In our morning reading: a playlist from Gabriel Blackwell, Chris Jackson on editing, and more.
Morning Bites: Celebrating Studs, Miles Klee Minis, Eggers Cover, and More
How Chicago celebrated Studs Terkel’s 100th birthday yesterday. The cover for Dave Eggers’ A Hologram for the King. Five miniatures from Miles Klee. Old issues of Life magazine show that things do go full circle. The father of go-go has passed. Follow Vol. 1 Brooklyn on Twitter, Facebook, Google + and our Tumblr.
A Darker, Less Comical Dystopia: A Conversation With Miles Klee
I know that I went into 2012 thinking that the year the Mayan calendar ran out was going to be a landmark year for dystopian novels. With that said, I think we should give Miles Klee’s Ivyland (OR Books) the award for “Best Book Where Everything Is Going/Has Gone To Total Shit,” and call it a day. Klee’s debut is a darkly comical (more dark, less comical) book that takes place in a New Jersey where humanity has decayed into nothing. This isn’t […]
Morning Bites: Lee “Scratch” Perry, Miles Klee Mix, Zimmerman And Zambreno, Lynch To Bolaño, And More
Today is Lee “Scratch” Perry’s birthday. Jacob Silverman reviewed Laszlo Krasznahorkai’s Satantango for The New York Times Book Review, and then provided a handy roundup of Krasznahorkai around the web. Edith Zimmerman talks to Kate Zambreno over at The Hairpin. Connecting a Blue Velvet frame to a Bolaño story. Ted Gioia’s “Year of Magical Reading” brings him to Like Water For Chocolate. Miles Klee give Electric Literature a mixtape. Here’s a Flickr page full of post-punk flyers. Arcade Fire hung around Austin after […]
Afternoon Bites: Eugenides Vs. Zambreno, John K. Samson, Dystopian Volleyball, And More
Lookout! Records founder and P.G. Wodehouse aficionado Larry Livermore wrote a long essay on John K. Samson, wherein he suggests that Samson be named Poet Laureate of Canada. We’re cool with that. Admittedly, we are not Canadian, so that opinion might not count for much. Today at the Tournament of Books: The Marriage Plot vs. Green Girl. (And hey, if you’d like to read our review of the latter…) Science fiction comics about dystopian volleyball? We will read that, and gladly. […]
Morning Bites: Orthodox Memoirs, New DFW, Novel Storage, Short Story Hatred, Russian Booze, And More
Maria Popova picks art projects inspired by classic books at The Atlantic. A new book of David Foster Wallace books is on its way. Apartment Therapy looks at novel ways to store things at home. Seth Fried at Tin House on what he sees as America’s dislike of short stories. In the wake of Deborah Feldman’s bestseller, Unorthodox, Gavriella Lerner at The Sisterhood takes a look at ex-Hasidic Jews selling their memoirs. Largehearted Boy talks to Miles Klee about the […]
Ben Marcus and the dystopia avalanche of 2012
Posted by Jason Diamond The bad news: the world is a total mess right now, and since it’s 2012, you will be reminded every day until late December that the world is suppoed to end this year. The good news that comes from that sense of impending doom: there’s no lack of dystopian literature. As of the 3rd day of the new year, Miles Klee’s Ivyland and The Flame Alphabet by Ben Marucs look like they’re going to be at the top of […]
Afternoon Bites: Slake, Miles Klee, Nile Rodgers, and more
Miles Klee’s forthcoming novel Ivyland — with a description referencing sinister pharmaceutical companies, bleak comedy, and New Jersey — has our interest piqued. (It doesn’t hurt that lit-blogs we like are saying good things about it.) His story “If You Could” appeared on Storychord not long ago. The fine literary magazine Slake has a Kickstarter project up and running. At Bookforum, Johanna Fateman on Nile Rodgers’s memoir Le Freak. Cats Hate Reading: best literary tumblr, or best literary tumblr ever? […]