Eric Goodman—author of Curveball and Cuppy and Stew