Cat Fitzpatrick On Writing a Novel in Verse About Online Spaces

Cat Fitzpatrick

Some books about online communities venture into the science fictional to appropriately describe the goings-on there. Others, from Dennis Cooper’s The Sluts to Elle Nash’s Gag Reflex, adopt the styles and formats of certain online spaces. Cat Fitzpatrick’s novel The Call-Out also wrangles with questions of online discourse, but is likely the only novel to do so while also being written in verse. I spoke with Fitzpatrick on an autumn morning to discuss her novel, art forms, and the excellence of New Jersey.

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Vol. 1 Brooklyn’s June 2022 Book Preview

June 2022 books

How, exactly, is it June already? The passage of time is mysterious sometimes, but this year it’s especially so. And the June books we’re most excited about around these parts represent an intriguing cross-section of literary genres and styles. From speculative works to insightful nonfiction; from an influential road novel to a surreal and satirical work — these books cover a lot of territory. Maybe you’ll find your next favorite book on this list.

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The Zinophile: Reading “Stereotype Threat” and Unraveling Intellectual Histories

Late last year, I read Imogen Binnie’s novel Nevada after reading an excellent interview with the author conducted by Sarah McCarry. From there, I ended up ordering several issues of Binnie‘s zine Stereotype Threat; its subtitle, “Trying to frame graduate school as a radical // queer // punk endeavor,” gives a pretty solid idea of what to expect from the words inside the cover.

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#tobyreads: No Culture Icons

Nevada

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 […]

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