Here is my deep, shameful secret: I’m addicted to drugstore paperbacks. I even sometimes fantasize about wanting to write them. Now, let me clarify: I really only like the ones about neurotic career gals living in New York City, usually in their late twenties or early thirties, who keep fucking up and self-sabotaging their love [...]
Archive for April, 2011
Ten Reasons I Hate Emily Giffin’s SOMETHING BORROWED (St. Martin’s Press)
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Drugstore Paperback, Emily Giffin, Ginnifer Goodwin, Hates Gays, I'm going to go to hell for writing this post, John Krasinski, Kate Hudson, Racist, Something Borrowed on April 11, 2011 | 45 Comments »
Fanny Howe to judge 1913 Press’s First Book Contest (Any Genre)
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged 1913 Press, Fanny Howe, First Book Contest on April 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
See Fanny Howe above. Read more about her here. Find out more about 1913 Press here. And get the full contest details here.
Money Money Money!; or, That Great Unthinking Life of the Writer (Part 1)
Posted in Uncategorized on April 11, 2011 | 25 Comments »
One of the strange things I’ve found about living in New York is that there are a lot of freaks out there. [1] Not crazy or malicious freaks but quirky and imaginative ones who’ve burrowed into their quirky and imaginative groups. They grow basil in Bushwick, make temporary installations exploring the ravages of capitalism, live [...]
Reading Stanley Elkin’s Searches and Seizures: “The Making of Ashenden”
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Ken Emerson, Leslie Epstein, Rafi Zabor, Stanley Elkin, The Bear Comes Home, The Making of Ashenden on April 10, 2011 | 10 Comments »
Ken Emerson, in his rather fine article “The Indecorous, Rabelaisian, Convoluted Righteousness of Stanley Elkin” (March 3, 1991) writes: Elkin, no lover of those writers he has called “the Minimalistas,” when advised by an editor that “less is more,” retorted, “I don’t believe less is more. I believe that more is more. I believe that [...]
Sidney Lumet 1924-2011
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged A Long Day's Journey into Night, Al Pacino, Albert Finney, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Dog Day Afternoon, Marisa Tomei, Network, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Prince of the City, Serpico, Sidney Lumet, The Fugitive Kind, The Verdict, Twelve Angry Men on April 10, 2011 | 9 Comments »
One of the most unappreciated U.S. film directors has died. 45 films in 50 years. Four masterpieces: Dog Day Afternoon, Network, The Verdict, and Before the Devil Knows You are Dead. Five must-see’s: Twelve Angry Men, The Fugitive Kind, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Serpico, and Prince of the City. Over a dozen other worthy efforts. [...]
T. J. Beitelman’s PILGRIMS: A LOVE STORY
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Black Lawrence Press, Black River Chapbook Competition, Desert, Dzanc Books, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jude Law, Pilgrims A Love Story, T J Beitelman on April 9, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Winner of the Black River Chapbook Competition, Pilgrims: A Love Story is a book I’ve had on my stack for far too long. I bought it because of the cover. I wanted to know what this car had to do with anything. I bought it because Black Lawrence Press is an imprint of Dzanc. I bought [...]
Joseph Riippi’s THE ORANGE SUITCASE
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Adam Robinson, Ampersand Books, Joseph Riippi, Laura van den Berg, Matt Bell, Michael Kimball, Roxane Gay, The Orange Suitcase on April 9, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Amber Sparks already wrote a fantastic and comprehensive review of Joseph Riippi’s The Orange Suitcase for Big Other, which you can read here, but I want to dedicate a post to “Something About Maxine,” which is a short chapter in three tiny parts, and “Something About the Rest,” another short chapter in three parts. I [...]
The role of the humanities in an open society
Posted in Uncategorized on April 8, 2011 | 4 Comments »
The philosopher Raymond Geuss speaks clearly and candidly about the individual and social need to cultivate self-knowledge. A wonderful 5-min. video. Your comments are welcome.
Big Other Contributors’ News, #25
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Amber Sparks, Elaine Castillo, Greg Gerke, J. A. Tyler, John Dermot Woods, John Madera, Michael Leong, Paul Kincaid, Ryan W. Bradley on April 8, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Ryan W. Bradley‘s story, “The Pit Bull’s Tooth,” is up at Wigleaf, and his chapbook, MILE ZERO will be out in September from Maverick Duck Press. Elaine Castillo had poems published in Issue 12 of > kill author, and a piece forthcoming from Used Furniture Review, both from her poetry manuscript CANDIDA: A TRANSLATION. Several [...]
Norman Lock’s Latest Book Has Been Released!
