In our morning reading: thoughts on Rosie Schaap’s memoir, an interview with Joshua Chaplinsky, and more.
Afternoon Bites: Eric LaRocca’s Latest, Brandon Taylor on Tennis, Sofia Samatar on Publishing, and More
In our afternoon reading: Gabino Iglesias on Eric LaRocca’s new book, an interview with Sofia Samatar, and more.
On the Road with Brain Modifications: A Review of Tobias Carroll’s “In the Sight”
Tobias Carroll’s fifth book, In the Sight, is a hip dystopian road novel. Farrier is the main character, and we follow his travels through roadside motels, eateries, gas stations, bars, retail locations, and secret reading rooms and societies across a futuristic American landscape. In the Sight was inspired by Destroyer’s 2002 album, This Night, and we trail after Farrier as he dispenses a mind-altering product which can change the trajectory of your life. A revision of life is what the product delivers. At first, I wondered if I was heading into Huxley’s Brave New World territory, or a new age reboot of Kerouac’s On the Road, but in a more nomadic picaresque journey. Rick Moody’s hilarious Hotels of North America even crossed my mind as well, early on, as I tried to figure out where Farrier was going and what he was aiming for in his journey. None of these truly fit what I found in this novel. We learn that Farrier and his friends Edwin Hollister, Lopez, and Erskine, all share a similar discontent about the lives they’re leading in university. Edwin names what they’re after: “Reincarnation…but without the death part.” The group experiments with DIY brain science alterations, which allow the recipient to begin a new life. Edwin partakes, revises himself, and sets off never to be heard from again, by Chapter 5. You wonder how many times Farrier has done the same.
Morning Bites: Naomi Kanakia Interviewed, Revisiting Picasso, Internet Fiction, and More
In our morning reading: an interview with Naomi Kanakia, books about the internet, and more.
Sunday Stories: “I try to find the pieces”
I try to find the pieces
by Ahu Aydın
Baby in my arms, I sit on the living room carpet with my back against the sofa. I watch the wind invade through the window, from the setting sun. Dust particles catch the colors. The baby boy and I sit still. The breeze lifts the tips of our hair. I’ve never felt this light in my life.
Weekend Bites: Camilla Grudova’s Latest, Video Games Histories, Welsh Crime Fiction, and More
In our weekend reading: thoughts on a new book by Camilla Grudova, notable recent music, and more.
Afternoon Bites: Fernanda Trías’s Fiction, Ben Ehrenreich on Nature, Beth Hetland on Horror, and More
In our afternoon reading: delving into Fernanda Trías’s fiction, an interview with Beth Hetland, and more.
The Thing I Was Trying to Tell You About Rocks: An Arts and Writing Conversation Between Joseph Young, Christine Sajecki, and Michael Mäke
Renowned microfiction author Joseph Young put out his new flash fiction collection The Thing I Was Trying to Tell You in June, and the collaborative children’s book Rocks: What Are They Doing also came out in June by artists Christine Sajecki and Michael Mäke. They got together for an amusing and enlightening conversation about their books, their process, and what art means to them.