Inappropriate Press.

"Daniel Nester is the kind of writer who looks at his book as an opportunity to be honest with you, and hopefully make you laugh. Which I did."—Emily Nonko, from her interview on Bomb magazine's website

"In How to Be Inappropriate, Daniel Nester collects many of his clever essays in one of the year's funniest books. If you have been reading Nester's pieces at The Daily Beast, you know how funny he can be, especially when casting his discerning eye towards pop culture."—from Largehearted Boy's intro to my Book Notes

An interview with Rigoberto Gonzalez at Critical Mass, the National Book Critics Circle blog

"Whoopee! Author Daniel Nester is most inappropriate"—title of Jeff Baker's piece, with interivew, in The Oregonian

A self-interview, along with an excerpt and other goodies, over at The Nervous Breakdown

Check out the Daniel Nester guest blog posts at the Powell's Books site

"Nester's essays are hilarious in their approach to as specific a theme as inappropriateness, and they come highly recommended."—Bookslut's John Zuarino's intro to Indie Heartthrob interview

Library Review: Former McSweeney's editor Nester (English, Coll. of Saint Rose), whose writing has appeared in The Best Creative Nonfiction, The Best American Poetry, and Poets & Writers, presents his debut collection of humorous nonfiction, amassing 41 years' worth of experience in nonconformity. His stories are, as the title suggests, inappropriate, and they often engender squeamishness, discomfort, and laughter. But they are fresh and, at times, touching, qualities that make this an enjoyable read. Subjects include teaching curse words to Chinese ESL students, reimagining a Terry Gross NPR interview of Gene Simmons by substituting Gene Simmons with an AI computer, a collection of references to flatulence in English poesy, the history of mooning, and out-of-context comments he made as a college professor in order to clarify and expand upon his students' writing. Nester includes photographs, illustrations, and a time line of his inappropriate acts from birth to the present. VERDICT Recommended for readers who enjoy memoirs and essays.—Mark Alan Williams, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

"[A] deeply funny new collection of booger-flecked nonfiction"—Drew Toal's four-star review of How to Be Inappropriate from Time Out New York; full version opens in new window

"This guy is intelligent and funny, and so is his book."—Rod Lott, Bookgasm

Interview with Sage Cohen at Writing the Life Poetic Zine

"Daniel Nester still isn't sure if he was a starving artist that one time"—interview for The L Magazine Online Questionnaire for Writer Types

"Throughout the book, Nester has a self-deprecating charm that makes his writing seem like he’s just hanging out with you, telling you a good story. Whether it’s recounting the time he moved in next door to an ex-girlfriend while living in New York (“The Puerto Rican Lockhorns Reunion”) or detailing his adventures in self-tanning (“Yes I Tan”) Nester is funny, but never mean. Indeed, even when he could go for the jugular in two of the finest pieces in the book, he instead remains an observer, allowing the laughs to emerge from his subject’s behavior rather than any snarky remark he could have come up with."—Scott Malchus, Popdose

Tamara Sellman's "Quick Q&A" at Writer's Rainbow

"He's annoying."—The New York Times

"Handmade for frat-boys-turned-English majors"—Vol. 1

"Too much information" should be the tagline for this debut collection of humorous nonfiction pieces from Daniel Nester...Told through a series of essays, lists, rants, play scripts, and profiles, this part-memoir, part-random collection of nonsense is an entertaining look at defying the conventions of appropriate behavior."—The Daily Beast, Hot Reads listing

Interview with Kim Clune's BrainDrain

Review by Teresa Farrell in the Saint Rose Chronicle

"Who Farted?" profile by Cecilia Martinez, Metroland

The Onion's AV Club mentions The How to Be Inappropriate whoopee cushion, mentioned in "The year in swag: 27 ridiculous promotional items we received in 2009"

The cover of How to Be Inappropriate makes it own press in The Huffington Post (17 Coolest Book Covers of 2009), The Book Design Review


Advance praise for The History of My World Tonight

With the publication of The History of My World Tonight, Daniel Nester has proven that he’s an absolute master of what he does; and what he does is dazzle us repeatedly with his elegant, prickly, and wickedly penetrating poems. Reading him is not unlike the greatness of discovering an eagle in a gift bag on your way home from a party: it’s not just great, it’s super freaky great.—Todd Colby

