Bloggery

Mon 27 Nov 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Bloggery | Posted by: Gavin

Did you know there are now more (interesting) blogs than there are minutes in the day? Darn.
Ever feel you are living in a secret history? See the Eos blog where they’ve posted a conversation between John Crowley, Jeff Ford, Tim Powers, and James Morrow. Parts: Two, Three.
Chris Nakashima-Brown and a number of other Texan-area writers claim they have No Fear of the Future.

Texans, even those who move there, like the stance-based blog title, a good example being Maureen McHugh’s No Feeling of Falling. Go for the recipes, stay for the pictures, subscribe for continued happiness.


Dec. 2-3, NYC

Mon 27 Nov 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Dec. 2-3, NYC | Posted by: Gavin

We will be here:

The Independent and Small Press Book Fair, Saturday, December 2nd (10-6 PM) and Sunday, December 3rd (11-5 PM), at the Small Press Center, at 20 West 44th street, between 5th and 6th Avenues in midtown Manhattan. (info@smallpress.org · 212.764.7021)

With over one hundred of the nation’s top indie presses, and over 28 free public programs featuring some of New York’s top political and avant-garde literary writers, the Independent and Small Press Book Fair is one of the most groundbreaking independent publishing events of the year.

This year’s Fair will be featuring some of the countries’ most cutting-edge presses, including: Akashic Books, AK Press, Allworth Press, Archipelago, Coffee House Press, Contemporary Press, Disinformation, The Feminist Press, Gingko Press, Haymarket Books, Ig Publishing, McPherson & Company, Melville House Press, Nation Books, The New Press, Ocean Press, PEN American, Persea Books, Seven Stories Press, Seven Locks Press, Small Beer Press, Soft Skull Press, The Smith and many, many more.

Some of the authors being featured at this year’s Fair include: Dore Ashton, Amiri Baraka, Jen Benka, Jennifer Baumgardner, Phong Bui, Colin Channer, T. Cooper, Michael Cunningham, Luis Francia, Steve Freeman, Matthea Harvey, Elizabeth Holtzman, Emily Jenkins, Caren Lissner, Lauren Baratz-Logsted, Jaime Manrique, Joe Meno, Jonas Mekas, Mark Crispin Miller, Eileen Myles, Greg Palast, Ed Park, Rachel Pine, Peter Plate, Katha Pollitt, Paul Robeson, Jr., Eyal Press, Dan Simon, Martha Southgate, David Levi Strauss, Monique Truong, Anne Waldman, Nation Books, PEN American, and much more…

Also, to help kick off this very exciting event, the Independent and Small Press Book Fair, in conjunction with Akashic Books & Seven Stories Press, will be hosting a Pre-Book-Fair Fiesta, on Friday, December 1st, from 8-11 p.m., at KGB Bar, on 85 E. 4th Street, at 2nd Ave in the East Village. Please come and join us for a round of drinks to celebrate Independent Publishing and the writers who publish with them!!! Please note that as a preliminary to the party, acclaimed authors Joe Meno and Peter Plate will be reading at Barnes & Noble Astor Place, at 7p.m.


Signed Waldrops; Suggestion Plea

Tue 21 Nov 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , | 1 Comment | Posted by: Gavin

Howard Who?During a brief sidetrip to Texas (where a bunch of plausible fabulists were gathered and wondering where a certain Mr. B. Rosenbaum was {Swizzerland, it seems}), we asked a boon of Mr. Howard Waldrop. He consented (when approached with ice cream and beer: Texans!) to apply his signature to his book. Huzzah, we announced, to the surprised gila monsters everywhere. Huzzah.

Then we returned to Gueros again. For: verily, the tacos are unbeatable. Also, Las Manitas. Oh, the joy that was in our hearts, even as it was enspicened by the knowledge that we would have to leave this city of joyous eats and head away, away.

Even Joe’s Cafe was a place of wonders in this time of joy. (Joy especial as the fabulist gathering was on the edge of the City of Great Foods so to be in the center was akin to being the chocolaty center of a bon bon.) There, and a few other places, we were able to speak with Mr. N-B (interviewed here) whom, should you get the opportunity to see him read, you should take as he is, really, quite wonnerful.

