JOSHUA DALTON is the author of I Hate You, Please Read Me (House of Vlad, 2021). He lives in Texas. Follow him on Twitter.
Currents, an Interview Series with Brian Alan Ellis (Episode 10: Claire Hopple)
CLAIRE HOPPLE lives in Asheville, North Carolina, and is the author of It’s Hard to Say (word west, 2021), Tell Me How You Really Feel (Maudlin House, 2020), Tired People Seeing America (Dostoevsky Wannabe, 2019), and Too Much of the Wrong Thing (Truth Serum Press, 2017). Her fiction has appeared in Hobart, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, New World Writing, Timber, and other places. She’s just a steel town girl on a Saturday night.
Morning Bites: “Black Futures” Reviewed, Gemma Files, William Boyle’s Latest, Rudolph Fisher, and More
In our morning reading: exploring the new anthology “Black Futures,” a preview of William Boyle’s next novel, and more.
Afternoon Bites: Kevin Young on the Schomburg Center, Karin Tidbeck’s Latest, Revisiting Nicholson Baker, and More
In our afternoon reading: new writing by Kevin Young, thoughts on Karin Tidbeck’s latest novel, and more.
Billie Jean and Me
Billie Jean and Me
by Jesse Ludington
I don’t remember the name of the bar in Paris, or what time it was, although it had to be late. I remember that it was a Thursday. I remember that the air felt cool on my face when I walked outside. Ashley was inside the bar, getting to know her Tinder date, Carl, an almost impossibly tall and lanky Swedish boy with shoulder-length blond hair, so textbook Ashley’s type I found it hard to believe she hadn’t created him in a lab. Kayla was inside too, nursing what she’d described to me as the worst piña colada of her life. My unfinished jack and coke sat somewhere along the bar—it had been too strong, and overpriced.
Morning Bites: Jordan A. Rothacker Interviewed, Floating Points and Pharaoh Sanders, Patricia Lockwood’s Novel, and More
In our morning reading: an interview with Jordan A. Rothacker, thoughts on Patricia Lockwood’s new novel, and more.
Afternoon Bites: Steve Rasnic Tem Interviewed, Story Prize Longlist, Matt Lubchansky on Comics, and More
In our afternoon reading: an interview with Steve Rasnic Tem, the longlist for the Story Prize, and more.
‘Trane: An Excerpt From Harold Jaffe’s “BRUT”
We’re pleased to present an excerpt from Harold Jaffe’s new book BRUT, out this week on Anti-Oedipus Press. BRUT focuses on several generations of artists and thinkers, featuring scenes and observations on the likes of Alberto Giacometti, William Blake, and James Baldwin. In this excerpt, Jaffe delivers a concise look at the way one musician’s life overlapped with the history of two nations.