I am no longer sure ‘Distractions’ is appropriate. The summer gig is under way and that is the main distraction from my writing. But it’s not superfluous like a distraction is. It’s just a higher priority for the time being.…
stories and the best Story
I am convinced the best Story is the love from afar. Here is a recent entry (a good entry even in a nearly-impossible-to-fail genre): Molly Auerbach’s “The Shiksa” Of course, the nose is not actually happening. It is the fantast-ic…
Another one bites the dust
Image via Wikipedia I am giving up on yet another book, Robert Ludlum’s The Prometheus Deception. I made it to page 89 but I feel as though it is written for high schoolers who need help seeing things. First, a…
Disappearance of warriors
Cover via Amazon No sooner have I written the previous post than I begin chapter two of Chaloupka’s Kowing Nukes. Here is his argument: …the warrior is now simply and starkly absent. For several reasons (technological, political, and theoretical), the…
DeMille 1984
Image via Wikipedia I love Cold War fiction. I mean that very precisely. Some people think I mean espionage literature and that is not the case, because something is lost in the current crop of espionage thrillers. The enemy is…
la Farge 2009
Image via Wikipedia Paul la Farge has a review of Littell’s The Kindly Ones in the newest issue of The Believer. Criticized as too encyclopedic and too sadistic (the protagonist is an SS officer that killed his mother and stepfather,…
Tony Fennelly “How to kill an Aries”
Image via Wikipedia To-day’s short story is from the same anthology as yesterday’s, M. Szereto’s Getting even: Revenge stories. Tony Fennelly has a funny story about killing an Aries (“How to kill an Aries”) using his self-centeredness and recklessness against…
Chekhov’s “The lady with the dog”
Image via Wikipedia I find myself on this gorgeous Minneapolis day in a Caribou Coffee downtown. Since the debate season is recently over I find myself in this odd period where there is little that demands my time and I…
Book Survey
I have been delaying this post for a few days now as I tried to finish Clockers. The delay was so long, in fact, that I can no longer remember who tagged me. If I tag the person that tagged…