Eventually retured to the Small Beer HQ and enstrengthened by our collection of Waldropian Signatures (for he is Mighty with his pen or typewriter), we are making these books, this debut collection, Howard Who? which is its name, available for sale.

Lo, it is done.

Other titles we have signed copies of: many. Move thy clickity thingy over here to see. (Kelly Link, Ellen Kushner, A. DeNiro, Carol Emshwiller).

Now your turn: Please send us Suggestions for what kind of sale we should put on this year. Suggestions welcome by email or in the comments below.

Other tiny updates: everywhere on our site. Because the paper in the office it overwhelming, of course.

A. is reading at the Erie Bookstore on Dec. 30th at 2 PM. Drop by and see him!

Added links to a couple more audio recordings (almost like podcasts!) of Kelly (or readers reading Kelly’s stories) here — includes a Real Audio (oh well) file from November 2005 from Prairiie Lights where she read “Monster.”

Kelly also got a nice mention in this piece about short stories by Kevin Sampsell (micro emperor!).


Preorder FAQ

Mon 20 Nov 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Preorder FAQ | Posted by: Gavin

Q. Can I preorder 2007 books?

A. Yes, you can.

Q. Books. Hmm. Don’t they have authors?
A. Sometimes. These ones we’re working on are new novels by John Crowley, Elizabeth Hand, Laurie J. Marks, and Interfictions: an Anthology of Interstitial Writing, edited by Theodora Goss and Delia Sherman. A little more about the books is available on the preorder page. The covers below are for galleys and will change somewhere between a lot and a little before publication.

Q. And were there artists involved with the covers or did they just fall from the sky?

A. Yes on the former. Liz Hand’s cover is by Jacob McMurray; John Crowley’s features a Rosamund Purcell photograph, and the Interfictions features a photo of a box made (in all senses of the word) by Connie Toebe.
More to come on these as the months slip and stutter by until Bang! suddenly it will be April, the snow will turn to rain, and these books will be getting out there to bookshops. The excitement! The design*! The shipping complications! The paper weights! Wait. The text, baby, the text.

Hand, Generation Loss Crowley, Endless Things Marks, Water Logic Interfictions


LCRW 19

Sun 19 Nov 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on LCRW 19 | Posted by: Gavin

lcrw wrestles with itselfIt really is time for something about the newest, the latest, the tomorrow it’s coming before you know and the Hot New Thing is Here issue of LCRW. Aka #19. Aka The Tenth Anniversary Issue. Or: the one with wrestlers on the cover. (That Nifty Cover is by Eric Schaller.)

Hand-crafted in small batches by the printsmiths of Paradise Copies, LCRW 19 is a wafty number with stretchy impulses and chocolate overtones. Paired with a leg of lamb it asks where the other three legs and the body are; mixed with sherry, it is a (…) trifle heavy.

Fiction Yes. Pushcart nominees? Yes. But you’ll find out about them the same time you always have (ie not until the pieces get picked for the anthology. Not yet, no. One of these days? Sure). This issue contains fiction about birds, brides, bath(tubs), and, yes, wrestlers by fave writers such as Ray Vukcevich and Carol Emshwiller as well as new-to-these-pages peeps such as Daniel Rabuzzi and Katherine Beutner.

Nonfiction? Yes. A little. Dear Aunt Gwenda comes through. Phew.

Poetry? Yes.

Celebrations?Memories of those early years? The lost issues? No.
Subscription and store copies will mail out this week due to the management and the shippers’ new agreement on tea breaks, leaf raking, and chocolate supplies. The choice of a Dove dark chocolate bar for subscribers and shippers was roundly pooh-poohed by management, the shippers, and representatives from the Small Magazine Subscribers Local 44. Reports that management was later seen muching through a 48-count case of Dove’s new dark chocolate bars were denied by management and sniggered at by the shippers.

Chances of a party to celebrate this 10th anniversary ish are average to rainy.


Octavian Everything

Thu 16 Nov 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Octavian Everything | Posted by: Gavin

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation: Volume One, The Pox Party CoverIn our usual post-literate manner: Yay! And: Good Golly.

