Lots of news from Joe Pernice this week, including word that he has completed his forthcoming novel and has two albums in the works.

The novel, It Feels So Good When I Stop, is due in September from Riverhead. Pernice writes in his occasional newsletter that "It’s not a book for kids, which is a general way of saying it’s not for anyone offended by raw language and sex. I sent an email to my family telling them that my book should not be read by anyone under twenty-one, anyone over fifty-five and Judy (my sister)." No word on a plot, but given the author, I'm guessing there is some melancholic heartbreak to be found in its pages. It will be Pernice's third book, following his self-published poetry collection Two Blind Pigeons and the 33 1/3 book about the Smiths' Meat is Murder.

Pernice reports there are "quite a few incidental musical references throughout," which led him to what sounds like a covers album/soundtrack of sorts. Tracks include James and Bobby Purify’s "I’m Your Puppet," the Chills "Rolling Moon," Tom T. Hall's "That’s How I Got to Memphis and Sebadoh's "Soul and Fire." His label, Ashmont Records, will release the disc around the time of the novel's publication.

The true follow up to 2006's Live a Little from the Pernice Brothers also is in the works. Pernice has been recording tracks for the disc for quite some time with Ric Menck, James Walbourne and his brother, Bob Pernice. It is due sometime in 2009 under the name Murphy Bed. (Here is Pernice's amusing story about the title: "I was planning on calling it Light, Sweet, Crude (in my mind, all three words are adjectives), but some other band beat me to the punch. It’s just as well, I suppose. I’ve decided to call the album Murphy Bed. (If that name is taken, I’m shelving the album for all time.)").

He explains the gap between albums with an excuse: He decided to put everything on hold until the book was done because "Riverhead/Penguin was paying me real money. If you think Ashmont Records Inc. would do in kind, you need to get your wiring checked out. And anyway—the international financial crisis and a handful of bloody conflicts aside—the world has done just fine in my absence from releasing albums."

Labels: books, music, Pernice