Posts by author
Alex Norcia
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The Satanic Children’s Big Book of Activities
After a judge ruled that religious pamphlets could be handed out in Orange County, Florida, the Satanic Temple, Salon reports, is responding with the dissemination of its own literature: The Satanic Children’s Big Book of Activities.
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The Power of Print
As reported a week or so ago by Joe Pompeo at Capital, The American Reader plans to abandon its digital platform and turn all of its focus toward print.
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Patriarchy’s Slow Unwinding
For the New York Times Magazine, A.O. Scott argues about the “slow unwinding” of patriarchy in American culture, drawing on modern television, history, and literature. In part responding to Ruth Graham’s essay at Slate, in which she urges against adults reading…
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The Devil Finds Work
Combining The Exorcist, New Jersey, and James Baldwin, among other things, Nick Ripatrazone reviews William Giraldi’s new novel, Hold the Dark, at The Millions. He contemplates Giraldi’s place in contemporary Catholic literature, using his fiction, alongside Cormac McCarthy’s and Christopher…
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A Nation of Readers
At The Atlantic, Yori Applebaum chronicles a marketing tactic taken by American publishers in the midst of World War II. They sent free books to the troops overseas, succeeding in raising sales, Applebaum argues, by making a nation of readers.
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The Magic Building Where English Majors Work
A professor of undergraduate and graduate creative writing for twenty years, Cathy Day gives some practical advice for students at The Millions, admitting while English majors don’t work in a “magic building,” the degree does have some often overlooked benefits.
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The Power of Jacket Design
Susan Coll reveals, at The Millions, a detail she added to her new book, The Stager, based on the cover design.
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Notes on Self
At Salon, Laura Miller rebukes Will Self’s criticism of George Orwell at the BBC, arguing that the British novelist has misinterpreted “Politics and the English Language.” She emphasizes the importance that, in his essay, Orwell discussed political writing and did…
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Mixed Vibes
Erika Anderson writes for Vanity Fair about growing up on The Farm, at one time the largest commune in the United States with 1,500 people. She shares not only its way of life, but how — and why — her…
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Entitled Fiction
At Poets and Writers, Steve Almond offers his opinion on the growing “Problem of Entitlement” — “a curious arrogance toward published authors” among young writers. Here’s why he thinks that’s the continuing case: In my own experience, the Problem of…
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Among the Damned
Reminded of a quote from Charles Baxter — “‘if you want a compelling story…put your protagonist among the damned” — Jabai Asim argues, in Bookforum’s “Daily Review” that while Ferguson is intriguing as a historical moment, it’s just as important…
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An End to Bookends
At Salon, Molly Fischer criticizes the New York Times’s “Bookends” column, going so far as to suggest that the it be eliminated for good. She compares the question-and-answer formats — and the content of the prompts — as reminiscent of…