Autographed by the author — who gives a shit? What is the best autographed book story you got then?

What authors or books do you love that most people hate or have never heard of?

“Guns, am / I right? Guns! I love them!” writes Jason Bredle in “Gun Range Talk” at the new La Petite Zine. LPZ gone weird this time, including this tercet from Stephanie Barber: “starve to death / starve to death / starve to death” and from Aaron Belz, “We channel horseradish / On the daily vacation tab” — all to the good of those who love it.

Let’s give away NOTHING, by Blake Butler. Three copies, courtesy of me/Sator Press. Comment with your email address to enter. Winners picked soonish. If you want: talk nightmares.

What is the most valid piece of negative criticism you’ve read (links appreciated)?

Yesterday I finally got a chance to read Dennis Cooper’s superlative interview in the new Paris Review. If you haven’t read it yet, you should treat yourself.

One thing that struck me was at the beginning when Dennis explains that he got interested in literature because he read an interview with Bob Dylan where Dylan mentioned Rimbaud. I had a similar experience in that I came to literature through Jim Morrison. I wonder how many other people found their way to books through musicians?

New Sink Review to read. Looks sweet — great writing, great design — it’s been a while since I’ve seen an online journal as right on as this one.

Are my ears deceiving me, or does R.E.M.’s “E-bow the Letter” steal its melody (indirectly but essentially) from T. Rex’s “Cosmic Dancer” ? … If the latter, Michael Stipe foreshadows it three tracks earlier on “Wake Up Bomb” when he sings, “Practice my T. Rex moves and make the scene…”

When you’re asked to withdraw something or to resign from a position, there’s often some kind of pressure involved and that pressure is generally wielded to make someone else save face. Last week, the National Book Foundation announced this year’s nominees for the National Book Award. They made a mistake (?!) and today, the writer whose work was “mistakenly” included,  withdrew her work from consideration, at the Foundation’s “request.” The word clusterfuck comes to mind. Real talk: I’d cry if this happened to me.

Black Ocean sells big, Helen DeWitt talks, New Directions got new, Catch-22 fought, I reviewed Blake’s books and we talked.