Every writer writes each book a little differently from the one before it. When authors collaborate on a novel, that sense of reinvention increases exponentially. For collaborators Andrew Hook and Eugen Bacon, creating the new book Secondhand Daylight involved challenges large and small. The two writers discussed their process for working together on a very distinctive novel of time travel, and shared an excerpt from it as well.
In our morning reading: thoughts on Eugen Bacon’s new book, Two Dollar Radio on a recent literary hit, and more.
In our afternoon reading: adapting Haruki Murakami for the screen, a playlist from Eugen Bacon, and more.
It’s ace to see Mage of Fools getting good love in some rave reviews, so I guess it’s no biggie to stretch a bit and give back to the community.
What I’d love to do for youse is fire up a barbie, throw a rack of lamb, sweet potatoes, veggie burgers on it, even pass around cold ones in a tinnie or a bottle, platters of smashed avo on toast as aperitifs.
But the pandemic is a bummer, covid cancels plans and we get all suspicious real quick about tucker and booze from bloody strangers, especially ones from Woop Woop.
In our afternoon reading: an interview with Eugen Bacon, book suggestions from Henry Hoke, and more.
Speculate, the new book from Eugen Bacon and Dominique Hecq, offers a fascinating and often gripping look at literary collaboration. The book is divided into two halves: in each, one author responds to the prose poetry of the other. How those responses work make for one of the book’s most thrilling elements; the other is the stylistic range involved, meaning that some of the prose poems read like dispatches from a more surreal locale and others feel compellingly candid. I spoke with Hecq about the book’s origins and the ways in which it came together.
In our afternoon reading: an interview with Madeleine Watts, fiction by Caitlin Horrocks, and more.
It’s December, apparently. Are we reading? We’re still reading. What are we reading? Books. Which books? Maybe some of these. The end of the year traditionally brings a very intriguing assortment of titles, and this year is no exception. Looking for strange, genre-defying work? We’ve got that, sure. Seeking sharply-written nonfiction? We’ve got that covered as well. Here are some December books that have caught our eye.