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Conjunctions 53
is out now, the Hybrid Histories issue, and as always full of magic power. Among those: Andrew Ervin, Samuel Beckett, Thomas Bernhard, Robert Coover, William Gass, Tim Horvath, Peter Gizzi, Francise Prose, Paul La Farge.
Matt Bell’s incredible long story His Last Great Gift is also included, and can be read online here. It’s a brain eater, as we’ve come to expect on the regular from Mr. Bell.
Its first graph:
SPEAR HAS ALREADY BEEN living in the cabin overlooking High Rock for two weeks when the Electricizers speak of the New Motor for the first time. Awakened by their voices, Spear feels his way down the hallway from the dark and still unfamiliar bedroom to his small office. He lights a lamp and sits down at the desk. Scanning the press of ghastly faces around him, he sees they’re all here tonight: Jefferson and Rush and Franklin, plus his own namesake, John Murray. They wait impatiently for him to prepare his papers, to dip a pen in ink and shake it free of the excess. When he’s ready, they begin speaking, stopping occasionally to listen to other spirits that Spear can’t quite see, that he doesn’t yet have the skills to hear. These hidden spirits are far more ancient, and Spear intuits that they guide the Electricizers in the same way that the Electricizers guide him.
There aren’t that many magazines you can count on to be provocative and powerful from end to end most every time. Conjunctions is one of those. And you can subscribe for a year for $18 in the US. You will wish you had earlier, I can pretty much promise.
Tags: andrew ervin, Conjunctions, Matt Bell, tim horvath
Amen to that, all around.
Amen to that, all around.
That Matt Bell story alone is worth buying a copy to keep on your shelf.
That Matt Bell story alone is worth buying a copy to keep on your shelf.
Great journal. I really do treasure Bradford’s rejections.
From the grave, Beckett still amazes.
If Bell’s story is what passes for smart, entertaining literature these days, then I give up. You would have to put a gun to my head to make me read that again. When did it become a prerequisite that everyone under the age of 35 who writes fiction has to set their stories in some vague dystopia where everyone, including the narrator, speaks in this stilted overly formal diction? I don’t get it. I chalk it up to self-imposed insulation from the world. Go take a walk or something. Jesus.
If Bell’s story is what passes for smart, entertaining literature these days, then I give up. You would have to put a gun to my head to make me read that again. When did it become a prerequisite that everyone under the age of 35 who writes fiction has to set their stories in some vague dystopia where everyone, including the narrator, speaks in this stilted overly formal diction? I don’t get it. I chalk it up to self-imposed insulation from the world. Go take a walk or something. Jesus.
T-Minus Ten until Butler deletes my comment.
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here’s my proposal: instead of writing your frustrations about this story in a quick comment on htmlgiant, why not critique it? this is a common thing, i think: sort of blind praise or blind trashing in comments sections, on blogs, sort of everywhere. i say this without having read this particular story. if you really think it’s got problems, why not try to figure out how the story is working, how it’s built, why this certain voice, language, peoples, trees, world, and then go at it. because, i mean, it doesn’t do much to just say this story is basically crap. it isn’t very interesting (same with blind praise). fuck, i keep saying ‘blind’ in front of everything.
here’s my proposal: instead of writing your frustrations about this story in a quick comment on htmlgiant, why not critique it? this is a common thing, i think: sort of blind praise or blind trashing in comments sections, on blogs, sort of everywhere. i say this without having read this particular story. if you really think it’s got problems, why not try to figure out how the story is working, how it’s built, why this certain voice, language, peoples, trees, world, and then go at it. because, i mean, it doesn’t do much to just say this story is basically crap. it isn’t very interesting (same with blind praise). fuck, i keep saying ‘blind’ in front of everything.
slick watson, you sould submit to my journal. youre just the sort of dickhead whose stuff id like.
slick watson, you sould submit to my journal. youre just the sort of dickhead whose stuff id like.
*any* credibility your first post might have had was eliminated by this juvenile display.
*any* credibility your first post might have had was eliminated by this juvenile display.
this story started off well but by midpoint it really started to ramble. the ending was disappointing; as the pages slipped away I kept thinking “How is she going to end this??” The author apparently was thinking the same thing; she just kind of cut it off abruptly with a final event that was about as satisfying as “and then I woke up and realized it was all a dream.”
this story started off well but by midpoint it really started to ramble. the ending was disappointing; as the pages slipped away I kept thinking “How is she going to end this??” The author apparently was thinking the same thing; she just kind of cut it off abruptly with a final event that was about as satisfying as “and then I woke up and realized it was all a dream.”
what story are you talking about?
what story are you talking about?
by all means, give up.
by all means, give up.
i wouldnt let your ignorance shrine get hid, don’t worry dear.
i wouldnt let your ignorance shrine get hid, don’t worry dear.
Dude says his name is Slick Watson and he’s casting shade about something being “overly formal”?
Dude says his name is Slick Watson and he’s casting shade about something being “overly formal”?
he’s this guy who has been posting snarky comments on here for a long while. changes his name every so often. you might remember him as ‘milk and cookies’? or ‘maurice’? weak.
he’s this guy who has been posting snarky comments on here for a long while. changes his name every so often. you might remember him as ‘milk and cookies’? or ‘maurice’? weak.
It’s great to see fresh young talent like Sam Beckett getting his work in front of a wider audience. :)
It’s great to see fresh young talent like Sam Beckett getting his work in front of a wider audience. :)
it’s called “flash-crit”…get with the program.
it’s called “flash-crit”…get with the program.
ignorance shrine – ha ha
ignorance shrine – ha ha