Posts by author
Seth Fischer
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The Rumpus Sunday Book Blog Roundup
After reviewing the book blogs this week, I’ve decided that if I see the words “Dan Brown” ever again I’m going to punch myself in the eyes with a Da Vinci Code decoder ring. To save you some time, here’s…
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Writing New Orleans
In the introduction to Guernica Magazine’s New Orleans-themed September edition, editor Pia Ehrhardt writes: “When friends from out of town come to visit, my husband, Malcolm, and I put them in the car and drive. Driving is the only way…
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How Not to Be Boring
Tim O’Brien has a really brilliant article in The Atlantic in which he argues that the biggest problem with “unsuccessful stories” is, to put it quite simply, that “they are boring.” I couldn’t agree more. O’Brien worries about the focus…
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Glenn Beck is the New John Updike
“For the past nine months, ever since a certain somebody seized the White House, conservative pundits have dominated the ranks of nonfiction. … It would be easy enough, and rather predictable, to lament this state of affairs and to find…
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The Rumpus Sunday Book Blog Roundup
Your humble Rumpus Sunday Editor is smitten. Over the last couple weeks, the book blogs have been in form, publishing intelligent, hilarious, insightful, and riveting posts. In a word, they’ve been brilliant. Some, but most certainly not all, of my…
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The Rumpus Sunday Book Review Supplement
It’s been a real humdinger of a week at Rumpus Books. Come see what we have.
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Lester Bangs on John Lennon
Jacket Copy has scrounged up an old op-ed written by the rock critic Lester Bangs, published six days after John Lennon was killed. “Look: I don’t think I’m insensitive or a curmudgeon. In 1965 John Lennon was one of the…
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Warning: Don’t Mess with Damien Hirst’s Pencils
The artist Damien Hirst is trying to ruin a seventeen year old artist named Cartrain … for stealing a pack of pencils as a practical joke. Originally, Hirst went after Cartrain for using an image of his famous diamond skull…
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Rebecca Solnit on Writing What Matters
In The Believer, Rebecca Solnit gives some advice I hope to someday learn to follow completely: “Apolitical is a political position, yes, and a dreary one. The choice by a lot of young writers to hide out among dinky, dainty, and…
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Putin Scares Pants Off Condé Nast, Gawker Saves Day
Did you know that GQ recently published a groundbreaking story which questions “the official line” on the 1999 bombings — supposedly committed by Chechen rebels — that Vladimir Putin used as a springboard to put himself in charge of Russia…