In our morning reading: thoughts on books by Jenny Offill and Marian Womack, an interview with Brandon Taylor, and more.
Vol.1 Brooklyn’s February 2020 Book Preview
With the arrival of February, it feels like 2020 is getting into high gear, for better or for worse. A cursory glance at the month’s most anticipated new books could best be described as eclectic: there are experimental and transgressive works here, along with career-spanning tomes and thematically ambitious works of fiction. If this is a harbinger of what the rest of the (literary) year looks like, it’s a good omen.
Towards a Definition of Ecological Fiction: An Interview With Marian Womack
My first time reading Marian Womack‘s work came via the collection Lost Objects, an unsettling array of speculative fiction informed by climate change in multiple unsettling ways. (I interviewed her about it in 2018.) This year will see the release of her novel, The Golden Key — but first, Womack has another literary project that she’s ushered into the world, an anthology co-edited with Gary Budden. This is An Invite to Eternity, which includes stories from Kristen Roupenian, Aliya Whiteley, and Naomi Booth. It’s also the first book from Calque Press, a new independent publisher. I talked with Womack about the anthology, the press, and the uncanny boundaries of ecological fiction.
Afternoon Bites: Kristen Arnett, Tony Horwitz Remembered, Karen Stefano Interviewed, Nick de Semlyen, and More
In our afternoon reading: thoughts on Kristen Arnett’s new novel, an interview with Karen Stefano, and more.
Morning Bites: Kali Fajardo-Anstine Fiction, Marian Womack, Bookmobiles Return, Pola Oloixarac’s Latest, and More
In our morning reading: fiction from Kali Fajardo-Anstine, exploring the writings of Marian Womack, and more.
“There Are No Cures”: Marian Womack on Writing “Lost Objects”
The stories found in Marian Womack‘s collection Lost Objects haunt the reader from a number of angles. Whether she’s writing about climate change and environmental catastrophes writ large or about subtler and more personal betrayals, Womack creates worlds in which the ground is constantly shifting–sometimes both metaphorically and literally. Her fiction blends a fantastic sense of place with a haunting glimpse of the near future; it’s work that’s difficult to shake–which is the point. I asked Womack some questions about her work via email, covering everything from the science of her stories to the role of translation in speculative fiction.
Morning Bites: A Brian Phillips Excerpt, Haruki Murakami On Film, Marian Womack Interviewed, Kelby Losack, and More
In our morning reading: an excerpt from Brian Phillips’s new book, an interview with Marian Womack, and much more.