it's really quite good
Just saw Avatar. Hardcore noble savage leftist story; Dances with Sexy Blue Catgoats. (I like that it was all, “Kill the humans!”) Fucking incredible immersive 3-D. Definitely worth going, you’ll be like WHOA the whole time. I really regret seeing it in a regular state of mind. My advice is: Don’t.
I like to read a book a day, except for on Fri/Sat, when I read ½ book a day (I binge drink on Friday, complete the book, forget every word in a poisonous fog, wake, reread it on Saturday—do the math.)
Today’s book was Chump Change, by Dan Fante.
Dan Fante writes like Charles Bukowski who writes like John Fante (Dan’s dad, Buk’s muse). All three believe they descend from Jack Hemingway, the love child of Ernest and London.
They do not.
J Fante has the best book of the three (Ask the Dust). Bukowksi writes the most agreeable characters (usually through their self deprecation—one technique of developing sympathetic characters.)
I like the play of words: Chump Change. This book is product placement for Mogen David 20/20 (Aka Mad Dog). The best sentence is on pp. 155: “I decided to beat off with her, move for move, so I set my food aside.” Before heading off to L.A. to purse your glittering halos of need, I suggest you read this book. It will take you one hour, fourteen minutes to finish.
That is all.
there’s a good interview with scott mcclanahan at WORD RIOT. scott has another book coming out from six gallery press, called STORIES 2. i am getting a review copy soon and will interview/review. here is a line from the interview at WORD RIOT:
(in reference to his home, west virginia)–“This is a place where arm-wrestling still has some kind of cultural importance.”
Underland Press wrote to say they are offering a 15% discount on their entire stock through the end of December. This includes their lovely, lovely limited edition hardcovers. Finch! Last Days by Brian Evenson! Best American Fantasy! Evil Clowns!
Go forth. Buy. Tell your friends. When you check out, use the code: xmas09.
There’s also a four books for $30 deal at Two Dollar Radio. Joshua Mohr! Gary Indiana! Nog!
Happy holidays.
Here’s another one to add to the translations list:
And here’s an interview with Shane in German.
Of course ‘Best Of Year’ or ‘Top Ten’ lists are stupid: does that mean they have no value? Do you yell at Polaroids?
If Gary Lutz does it–and he says he does–I don’t know how he does. In an interview with Michael Kimball, Lutz says, “Maybe part of the explanation of why I write the way I write has to do with the way I sometimes read. I sometimes read a book from back to front, sentence by sentence-a practice that, as one might imagine, can give a completely different disposition to a book.” I’ve been trying to read Barry Hannah’s slim marvel, “Ray,” back to front. Sentence by sentence. It won’t work. A book like “Ray” has a certain velocity, speed, force. You’d think that because most sentences here are jewels, are the sharpest of diamonds, that one could isolate them and pick them apart from the bone outward. But it’s become clear to me that Hannah’s sentences sing precisely because they are deeply embedded in a system of voice which, however fragmented the narrative structure of “Ray,” is a system, and therefore, to my mind, necessary.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8SsY3AFdBU
Duke Basketball 1991-92, the year they beat the Fab Five.
1. I go back to Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison’s apocalyptic/environmental art-photography often. The Architect’s Brother pretty much inspired all of the poetry I wrote in my early twenties. In book form, there’s an essay by W.S. Merwin called “Unchopping a Tree.” It begins:
Start with the leaves, the small twigs, and the nests that have been shaken, ripped, or broken off by the fall; these must be gathered and attached once again to their respective places.