Nicole Haroutunian’s new novel, Choose This Now, wrestles with a lot of big themes in the subtlest of ways. This is a book about creative struggles, intimacy, and families both found and biological. Over the course of this book’s timeframe, its characters make decisions that are rewarding and emiently frustrating; they go to bizarre parties and embark on ill-concieved relationships. It’s an immersive work with the ebb and flow of life, and I chatted with its author about the project’s origins and her own experiences while writing it.
Morning Bites: Revisiting “The Sparrow,” Poetry Recommendations, Leanne Shapton on Tulips, and More
In our morning reading: revisiting the novel “The Sparrow,” an interview with Maris Kreizman, and more.
Afternoon Bites: Michel Butor on Reading, Zachary C. Solomon’s Recommendations, John Yau’s Collaborations, and More
In our afternoon reading: nonfiction by Michel Butor and Erik Davis, John Yau on collaboration, and more.
VCO: Chapter 16
Chapter 16
Everhet employed his swooping charisma to charm the director of the contemporary art museum downtown to let him use the main exhibit room for his newest installation.
Immediate upon getting our passes it began to feel like I was leading one of those required timeshare sales meetings during your vacation that you earned by sitting through the same meeting on your last vacation. It’s infinite loop logic.
Luke Arnold and Doc Wyatt on Writing Their New Comic “Essentials”
Crowdfunding is currently underway for The Essentials, a new graphic novel from writers Luke Arnold and Doc Wyatt and a staggeringly good selection of artists. Arnold is best-known for his work as an actor — notably on Black Sails and Glitch — but he’s expanded his purview into writing in recent years, and Wyatt has an extensive list of credits in both comics and television.
As for the art? Well, there’s a preview below featuring some of Jason Howard’s work on the book; you might know him from Big Girls, The Vallars, or Trees. Also contributing to Essentials are DaNi, Glenn Fabry, Vince Locke, Brendan McCarthy, Andrea Mutti, M.K. Perker, and Bill Sienkiewicz.
Morning Bites: Christina Cooke on Writing, Danielle Dutton’s Playlist, Suzanne Scanlon on Memoir, and More
In our morning reading: an interview with Christina Cooke, Dan Kois on Scrabble, and more.
Afternoon Bites: Barbara Comyns’s Debut, Kevin Richard Martin and KMRU, Jo Piazza on True Crime, and More
In our afternoon reading: revisiting Barbara Comyns’s fiction, an interview with Jo Piazza, and more.
Dissenters Find a Stranger in Their Camp: An Excerpt From Greg Sarris’s “The Forgetters”
Today, we’re pleased to present an excerpt from Greg Sarris’s new collection The Forgetters. Writing about the book earlier this month in Literary Hub, Jane Ciabattari had this to say: “These new, intricately spun stories narrated by twin Crow Sisters are parables passed down through generations, re-envisioned for a 21st-century world fraught with unnatural dangers. They offer all of us the possibility of healing, connection, even love.”