The ABA claims M.T. Anderson received the National Book Award last night for The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation: Volume One, The Pox Party.

Numerous other internetty places confirm it, so it must be true: yay again!

Last night we were at McIntyre’s Books in Pittsboro, NC, where Kelly read to a nice wee crowd and Beth (hello Beth!) drew a monkey face in our book and we (hopefully) persuaded her to read above said book which is too rich and too smart for us to write about. Just go pick it up and read it!


Elsewhere on the web:

Mon 13 Nov 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Elsewhere on the web: | Posted by: Gavin

Did we ever post these? No. Ooops. Been working on our MySpaceShip page. (It will be shiny, shiny, shiny! The spaceship. Not the page. Which will not ever exist. Until it does.)

Actually, we have been driving (hence everything being slow) and being awestruck at the devastated New Orleans. Democrats who just gained power: get to work.
— — —

Ain’t it Cool News takes on the challenge of Alan‘s collection.
Gwenda pointed us to our next car. Not saying which one.
Richard points toward this Flickr set of an ancient zine:

“The first issue of the magazine produced inside the WWI camp for English POWs in Germany. My grandfather, Sol Geduld, was the German-born son of a British subject (Harris Geduld) and put in Ruhleben at the age of 8 in the year 1915 where he lived for one year until he was traded with his father in exchange for two German prisoners.”

A recent note from the lovely folk in Cauheegan and Seattle (that would be Payseur & Schmidt — join their list at postmaster@list.payseurandschmidt.com), informed us of a few lovely oddities slipping out into the world:

John Clute and 30 Amazing Illustrators – The Darkening Garden: A Lexicon of Horror

The wait is over. Our second beautiful hardcover book is back from the printers and ready to ship. Those of you who pre-ordered will be getting your copies very soon. If you haven’t pre-ordered, now’s your chance to own this stunning, limited-edition book. John Clute explores the darker side of the fantastic with 30 motifs of horror, each accompanied by a full page illustration from a talented artist, illustrator, or designer. This material will eventually be incorporated into the author’s not-yet-published scholarly opus, The Encyclopedia of the Fantastic. 170 pages, casebound, signed and numbered by the author, and limited to 500 copies. $45.00

Postcards of Doom

This exclusive set of 30 lovely postcards highlights the hot young illustrators and artists who grace the pages of John Clute’s Darkening Garden. Printed by Payseur & Schmidt’s specialty printing pals thingmakers.net, this postcard set is housed in a deluxe die-cut box (which itself is illustrated by Adam Grano.) Limited to 300 numbered sets. $20.00

Therese Littleton – Teeth

A story of genetic transformation, interspecies conflict, and fresh seafood by Therese Littleton, author of A Case for Cannibalism and The Diving Belle. Signed and numbered limited edition of 125. 18 pages. Deluxe screen printed jacket. Each hand-stitched chapbook comes with a unique souvenir shark’s tooth. $10 plus shipping.

The shark’s tooth is a real eye-catcher, as it were.


Kelly reads “The Hortlak”

Tue 31 Oct 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | 1 Comment | Posted by: Gavin

KQED just posted a downloadable mp3 of Kelly reading one of her favorite stories to read, “The Hortlak“, on The Writers’ Block:

Kelly Link reads “The Hortlak,” from her short story collection Magic for Beginners. “The Hortlak” is a Turkish word, meaning revenant, or ghost. Eric and Batu work at the All Night Convenience store across the road from the Ausible Chasm, at the bottom of which lies a vast zombie city. Zombies stop in at the All Night on their way to the chasm. Are Eric and Batu part of some kind of “new retail” experiment designed to study the shopping habits of zombies? Will Eric ever get the nerve to talk to Charley, the woman who works at the local SPCA putting dogs to sleep?

“The Hortlak” was first published in Ellen Datlow’s ghost story anthology The Dark. Most recently it’s been translated into Japanese by Motoyuki Shibata for an anthology of recent fiction by American writers.

That city, still burning.


