This week? This week, it looks like we’re talking nonfiction. Mostly. One work of artistic discussion and personal reflection; one sharp look at literature through the prism of dozens of talented novelists; and one look at a very particular music scene in a very particular city. And there’s also a gritty crime novel set in the 15th century, because: why not?
A few weeks ago, among a relatively large group of people, I sat in a bookstore and listened to several editors from women’s websites talk. An audience member stood and asked the panel about a new, infamously mocked site. Should you write for publications you dislike when you need the money? One of the editors said that the audience member had named a website that ultimately doesn’t pay that much. She said that for one post they pay less than […]
After reading an excellent interview with the author by Sarah McCarry, I ended up picking up Imogen Binnie’s novel Nevada. Which very much felt like the kind of novel I needed to read at a particular point in time: it’s the kind of seemingly effortless novel that, upon further examination, turns out to be very precisely crafted; it’s also heartfelt, cynical, and ambiguous in all the right ways. It’s the story of Maria, a trans woman living in New York City […]
If this week is any indication, a brief autumn appears to have given way to an early onset of winter. Do I dare call it zine-reading weather? Is any kind of weather not well-suited to the reading of zines? (I mean, torrential downpours might pose some problems.) But right now, it’s time to put thoughts of zines past aside and turn towards the zines of today. We’ll start with one on the artistic side. Elizabeth Graeber’s A Coloring Book of People is […]
Article I: The National Football League (henceforth “the NFL”, “NFL”, and/or “the League”) decrees that in conjunction with his ongoing suspension from his active roster, Mr. Incognito shall serve one hundred (100) hours of community service as an employee of the Grufferson Retirement Palace in Myanmar, Florida. When asked by residents if he is their grandson, Mr. Incognito will be required to answer in the affirmative, even if he is not the grandson of the resident in question. If prompted, […]
A novel with the title Lives of the Monster Dogs isn’t something one soon forgets. I’m not sure when the first time I saw Kirsten Bakis’s novel on bookstore shelves was: I’m guessing it was a while ago, before I’d developed the compulsion to buy books that pique my interest at a moment’s notice. Something held me back, and I don’t quite know what that was: a fear that, for that I was intrigued by the novel’s premise, I’d be let […]
Yesterday was Halloween — and with that in mind, a lot of the reading I did in the week leading up to the holiday in question fell onto the supernaturally-charged side of things. Sometimes that led to ominous, terrifying work; at others, ghosts and hauntings took on a knowing, almost comic air. We’ll start with a trio of collections. I have no idea why Karen Russell’s Vampires in the Lemon Grove has been on my to-read shelf unread; the only reason I […]
Recently, I’ve been in the process of getting a number of the interviews from my old zine Eventide online. There are six so far, with more to come. (Hint: fans of bands with alumni of Swiz in their lineups will likely be very happy.) Going through the files, stored for over a decade on Zip discs — the storage medium of tomorrow! — I found a lot more as well: PageMaker 5 layouts; the columns that a number of us wrote; a […]