Nick Antosca—
Some of you know Innocente Fontana, so I thought this might be of interest: I wrote a piece for the Paris Review‘s website about my relationship with him, who he really is, and his extraordinary novel that was just republished.
This is a great article. I’ve tried to contact I.Fontana to no avail. The name took me to Facebook users in Portugal or elsewhere.
It was because I use online fiction alongside the anthologized stuff in my introductory sophomore-level lit. classes. The side-effect is that students often choose to write papers on works by online writers. When this happens I like to email folks and let them know, because it can make their day: someone wrote a paper on your story… And sometimes the students will take the extra step to contact the writer themselves, which is a kind of thrill for them too: they use facebook?…
So we’ve talked about the Juked story “Hurt, Rescued,” a great retelling of “Heart of Darkness” and it’s one that has blown some younger minds here in TN. http://www.juked.com/2010/06/hurtrescued.asp That is until they seek out his other stories and have their idea of story blown wide open.
Great read Nick!
I’m glad you like his stuff, John! Let me know if you need to get in touch with him.
I really like your piece Nick. And now I’m going to read more of his work. Thank you.
Sweet
what an interesting story
That was the first story of his I read and it hooked my right into looking for his other stuff.
Interesting story, Nick. Todd/Fontana has emailed with me a bit the past few years as well, but I was a little put off by the obvious pen name. When I read the part about MS in your Paris Review piece, I instantly wondered if it was Todd Grimson. I’ve heard about him and his health struggles in Portland. But unlike some other “fringe” Portland legends like Katherine Dunn and Richard Meltzer, I haven’t ever met Todd. I hope he’s doing okay.