Features & Reviews
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All the Water
“Absent characters often hover around the edges of these stories. Children long for dead parents; husbands deceased, divorced, or ignored wander in and out of thoughts. Creatures both real and imagined haunt people who fear or pursue them.” Anya Yurchyshyn…
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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Leakage Problem
The American Scholar posted a fascinating (and a bit depressing) article by William J. Quirk called “Living on $500,000 a Year.” The article is about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s tax returns, and wow, doesn’t that sound enthralling. But seriously, it’s an…
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The Rumpus Interview with Lydia Millet
When asked why I publish what I publish, I often reply—I publish in order to understand why I published. Until a book goes out into the world to be engaged with, tussled with, confronted, loved, argued over, no-one, not even…
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Dave Doyle: The Last Book I Loved, Perv–A Love Story
I am not a pervert. Well, I don’t think I am. At least not all the time–you know, it’s not like I’m consumed by depravity or anything. I guess all I’m trying to say is that perverts are people, too.…
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Things to Think About: Publishing Links
A new distribution model: give the book away for free. Powell’s weighs in on the Book Pricing Wars (via Publishers Weekly) “Authors Experiment with Twitterfiction” Will the Apple Tablet kill the Kindle? “Framing the Issue: Copyright from John Adams to…
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Waterworld
Loss and longing sit side-by-side with unexpected humor in Laura van den Berg’s stories, reminding readers of the strange things we encounter every day.
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Notable San Francisco, This Week 10/26 – 11/1
In San Francisco this week, David Sedaris, a night with Kevin Smith, the SF Jewish BookFest, and a Haunted Laundromat. Monday 10/26: Learn more about one of the cornerstones of civilization as we know it: water. An official Sundance Selection,…
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Notable New York, This Week 10/26 – 11/1
In New York this week, James Frey and Maira Kalman at the CLMP Spelling Bee, members of The National collaborate with visual artist Matthew Ritchie in The Long Count at BAM, Sherman Alexie and Chuck Klosterman read, Guernica Magazine turns…
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Emails From Gitmo, Read With a Drawl
At the website for the PEN American Center they’ve posted the audio and a transcription of Jonathan Ames reading FBI emails from Guantanamo Bay. There is something strangely enlightening about Ames’ drone. It’s almost judgement-less, allowing the listener to listen…
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James Franco’s Face: A Subjective Account of the New Yorker Festival
Friday October 16, the New Yorker opened its annual weekend festival of readings, conversations, art tours and musical performances. This is my account of the events I attended, which included among others a talk with Malcolm Gladwell, readings by George…
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A Recipe to Ruin Your Sunday
The Guardian pointed out Wednesday that every Life Magazine is now available at Google Books, and now, thanks to them, my week has been ruined. And now I’ve ruined yours! There is so much to find. The Guardian discovered this…
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The Racist Velvet Rope
Teri Woods, a “pioneer … urban or hip-hop fiction” author, recently tried to have a party to celebrate the release of her new book Alibi in a Soho night club called Greenhouse. When she got there, she found that some white…