Suspend Your Disbelief

Archive for 2010

Shop Talk |

Book of the Week Giveaway: The Sherlockian, by Graham Moore

by Jeremiah Chamberlin

Each week we give away several free copies of a featured novel or story collection as part of our Book-of-the-Week program. Last week we featured the Winter 2011 Issue of Glimmer Train Stories, and we’re pleased to announce the winners: Rose White, Kristin Pedroja, and Lowell Mick White. Congratulations! Each will receive a copy of this new issue, signed by the editors. This week we’re featuring Graham Moore’s The Sherlockian. Out this month from Twelve, the novel is based, in part, on a true story: In 2004, it was announced that the missing journal of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had […]


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Sad Scribblers?

by Lee Thomas

GalleyCat reported a few weeks back that a piece in Health magazine listed writers on a list of 10 careers with high rates of depression. The original Health list says, of artists, entertainers and writers: These jobs can bring irregular paychecks, uncertain hours, and isolation. Creative people may also have higher rates of mood disorders; about 9% reported an episode of major depression in the previous year. This is by no means new territory, there’s long been a body of study around the artistic teperment and depression, including Kay Redfield Jamison’s article “Manic Depressive Illness and Creativity” from Scientific American […]


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Safely Scared

by Lee Thomas

Over lunch with a friend a few weeks back, we discussed the qualities of enduring children’s literature. Almost simultaneously, we both lit upon the fairly common idea that children really, truly love to be frightened – not so different from their more mature counterparts. “Safely scared,” was how he put it, and I couldn’t agree more. December always puts me in mind of reading as a child, the early-dark nights, the cold driving us inside, reading Roald Dahl or Madeleine L’Engle or the Grimm brothers by flashlight. Traditional fairy tales are often far darker than our novelists dare – the […]


Essays |

The Seamless Skin: Translation’s Halting Flow

by Jennifer Solheim

Jennifer Solheim weaves the story of her decade-long translation of Yolaine Simha’s I Saw You on the Street into a meditation on the nature of the translator’s labor. Solheim looks at history, politics, time and rereading to parse how “translation can become a snake biting its own tail: the translator as writer and reader is simultaneously subsumed and resurrected by the text in the original.”


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Thursday morning candy: failbetter.com

by Lee Thomas

failbetter.com has their Winter 2011 issue up and available. You can read fiction from Caren Beilin, Jimmy Chen, and Alexandra Chasin. Also featured: a story called “The Snowstorm as Romantic Accumulation,” written by Ryan Call and Christy Call, a brother and sister. The piece is an excerpt from their ongoing field guide to North American weather. I’m always intrigued by collaborations – especially in something as personal and finicky as fiction. The Calls’ approach to the story has several elements that draw me in: elemental musing, family, a dash of mystery. Their story begins: A snowstorm consists of an almost […]


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The Story Behind Storyville

by Michael Rudin

Don’t call Paul Vidich the Mayor of Storyville. He prefers Matchmaker. That’s because Storyville is less about Vidich, its creator, than his application’s ambitious plan to “bring together writers and readers.” As you might imagine, Storyville is focused solely on the short story. Exclusive to owners of iPhones and iPads, the application promises to deliver one story every week, for which subscribers must pay $4.99 for a six-month subscription. In the end, this means Storyville’s residents will end up paying less than a quarter per story. Vidich promises they won’t be just any stories. The Storyville editorial team is focused […]


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Book of the Week Giveaway: Glimmer Train–Winter 2011

by Anne Stameshkin

Each week we give away several free copies of a featured novel or story collection as part of our Book-of-the-Week program. Last week we featured Matt Bell’s How They Were Found, and we’re pleased to announce the winners: Joan Dempsey, Amy Hanridge, and Jarrid Deaton. Congratulations! Each will receive a copy of the book, signed by the author. This week we’re featuring the Winter 2011 Issue of Glimmer Train Stories. Editors (and sisters) Linda B. Swanson-Davies and Susan Burmeister-Brown have been editing the iconic literary journal for more than two decades. From its distinctive cover art to the longstanding tradition […]


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Amazon offers Bookscan data

by Lee Thomas

I first heard about this via Stephen Elliott’s very fine Daily Rumpus newsletter, then tracked down some more info via TechCrunch. Amazon has begun to offer Bookscan sales tracking data to authors for free. Stephen Elliott writes: If you’re an author you can now see how many books you’ve sold through Amazon.com. They’ll connect you to the Book Scan database, you’ll see how new copies of your book moved in retail stores across the country. This used to take longer. You would ask your agent, who would ask your publisher. You had to trust people. Once in a while you […]


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Glimmer Train Open

by Lee Thomas

Glimmer Train hosts several “Fiction Opens” each year, which provide an opportunity to submit to a terrific journal with a chance at some serious prizes: Open to ALL writers. First place has gone to beginners with no previous publications and to accomplished, established writers. All are welcome. Word count range: 2,000 – 20,000. (Yes, a 2,000 word piece can compete against a 20,000 word piece—it’s the story that counts.) First place wins $2,000 and publication in Issue 82 of Glimmer Train Stories. Second- and third-place winners receive $1,000/$600 (or if chosen for publication, $700). The December contest closes on January […]


Interviews |

Stalking the Inner Celestial: An Interview with Michael Byers

Michael Shilling’s interview with Percival’s Planet author Michael Byers delves into the fascinating characters – both historical and imagined – that populate Byers’ novel, which deals with the 1930s discovery of Pluto. Shilling says, “Reminiscent of such lightweights as James and Welty, Byers’ work shines with studied and infuried illuminations of the imperfect spirit; he can map out this process of inner grappling with a lovely, intense, and disciplined artistry.”




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