An Unknown Master Of Horror
“Sometimes there would be an isolated house hanging onto the edge of an open field of shadows and shattered glass. And the house would be so contorted by ruin that…
Features & Reviews
9212 posts
Books Under Lock and Key
“The objection was reviewed by a panel, in keeping with the library’s policy. It determined the book no longer belonged on the open stacks, but rather should be tucked away…
Why I Write
It’s natural to want more, to grow, to change, to grow up. But it’s easy to forget why we do what we do.
Promoting Punk
Nick Rombes is an associate professor and chair of the English department at University of Detroit Mercy. He is also the author of A Cultural Dictionary of Punk: 1974-1982, a…
Underachieving as Art: The Rumpus Interview With Benjamin Anastas
Follow the curve, as it goes down… down… down… Such is the tone of Benjamin Anastas’ An Underachiever’s Diary, just recently reissued as a Dial Press Trade Paperback and concurrently…
“Why Aren’t There Any Accordions?”
“JC: What is music good for that books aren’t? “DH: Driving, dancing around in your underwear, sitting around talking. “JC: What are books good for that music is no good…
D. A. Powell’s Desert Island
“Nearly everything that inspires me both eternally and in the moment is present in one non-hierarchical heap. Or several heaps. A letter from a man in prison who seems to have read some…
Young, Unemployed, and Scottish
“Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television. Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol…
Some Kind of 29th-Century Sci-Fi Lobster
Over at New York Magazine, Sam Anderson (interviewed here) has published a review of Inherent Vice that is one of the funniest pans of a novel I’ve ever read. “There is…
Stylistic Departure
Dan Chaon has written a guest post for Kepler’s Books’ blog, Well-Read Donkey, in which he discusses his love of thrillers, how we look at “genre” fiction versus “literary” fiction,…
David Rees: The Last Book I Loved, The Plague
“Followed by scowls and protestations, (the doctor) left the committee-room. Some minutes later, as he was driving down a black street redolent of fried fish and urine, a woman screaming…