What Kids Want for Christmas: Bitter Cynicism

Turns out the must-have-but-impossible-to-find gift this Christmas season is the Autobiography of Mark Twain, joining the ranks of Zu Zu Pets and Cabbage Patch Kids. Go books!

Me on McSweeney's Internet Tendency II

My piece "A Disgraced Congressman Apologizes for His Recent Poor Choices of Costumes" is up at McSweeney's Internet Tendency, as part of their Short Imagined Monologues Series. It's about a Congressman who has bad taste in costumes. It's perfect for the holiday weekend--you can print it out to give trick-or-treaters. They'll love it. Except for the bit about the human centipede. And the phallus.

You should, on second thought, just buy some Reese's. Or like me buy some Reese's for yourself and a fifty pound bag of Tootsie Rolls for the little monsters--they need to earn their own Reese's. That's the problem with this country everybody wants a handout. Buy your own chocolate peanut butter cup.

Last time.

Kick-start Knee-Jerk

Knee-Jerk, a cool online magazine, is going all retro and putting out a print version. You can help by making a contribution. The level of your contribution will earn you a copy of the magazine, buttons, and/or mix CD. The editors will even make you dinner (geographic restrictions apply on this one, I think). And more...

This first annual print issue of Knee-Jerk will include "fiction, essays, Reviews of Things, artwork, comics, illustrations, and lists by David Shields, Roy Kesey, Kim Chinquee, Joe Meno, Dan Kennedy, John McNally, Zoe Zolbrod, Billy Lombardo, Adam Kidder, Kenny Keil, Aaron Delehanty, and many, many more!"

At the time of this posting, they're only $90 away from their $1000 goal, actually. But I'm sure they'll put any extra to good use.

Me at A Tribute to Novello

So for nineteen years the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County put on the incomparable Novello Festival of Reading. This year it went down with all the budget cuts, but thanks to the tireless work of Mark West (here's a great article about that work) there will be a tribute to Novello, with the hope that it will support the library system and that there will be a return to Novello in the future.

On October 2nd, I'll be taking part in the Short Story Writers Panel with Robert Boisvert and Aimee Parkison. There will be other great events that day at the Main Library, 310 North Tryon Street, Charlotte. Here's the press release.

Me in the Journal of Microliterature

So my flash fiction "The Substitute" is now up over at the Journal of Microliterature. This piece has some of my favorite stuff, like Poor Richard's Almanack and the god Set.

Let me also recommend John P. McCann's "Death Honk" there. Read it just to have context for the line, "'Pie that damn bear!'"

Out of the The Red and The Black

So I actually finished this some time ago, but was not up to chattering on about it, what with the beginning of the semester, the relative joys of advising and syllabus writing--so relative. I can say reading Stendhal's The Red and the Black over the summer felt like an accomplishment. I can also say it wasn't always a pleasure, as I sympathize with others who feel it is slow to modern tastes. But also it is shockingly fast in places, like where Julien gets his military dream and then is drawn back all in the space of a few small paragraphs. And I guess I wasn't prepared for the focus on romance though I have to say it's an unusal love triangle.

What I found very modern was the creation of Julien, a character so irreligious in a religious time (even if it were all hypocrisy) and so bent on social climbing, he would do splend in contemporary America--replace all that talk of class with celebrity. My favorite line comes as he finds a sort of peace with himself in prison but is plagued with visitors: "'The worst of all prison's miseries,' he thought, 'is not being able to close the door.'"

a la carte!

That's right; it's here: A La Carte: Short Stories that Stir the Foodie in All of Us, a 2010 MSR Short Fiction Anthology edited by me. It contains amazing stories from the likes of:

Ted Chiles
David Erlewine
Hugh Fox
Molly Gaudry
Kathie Giorgio
Russell Helms
Ann Hillesland
Carol K. Howell
Jac Jemc
Jason Jordan
Michael Kardos
Letitia L. Moffitt
Joseph R. Quinlan
Mary McLaughlin
Nicole Louise Reid
Ben Tanzer
Eric Vrooman

Please enjoy their fabulous food tales. Buy it here.