Happy Halloween

Tue 31 Oct 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Happy Halloween | Posted by: Gavin

Yes: we are going to Texas for the WFC. (To sing Joe Hill songs!) Kelly is not, apparently reading there, but we’ve got a nice reading on Sunday at 5 PM at Book People with Kelly, Howard Waldrop, and Ellen Kushner. Phew, that’s talent. Everyone else is reading here.
There’s a bookshop t-shirt tour pic here for Book People somewhere.

If this is your month to write a novel (and this is said with love): break a leg!

We’re in the American Southwest and the camera cannot be attached to the computer due to cord-at-home-itis. Duh. Must take pix anyway. Mactop can take pix with its scary little eye watching all the time. See what we’re doing now? Huh? Hello Big Brother. [Hello, said Steve J. What’s Up?]

We are in the American Southwest (as above) and the food is mostly pretty good! But it means all those submissions are just piling up back at the office. Eyargh.

LCRW? Sometime soon!

Let’s see: war in Iraq. A cockup. Rich getting richer, poor getting poorer. % of companies offering health insurance has dropped from 69% in 2000 to 60% now. (Whose term does that coincide with?). Yep: now is the time for gasoline prices to fall and to raise the fear terrorist threat level to Vote!


Slither!

Thu 26 Oct 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Slither! | Posted by: Gavin

For those who like the horror movies, Slither, Kelly’s favorite horror movie since Shaun of the Dead, is now available on DVD.

For those who keep track of these things, it stars Nathan Fillion of various things and is directed by James Gunn (who wrote The Specials—an excellent little film—and the newer Dawn of the Dead). Apparently it’s smart and funny and plays with all kinds of horror conventions.

Kelly would be like the millions of peeps who missed this if it weren’t for some smart folk in North Carolina who dragged her to see it. They knew what they were doing (thanks!) and she’s been telling people about it ever since. She got her copy yesterday.


What to do with podcasters.

Mon 23 Oct 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on What to do with podcasters. | Posted by: Gavin

Back in July (which must have been, oh, a week ago at least), in a dimly lit restaurant we asked distinguished critic Gary Wolfe for his thoughts on podcasting.

So that’s what it’s all about.


Fri 20 Oct 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on | Posted by: Gavin

Carthage, Missouri, is the home of Janet K. Kavandi, Astronaut, and has a plaque celebrating her on the city limits. Our tiny car racks up the miles, but doesn’t approach her over 13.1 million (from 33 days in space and 535 Earth orbits).

Back in Zinelandia you can read the whole of the new ish of Xerography Debt as a PDF here.

Good days in the reading world:

Dave, Dave, Dave! Yay!

Rain Taxi Book Fest in the Twin Cities: nice! Best desserts: a tie between the churros at Masa and the dark chocolate thingy at Auriga. Or the Tetleys at Brits pub — an English pub with a bowling green on the roof. Wacky.

Next. Paperback of Magic for Beginners went back to press. Kelly is at the Conference of the Undead(!) in Berkeley then on Saturday at the the Nimrod Fest in Tulsa. Soon after, Austin. In between: Katamari Damacy. You would not guess who is to blame for this.
Strange Horizons review of The Privilege of the Sword:

The Privilege of the Sword, for all its serious underpinnings, is a delight to read, with colorful, well-defined characters and a droll sense of humor.

And a review of Maureen’s collection on Pedestal Mag:

The thirteen stories in Mothers & Other Monsters are solidly written, superbly characterized, and ultimately unforgettable.

LCRW is at the printer. 10 years old, aw. Ful (sic) of typos. Ha ha. Ew.

Raking leaves is practice for shovelling snow. Discuss.


Fri 20 Oct 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on | Posted by: Gavin

Carthage, Missouri, is the home of Janet K. Kavandi, Astronaut, and has a plaque celebrating her on the city limits. Our tiny car racks up the miles, but doesn’t approach her over 13.1 million (from 33 days in space and 535 Earth orbits).

Back in Zinelandia you can read the whole of the new ish of Xerography Debt as a PDF here.

Good days in the reading world:

Dave, Dave, Dave! Yay!

