The newest edition of The Drawbridge is out, with the theme of Opulence. A BookFox favorite, Tobias Wolff, has a wet-hay-stacking short story, one of the ones included in “Our Story Begins.” Also included is a story by the wonderful essayist John Berger, “Across Prison Walls.” (“Shit” might be one of my favorite essays of […]
Here’s the lovely treat of a 67 year old man, publishing his first book, which goes on to be an international bestseller. Lit-blog Co-op members might remember Sam Savage’s “Firmin,” which is now doing remarkable business abroad: Firmin … about the adventures of an erratic, paper-gobbling, self-pitying rodent, has spent the summer knocking Ken Follett […]
The problem with textbook prices is more complex than either side (students/faculty versus textbook publishers) would lead you to believe. But exorbitant prices are being fought by a wave of open-source textbooks (yes that means free. And online). As difficult and time-consuming as it is, one of the best exercises for writers is to copy […]
More of a personal note, this post. In a week I'll be starting a class teaching electronic writing at a university in the Southern California area. I'm looking forward to it — a nice reprieve from the steady streak of regular English Composition classes. I've developed a good deal of my curriculum already — the […]
I’ve become disenchanted with the whole notion of ranking literary journals, but I don’t want to delete this page entirely and disappoint the many readers who come here daily to discover new literary journals to read and submit to. So instead, I’m radically changing the system. The list below arranges literary journals in order of […]
I can’t help but laugh at Gawker’s pitch for the N+1 Reality Television Show. Think “The Apprentice” meets “Project Runway.” Picture nubile young women completing challenges in order to win the coveted internship under Keith Gessen. Michael Chabon picked up a Hugo Award (Sci-fi award) for “The Yiddish Policeman’s Union,” but it’s not his best […]
Reviews are out for Chris Adrian's first short story collection, "A Better Angel." The Seattle Times, a two-paragraph blurb at Esquire, a thorough review at the San Francisco Chronicle, and lastly at the LA Times. It's this last review, by Lizzie Skurnick, which troubles me. Skurnick's main complaint is that the children in "A Better […]
Over at Emerging Writers Network, Dan Wickett gives a shout-out to the Southern California Review, including a mention of my interview with Nathan Englander: The issue has three excellent short stories from Gary Fincke, Michael Buckley and Judith Freeman, as well as a nice essay by Christopher Buckley, and a ton of great poetry, including […]
Well, now that the games are about to begin tomorrow, it might be an excellent time to plead for all the writers that China has imprisoned. I heard on NPR yesterday that one of the Olympic Committee members didn't award China the Games because he thought they deserved it, but because he thought the Games […]
Wonderful discussion about the multi-faceted responsibilities of the writer/reader going on at Blake Butler’s blog, the Ploughshares blog, and Emerging Writers Network. Lots of reader commentary, so go read and add your two cents.
