Henry Baum

Henry Baum (born June 29, 1972) is an American writer, blogger and musician and is considered part of the Rebel Inc. writing movement.

Career

Baum is the author of five novels and several published short stories and prose. His book Oscar Caliber Gun (Later called The Golden Calf) has been translated into French. He has also published work with Identity Theory, Storyglossia, Scarecrow, Dogmatika,^[1] Purple prose, 3:AM Magazine, and Les Episodes.^[2] His book, The American Book Of The Dead was described by the widow of Philip K Dick, Tessa Dick, "If you read Lolita or A Clockwork Orange without drop-kicking the book out into the garden on a rainy day, this novel is for you.” He has published with Canongate and Cloverfield Press.

Awards

Baum has won three awards, the Gold IPPY Award for Visionary Fiction,^[3] Best Fiction at the DIY Book Festival and the Hollywood Book Festival Grand Prize. In 2013 he was one of seven finalists for Best Writer at The Erotic Awards in London UK, along with Belle de Jour (writer) aka Dr Brooke Magnanti, Pamela Stephenson and Alan Moore for his book God's Wife.

Film

A short film version of some of the scenes from The Golden Calf was made by director Ruben Fleischer while he was mentored by Robert Rodriguez at AFI. This film starred Kevin Corrigan, Elizabeth Berridge, Jay Johnston, Lelia Goldoni and Robert Joy.^[4]

Blogging

Henry Baum founded a website, Self-Publishing Review, hailed by The Guardian newspaper as the go-to site for self-published authors. In 2012, he co-founded another website, Filmmaking Review. He also wrote a blog for some time under the female name Shirley Shave, which some readers took as a real-life blog of a sex worker, until Baum revealed his true identity, to much controversy. This blog took the form of God's Wife, released as a novel in 2012 with Shirley Shave as the main character.^[5]

Music

Baum has played drums and bass guitar in several bands including Semi-Gloss, Montag, Odes and J.Z. Barrell, as well as a solo project with two widely acclaimed albums under the name Ash Tree, on which he plays and produces everything himself, called Living Room on Soft Skull/Shortwave, described by Music Magazine as, "Will Oldham meets Kurt Cobain meets good old fashioned American songwriting with the truth heard only from the home-recording machine."^[6]

Early life

Baum was born and raised in New York, relocating to Los Angeles early on in his childhood, as his parents, Tom Baum and Carol Baum became established Hollywood TV and film professionals, with his father's scripts, Carny, starring Jodie Foster and The Sender, bringing a great deal of success to the family, as well as Carol Baum's production of many TV and film movies during the 1980s and 1990s.

Personal life

Baum is married to Cate Baum,^[7] his business partner at Filmmaking Review and Self-Publishing Review, a British writer and filmmaker. Baum has a daughter from his first marriage. He lives in Spain. In July 2013, Baum announced via Facebook he is suffering from CKD and started a campaign to look for a living kidney donor.

Bibliography

• North of Sunset (2007)
• The American Book Of The Dead (2011)
• Gentleman Reptile (2006)
• The Golden Calf (2008)
• The American Book Of The Dead Part II (2012)
• God's Wife (2012)
• Oscar Caliber Gun (2001)

References

External links

• Official Henry Baum site
• Henry Baum on IMDb
• The Guardian on Self-Publishing Review
• Filmmaking Review Magazine
• Self-Publishing Review
• Podcast with Henry Baum