Rain Taxi Book Fest in the Twin Cities: nice! Best desserts: a tie between the churros at Masa and the dark chocolate thingy at Auriga. Or the Tetleys at Brits pub — an English pub with a bowling green on the roof. Wacky.

Next. Paperback of Magic for Beginners went back to press. Kelly is at the Conference of the Undead(!) in Berkeley then on Saturday at the the Nimrod Fest in Tulsa. Soon after, Austin. In between: Katamari Damacy. You would not guess who is to blame for this.
Strange Horizons review of The Privilege of the Sword:

The Privilege of the Sword, for all its serious underpinnings, is a delight to read, with colorful, well-defined characters and a droll sense of humor.

And a review of Maureen’s collection on Pedestal Mag:

The thirteen stories in Mothers & Other Monsters are solidly written, superbly characterized, and ultimately unforgettable.

LCRW is at the printer. 10 years old, aw. Ful (sic) of typos. Ha ha. Ew.

Raking leaves is practice for shovelling snow. Discuss.


John Klima, where are you?

Tue 10 Oct 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on John Klima, where are you? | Posted by: Gavin

Catching up on his zine, anthology, chapbook, kid, life, tickets, hotel, library, shoe-making, and whatever else he is cobbling together. Ack! How does he do it. Please, organize our lives.

In the spirit of the mighty Klima, here’s the Table of Contents for the next LCRW. Due to weirdness in our UniVac Central Computational System, the website will probably not be updated with this info for a while. Darnit!

So, LCRW 19 (now with more ads!) which has the Usual Mix (TM) of new and known authors that we find so dear to our hearts. And has an awesome, fragile, thumpity-thump cover. (That will make sense when you see it.) And this will be its composition. (Not including the chocolate.) Should have it in Texas but mailing date is still unsure:

Fiction

Ray Vukcevich, Tubs
Daniel A. Rabuzzi, Grebe’s Gift
Dennis Nau, Dropkick
Nancy Jane Moore, Phone Call Overheard on the Subway
Cara Spindler & David Erik Nelson, You Were Neither . . .
Kara Kellar Bell, The Bride
Andrew Fort, Lady Perdita Espadrille Tells the Story
Anna Tambour, The Slime: A Love Story
Carol Emshwiller, Such a Woman, Or, Sixties Rant

Nonfiction

Dear Aunt Gwenda

Poetry

K.E. Duffin, Two Poems
Laura L. Washburn, The Troll in the Cellar
Katharine Beutner, Things That Make One’s Heart Beat Faster
D.M. Gordon, Sliding

Cover art: Eric Schaller


Rust Belt Surrealist

Tue 10 Oct 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Rust Belt Surrealist | Posted by: Gavin

Yes they are. Look at that, a great piece on new wave fabulists in the Boston Globe.

The Globe is of course the only remaining spherical newspaper in the world (after the demise of the Atlanta Sphere in the midst of the late 20th century depression).

Bostonians (and readers elsewhere) have long-established habits and traditions of how to read it. Some prefer the onion-skinning method of peeling a page off at a time, while others prefer flattening the whole thing and reading it as if it were any other daily. That all supposes that no one kicks it off your front step in the first place. Since the New York Times purchased the Globe a couple of years ago, there have been persistent rumors that the new ownership would switch the format but local sentiment (as well the daily tours of the unique Mercury Grace presses) have thus far prevented it.

Our favorite use of unread copies of the Globe are the Lynn Circular Houses. The hive was begun in the early 1970s and is still occasionally added to. Pictures can be found here.


Meanwhile, over the water

Mon 9 Oct 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Meanwhile, over the water | Posted by: Gavin

Like Looper or some of the other mellow relaxipop coming across the water from Scotland? Readers who remember this guy, might want to go check out First Tiger. Pop! (Friend them or whatever one does on the mindspace?) There’s more here. When wil they cross the pond to superstardom?

Also: Scotland put one past France!


Elliott Bay

Fri 6 Oct 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Elliott Bay | Posted by: Gavin

Bookshop T-shirt tour: Elliott Bay in Seattle, WA. Nice rich color, good for autumn.

