Features & Reviews
-
Whitewashed Book Cover Finally Gets Some Color
Not too long ago, in a land not too far away, Australian author Justine Larbalestier’s forthcoming book about an African-American teen with a penchant for lying was whitewashed by her American publisher Bloomsbury. A situation easily imaginable in the now-unthinkable…
-
Salon Lays Off 20% of Staff to Become “True Web Publication”
Salon laid off six of its 29 editorial staffers last week in an effort–according to CEO Richard Gingras’ statement to Gawker–to become “more of a true Web publication.” According to Gingras, the layoffs are tied to a fall relaunch of…
-
Identity Theft
“You’re a different person when you’re at work, at home, out with your friends. Over the course of your life, your sense of self and where you belong in the world changes. In my case, it was fairly radical. I…
-
Lost Covers
Let’s admit it – we judge books by their covers. The old adage that we shouldn’t may invariably prove correct, but that doesn’t stop us from doing it anyway. As with any commodity, those last five crucial inches of space…
-
Where Walsh Writes
“Following David Markson, I write in the library where my recall is perfect and my thoughts organized. The library is the best quiet place to work through third drafts. “Like Charles Bukowski, Dylan Thomas, and Dorothy Parker, I’ve written in…
-
Gidget On the Couch
“The thing to remember is that, since 1957, surfing as something you buy has overshadowed surfing as something you do.” An exclusive excerpt on the origins of surfing from the best of the Believer essays, Read Hard.
-
I Wish I Was Anne Carson
Of the many professors of literature I had at Santa Cruz, none captured my imagination or gained my admiration so much as the Classics professors did. Not that I was a Classics major by any stretch but I did happen…
-
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 the possibility of its being inhabited sent the imagination swirling…
-
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 in the Hunt Collection, which are kept in a vault-like…
-
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 book that is far more punk than its academic title…
-
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 billed as the “the funniest, most underappreciated book of the…