Suspend Your Disbelief

Author Archive

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Ode to Barton Fink

by Lee Thomas

I first watched Barton Fink years ago in Chicago, and wasn’t sure what to make of it. It’s one of the Coen brothers’ lesser-watched films. John Turturro plays the title character, hired to write a Hollywood script, and his rendition of writer’s block still makes me want to crawl out of my skin. The wallpaper peels, his neighbor Charlie at the Hotel Earle (a genius turn by John Goodman) interrupts him, Barton loses himself in a picture of a woman on the beach that hangs on his hotel room wall. People may debate the symbols of the movie itself, but […]


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This Saturday: Biblioball 2010

by Michael Rudin

Biblioball 2010 from Desk Set on Vimeo. ‘Tis the season, and that means New York’s annual Biblioball has arrived! The event occurs on December 4th and those of you who have attended before know what to expect: not just a winter formal for the “well-read and well-attired,” but an incredible way to support Literacy for Incarcerated Teens. Starting at Brooklyn’s The Bell House at 8 pm and going into the wee hours of the morning, attendees have plenty to look forward to: In addition to these food and drink items, Happy Hour ticket holders can mingle with local literary stars, […]


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A story with that cardigan?

by Lee Thomas

In keeping with the shorter nights of winter, and later retail hours of the holiday season, throughout December Anthropologie will offer Bedtime Stories Reading Hour for kids at locations across the country. Now, I’m normally wary of attempts to lure me into stores – but this hits home. I remember an infamous visit to the department store that ended in a trip to the dentist for my brother when he careened into a clothing rack during a game of chase. Yep, we were those kind of kids. Our mother would have been so grateful for a story hour to keep […]


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Thursday morning candy: The Nashville Review

by Lee Thomas

The third issue of The Nashville Review – an online celebration of storytelling out of Vanderbilt University – is live, and it’s a doozy. You can read copious amounts of fiction, listen to musical/poetic mashups between the likes of composer Andrew Bird and poet Galway Kinnell (I always like a little music and poetry as a foil to fiction), straight-up poems, interviews, comics, experimental dance. I feel like here is where one of those Batman & Robin “Kabow!” graphics should just obliterate this blog post. The NR’s mission is also the kind of benevolent, gather round the campfire and tell […]


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Crazyhorse Prizes

by Lee Thomas

You’ve got about six weeks to polish up that story you’ve been laboring over for the past few months (years?), or start something brand new, to submit to The Crazyhorse Fiction Prize by January 15, 2011. Last year’s fiction judge was Aimee Bender, who selected the winning entry, “All Galaxies Moving” by Marjorie Celona (which is included in the current issue of Crazyhorse No. 78, pictured here). Recent fiction prize judges have included Ann Patchett, Ha Jin, Antonya Nelson, Dan Chaon, T. M. McNally, Diana Abu-Jaber, Michael Martone, and Charles Baxter. The winner of the prize will receive $2,000, and […]


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Book of the Week Giveaway: How They Were Found, by Matt Bell

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 Brad Watson’s Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives, and we’re pleased to announce the winners: Leanne Shear, Jenn Ryu, and Nancy Rawlinson. Congratulations! Each will receive a copy of the book, signed by the author. This week we’re featuring Matt Bell’s How They Were Found (Keyhole Press, 2010). Bell’s stories have been published in such places as Conjunctions, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Willow Springs, Unsaid, and American Short Fiction. This collection also includes the story […]


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Give a kid your favorite book

by Lee Thomas

First, thanks to Jeffrey Rotter for bringing this to FWR’s attention. This Saturday, ReadThis hosts Book Drives for NYC Kids and Teens in three locations around New York. Have a book that changed your life when you were 8? I always think of Madeleine L’Engle’s wonderful flights of imagination, A Wrinkle In Time gave me the craziest dreams as a kid, and made the woods seem full of mystery and magic. Give that experience to a kid in our community: What: Book Drives to collect gently used (or new) books for NYC kids in need When: Saturday, December 4, 2010 […]


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Dzanc eBook Club

by Lee Thomas

Addicted to browsing the shelves of used bookstores for that $3 copy of Chekhov’s stories? Sad you can’t do the same with your e-reader? Well, Dzanc’s eBook Club comes close, letting you gather an armful of fiction at a fraction of the retail price. Here’s how it works: Dzanc Books is excited to announce the launching of the Dzanc Books eBook Club. Sign up now and get eleven books for $50! With the proliferation of eReading devices and increased interest in reading books on kindle, Sony e-Reader, Nook, etc., Dzanc Books is making it both easier, and less expensive for […]


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Leftovers

by Lee Thomas

So, every once in a while a friend will toss out a great anecdote, or character, or fully formed story, with the caveat, “Go ahead and use this, because for X reason, I never will.” That’s one kind of leftover I really love, the wisp of an idea with which you can play around, experiment, test out your own bits and pieces and see if they play nice. One big type of literary leftover are posthumously published works by departed writers. The manuscript in the drawer, partially finished, with enough flesh on the bones to be provocative, evocative, worth reading. […]




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