In The History of My World Tonight, Daniel Nester re-envisions The Beach Boys, The Brady Bunch, and the Bible. He takes on the Munchkins, Montale, Monet, and masturbation. But that’s just the beginning. In these intimate confessional and experimental poems, Nester delivers a complex psyche along with deadpan social commentary. This is an engagingly funny and tender book.—Denise Duhamel

We have in Daniel Nester a poet who speaks the language of the common man and woman—well, that is, assuming the common man and woman were gifted with an uncommonly over-the-top sense of humor and an entirely personal sense of what Being a Poet Means to Me. Nester’s working it out here, and it’s a good thing too. Somebody, in this Age of Various Pretentious Schools of Poetry, needs to cut through the shit and clarify why anyone would want to read or write poems at this point in history. And Nester, with his well-documented pop culture leanings and his not-so-well-documented soul-searching, is just the man for the job.—Jonah Winter


Reviews of God Save My Queen and God Save My Queen II

These two books are absolutely fantastic ... raises the profile of obsessive record collectors from nerd to artiste while simultaneously creating a genre of poetry where a new word for ultra-nerd needs to be created to describe the authorship. The first volume features one short poem for every track on every major Queen LP. As the book explores sexuality, humanity and vulnerability the lyrical text confusingly shifts from Nester’s personal biography to the exploits of Mercury and May in a haze of poetics where it doesn’t matter what or who he’s talking about. ... To bring this point home the second volume is a track by track series of poems covering obscure Queen albums, solo work and hidden CD tracks, thus, even the fellow fans who were able to recall every Queen track and perhaps relate them to the poems in book one is left headscratching by this volume. These books are as beautiful as fat bottomed girls on bicycles.—Roctober

"Nester's method considers a serious fan's bliss impeccably ... Nester's best poems consider the homosexual allure of the band's late singer, Freddie Mercury, describing Mercury's gestures, phrasing and lifestyle with aplomb...vainglorious pomposity..."—Ken Tucker, The New York Times Book Review

Sean Thomas Dougherty, American Book Review; opens in new window
David Barringer, Word Riot
Gabriel Welsch, small spiral notebook
Roundtable discussion in Bookninja with Bookninja's Peter Darbyshire and George Murray along with The Pursuit of Happiness's Moe Berg
Peter Conners, Double Room
Tom Nissley, The Stranger, Seattle
Whitey Houston, Vue Weekly, Edmonton, Canada
Janine Arman, Clamor; opens in new window
Ross Martin, Crossroads: The Journal of the Poetry Society of America; opens in new window
Henry Yu, MAXIMUMROCKNROLL; opens in new window
J. Thomas Burch, Esq., Slugmag, Salt Lake City; opens in new window
Michael Basinski, The Hold
Gustavo Zapico, Espacio3, Spain; opens in new window

Other press and mentions.
Maple Shade Progress, my hometown newspaper; opens in new window
Alli Marshall, "Tales from the cryptic," Mountain Xpress, Asheville, NC; opens in new window
"Nobody writes rock geek poetry like Daniel Nester."—Jessa Crispin, Bookslut
"[A] very funny blend of music biography and personal reflection which demonstrates that, if explained coherently and in sufficient detail, a fanatical obsession with a rock band can seem almost rational. Almost."—Jesse Delaney, Philadelphia City Paper
Matthew Webster, "Queen aficionado, poet ready to rock HUB," The Daily Collegian, Penn State University [pdf file]
"Note to those Readers who still want to believe in devotional verse; for those who seek a cure for a spirit sunk under undifferentiated elegance: Take [Daniel] Nester’s God Save My Queen and God Save My Queen II and Reader, write me in the morning."—Ray McDaniel, Constant Critic
"[A] very funny blend of music biography and personal reflection which demonstrates that, if explained coherently and in sufficient detail, a fanatical obsession with a rock band can seem almost rational. Almost."—Jesse Delaney, Philadelphia City Paper
Rocking Freddie Mercury-oriented listing in the Chicago Reader; opens in new window
Listing in "Voice Choices," Village Voice; opens in new window

Interviews.
Jamie Schwartz, CLMP Literary Magazine and Press Directory, 2005 [new window]
Didi Menendez, MiPoesias, 2004
Ryan Robert Mullen, Word Riot, 2004. The 'well-kept hockey mullet' interview
Chris Gage, Gothamist, 2004
Talking About, Queens Public Television, 2004; real audio stream
Sound Affects, VH1 series, Ondi Timoner director, aired 2003
Ross Martin, Nerve, 2003 [for adults only] [new window]
Kenan Herbert, Gigantic, 2003