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Big Other, John Madera, Norman Lock, Pieces for Small Orchestra & Other Fictions, Spuyten Duyvil on April 7, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Norman Lock‘s new book, Pieces for Small Orchestra & Other Fictions, has just been published by Spuyten Duyvil. I’ve been excited about this book ever since I was able to publish two of the “Pieces” in jmww.
Big Other’s a Drag
Posted in Uncategorized on April 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I had so much fun “dragulating” Blake Butler, I decided to start unleashing some fabulous on Big Other’s contributors. I present to you our fearless leader John Madera’s alter ego, Critiqué:
Our New Contributor!
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Andrew Taggart, Big Other on April 7, 2011 | 5 Comments »
Please join me in welcoming Andrew Taggart to Big Other. Andrew Taggart is a philosophical counselor living in Brooklyn. With his conversation partners and through his writing, he examines what is involved in leading a good and meaningful life.
Touching on Grief: On the Story “Dreaming Before Sleep,” by Kathryn Chetkovich, and Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Jonathan Franzen, Kathryn Chetkovitch on April 6, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Due to a violent death in my family, I found myself unable to read or write for about five months. It’s as if being robbed of a person wasn’t enough: I was also robbed of the things that made up my identity, that gave me joy. I could sleep, loaded on booze and other drugs, [...]
The Civil War and a Legacy of Slavery: Perception and Relativism and Political Opportunism
Posted in Uncategorized on April 5, 2011 | 1 Comment »
This week marks the beginning of the American Civil War Sesquicentennial, so Ken Burns was on the news this morning discussing his Civil War documentary. And as I listened to the discussion, I started thinking, too, about my own changing perceptions around arguably the seminal event in our nation’s history. I grew up in the [...]
In honor of the release of Blake Butler’s THERE IS NO YEAR…
Posted in Uncategorized on April 5, 2011 | 2 Comments »
…I am pleased to bring you Blake’s fierce drag sister, Belinda Butler. Order THERE IS NO YEAR.
Contemporary Verse Novels and Sentences and Fragments: Charles Simic’s DIME STORE ALCHEMY
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Joseph Cornell, Contemporary Verse Novels, Sentences and Fragments, Brian Clements, Dime Store Alchemy, Charles Simic on April 5, 2011 | 3 Comments »
I’m not really sure why I keep writing about “Contemporary Verse Novels,” because I’m not that interested in labeling things. But it’s as good a category as any, and I like the idea that books that already exist as “poems” might also benefit from being associated with “novels.” So, on to the latest that fits [...]
Flatmancrooked is done
Posted in Uncategorized on April 5, 2011 | 1 Comment »
From FMC: “Dearest Readers, You’ve might’ve heard the rumors by now and, unfortunately, the rumors are true. Flatmancrooked is closing its doors. The reasons for this are varied but are largely due to my decision to leave publishing in order to focus on my family and health. Various editors, including our illustrious Senior Editor Deena Drewis and [...]
Big Other presents: Attack of the J’s (Haskell, Iredell, Madera) Saturday in Brooklyn
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Annie Levy, Big Other, jamie iredell, John Haskell, John Madera, Out of My Skin, Shelly Oria, Sweet! Actors Reading Writers, The Book of Freaks, Unnameable Books on April 5, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Saturday April 9th, 7pm, at Unnameable Books, 600 Vanderbilt, Brooklyn, NY Big Other presents: John Haskell, Jamie Iredell, and John Madera reading, with a Q/A to follow and wine to be served! We are celebrating these three wonderful writers and the release of Jamie’s new book (previewed here, by J.A. Tyler).
Stories “Finished” by Lily Hoang
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Anne Austin Pearce, Beth Couture, Blake Butler, Brian Evenson, Carol Guess, Davis Schneiderman, Debra Di Blasi, Elizabeth Hildreth, J. A. Tyler, Jaded Ibis Press, John Madera, Justin Dobbs, Kate Bernheimer, Kathleen Rooney, Kelcey Parker, Lily Hoang, Michael Martone, Michael Stewart, Ryan Manning, Scott Garson, ted pelton, Trevor Dodge, Unfinished, Zach Dodson on April 5, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Unfinished is now available from Jaded Ibis Press. Lily Hoang–author of three novels, including the PEN award-winning Changing–invited her favorite writers to send her their scraps. She finished their unfinishables, even offering them to edit and revise what she produced. Some did, some didn’t. This collaborative enterprise is endlessly fascinating because one doesn’t know where [...]
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Amber Sparks
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Elaine Castillo
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Nick Francis Potter
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Brian Kubarycz
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Matty Byloos
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