Suspend Your Disbelief

Author Archive

Shop Talk |

May picks from Andrew's Book Club

by Anne Stameshkin

For Short Story Month itself, Andrew recommends the following collections: Indie Press: The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards by Robert Boswell (Graywolf) University Press: American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell (Wayne State UP, from the Made in Michigan Writers Series) Andrew’s Book Club also currently features an interview with author Tracy Winn, whose debut collection of linked stories, Mrs. Somebody Somebody, published in April (Southern Methodist UP). Read the first line from each story in Robert Boswell’s new collection here. See Bonnie Jo Campbell read from American Salvage at the following events/venues: – May 14 – Made in Michigan Writers […]


Shop Talk |

excerpt from Donald Maass's The Fire in Fiction

by Anne Stameshkin

Today, agent Donald Maass‘s new craft book published, and he was kind enough to share the following excerpt with FWR readers; scroll down to read more about the book and its author. A Singular Voice Do you have style? Some authors have a plain prose style. That is said often of John Grisham, James Patterson and Nicholas Sparks. They are strong storytellers and best sellers so I dare say they are not much bothered about it. Other writers are known almost entirely for their way with words. Reviewers swoon over their “lapidary” prose (I had to look it up) and […]


Shop Talk |

FWR's latest features

by Anne Stameshkin

From now on, I’m going to announce here when we’ve posted a new review, interview, or essay to the site. For those of you who usually just read the blog, please stop by and check out our most recent features: (1) FWR’s first foray into erotica comes from our Canadian correspondent and Black Heart Magazine‘s editor-in-chief Laura Roberts, who spices things up with a review of Best Sex Writing 2009 by Rachel Kramer Bussel. (2) Contributing Editor Lee Thomas offers a glowing review of Chris Cleave’s second novel, Little Bee, the story of two women — a British journalist and […]


Shop Talk |

Short Story Month rec: "Bullet in the Brain"

by Celeste Ng

Recently, I was at Grub Street’s Muse and the Marketplace writers’ conference here in Boston, and in one session we looked at Tobias Wolff‘s “Bullet in the Brain.” I was surprised at (1) how many people had not read the story–of a group of 30 people, I was one of maybe 5 who had, and (2) how amazing this story really is. So compressed and so focused: crystalline. Perfect for teaching yourself, or others: you can take it apart, sentence by sentence, and figure out why each word is there and exactly how the story is working. And yet, even […]


Shop Talk |

recommended event: Jewish Intellectuals and the Writing Life

by Anne Stameshkin

Tonight I’m looking forward to attending a (free!) panel discussion, Jewish Intellectuals and the Writing Life , at CUNY with Erika Dreifus (of Practicing Writing and The Practicing Writer). Here’s the description from CUNY Grad Center’s website, should any New York-based writers like to join us: EVENT: Jewish Intellectuals and the Writing Life DATE: 4/29/2009 TIME: 6:30 PM ADDRESS: 365 Fifth Avenue / Manhattan PHONE: 212-817-2005 ROOM NUMBER: The Skylight Room (9100) PRIMARY EVENT SPONSOR: Center for the Humanities SUMMARY: Join prominent intellectuals as they discuss the relationship between literary reputation, intellectualism, and Jewish life. Participants include Morris Dickstein, Ruth […]


Shop Talk |

May is Short Story Month on EWN – so let's talk stories

by Anne Stameshkin

Emerging Writers Network’s Dan Wickett is devoting May to reading and discussing short stories; his goal is three a day for a month — so just under 100 stories. Be sure to check it out. And let’s try a sister-experiment here: FWR contributors and readers, I invite/challenge (whichever word you find more motivating) each of you to read or re-read some short stories in May and write to me about one of them that really rocks your writerly world. I’m not talking full-scale reviews (though if what you write becomes something longer, that’s OK)…just a paragraph or even a couple […]


Reviews |

Little Bee, by Chris Cleave

by Lee Thomas

What an encore. Chris Cleave’s second novel, Little Bee, offers a series of intricately timed revelations. A teenage refugee from Nigeria carries one side of the narrative, a young British professional, the other. Through this split-screen, Cleave tackles the multiple perspectives inherent in any story: someone always stands outside looking in. Perspective equals character, which makes his use of multiple names so interesting…


Essays |

Drawing a Line in the Sand: Literature and Today’s Market

by Steven Wingate

I do not fear for literature, which has endured purges of all kinds, the death of the novel, the irrelevance of poetry, centuries without general literacy, and every other threat that has been hurled its way. Enough people hold it dear, and it is intrinsic enough to the human identity, for it to survive whatever problems plague it now. But I do fear for those young writers whose primary teaching in their craft is market-centered rather than literature-centered.


Shop Talk |

recommended reading: Jami Attenberg interviews cartoonists

by Anne Stameshkin

At Largehearted Boy, check out Jami Attenberg‘s first in a series of interviews with female cartoonists; this one is with Sarah Glidden. You can preview chapters from Glidden’s book-in-progress on the artist’s website, and if you haven’t yet read Jami Attenberg’s Instant Love (one of my favorite collections of linked stories) or her debut novel, The Kept Man, I recommend a trip to the nearest bookstore. Jami also had a great piece, “An Apartment Affair,” in the New York Times last month.


Shop Talk |

Olive Kitteridge wins Pulitzer

by Anne Stameshkin

Congratulations to Elizabeth Strout, whose Olive Kitteridge, a collection of linked stories (billed as a “novel in stories”) about a curmudgeonly retired schoolteacher in Maine, has won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Finalists included Louise Erdrich’s The Plague of Doves and Christine Schutt’s All Souls. You can read an excerpt from Olive Kitteridge here and the NY Times review here.




Literary Partners