So HarperCollins made big news with the creation of a new division that is trying out “new” techniques in selling hardcover books. The most salient news is that they’ll eliminate advances in favor of higher royalties on the back end. Read: a kind of profit-sharing. From what I know of corporate accounting, though, mostly through […]
So first we had smoke fiction, which is a short story as long as it takes to smoke a cigarette, and then flash fiction, which can be a lot quicker, and then six-word stories, which is about as short as you can get. But now there’s Txt Lit – not measured in words, but in […]
I’m back up and running now, thanks to a Verizon line for which I’m probably paying too much. But some updates on writing of mine that recently came out: Check out the Spring 2008 Rain Taxi Review of Books, in which I have a review of “Dangerous Laughter” by Steven Millhauser. Sorry, my review’s only […]
Apologies for the infrequency of posting recently. I just moved this last weekend (don’t worry, I’m still in the Los Angeles area, though not five minutes from Skylight Books, whimper, whimper) and I don’t have internet yet. My new local coffee shop is lending out some free bandwidth for this message, but posting will be […]
Bookslut interviews the editor of One Story. Members of the Society of Slow Readers, take heart! A discussion of another short story turned movie over at Columbia University Press — Eileen Chang’s story “Se, jie,” which was turned into the movie “Lust, Caution.” (via Conversational Reading) A new issue of Bookforum is out, including a […]
Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is coming up soon, on April 26 and 27th, so I’ve picked out some of my favorite people who will be there. And of course I will be around as well, scouting, listening, perusing and getting into all kinds of literary mischief. Some highlights from the attendees list: Lydia […]
Recently, while reading two short story collections — Jim Shepard’s "Like You’d Understand, Anyways" and Tobias Wolff’s "Our Story Begins," — I got the distinct feeling of deja reading. You know, when you come across something and in the first few paragraphs it seems familiar, as if you’ve read it in another life. When it […]
The Tournament of Books is in full swing, including hilarious judges commentary. The fifth annual Millions Writers Award is taking submissions for the best online short story published. Jonathan Safran Foer speaks and people consider him arrogant . . . surprise, surprise, surprise. That’s how I wanted to find him, when I saw him at […]
Maud Newton has a review of Cate Kennedy’s Dark Roots (which I listed in my short story roundup at the beginning of the year) in NYTBR. There’s also a review of Dangerous Laughter by Steven Millhauser, a book which I enjoyed immensely and wrote a review that should come out in the next issue of […]
Jim Shepard won the Short Story Prize last night for his collection “Like You’d Understand, Anyway.” First prize was $20,000, and both runners-up took home $5,000. I just finished the book and understand (Yes, I do understand, really) why it won. It has a zest for exploration and a penchant for far-flung corners of the […]
