Posted by Jason Diamond I don’t really think Kevin Sampsell expects to become a billionaire publishing playboy by doing Future Tense (although he does deserve it, and probably wouldn’t mind it…). To understand his motives, all you really have to do is read any one of the many releases he’s put out, or just pay attention to the constant stream of updates on the F.T. Facebook, and you quickly come to realize that it’s not only one of the best indies […]
Maud Newton and Emma Straub on film
Posted by Jason Diamond It’s nice to wake up to separate e-mails containing videos featuring two of our absolute favorite people on a rainy day. In this case, inReads talks to Emma Straub, and Maud Newton sums up Crime and Punishment in a minute at Lit Drift.
Morning Bites: Hunter S. Thompson treasure trove, Naomi Wolf at OWS, Tim Kinsella, Julian Barnes, and more
How much Hunter S. Thompson can you take? If the answer is, “There is never enough of the insanity!” Playboy has all of the articles that he wrote for the magazine up in one place waiting just for you! Naomi Wolf arrested at Occupy Wall Street. Between beating the crap out of peaceful protestors, arresting Wolf and Cornel West getting cuffed over the weekend, the police seem to be hellbent on making sure that everybody hates them. At The Paris […]
Pranking Will Self
Posted by Jason Diamond I’ve long confused Will Self for Will Sheff (of Okkervil River) whenever I see either of their names, but now I’ll just remember that Will Self is the one who got pranked by the British noise trio, Will Sheff is the guy who writes songs.
Morning Bites: Richard Hell, Bram Stoker’s diary, Blake Butler on the radio, old soccer balls, and more
Richard Hell’s memoir is acquired by Ecco. It will be titled I Dreamed I Was A Very Clean Tramp. You know somebody at Ecco is slapping themselves and saying, “Why couldn’t he have just called it “Some (Other) Kids” or something like that?” (Thanks Bryan Waterman for the tip.) The private journals of Bram Stoker have been found. I guess you can call them The Real Vampire Diaries. Blake Butler talks about insomnia on the Brian Lehrer show. A more […]
Erasing drunken shame on Arthur Miller’s 96th birthday
Posted by Jason Diamond I worked in coffee shops intermittently from the ages of 15 to 28. Despite the poor pay, the rude customers, and the multiple burns from scolding hot water, it wasn’t my worst work experience. I’ve made lifelong friends thanks to those gigs, and when I was broke and hungry, I could always depend on my coffee shop for free coffee and the occasional sandwich. Working in coffee also supplied me with one of my most embarrassing […]
Yelp reviews for Edith Wharton, Hemingway, and Edgar Allan Poe
Posted By Jason Diamond Yelp reviews tend to serve two purposes for me: they tell me whether or not a place is good at giving people food poisoning, or they help me kill time when I’m bored and Wikipedia and Youtube just won’t do. I’m not sure if I’d call my obsession with reading Yelp reviews strange or quirky, after all, some of my friends spend hours of their day reading over Craigslist missed connections (or the n+1 version…), and […]
Morning Bites: Murakami is God, Didion in New York, Harper Perennial, bullfighters, Neal Pollack, Youth Lagoon, and more
Joan Didion isn’t interested in people, Murakami’s new book is gonna be bigger than Jesus, Neal Pollack, and much more.