bully
Send Bill O'Reilly back to school.
work, not
via Notcot.org
spoony
I make dictionary.com's word of the day!
promise
Another flash fiction from my pal Merle Drown.
eco-terrorism, not
A dispatch from Beth Wellington, fighting the good fight.
cat and crow
All right, I'm a cat lover. This is an amazing little story. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSCVrb9pxA4]
tom swick
Newspapers continue to insist on their irrelevance. I stopped subscribing to the Sun-Sentinel a year ago, but if I hadn't then, I would now. Tom Swick, a great traveler and compelling travel writer, came home from a vacation in Australia to learn he'd been fired and was told by the classy managers at the rag to clean out his desk. Here's an interview with Tom in World Hum. And here's a link to Tom's book A Way to See the World.
gone to eat catfish
. . . and grits among other things. I'm off to Louisiana and Mississippi--back on Saturday.
creative writing
From Ronan McDonald's The Death of the Critic: "Another way in which 'Eng. Lit.' could profitably reconnect to its evaluative roots is to move closer to creative writing programmes. Creative writing has proved an irresistible draw as a university subject in recent decades, perhaps satisfying the appetite of literature lovers for the sorts of evaluative approach they are unlikely to obtain in a conventional English department. Unabashed as it necessarily is about evaluating literature, taught creative writing is an important arena for aesthetic judgment in a university setting. Such judgements generally happen ad hoc, or as a means to an end. Creative writing programmes rarely treat criticism as 'creative'. . . . But these programmes are nonetheless spaces in third-level institutions where literature is treated seriously as an end in itself, not just as an aperture to social or political context. If English were to move closer to creative writing, it would highlight affinities between creative wnd critical writing, as well as helping produce close connections between critics and artists. As movements like the Bloomsbury Group sugest, rapport between artist and critic can create energized contexts for artisitic innovation and creativity."
requiem, mass.
In the Fort Myers News-Press. In the LA Times.
home again, home again
Just back from the Mass. leg of the tour. Off to Louisiana and Mississippi in the morning. Had a wonderful time at Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, at Sal's Cafe in Worcester, and at Tatnuck in Westboro. Be back online Friday or Saturday.
today's short story waiting to be written
Siblings leave Mom's body to rot for seven years. "A 100-page state police case file, recently released to the newspaper, details how the brother and sister made biannual trips to their mother’s Middlefield home, stepping over her mummified remains on the floor."
winfrida
Here's a nice PW column on my brilliant publicist at Norton, Winfrida Mbewe. And here's Winfrida on video.
requiem in requiem
A piece in today's T & G. I'm off to South Hadley and Worcester this week. Be back online Monday. We had a great time last night at Books & Books--thank you all for coming. It's good to be the home team. And thanks to Mitchell and the gang.
fiu
Trouble for Mitch Maidique. The Herald pulled this one from it's website--can't imagine how that happened, but it's cached. And the latest lamentable chapter.
air travel
Just when you thought airline service couldn't get worse. Better think twice about flying Air Tran.
talking with tom
Here's an interview I did with Tom DeMarchi in the latest Southeast Review.
april henry . . .
Has some sweet things to say. Thanks, April.
requiem, mass.
Betsy Williford's review in the Miami Herald. My favorite Latina rock star and critic Emma Trelles comments in the Sun-Sentinel. Requiem is a People magazine four-star pick of the week this week. Get your copy before I buy them all. It's not online yet, so I can't link to it. When it is, I will. Requiem will be an August Indie Notable Selection. Here's a mention in Bookcourt. My pal Wayne Maugans has something to say at Theater Arts Network. Tina Koening in MiamiArtZine gets personal. And here's John Hood, who may end up as a character in one of my stories if he's not careful, in the Miami Sun Post. In the interest of fairness and full disclosure and because my Catholic self needs a taste of humble pie, I present this scathing review by the book editor in today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He runs the country's thirty-fifth best book page. (Sorry, I couldn't help it. But I'm sure he's trying.) This Hoover fellow hated my darlings and my sentences. I was so upset that I went out and wrestled the bougainvilla and cut up my arms and legs, but now I feel better and the front yard looks a little neater. Some folks like their plots applied with trowels, I guess. I'm thankful that other people have a more sensitive and nuanced understanding of storytelling. From Book Page. And here from Monroe, Louisiana. Hoover, I learned, doesn't like blogs either, by the way. He promises in his rant, you'll note ". . . to stick to the traditional standards of accuracy, proper grammar, attribution, but I'll leave out my phone number." (Emphasis added.) Maybe then he can see the two grammatical errors in this single sentence from his review: To which I add, "Why do we need to read 'Requiem, Mass?'"