There are tons of great bookshops in Seattle. Some of them probably don’t force you to turn your back to people to show off the wonder of their graphic design dept. But Elliott Bay is confident that you will. Or, that you’re a leader and people behind you will suddenly realize that they should pop off to the original E.Bay and get a book.

A book? How about something naughty and futuristic for the weekend? Such as Sex in the System: Stories of Erotic Futures, Technological Stimulation, and the Sensual Life of Machines. (That’s, er, a mouthful.) Edited by Cecilia Tan, it has stories from Sarah Micklem, Steve Berman, Jennifer Stevenson, Scott Westerfeld (reprinted from Say…), Gavin J. Grant (reprinted from Singularity a while back), at least one pseudonymous author, and an orgy of others. (“Orgy” being the collective term for erotica writers, no?) Funny cover, too. Don’t know if there are Seattle writers in this, or if there’s a Seattle event planned, but you can always go read it aloud at a park and see what happens.


Handy Book Sense pick

Thu 5 Oct 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Handy Book Sense pick | Posted by: Gavin

Saffron and Brimstone: Strange Stories CoverWe are way behind with spotlighting good recent reads. Happily Book Sense made it slightly easier on us by choosing Liz Hand’s new collection, Saffron and Brimstone, as a Book Sense pick (um, next month):

SAFFRON AND BRIMSTONE: Strange Stories, by Elizabeth Hand (M Press, $14.95 paper, 1595820965) “Stories from a master of lapidary style and fey fiction. I’m reminded of John Fowles’ touch of the mythical in The Magus, but Hand is no imitator — she wields her own magic.” —Pauline Ziniker, Country Bookshelf, Bozeman, MT


T-shirt tour

Thu 5 Oct 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on T-shirt tour | Posted by: Gavin

Prairie Lights, Iowa City. Nice aesthetic. Pity about the bod.


Bye, Mark. Bye Dennis? Bye bye George.

Wed 4 Oct 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Bye, Mark. Bye Dennis? Bye bye George. | Posted by: Gavin

Mark Foley may bring down the government. (Perhaps it’s time to start drinking, not stop?) After the torture “debate”, hackable voting machines, pushing a war (or two, hello Afghanistan, increased opium production and all) based on false (where are the Weapons of Mass Destruction?) premises, an energy policy crafted by oil insiders, and so (endlessly) on for the last six years, the present administration is going down over this? Sure, why not.

Didn’t they learn from last time they were in power? It’s the Cover Up, stupid.

Mark Foley is a poor fuck-up who we now hear was an abused kid, is gay, and a drunk—still waiting to hear his next excuse; believe it has something to do with being paid to send those IMs by the Democratic National Committee. He was the Co-chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children by day and, by day, exploiting children. The question rattling through Washington is who knew what he was doing and when?

Who thought it was a good idea to shuffle reports of his behavior into the “to do later” pile? Fire them all! This isn’t anti-Republican. It’s not a campaign orchestrated by anyone: if anything it’s a consensual cover-up being exposed. The IMs are coming from ex-Pages (who don’t want their own careers ruined), not from anyone else in DC.
There’s no organization, company, or group in the world who wouldn’t be calling for the heads of anyone involved in not acting on this information.


Poor hungry Not a Journal.

Wed 4 Oct 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Poor hungry Not a Journal. | Posted by: Gavin

Never gets fed. Until this afternoon.
Ellen Kushner’s The Privilege of the Sword pb is in its 4th printing. Our edition is selling nicely.

Great review of Howard Who?

Back in print after so many years, Howard Who? remains a terrific collection of short stories. There is nobody else alive writing stories as magnificently strange, deliriously inventive, and utterly wonderful as Howard Waldrop. More.

This won’t stay online, so here’s the full thing.

