The Daily Rumpus
Get Overly Personal Emails
From Stephen Elliott
“All you book sluts are the same,” says Nick’s mother as I reveal that I too am an English major. This comes as we sit in his empty apartment, smoking cigarettes before he goes back home, one day before he rides back into town, bored with home, and pops back by my place to talk about books.
...more
July 28th marks the return of Rick Moody from another deep space tour of novel writing. Whenever I hear Moody is on track to make it back, I feel a mix of anticipation and apprehension. It’s akin to how one feels watching futuristic films, waiting for the appearance again of a well-known astronaut, who, having traveled so far and so deep into the cold void of his own invention, prepares to splash down and open the capsule door. The uneasy cigarettes lit in mission control are all burning with the question of whether or not the guy has gone bat shit crazy on his solitary voyage.
...more
Because we’re not elitist, or cliquish, and have socialist leanings in general, and because July is National Rick Moody month here at The Rumpus, we are going to give away a few more advance (hardcover) copies of Rick Moody’s new 732 page novel The Four Fingers of Death.
In the May 2007 Believer, Rick Moody opens his essay on W.G. Sebald’s Rings of Saturn with a brief discussion of “textual compulsion,” or the need to read every single word of a certain author. He lists a number of authors besides Sebald who gave him the condition:
...moreI saw Rick Moody read at the James Merrill House in Stonington, CT a year or so ago. He read two stories, the first about a New England family, not unlike those that call Stonington their home, out on their boat, drinking their daiquiris, or something.
Richard Hutzler writes:
Thank you for the opportunity to apply for an advanced copy of The Four Fingers of Death. I’ve been trying to imagine how silly/wild I might get for this e-mail as my argument why I should receive a copy…but it’s 104 degrees here in New York City and even with the air conditioner on I feel like a shrimp on a griddle, so my brain is a bit foggy/addled at the moment.
What’s up with Rumpus hero Rick Moody getting all web savvy in anticipation of his hot new book, The Four Fingers of Death?
Check out rickmoodybooks.com. Not doing it for you? How about therickmoody.com. Maybe hatredofnaturalism is more your thing.
...more