"A fast-paced, suspenseful dystopian picaresque, part Huck Finn and part bizarro-world Swiss Family Robinson..."
---Kirkus
Long-listed for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and finalist for the Crawford Award. Title short story listed for the 2000 O. Henry award.
I spent quite a bit of time transcribing this. I am torn–I am reluctant to bring the manuscript with me — who knows what unspeakable power it holds in the tidal forces of every day occurences? And yet I daren’t let it fall into the wrong hands at home, or for the dog to eat [...]
Sat, October 4 2008 » Poetry, Polis » 1 Comment
I debated where I should blog about this or not, but here goes. A couple of days ago I received a package from Juneau, Alaska — its ends taped over with duct tape several times over, my address written on a black magic marker, in a tight, clipped scrawl (without my name) and with no [...]
Wed, September 24 2008 » Poetry, Polis » 5 Comments
Lory pointed to the way that doctors of Islamic law have, over centuries, debated whether or not it is possible to enter into a legal marriage with jinn. Regardless of their legality, such marriages do happen. Men may even marry a jinniyya princess, though in order to do so he must forswear sexual relations with [...]
Mon, September 22 2008 » ?!?!? » 1 Comment
5 years ago today, Kristin and I married. I don’t know what’s more surreal or harder to believe–that we’ve been married for 5 or together for more than 10. I mean, seriously, where has this time gone?! I am one lucky guy to have the partner, best friend, and wife that I do; breathtakingly blessed–every [...]
Sat, September 13 2008 » Life Studies » 3 Comments
The first quote didn’t really make sense until I read the second. In a sense we could say that unregulated capitalism and quantum physics both feed the destabilising effects that Lovecraft “diagnoses” in his fiction. It is not a matter of reducing one to the other, and offering either a social or a naturalistic “explanation” [...]
Thu, September 11 2008 » Fiction » 2 Comments
Palin really is the “dream” candidate in that she seems to have risen unbidden like a phantasm into the political landscape (that is our wilderness). All signifier and no signified, the far-right are going to inscribe their hopes and aspirations onto her; and as for the left, she is a mercurial creature of borderline nightmare. [...]
Sun, September 7 2008 » Polis » 3 Comments
You see it in sports events more now, how the cheering is more orchestrated. The fun is more and more at the mercy of the venue. Signs are handed out with pre-printed messages of support (Ravens support Phelps, in Baltimore, during a meaningless preseason NFL game). You also saw at the DNC how well this [...]
Tue, September 2 2008 » Life Studies » 1 Comment
This breaks down the Olympic results in an incisive way that I haven’t yet seen.
Tue, August 26 2008 » Uncategorized » No Comments
It makes sense, to me, that Girl Talk is from Pittsburgh–he’s making a little nest of shiny musical things from the rubble of industrialism aka the pop industry. I can’t get enough of Feed the Animals, working as an album I can’t quite explain. So I’ve been busy, laying low (like, in a tunnel or [...]
Mon, July 14 2008 » Music » No Comments
Just like laughing at one’s jokes, is it bad form to laugh at one’s blog? I was combing through the archives, looking for aphorisms/epigraphs, and came across this post. It feels like it was written 10 years ago but it was less than 3! I forget the original context–something about young writers who made pro [...]
Fri, June 27 2008 » ?!?!?, Meta/Logistics » 2 Comments
…is going on now! Fabulous prizes and a great cause to support some great writing. Incidentally, I was remiss to mention that my review of Nicola Barker’s Darkmans, a deeply deeply strange novel, appeared there earlier in June.
Sat, June 21 2008 » Fiction » No Comments
I sometimes wonder, in the back of my subconscious, why it’s hard to take Pitchfork at all seriously, i.e., as a serious source of music criticism in the early 21st century. Then I remember that they published this review. And then it all makes sense.
Sat, June 21 2008 » Music » No Comments
or are living under a rock in the Twin Cities–Dave Schwartz is reading tonight from his new novel, Superpowers at 7pm at Dreamhaven. The book is released–go forth and attend/purchase!
Thu, June 12 2008 » Minnesota, Uncategorized » No Comments
I’ve been thinking the last couple of days about deep-diving into material and skirting on the surface of it. I’ve read a lot of philosophy in the last year–and have had a lot of catching up to do–and I’ll be the first to admit that there is a lot I don’t understand in the bones [...]
Tue, June 10 2008 » Fiction » 1 Comment
One of my favorite recent genres of TV commercials is the “passive aggressive, angry oil company commercial.” The tone is “Look, yeah, yeah, you think we’re part of the problem, but we’re actually part of the solution too! So piss off!” This Chevron extended clip is a minor masterpiece in the genre. It sounds like [...]
Mon, June 9 2008 » Movies/TV, Polis » 1 Comment
Sun, June 8 2008 » Polis » No Comments
I was remiss to mention the awesomeness of the release of Dave Schwartz’s novella at Wiscon! It truly is a crackerjack work of fiction in all senses of the word, and the cover is a beaut. So come and get it! And we’re actively reading novellas for 2009, so check out the guidelines and send [...]
Wed, June 4 2008 » Fiction » 1 Comment
All right, time for some bona fide big news. My novel, Total Oblivion, More or Less, is going to be published by Bantam! Juliet Ulman at Bantam Spectra has bought it, and I’m just really thrilled since a lot of my friends and colleagues have had great experiences with her editorial expertise. This is truly [...]
Thu, May 29 2008 » Fiction, Uncategorized » 44 Comments
Sequence–these really discrete packets of “posts”, like trading posts along a trail–doesn’t really work as a paradigm when you want to say 50 things at once. But real life is not an abacus. It was our 10th Wiscon (!) and it was great as usual. Very mellow for me, except for the karaoke party, of [...]
Thu, May 29 2008 » Life Studies » No Comments
In Taos for the Rio Hondo workshop, where Kristin and I have been having quite the blast. Building small cairns inside hollowed out logs, approaching steep waterfalls, watching blizzards fall, fiction, Fat Tire, friends new and old. Back on Sunday, and then–Wiscon…where I’ll probably see 80% of you. Trying to place what can be placed [...]
Fri, May 16 2008 » Fiction, Life Studies » 1 Comment
