Teju Cole revisits a James Baldwin essay, new writing from Juliet Escoria, David Connerley Nahm’s novel is reviewed, the last days of The Birthday Party, and more.
Lev Grossman talks about ending his trilogy, interviews with Grant Morrison, David Rees, and Naomi Punk, a look at Juliet Escoria’s collection, and more,
Douglas Wolk on Bryan Lee O’Malley’s latest, interviews with xTx and Juliet Escoria, a review of Jac Jemc’s new collection, excellent essays from Saeed Jones and Casey N. Cep, and more.
Luckily for Eric and my fool self, Juliet Escoria happened to be in town to do a couple of readings and we were able to hang out/sit down/tell jokes/rap with her. Her book BLACK CLOUD came out earlier this year from Civil Coping Mechanisms, and it is a monster. We talked about the process of writing a book to getting it into meaty paws and recovery and teaching and exposed Eric’s lack of a goth past.
Talking with Marc Ribot and Stacey D’Erasmo, Ta-Nehisi Coates on reparations, writers recommend short stories, and more.
Juliet Escoria‘s searing collection Black Cloud is one of the best books I’ve read so far this year. Visceral and perfectly controlled, it explores doomed relationships, addiction, and the harshest aspects of self-loathing across a dozen stories. (One of which first appeared around these parts.) After reading the book, I was curious about a lot of things–the way the collection was structured, the relationship between New York and California that runs throughout the book, and the music of EMA, who is […]
Thoughts on the Pulp documentary, a Maxwell Neely-Cohen playlist, notes on the hipster as punchline, Kelly Sue DeConnick on comics, an excerpt from Juliet Escoria’s new collection, and more for your weekend reading.
The three books up for discussion this week are all, to one extent or another, abrasive. These are not always pleasant reads: whether recounting actual events or delving into the world of fiction, there are scenes to be found that can only be described as harrowing. Sean Madigan Hoen first landed on my radar over a decade ago, when I was editing a zine and reviewing a whole lot of hardcore records. His band at the time, Thoughts of Ionesco, […]