Nancy Pearl Books Reviews for 10/2/2006:

On the one hand, reading Magic for Beginners, Kelly Link’s exquisitely loopy collection of stories, demands a certain suspension of disbelief, not unlike when you read Garcia Marquez, Salman Rushdie, or the other magical realists. (As Shakespeare had Hamlet note, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”) You simply have to accept (at least for the length of the story) that there might be zombies living among us, or that a purse can expand to hold a complete village. On the other hand, Link’s writing is so remarkable, her use of language so mind-boggling perfect, that you’re sucked into the world of the stories before you know it, beguiled by descriptions like this one, of a sofa covered in “…an orange-juice-colored corduroy that makes it appear as if the couch has just escaped from a maximum security prison for criminally insane furniture.” My favorite is the title story, which reminds me of a drawing by M.C. Escher’s picture The Drawing Hands. It’s intricate, wildly imaginative, and totally wonderful. Whether or not you think you like fantasy, if you’re a fan of inventive plots and good writing – Link’s use of language will fill you with awe and joy – don’t miss this collection.


Get your name in a story &c.

Wed 4 Oct 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Comments Off on Get your name in a story &c. | Posted by: Gavin

More interesting things from the Clarion auction: your name in a Kelly Link story. Howard Waldrop on your answering machine. Your name in a Kate Wilhelm novel. Wacky. Other cool stuff.


Generalized ineptitude/updatitudinal

Fri 29 Sep 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Generalized ineptitude/updatitudinal | Posted by: Gavin

Friday afternoon and the tree limbs are scraping against the window. How did they get here, to the 54th floor? We send one of the temp typographers over to open the window and he is never seen again. Did he run out to get more ink, or did the trees take him? The light is yellow, burning, and our secret HQ’s engines aren’t responding. We have done our Scotty imitation but so far we are stuck. And the tree branches are scraping, scraping.

—

Kelly Link and Shelley Jackson read tonight at Amherst Books in Amherst, MA, and next Sunday at KGB Bar in NYC. They read last night at Newtonville Books with Kelley Kerney (who read from her funny and dark first novel Born Again). Newtonville has a great reading series: Books and Brews. Smart peeps who know readings always go better with drinkies. Newtonville Books is also the spiritual home of a smart mag, Post Road, of which we are often enjoying.
LCRW 19 is becoming an item. The fun thing about this: it is the ten year anniversary issue. You will know because everything will be repeated 10 times. Times. Times. (Etc.) Table of contents, type of chocolate, still to be fully determined. Yes, we are pushing it. No, reviewers can’t get it yet. No one can.

Exciting LCRW news will be released to the tubes at some point. Until then go phone the White House and see if Mr. Stupid will explain his latest abuse of the constitution.

Incessantly listening to Thom Yorke. (There’s a site for his new CD, but it’s filled with flash and pdfs, so, really, what’s the point. That’s not browsing, that’s work.)

Good books and mags have been flooding in for this year’s Year’s Best. Now we are officially buried. Yay!

[Update] Good news about the 2006 edition: our editor reports the paperback edition just went back to press.
Big developers with no taste want to knock down Las Manitas restaurant in Austin, TX. How dumb is this? Does Marriott really want to close down a childcare facility and lose the best breakfast place for blocks around? Not a smart pr move. (Thanks for breaking our hearts, Robert.)

Git ye to an apple farm and pick.


Ellen Kushner signed book

Mon 25 Sep 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Ellen Kushner signed book | Posted by: Gavin

Ellen Kushner, The Privilege of the SwordWe kidnapped Ellen Kushner, whished her away to one of our secret locations in a sunny place, made her juice*, and asked her politely to sign some of her lovely swashbuckler The Privilege of the Sword. And, you know, she did. So, if you want a signed copy, now’s your chance! WordPress love: cut’n’pasted button below:

PS We have lots of other signed books, here.

* A lie. We made apple juice today and when we looked for Ellen, she was not to be found.


eye popping art

Sun 24 Sep 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on eye popping art | Posted by: Gavin

Do you have hungry eyes? Would they like to partake of a feast? Charles Vess illustrated the upcoming Susanna Clarke collection, The Ladies of Grace Adieu and provides samples and comments. (Yes, these are the DVD extras and no you don’t have to pay for them.) At his blog, n’est pa? Charles, one of the loveliest people around, has also been blogging about giving Clare Danes art and so on. What fun.

