September 2009

Kirk Cameron remixes Darwin, or something

via the Huffington Post:

Cameron lays out a plan to subvert ‘Darwin Day’ on November 22, 2009 — a date marking the 150th anniversary of the publishing of Charles Darwin’s “Origin of Species.” Cameron says that he and like-minded activists plan to deliver 50,000 copies of an altered version of Darwin’s book to students at dozens of U.S. universities.

Cameron explains that this “very special” edition of the “Origin of Species” will include an introduction explaining “Adolf Hitler’s undeniable connection” to the theory of evolution, and highlighting “Darwin’s racism” and “his disdain for women.”

“Who isn’t gonna take it and say, ‘Thank you very much!’?”

I don’t know about you, but I kinda want one. Talk about new text…

Uncategorized / 24 Comments
September 22nd, 2009 / 12:09 pm

failbetter is having a tenth anniversary novella contest

UCPress Book Sale

Save up to 70% on over 4,000 titles
Sale ends October 31, 2009
University of California Press

Presses / 2 Comments
September 22nd, 2009 / 12:03 pm

GIANT EXCERPT: from The Dance of No Hard Feelings by Mark Bibbins (#2)

dougpowell

I Used to Have the Shampoo
with D.A. Powell

I used to have the shampoo

by the balls but the wind hurt my hair so.
I can’t get over that retarded girl on the trike,

can’t find the apes in the apiary
can’t get hard for the hardtack

and the cannery is closed.
Well, this is just a trumped-up way of saying

your haircut is among the finest in Wyoming.
From the brightly arranged parlors of San Francisco

to the uncompromising river, beside which, huskily, we sang,
you can modify an adverb with an adverb–they do it all the time in France–

but I have not left my room in thirty years.
My life is shrinking like a desiccated organ,

wilted japonicas drenched in wine.

All this week, HTMLGiant will be posting poems from The Dance of No Hard Feelings (Copper Canyon) Mark Bibbins’s eagerly and long-awaited followup collection to 2003’s Sky Lounge. Day #1 is here. Check back daily for fresh doses.

Excerpts / 10 Comments
September 22nd, 2009 / 11:15 am

Joseph Young’s ‘Easter Rabbit’

I am mad excited for:

Easter Rabbit by Joseph Young

Easter Rabbit is a collection of microfictions.

100pp
perfect bound
cover art by Christine Sajecki

[press site]

Pre-order cost includes shipping.
Pre-orders will ship Oct 15.

Book available in wide release on Dec 15.

Your Location

Read Joseph Young’s work:
at Frigg
at Lamination Colony
at JMWW
an excerpt from Easter Rabbit
Author News & Presses / 36 Comments
September 22nd, 2009 / 10:50 am

The absolutely brilliant Heather McHugh has won a MacArthur Grant. (Deborah Eisenberg and Edwidge Danticat also won, but Heather is a favorite of mine.)

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Malkmus for the People! at Volume1

album-Pavement-Cut-Your-Hair

Do you think it's gonna make him change?

The great Jason Diamond of Vol 1. decided to celebrate the announcement of next year’s Pavement reunion by asking a handful of people to cite their favorite of the band’s lyrics. Those polled included Ari Messer of The Rumpus, Jens Carstensen from The Giraffes, and a few other notables, including Gigantic-editor (and Giant frequenter) James Yeh and yours truly. In fact, James and I both went a little apeshit, so you’ll find our annotated selections down at the bottom, below the civilized metered discourse.

Web Hype / 38 Comments
September 21st, 2009 / 10:15 pm

ǝsnoɥ uʍop ǝpısdn ןooɔ ʎןןɐǝɹ

updw07

˙ʎuɐɯɹǝƃ uı ǝsnoɥ uʍop ǝpısdn ǝɔıu sıɥʇ ʇno ʞɔǝɥɔ (ƃuıoqƃuıoq ɐıʌ)

Random / 26 Comments
September 21st, 2009 / 5:28 pm

Performance art & ‘everybody has a book’

above via Matt Bell

‘Everybody has a book.’

I’d like to know, by a show of hands, who here as a longer manuscript(s) (novella-to-novel length) either in submission or on your computer.

Random / 75 Comments
September 21st, 2009 / 2:47 pm

Nobody gets Bradbury like Stephen Colbert.

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