The NY Times has a double-pronged review of two books about being wrong — “Being Wrong,” by Kathryn Schulz, and “Wrong,” by David H. Freedman. Dwight Garners writes of Schulze, whom he says wrote the more interesting book: She argues in “Being Wrong” that, of all the things we’re wrong about, our ideas about error […]
Even though J.G. Ballard didn't really wanted his archives preserved, even to the point of lying about their existence, he didn't have the heart to destroy them himself. He could have used some advice from Kafka and Nabakov. Should have burned it all. The Independent has an article and a video. Also, I love how […]
Just wanted to highlight two short story collections coming out this month and in July — if you want to check out some other good reads for the beach (but not "beach reading") look at the LA Times list and NY Times list. Memory Wall by Anthony Doerr, published by Scribner From South Africa to […]
The Seattle Review is overhauling their entire journal, swinging from very short stories (all stories had to be under 4,000 words), to novellas (if it’s not more than 40 pages, they don’t want to see it). They haven’t posted anything on their submissions page yet, but I’ll repost what they mailed me: “The editors of […]
The NY Times reports that the New Yorker 20 Under 40 list has come out. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 32 Chris Adrian, 39 Daniel Alarcón, 33 David Bezmozgis, 37 Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, 38 Joshua Ferris, 35 Jonathan Safran Foer, 33 Nell Freudenberger, 35 Rivka Galchen, 34 Nicole Krauss, 35 Yiyun Li, 37 Dinaw Mengestu, 31 Philipp […]
On June 7th, The New Yorker will release an issue highlighting the best American authors under 40. Yes, it’s an arbitrary cut-off date (sorry, Dave Eggers — you’re 40 + 3 months), but 20 Under 40 sounds so much better than 20 Under A-Vague-Stage-In-Middle-Age-Before-Getting-Old. It’s a marketing ploy, people, get over it. The Observer reports […]
Jeff Parker is zany and zippy — at least as represented in his fiction, and his lively answers below encourage the reputation. BookFox caught up with him over email to interrogate him about his latest book, The Taste of Penny, which could best be described as a wild thirteen-story ride through the linguistically innovative world […]
Last month Paul Harding was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for “Tinkers,” the first time in decades that a small press snagged the prize. I got to see Harding at the LA Festival of Books, and was impressed by his wit and gravity. So I bought his book and enjoyed it immensely. It’s the […]
Robin Black’s collection, “If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This,” was published last month by Random House. Ever since I read this collection, the word ricocheting around my brain is “solid.” These stories are solid and steady, in the best sense of an authorial surefootedness. There is precise and simple language. These are […]
It might seem strange to go from a post warning of economic language to one examining economic models for literary journals, but I’m not anti-finance — I just don’t want it to dominate all my creative work. Here’s the situation: Literary journals seem to be moving away from institutionalized support. (See New England Review, TriQuarterly). […]