Also, at some point last week someone pointed (sorry, no attribution) to the photos from the film adaption of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. You must go look at those pictures. Satrapi’s simple lines are genius (calling the MacArthurs!—although with the way her books are doing maybe she’s doing fine these days). More good news there: in October she has another slim volume out,
Chicken with Plums, about an uncle who died after his wife broke his favorite musical intstrument.


Text Edit, energy, stickers.

Tue 19 Sep 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Comments Off on Text Edit, energy, stickers. | Posted by: Gavin

For anyone fed up with how slow Word can be, Jed Berry pointed us to this handy text editor: a modified version of TextEdit. Get the Ogre Kit extras too, set the preferences, and off we go.

Futurismic points to good energy news:

Since 2000, global wind energy generation has more than tripled; solar cell production has risen six-fold; production of fuel ethanol from crops have more than doubled; and biodiesel production has expanded nearly four-fold. Annual global investment in “new” renewable energy has risen almost six-fold since 1995, with cumulative investment over this period nearly $180 billion.

Cafe Press updates (very irregular):


Catch up time

Mon 18 Sep 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Catch up time | Posted by: Gavin

Thoughtful and excellent review of Skinny Dipping:

“An impressive and darkly humorous debut collection—well worth every baby sacrificed in the making.” — Diagram

Calendar: Kelly is on the west coast this week and Ellen Kushner reads at KGB in NYC on Wednesday.

Exciting travel news: Kelly will be going to Italy in December to take part in the Turin Rome World Book Capital Program. She’ll be reading or doing events in Turin, Milan, and Rome. This is in between two other events, the small/indie press Book Fair in New York City on Dec 1/2 (that’s 1st & 2nd, not 0.5) and something else, but there’s enough time, a week or so, to go see some Old Stuff. Constantine’s finger, here we come!

This is due to the fantastic job Donzelli has done with Stranger Things Happen. We received some PDF pages of an Italian mag article on Kelly and the book—the piece had some great art in it so at some point we hope to get them on here. In the meantime, a little Italian blog love.

From our newsletter thing: Aunt Gwenda’s been handing out pithy advice for a while now. Aren’t you in need? Send us your question to info@lcrw.net (include your address and with luck we’ll send you the ish of LCRW your question appears in). That could be LCRW 19, which will be the 10th anniversary issue. Perhaps the last if we think too deeply about that. But Zine World just said this about #17, so maybe we will keep going: “This treasury of fiction is a feast of mystery, novelty, and desire.” Send Aunty G. a Q!

Clarion move FAQ.

We’d love to hear from any teachers or professors or whomever using Small Beer books in classrooms or any kind of teaching use. We want to send some catalogs out to other people who could be doing the same thing so maybe you can help us use the right language?


This Corrosion

Mon 18 Sep 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on This Corrosion | Posted by: Gavin

2 AM videos: Ok Go. Best use of exercise machines, best choreography. (Thanks Meghan!).

Then there are so many crowd (and regular) videos on YouTube that 2 can easily become 4 (AM). Thanks to everyone who ever sneaked a decent video camera into a concert. Watching a lot of bands whose videos never made it onto Top of the Pops, Old Grey Whistle Test, and whatever other few places to see them there were in a non-MTV land or digging into the past of bands only later learned to love.

Sisters of Mercy. An appropriate slight case of overbombing: Dominion (any excuse to play around in the desert), 1959, Lucretia, My Reflection (begin with the bass), Still in Hollywood, Concrete Blonde. (So young! So much fun. Still a great video. Still don’t know all the words, sorry Gwenda.) Have to check out Catfish Scar, Johnette’s new band. (in its year of release it has to be danced to at least once per week), Possession, Heartland—this tape does indeed contain “a portion of Jolene“. Knocking on Heaven’s Door.

Few others: Still in Hollywood, Concrete Blonde. (So young! So much fun. Still a great video. Still don’t know all the words, sorry Gwenda.) Have to check out Catfish Scar, Johnette’s new band.

Tinariwen! Hipsway.
Also this:

  Tiptree radio drama; “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” — Max Schmid guest host

Thanks to Jim Freund for the link—which will be live for 10 more days or so.

Some other time: more embarrassing bands, more embarrassing hair cuts.


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