the original of holden
Where did Holden Caulfield come from? Michael Moats finds out.
happy bloomsday!
Your lunch menu for today: a gorgonzola cheese sandwich and a glass of burgundy. Enjoy
reunion
Just back from a three-day party in Fayetteville, Arkansas. We were gathered to celebrate with our mentor, Bill Harrison. Much drinking and much storytelling. A test of stamina for some of us.
quote of the day
"I am curious about people. That’s why I don’t like social life so much. Social life, people put on masks, it’s hypocrisy, it’s not like a real conversation, like used to happen in Russian fiction, in trains: a man would meet a person in a train and they would talk. I like to hear about people’s lives, not just because I want to write about it, which has to be confessed, but because it’s lonely on earth, really, and two things make it less lonely. One is literature, which we have to try and save in this wicked and worried and crazy world. The other is meeting or talking with someone who actually, even for an hour, kind of enchants you. I don’t even mind if people tell me total lies." Edna O'Brien
For the complete interview with Christopher Lydon. (Thanks to Dick in Irvine.)
opening day
of hurricane season. And here it is right on cue:
the cross-eyed bear
You can buy a copy of my story "The Cross-eyed Bear" here. It appeared in both Boston Noir and Best American Mystery Stories 2010.
man eating chicken
Today's short story waiting to be written: "Once I opened the door, I saw the guy sitting in the sink, fully naked, eating [the raw chicken]." (thanks to Beth in Roanoke)
she knew better
Another piece of flash fiction from Merle Drown. "In the morning she found Ray in the kitchen cleaning her fecal matter from the barrel of his .22-250."
rules for beginning writers
V. S. Naipaul's seven rules for beginning writers.
jeanne leiby, 1964 - 2011
Our good friend Jeanne Leiby has passed away, and our world is shaken. We want our friend back. More on Jeannie here. And a video interview here. Too sad to watch right now.
about suffering, he was seldom wrong
From The Atlantic: Christopher Hitchens's splendid essay on Philip Larkin.
Larkin’s own summary was, if anything, even more dank: he once described the sexual act as a futile attempt to get “someone else to blow your own nose for you.”
for sale: wedding dress, never used
A short story waiting to be written? (As I've said, we don't worry about spelling in Broward County. This ad from our wonderful Publix bulletin board. [Phone # altered.])
i'm a fiction writer
The Irish Times speaks with William Trevor. "The writer, he says, is an observer, not a psychologist and certainly not a psychiatrist. 'Psychiatrist suggests healing, and writers do not heal,' he says." (thanks to Dick in Irvine)
who done it?
Tristan D. interviews Michelle McNamara.
hpub
Now that the Huffington Post is owned by AOL and is no longer lefty, but simply another tabloid, you can read this alternative: HPUB. Or try The Raw Story if you haven't already.
leaps and bounds
Tristan D. interviews Mike Dash.
daddy's money
My friend Jo McDougall has a new memoir out this spring from the University of Arkansas Press. We went to school together in Arkansas, taught together in Louisiana, and I've been a great fan of her writing from the first poem I read. I can't wait to read this!
rosemary beach spring writers' conference
Here's a link to the first ever Rosemary Beach Writer's Conference. Rosemary Beach is up on the Gulf Coast on Florida's beautiful Panhandle. Hope you can make it. May 12-14.
reuters for radicals
Tristan D interviews John McMillan on his new book, Smoking Typewriters, and the underground press in the sixties.
jesus rocks
From the Freezer Jesus Files: ". . . maybe it was a sign of some kind."(thanks to Dick in Irvine)