In our afternoon reading: Messthetics return, exploring Bennett Sims’s fiction, and more.
VCO: Chapter 12
Chapter 12
I knock on the bright green door. It’s square on the bottom, round on the top. Grandma answers it with a squeal and a bear hug. She still stands a clear foot taller than me. I walk inside and I sit down at the kitchen table. She offers me tea and I accept because I like the way it tastes, and I was counting on her offering. It’s probably not a good idea. But I need some kind of stimulation going here.
Morning Bites: Judith Butler’s Latest, 5 Under 35, Rita Bullwinkel Interviewed, and More
In our morning reading: thoughts on Judith Butler’s new book, an interview with Rita Bullwinkel, and more.
Afternoon Bites: Nicole Haroutunian’s Playlist, Pulp Returns, Colin Winnette’s Western, and More
In our afternoon reading: a playlist from Nicole Haroutunian, an excerpt from Lucy Sante’s new memoir, and more.
“The Meme”: An Excerpt From Ross McMeekin’s “Below the Falls”
We’re pleased to have an excerpt today from Ross McMeekin’s new book Below the Falls, set for release on March 22 on Thirty West. Of this collection, Tommy Dean wrote, “McMeekin writes with a steady and assured hand, with a patience for allowing scenes to develop naturally, for creating bright and dark settings teeming with life and menace.” Read on for a taste of what readers will encounter within this book’s pages.
Inside Craig Yoe’s Surreal Graphic Novel “Woman & Man+”
Artist and publisher Craig Yoe has had a long career in comics and media — one that’s overlapped with everyone from Jim Henson to Steve Ditko over the years, as this interview in Scoop makes clear. His new project is an autobiographical one: the graphic novel Woman & Man+, for which Clover Press is running a crowdfunding campaign. We’re pleased to present an excerpt from the book featuring some of Yoe’s phantasmagorical imagery and unique storytelling approach.
Morning Bites: Alexandra Tanner’s Novel, Vinson Cunningham’s Debut, U.S. Maple Revisited, and More
In our morning reading: an excerpt from Alexandra Tanner’s novel, pondering the music of U.S. Maple, and more.
Sunday Stories: “The Storyteller as Mentor”
The Storyteller as Mentor
(September 2002 to January 2003, Northern Ireland)
by Timothy DeLizza
In the fall after I graduated college, I flew from Brooklyn to Northern Ireland to apprentice under an established Irish storyteller who I’ll call Martha. After paying for my plane ticket, I had something like $1,000 in my bank account—and while Martha had agreed to cover room and board, the apprenticeship was not going to increase that number.