The Rumpus Interview with Halimah Marcus and Benjamin Samuel
Halimah Marcus and Benjamin Samuel, the co-editors of Recommended Reading, discuss the ins and outs of editing an ambitious literary project.
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Posts Tagged: Electric Literature
“The Devil’s Treasure”
We’ve written about Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading with excitement before, and this week is no exception. The latest issue features new writing from Mary Gaitskill: an excerpt from her novel-in-progress, titled “The Devil’s Treasure.” We won’t spoil any of it here, but let’s just say it feels good to read Gaitskill’s work again.
...moreRecommended Reading
Electric Literature is launching Recommended Reading, a free digital magazine that publishes one original story every week, “each chosen by a great author or editor.” The first issue, to be released in May, will feature a new story by Ben Marcus.
...moreBest Contradiction
Electric Literature’s monthly Critical Hit Awards for book reviews gives David Winters’ Rumpus review of Dogma the prize for Best Contradiction. Hooray!
“Reviewing a book that ‘sets itself up to fail, then fails to do that,’ David Winters makes a dizzying number of verbal and logical U-turns.
...moreA WILD Night
If you missed Monday’s WILD Night with Sugar and The Rumpus, check out Electric Literature’s write-up and photos of the festivities.
“As the band Widowspeak began playing and the reading ended, I thought that the dominant emotion throughout the evening was gratitude.
...morePractice Restraint
Electric Literature is asking us to show some restraint this holiday season with their Holiday Restraint Short Short Contest. Submit “a short short of 30 to 300 words, that uses each word only once” by midnight of Dec 31st.
...moreRoxane Wins “Best Rant”
Electric Literature is embarking on a new ranking system that will most definitely change the way you reflect on the past month of online book reviews. It’s called the Critical Hit Awards, and only three reviews are picked per month.
...more“Letters to my editor”
“To The Editor,
Last winter I submitted a story titled Vacation from Hell. Frankly, the length of time it has taken to reply to my submission is an insult. If I had gotten you pregnant back in January, instead of simply submitting a story, we would have already packed a bag for the hospital, mapped out our route, et.
...moreDrinkers Are Smarter, Says Science
In the department of You Can Prove Anything With Science, this statistics-happy chap finds that “the more intelligent, who scored high on a vocabulary test, … drink more than the dumb, who scored low.”
(via @electriclit)
...moreNotable New York, This Week 5/3 – 5/9
This week in New York Electric Literature celebrates the launch of Issue 4, the Shepard Fairey exhibit is at Deitch Projects, Daniel Clowes discusses Wilson, John Leguizamo is honored by Spike Lee and Eric Bogosian, Ugly Duckling Presse presents “Talk Show,” and Lynne Tillman and Michael Cunningham pay tribute to Flannery O’Connor.
The Rumpus Sunday Book Blog Roundup
“Do not chew on the headphone cords!” — From @electriclit, passive aggressive library signs.
Marc Jacobs is pissing off literary West Villagers by opening a book store.
At The Guardian, Christine Granados has some fightin’ words for Cormac McCarthy and lists other authors she feels write the American southwest better.
...moreThe Sunday Rumpus Book Blog Roundup
My relationship with the book blogs has hit a snag. Today, we got in a throw-down fight, and I came pretty close to breaking some china.
It’s just that the blogs whine and worry and complain a lot, and they always seem to want to cheat on me with famous writers, like Martin Amis or David Foster Wallace or Marquis de Sade, and then it rubs off on me, and I end up whining and worrying and complaining more than they do, and then I stop liking myself.
...moreJim Shepard on Writing Fiction That’s Got Some Truth to It
“The first worry writers have when they consider working with something like historical events has to do with the issue of authority: as in, where do I get off writing about that? Well, here’s the good and the bad news: where do you get off writing about anything? Where do you get off writing about someone of a different gender? A different person? Where do you get off writing about yourself, from twenty years ago?
...moreMore Crappy News for Short Story Writers
Mark Trainer publishes an excerpt of a note he received from a “thoughtful, well-respected agent” on his blog.
“I have no confidence in being able to place a collection at this time in the world of publishing. Publishers don’t like to publish short story collections in general unless they are VERY high concept or by someone very strange or very famous or Indian.
...moreThe Rumpus Sunday Book Blog Roundup
This week, the book blogs are obsessed.
They really, really want to tell you everything about William Vollman and Thomas Pynchon and their new wondrous masterpieces of weird. I love both authors and look forward to reading both books, but this week, the blogs talked so incessantly about them that I will make this roundup a Vollman and Pynchon free zone, with one exception.
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