stellar nursery

The Rosette Nebula

"This image from the Herschel Space Observatory shows most the cloud associated with the Rosette nebula, a stellar nursery about 5,000 light-years from Earth in the Monoceros, or Unicorn, constellation. Herschel collects the infrared light given out by dust. The bright smudges are dusty cocoons containing massive embryonic stars, which will grow up to 10 times the mass of our sun. The small spots near the center of the image are lower mass stellar embryos. The Rosette nebula itself, and its massive cluster of stars, is located to the right of the picture." (from NASA)

he always sleeps like that

Today's short story waiting to be written: "Two women in England were arrested Saturday after officials say they brought a corpse to the airport in a wheelchair and sunglasses in an attempt to smuggle it onto the plane." This link with video. (thanks to Joe in Cheese)

hapworth 16, 1924

Roger Lathbury writes about how he almost got to publish J. D. Salinger's Hapworth. Here's a link to the novella in question. And here's Michiko Kakatani's review of Hapworth.

he is risen

(from photobucket)

a love of labor

A rave review in the Cleveland Plain Dealer for Is Life Like This? 

And I keep going back to "Is Life Like This?" for help, solace, and, dare I say it, wisdom: "Writing a novel is a labor of love, but it also has to be a love of labor."

Thank you, John Repp. 

they don't know that we know they know we know

"Why do we read fiction? Why do we care so passionately about nonexistent characters?" Cognitive science in the literature classroom. (thanks to Eliot in Worcester)

teabonics

Teabaggers has official language prolems!

what happens if her don't get it?

David Mamet's leaked memo to the writers on his TV show The Unit. Should be required reading!

IF YOU PRETEND THE CHARACTERS CANT SPEAK, AND WRITE A SILENT MOVIE, YOU WILL BE WRITING GREAT DRAMA. 

(thanks to Kevin in Fort Myers)

lynn rosen

"Will she read the book? Will she write the novel? What will it be about? Will it be any good? Will it be published to great acclaim, shoot to the top of the bestseller lists, and make its author (who will claim she never knew just how talented she really was until now) pots of money? Will she wind up on Oprah?" Lynn Rosen is going to do the impossible--write the first draft of her novel in six months--following the plan laid out in Is Life Like This? And she's going to write about her progress on the Huffington Post website. I sure hope she does it! 

furs

Sign in the French Quarter

crocheting adventures

Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes wins this year's Diagram Prize for the book with the oddest title.

new orleans fest and food report

 ( Sign on Decatur Street)

Just got back from the Tennessee Williams Lit Fest in New Orleans. Taught a master class in novel writing that was a real treat. A packed house.  On Friday I met with 200 city high school students at Le Petit Theatre. We talked about secrets for a while. How they might become stories. They were more than forthcoming. One young woman told us that every night for the past two weeks she'd been waiting for her mother to fall asleep and then took the car and drove around town. Another girl confessed to feeding her goldfish Froot Loops and injecting it water from a hypodermic needle--her mom was a nurse. When we weren't at the fest we were eating--this is New Orleans! Oysters at the Acme Oyster House, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Oysters and an Abita Amber. We always make our way to Cochon. Ate there our first night. I had fried boudi. The pig ears weren't on the menu that night for some reason. We lunched at NOLA on Friday. Sat at the chef's counter here as we had at Cochon. Love watching the food get made in the wood fired oven. Hickory roasted beef brisket--wonderful. We took the streetcar way out St. Charles and had dinner at Brigtsen's, a cozy littel restaurant in an old house. We ate in the living room. We shared catfish, rabbit, oysters, shrimp, crabmeat, and drum. And, of course, we had coffee and beignets at Cafe du Monde. Much to our surprise, the Roadfood Festival appeared right outside our hotel in the Quarter. We changed our minds about lunch at Bayona and hit the streets. Seafood chowder from the Maine Diner--a place we've stopped at every time we driven to Maine. What a treat. We had crawfish pie from Lasyone's. Just as good here as at their Natchitoches restaurant. There was a long line at the Louie Mueller barbecue tent. The restaurant in Taylor, Texas, is legendary, but we never made it there while we were living in Austin. We ate the best brisket we've ever had at that tent! (Sorry, Emeril.) So moist it melted in your mouth--no sauce necessary. Then we had spicy hand-cut fries at The Que Crawl, the city's roving purple restaurant, and buttermilk pie from Royers Round Top Cafe. There was plenty more we wanted to eat--five blocks of tents along Royal Street, but we were stuffed and had a plane to catch. I want to do that again! 

at awp

Come say hello on Friday afternoon at AWP. I'll be signing books at the Norton booth with Brad Watson. And then Friday at 4:30 I'm on a panel with Lynne Barrett, Debra Monroe, and Antonya Nelson. 

l. manning vines

In J. D. Salinger's magnificent story, "Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut," Mary Jane wants to know why Eloise married Lew if he's so unintelligent.

*****

"Oh, God, I don't know. He told me he loved Jane Austen. He told me books meant a lot to him. That's exactly what he said. I found out after we were married that he hadn't even read one of her books. You know who his favorite author is?"

Mary Jane shook her head.

"L. Manning Vines. Ever hear of him?"

"Uh-uh."

"Neither did I. Neither did anyone else. He wrote a book about four men that starved to death in Alaska. Lew doesn't remember the name of it, but it's the most beautifully written book he's ever read. Christ! He isn't even honest enough to come right out and say he liked it because it was about four guys that starved to death in an igloo or something. He has to say it was beautifully written."

*****

Mr. Vines is apparently imaginary and his book would have found its way into The Invisible Library if only Lew had remembered the title.

"Uncle Wiggly" is the only Salinger story adapted for the movies. Susan Hayward played Eloise, Lois Wheeler, Mary Jane. Dana Andrews plays the misnamed Walt Dreiser, Eloise's lighthearted young love, who dies absurdly in the war. I'm guessing that Salinger had another Walt in mind. Walt Glass. Hayward was nominated for Best Actress. She lost out to Olivia de Havilland. L. Manning Vines probably didn't make it to the film because the writers made Eloise a single mom. No Lew. This may help to explain why Mr. Salinger shied away from the movie industry.

kill your darlings

Michelle Zive has a few words to say about revision and The Lie That Tells a Truth.

the borges cure

New flash fiction from Lynne Barrett.

is life like this?

Here's link to a feature in the Sun-Post on Is Life Like This? And here's a blogpost in praise of the book.

double falsehood

Shakespeare's play Double Falsehood; or, The Distrest Lovers is now part of the canon. Arden will publish an edition,  and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre will stage the play next summer. 

dedicated to the people of darfur

Here's a brief notice of a new book in which I have an essay. I'll be on a panel this weekend at the Tucson Festival of Books talking about the book. LOve to see you there. All proceeds go to Darfur relief.  

the surrendered

My Globe review of Chang-Rae Lee's  new novel.