I’ve been huge into biographies lately. I read one on F. Scott Fitzgerald last summer, and I picked up one on John Steinbeck after writing to a Steinbeck preservation society to ask for the one they tend to endorse. I got a quick reply from a volunteer who waxed critical of a particular one I [...]
Monthly Archives: August 2008
In Search of J.D. Salinger, Part One
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
A writer has his obsessions, his themes, that he continually comes back to in his work. The obsessions reflect what has been eating him from the inside out for as long as he can remember. He may find inspiration in a distant and snow-covered mountain; in the big beautiful lips of his first-born son; or [...]
The New Cliche, Part One
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
This is, most definitely, an incomplete list of things you should cease doing, phrases you should avoid using, and other little bits of cleverness that make me dislike and stop reading you.
Using Specific Song Titles as a Way to Inform Setting: Are you so lazy and unable to construct an authentic setting that you have [...]
Pork Chops and Arkansas; Isn’t That Swell
Saturday, August 9, 2008
I never told you about Arkansas.
I read a book called Arkansas, by John Brandon. It’s a McSweeney’s book (of course), but seriously, there are more than a couple of McSweeney’s books and stories I do not like at all. This one I liked, though. Brandon gave me my Denis Johnson, circa Jesus’ Son, fix without [...]
Still Like Dzanc
Saturday, August 2, 2008
My story collection was rejected by Dzanc Books a couple of days ago. This one hurt a little more than the others considering that I really felt a connection with this publisher. The two guys I had been in contact with, Dan Wickett and Steve Seighman, were professional, responded to my emails right away, and [...]