Happy Birthday to me. Or, well, BookFox. I’ve come so far from that fateful first post about meeting Jonathan Safran Foer. It’s been three wonderful years, and I’m so glad to get through the terrible twos. Thanks to my faithful readers, and may there be much more literary fun to come.
Tin House just put out a collection of essays with writers on writing, called The Writer’s Notebook. Many essays came from the Tin House Writing Workshops, and some were gleaned from elsewhere. Brilliant stuff, and not at all the hackneyed tired advice you find in so many writing books. For instance, I really appreciated Aimee […]
The economic trickle down has started to affect an area of publishing where monies are usually scarce to begin with: The Literary Journal. Inside Higher Ed announced that Middlebury College is demanding that the New England Review become financially independent. Jacket Copy covers the story, and at the VQR blog, Ted Genoways argues for the […]
The Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award Longlist was announced last week, but it’s only a list of all eligible collections, not whittled down from a larger body of contenders. Really, it’s less of an honor for those nominated than a PR move. Of course, the leadership of the prize hardly follows convention, especially when […]
Joseph O’Neill (Netherland) ostensibly reviews Brad Gooch’s biography about Flannery O’Connor in the June issue of Atlantic Monthly, but really gives us an thoughtful essay about O’Connor and O’Neill’s responses to her work. His main thrust is that O’Connor received fame early — she never eked out an existence as a struggling writer — yet […]
Over at Emerging Writers Network, Dan’s been hyping up Short Story Month, and a lot of others are getting in on the action. Marcel Jolley mentioned mix tapes over there. So I submitted a mix tape for Dan, themed along Fantastic Fiction. Love the concept of mix tapes. Did a bunch on this blog way […]
Over at the Times Literary Supplement, there’s a detailed article about the Norse mythology that gave rise to Tolkien’s latest (last?) book published by his son Christopher Tolkien. “The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun” is all poetry — don’t miss that crucial detail. And it fills in a mysterious gap in the Nibelung legend. Here’s […]
I have gone to the dark side. I am now twittering. And sending tweets. And feeling twitterific. And any other coinage/catachresis you’d like to apply. Look for me under bookfox. Now that I’m done with my cross-platform promotion, time for some serious analyzing of this new medium. My biggest problem with text-messaging and twittering is […]
Usually I’m against the coronation of certain days or months as special celebrations of whatever, because by now, I’m sure every day of the year has some kind of movement associated with it. May 5th: Salamander Day. June: Bowler Hat Month. (okay, so I made those ones up) But when it comes to short stories, […]
Esquire is giving the short story a little nudge. Or, given the bar-brawl story they just published, more like a shove. They are starting to publish stories again, albeit only online, and are also sponsoring a contest for short stories under 4000 words with one of these three titles: Twenty-Ten An Insurrection Never, Ever Bring […]
