Suspend Your Disbelief

Archive for 2010

Shop Talk |

Literary Agent: The Cocktail

by Celeste Ng

Just in time for the scorching heat that’s blasting much of the east coast, food blog Umamimart offers a recipe for the “Literary Agent,” a cocktail that’s “a cross between a Whisky Sour and a Hemingway Daiquiri.” But it’s not the kind of agent you think. Says the blog: Writer, adventurer, ravenous drinker, hunter, early supporter-turned-critic of Fidel Castro, exuder of much machismo, and all around man’s man and true bon vivant–these are all the various adjectives and aspects of Ernest Hemingway’s life that most recall when describing the man. But there’s one more aspect that’s lesser known, and has […]


Shop Talk |

On Breaking Up With Books

by Celeste Ng

It happens to all of us, despite our best intentions: sometimes, you cannot bring yourself to finish that book. You know which one I’m talking about—the one that’s been sitting on your desk or nightstand or coffee table for months, a bookmark protruding from its pages. You mean to do it. You just… can’t. Over at The Millions, Sonya Chung has a great essay about the books she hasn’t finished—and why. My commitment to finishing books in the past was probably related to the above – fear of ensuing guilt and shame. Failure, too, I suppose. And perhaps at this […]


Interviews |

Learning About the Dark: An Interview with Ron Carlson

by Tim Hedges

“Whatever you do, stay in the room.” So advises Ron Carlson in his book on the craft of writing, appropriately titled Ron Carlson Writes a Story. He knows what world exists on the other side of the door: a world full of televised sports, dirty dishes, iced mochachinos. A world full of distraction from the task at hand. Writing, he argues, is about staying in the room, pushing beyond the point where your eyes glaze over and your fingers refuse to type. That’s where the magic lies.


Shop Talk |

Tin House: Buy to Submit; Dzanc: Buy to Donate

by Celeste Ng

Tin House Books has a new way to encourage you to support bookstores. GalleyCat reports: Between August 1 and November 30, 2010, Tin House Books will accept unsolicited manuscripts with one special condition–the submission must include a receipt that proves the author has purchased a book at a bookstore. Any manuscript sent without a receipt will be returned unread. The new policy is part of Tin House’s “Buy a Book, Save a Bookstore” campaign. The Tin House Books website notes: Writers who cannot afford to buy a book or cannot get to an actual bookstore are encouraged to explain why […]


Reviews |

Valeria’s Last Stand, by Marc Fitten

by Laura Valeri

The imagined Hungarian village of Zavitar is home to the indomitable Valeria, a single lady of a certain age, given a second chance at love and excitement in the arms of the local potter. Marc Fitten’s debut novel, Valeria’s Last Stand, explores how the fall of Communism effects a memorable cast of characters, all through the lens of fable.


Shop Talk |

"To travel paths that were unknown to me. To unlock new ideas to me. To be told a story. To entertain myself."

by Celeste Ng

Why do people read fiction? That’s what one user asked recently on Metafilter, a popular community weblog: I don’t understand human behavior. Why do people read and watch fiction books and dramas? It seems like a waste of time. The question garnered over 50 responses—most of which were elegant and eloquent explanations of the value of fiction: from Ash3000: To know that a character is like us, and their inner life includes the same cringing that ours does – or, conversely, to know that they are utterly free of our thinking habits – provides an avenue wherein we can compare […]


Shop Talk |

A writer walks into a bar …

by Lee Thomas

There are few venues where a fiction reader might witness Steve Almond read student evaluations of his teaching (youth can be so cruel), Samantha Hunt perform a poem – backwards, or Ben Greenman‘s utter faith in humanity as he recites his credit card and pin numbers aloud to a packed bar. In fact, the only place I can think of off the top of my head is the Happy Ending Music & Reading Series. Started in 2003 by Amanda Stern, the series brings together emerging and established writers to read and take an onstage risk of the kind mentioned above, […]


Shop Talk |

1. Write novel. 2. ??? 3. PROFIT!

by Celeste Ng

For many aspiring writers, that’s the big question: How do you get from #1 to #3? No one can guarantee that you’ll actually profit, of course, but certain steps make it much much much more likely that your work will get out there and find an audience. Though I’m certainly no expert, I’ve been asked many times by students and friends-of-friends how to revise the manuscript, how to find an agent, how to find a publisher. Now Mediabistro—an expert if ever there was one—offers a new series of how-to videos, answering just those questions. Their series “I Just Wrote A […]


Reviews |

The Iron Will of Shoeshine Cats, by Hesh Kestin

by Michael Rudin

Prior to writing his novel The Iron Will of Shoeshine Cats, Hesh Kestin mastered all things non-fiction, serving as European bureau chief of Forbes and war reporter for Newsday before founding two newspapers himself—the Israeli daily The Nation, as well as the prize-winning expatriate, The American. A career crafting leads and managing word counts has shaped Kestin’s fiction in a distinct way: though written richly, it never wastes a cent.




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