books, lit randomness, media
In books, lit randomness on May 20, 2009 at 8:22 am
We try to do Lit Randomness every Mon. and Wed. Persistence in randomly set dates is a virtue!
NEW WEBSITE=6 DAYS
Games Issue: At Hobart.
If you haven’t checked out the bonus material for Hobart’s Game Issue, it’s a damn-fine treat, perhaps a blessing that’s not in disguise, but right there out in the open. Pieces on Ninja Hunter, Magic the Gathering and less nerdy stuff too, if that’s stuff is nerdy. Hobart is awesome as always.
Fav. fiction about authors, by an author (Christopher Miller) who has a fictional book (Cardboard Universe) coming out about an author: At Conversational Reading.
China Underground Intro by Zachary Mexico: At Pop Matters.
Looks promising. Soon to be out from Pop Matters/Soft Skull
Bookshop conversation about Word in Brooklyn: At Bookslut Blog.
books, eggers, fiction, greg ames, johnny marr, links, lit randomness, literary, review
In books, lit randomness on May 18, 2009 at 1:57 pm
We try to do Lit Randomness every Mon and Wed.
Dave Eggers, of McSweeney’s notoriety, and his brother Toph (yeah, that brother from that book) do their first interview together to promote their new book on Cold Fusion: At Paste. BTW, help save Paste.
Intro by Johnny Marr to new punk fiction anthology: At 3am.
Interview w/ Greg Ames, author of Buffalo Lockjaw: At Maud Newton.
All-time 10 ten best and worst mothers in comics: From Newsrama (h/t Fangirls Attack)
Poets ranked by beard weight: At Journey Round My Skull (h/t Bookslut blog)
The Millions’ Staff must-have subscrip list: At The Millions.
declaration, lit randomness, media, newspapers, print, rant
In lit randomness, magazines, media, print on May 13, 2009 at 3:40 am
The other night I watched the movie The Paper for the first time. It’s by Ron Howard, so there is some sap squeezed from the tree as the lead character played Michael Keaton fights for truth in a world only concerned with bottom lines and he makes his child’s birth despite his wife’s doubts about his priorities. I’m not as concerned about the narrative tension as the moment in time. It’s 1994. Only a couple of people in the movie have cellphones. Layout is done on the computer, but there is no Internet. And in a moment of pure nostalgia from the 2009 vantage point, Glenn Close, playing a harried newspaper exec, exclaims–”I only have 350 (reporters) when the Daily News has 700!” Oh, the tragedy. 15 years later and a staff of 350 is the luxury and 50 (or less) is the norm for standard newsroom procedure.
What I’m writing has been written a million times before but only by other newspaper people–the newspaper is dying and they’ve had the longest wake ever. Except no one cares. Their death has been extended and exaggerated by worried columnists who’ll freak if their stuff isn’t printed on paper but instead read by thousands more on a computer screen. Jack Shafer in a Slate piece yesterday writes about the New York strike in the 60s and uncovers that while newspapers were desired, other media stepped into the void. We’ve already seen that happen, especially as newspapers missed their cultural moment to adapt and survive. More after the jump…
Read the rest of this entry »
books, calvino, david peak, fc2, ghost factory, joe meno, komunyakaa, lit randomness
In books, lit randomness on May 6, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Totally missed this Joe Meno interview back in Feb. at About.com about his new book, The Great Perhaps, a somewhat anti-war novel with heavy influence from Vonnegut, according to the interview. Anyone who puts out a book with Akashic and Punk Planet will always have a place in my heart. I haven’t read Meno’s new one yet, but I’m sure it’s awesome like blueberry pancakes on a Sunday.
The best: “It’s set in 2004, just in the few weeks before the presidential election, and there are all of these questions about war, and about terrorism. It’s just this really weird, complex moment about people struggling with these big questions. And what seemed to happen was that people were overcome by fear, and resorted to these really simple answers.”–Joe Meno. His website is here.
FC2 picked a new winner for its contemporary fiction prize and publication. I recently just checked out Sukenick’s 98.6 and thought I didn’t quite agree with all going on, liked the intent and FC2. I’m sure Amelia Gray will carry on the tradition of experimental wonderment. (h/t HTML Giant)
Interview with David Peak, editor of Ghost Factory: At Chicago Examiner.
Interview with Yusef Komunyakaa: at KCRW.
Been diving into If on a winter’s night a traveler, and here are some new Italo Calvino stories: at Conversational Reading.
books, interviews, links, lit randomness
In books, interview, lit randomness on May 4, 2009 at 4:25 pm
As I try to do every Mon and Wed, here’s Lit Randomness. Send links over to deckfight [at] gmail.com.
Interv. w/ Andrei Codrescu: At 3 A.M.
I was introduced and then inundated with Codrescu while living in NOLA…but he still always offers a quality perspective. His new book is The Posthuman Dada Guide.
The best: “You should live in at least seven countries for a minimum of one year in each before you are seventeen, and must speak and write at least five languages in order to be a half-decent poet.”–Codrescu
Seth Godin on what authors should do to promote themselves: From Godin’s blog (h/t booksquare).
The best: “Far better to obsess about a little subset of the market–that subset that you have permission to talk with, that subset where you have credibility, and most important, that subset where people just can’t live without your book.”–Seth Godin
Why book critics won’t stop: At the WSJ. (h/t book bench)
Finally downloaded Ben Tanzer’s new book from CCLAP. It’s been out a couple of months, but will review it soon.
books, links, lit randomness
In books, the wire on April 27, 2009 at 3:29 pm
The Wire Symposium: I don’t know how long this has been up, but there are some tremendous essays about The Wire over at Please Don’t, inspired by each writer’s favorite scene from the show.
Perseus Book Group is putting together a book in 48 hours as a collaborative process at the 2009 Book Expo, called Book: The Sequel. That’s kind of a good idea with a stupid name (h/t Booksquare).
Here’s the NYTimes review of Colson Whitehead’s new one Sag Harbor. The parts the reviewer hated about the book (i.e. excellent descriptions of ice cream) were the ones that made me want to read it.
books, johnny cash, lit randomness, michael fitzgerald, william walsh
In books, interview on April 22, 2009 at 2:36 am
William Walsh and Michael Fitzgerald are the authors of Questionstruck and Radiant Days, respectively. They both have a couple of books out, but author Ben Tanzer starts it off right by asking about Johnny Cash. The interview was part of Orange Alert Writer on Writer Series.
The best, from William Walsh:
“Johnny Cash wasn’t the only celeb at the San Q when I was doing my time. Also in residence was John Cheever, researching and writing what would be his second-to-last novel, Falconer. He was a very pleasant man with a fine purple nose. Johnny the Cheeve, we called him. Loved his cats and shared his smokes. I declined two offers for parole, at Cheever’s request, so I could stay on to help copyedit his rangy manuscript.”
Oh man, what a productive prison.
What kind of a blog would this be without any posturing towards the Pulitzer? Elizabeth Strout won for Olive Kitteridge, a novel I know nothing about and not many other people do either apparently with very few scant interviews (or maybe that’s more of a reflection on media’s coverage of books…). But Litagogo posted some audio links and Millions saw the book climbing their ranks back in Feb. Ah, here’s an interview Strout did back in December with Failbetter.com.
Update: Should novels be more like The Wire? From the New York Observer.
The best: Is the point of writing fiction in 2009 to represent, as accurately as possible, the way the world really works?
