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…
Features & Reviews
9297 posts
Sex and the Witty
There’s Something Wrong with Sven combines imaginative leaps worthy of Calvino and Vonnegut with tragicomic irreverence of the George Saunders variety.
Charlie Stross Talks Happy Slapping, Robot Chauffeurs with Paul Krugman
I just came across this transcript of a conversation between Paul Krugman and the sci-fi writer Charlie Stross. They talk about why flying cars are a bad idea, what kitchens…
How Idioms Might Save the World
“…I was astonished (original meaning = struck by lightning) by something Bob Mankoff … said in a Charlie Rose Show interview. He said he thought of “humor as a necessary…
Smart People Talk Short Stories
In a post last week titled More Crappy News for Short Story Writers, I lamented what I considered to be a lost opportunity for the big publishing houses. They could,…
Africa and Science Fiction
Nnedi Okorafor has an essay over at The Nebula Awards site about Africa’s relationship with science fiction, as well as a discussion on Penguin’s decision to make science fiction ineligible…
The Rumpus Sunday Book Review Supplement
This week, Rumpus books reviews a novel, a collection of prose poems, and a debut collection of short stories set in Louisiana.
Rumpus Sunday Book Blog Roundup
I’m hoping to God that it’s just temporary, but for whatever reason, the book blogs are suddenly all worried about ethics, whether it’s what to do about reading writers with…
Help Make a Story
“Any bird departing the yard in a north-north-westerly direction could by chance alight on the window-ledge of room 62A of the Florencio Motel, where a recently arrived woman is living…
On the Couch
The protagonist of this novel about addiction, therapy, and recovery, confronts many of the same issues as its author.
Magic Gardens
“I’m a stripper, rocker, bartender, and writer. I had a lot of plans last year, but none of them involved breast cancer. The disease sidetracked my livelihood, threatened my life,…
Exactly Like Liz Phair, Except Older. And With Hypochondria.
I told myself she reminded me of Liz Phair, but without the marijuana-steeped tomboy, devil-may-care, laid-back attitude of Liz Phair. This is the type of thing you tell yourself when…