As of yesterday, Ulysses is officially a work of public domain. Now what? [UPDATE: Or not… at least in America. (via Edward Champion)]

For the New Yorker podcast, A.M. Homes reads & discusses Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery.”

Has any book genuinely offended you? Why?

A couple cool things:

A beautiful book trailer for Anna Joy Springer’s The Vicious Red Relic (Jaded Ibis Press, 2011) – Reviewed previously here.

&, a beautiful video portrait of sound artist Cathy Sung Kim.

Silliman’s year-end list is up and some of it is what you might expect, peeps from his posse (good peeps) like Armantrout, Waldman, DuPlessis, Bernstein, and thennn there’s someone named Steve Roggenbuck on there too. Neat.

Well this is a weird but awesome contest. Write a story that features Matt Salesses. I feel sorry for everybody that died before today and didn’t get to know about this.

Why aren’t small presses doing this?

“When he was nineteen, writing La Doublure . . . Roussel felt a literal brilliance running all throughout his person, his writing implements, and his room. The light was so dazzling he had to draw the curtains, afraid that anyone who saw him would be blinded by the rays streaming out of his face.” — Ben Marcus

RIP, Christopher Hitchens.

I almost got to publish TREASURE ISLAND!!! by Sara Levine, but Europa Editions/Tonga Books sent their acceptance letter A DAY AFTER I sent mine. Alice Sebold selected it personally. Sara’s great, though, and her book is fucking hilarious. A Confederacy of Dunces hilarious & beyond. Go get it.