Posts by author
Pat Johnson
-
When Fiction becomes Life
Mark O’Connell tells a fascinating story in The Millions about his encounter with a recently released murderer, Malcolm MacArthur. O’Connell grew up hearing and reading stories about MacArthur murders, but his favorite is a fictional novel, The Book of Evidence, whose…
-
Last Night On Earth
A San Diego-based arts collective, So Say We All, called for submissions based on the prompt: “Tonight, the world will end. Everything you love will cease to exist. How do you spend your last 24 hours? When everything you know…
-
Wayne Coyne’s Human Head-Shaped Tumor Radio Show
Next week, on November 24 and 25, at 5pm, KCRW will be broadcasting (and streaming on KCRW.com) a radio show created by our pal Rickard Parks. The show was first featured in McSweeney’s and includes helicopter crashes, “murmuring tumors,” and…
-
“When My Husband Came Out as a Woman”
Feminist theorist Judith Butler criticizes gender as something culturally constructed while “sex is just as culturally constructed as gender.” According to Butler, the distinction between sex and gender turns out to be no distinction at all. In Anne G. Sabo’s…
-
Have you heard of The Rolling Jubilee?
Occupy, once again, has devised a clever way of thwarting Wall Street. The Rolling Jubilee is an organization created to “free debtors from their debt” and claims: “We buy debt for pennies on the dollar, but instead of collecting it, we abolish…
-
Philip Roth Calls it Quits
In a recent interview with a French magazine, prolific novelist Philip Roth claims his 2010 novel, Nemesis, will be his last. In fact, Roth claims he is even done reading. Roth says: “And after that, I decided that I was done with fiction. I…
-
Election 2012: curious what NPR looks like behind the scenes?
Last night, Rumpus contributor Wendy MacNaughton went behind the scenes with NPR to create “live illustrations” of their election coverage. Check out some of Wendy’s NPR illustrations at “Election 2012: What Radio Looks Like.” Below are a few we think…
-
Improve your prose with Math
Alright fiction writers, put down your pens for a moment and let’s talk math. If you recoil when hearing the “M-word” or brace your index fingers into a cross at the sight of algebra or calculus books—you’re not alone. But…
-
Amazon bans Authors from posting book Reviews
If you’re an author on Amazon, your days of posting book reviews may have come to an end. Amazon’s new book review policy classifies Amazon authors as competitors, and competitors cannot review each others “products.” At Jacket Copy, Carolyn Kellogg…
-
Prop 34: The fate of the Death Penalty
The United States is one of only four industrialized democracies that still practice capital punishment. This upcoming election, Prop 34 will determine the fate of the death penalty in California. Alexandra Gross’ personal essay, “My Childhood Pen-Pal Was an Innocent Man…
-
A Lifetime of Literature
Joe Queenan reads books. Lots of books. In fact, he surrounds himself with them (1,340 lay about his house to be exact). Queenan reads at least four hours a day every day, and although he is admittedly a slow reader,…
-
Is Facebook’s new “feature” extorting small organizations?
Many businesses recently noticed that although their reported “likes” may have increased, only a portion of their posts were actually reaching their followers. Now, in order for organizations to reach their original Facebook fan base, they have to pay Mr.…