Today, we’re pleased to present an excerpt from Willie Davis’s new collection I Can Outdance Jesus. Cara Blue Adams had this to say of the book: “Davis writes about the South, and especially rural Kentucky, in an unflinching way that weaves together humor and the darknesses of poverty, violence, addiction, and despair.” Read on for a glimpse inside Davis’s take on music, religion, and life.
Morning Bites: Elif Shafak’s Books, Flannery O’Connor on Film, Revisiting Clarice Lispector, and More
In our morning reading: exploring the work of Elif Shafak, Flannery O’Connor on film, and more.
Sunday Stories: “It Will Not Be the Same”
It Will Not Be the Same
(Or: If the Government Asks, I’m a Cis Woman)
by Madison LaTurner
This will not be like that time I got my wisdom teeth out. Before I even knew about the trope of gay people being worried they would accidentally out themselves to their parents while under the influence of the anesthetics and pain meds, I was worried about accidentally outing myself to my parents while under the influence of the anesthetics and pain meds. I was worried about telling my mom that I had begun to think of her as a monster, that I have begun telling my friends that something is wrong but I can’t quite put my finger on it, that the moment she lets me off leash I will run and then keep running. No—it will not be like that. This surgery is gay itself. I will meet my match.
Weekend Bites: Andrey Kurkov’s Latest, Mother’s Day Reading, Christian Fennesz Returns, and More
In our weekend reading: thoughts on the writing of Andrey Kurkov, thoughts on the music of Cecil Taylor, and more.
Afternoon Bites: Tajja Isen Interviewed, Joan of Arc Collected, Revisiting “Incognito,” and More
In our afternoon reading: an interview with Tajja Isen, a look at online literary communities, and more.
Journey Into the Self: On Vincent Czyz’s “Sun Eye Moon Eye”
Vincent Czyz’s novel Sun Eye Moon Eye traces the post-genocidal, and by extension post-apocalyptic, journey of Logan Blackfeather, a Hopi “of mixed descent.” On the surface, Logan’s story revolves around coming to terms with his father’s death; the suicide of the abusive uncle who replaced him (as titular father only); the knifing of a racist truck driver for which he is sent to prison and then a psychiatric facility; and his slow reemergence into the world via the therapeutic trinity of love—his relationship with Shawna, a woman he meets on the lam in Manhattan—art—his return to composing the music he’d given up on in the midst of trauma—and ethnic reconciliation—reclaiming his heritage from the legacy of colonialism and settlement. On a deeper level, Logan’s journey is really about his dwelling along the margin of where the waking world—one of broken families, addiction, poverty, deracination, violence—meets an animist dreamscape—southwestern geography fused to a Hopi mythography.
Morning Bites: Jessica Pratt Interviewed, Garrard Conley Reading, Pierre La Police on Comics, and More
In our morning reading: interviews with Jessica Pratt and Pierre La Police, a reading from Garrard Conley, and more.
Afternoon Bites: Revisiting Roland Barthes, Locus Awards Finalists, qntm’s Short Stories, and More
In our afternoon reading: responding to the work of Roland Barthes, great Steve Albini-related albums, and more.