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). […]
BookFox turns 4 years old this week. That’s ancient in blog years, but it’s not off to the nursing home yet. Still got some spunk left. Many thanks to all the readers, commenters and contributors for a fun four years. May the next year be even better.
I have a problem with talking about your publication records using the term "credits." I see it fairly frequently in literary journals bios: "Her publication credits include Granta and Paris Review." The term "credit" is an financial one. Credits are given and received in an "economy" — by which I mean any system of exchange […]
May has official been designated Short Story Month. Not only has Dan Wickett of Emerging Writer’s Network been blitzing out interviews and critiques and articles every May to celebrate the month, but this year even Poets & Writers formally recognized the efforts. Over at EWN, there’s a number of us contributing to a discussion of […]
I wrote several posts for the LA Times that are now up on Jacket Copy. One of the best panels I've ever attended was "Life Stories," featuring the new Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Harding ("Tinkers") and Rafael Yglesias, winner of the Los Angeles Times Fiction Award (not to mention Colson Whitehead and moderator David Kipen). […]
I’m here at the Publishing: Editors Speak Out panel at the LA Times Festival of Books. All of us in the front row are laughing, because it feels like we’re in an orchestra pit — the stage is that elevated in Broad 2160. I’m a bit fearful because publishing panels can turn into zombie attacks […]
