…the literary equivalent of Michelle Bachmann, making outrageous statements simply in order to become famous. Is it too much to ask of a reviewer that he should know what he’s talking about? That the writing be accurate and clear? To quote that unreliable critic, Ezra Pound: “You would think that anyone wanting to know about poetry would do one of two things or both. Look at it or listen to it. And if he wanted advice he would go to someone who kne…
…cause you’re not going anywhere until you’re finished. While it may be the latest in a trend of literary authors wrangling genre’s monsters—Justin Cronin with vampires, Colson Whitehead with zombies, and now Benjamin Percy with werewolves—Red Moon sets itself apart with a hard-driving story and stomach-turning imagery. It’s a rollicking, tightly plotted, hirsute good read that takes the classic werewolf trope and drops it into a modern Homeland-es…
…ay or do that in a novel! But I slowly came to understand what I probably knew all along: there are simply subjects better suited to the short story. I’ve heard a lot of definitions, and attempts, to define the diversity of the short story, but my favorite is Chekhov’s: speaking briefly on long subjects. Any good story will offer something long in reflection. In a short story, too, you can’t dwell while winding up or winding down as you can in a n…
…dal Frey, Karen Russell… Your writing is so rich in place. When you up and come to a new locale, what are the first few weeks like for you, as a person who’s probably super observant of setting and habits and culture? Is it a hyperactive time? In a new place you definitely notice every little thing. One of the first things I noticed here, which for the first couple months I found quite frustrating, and now am willing to be more charmed by, is that…
…far beyond falsifying a few details. Recently Margaret Seltzer became the latest to admit fabricating her life story—in this case, the entire thing. In the book, she’s a half–Native American, half-white foster child named Margaret B. Jones who runs drugs for the Bloods; in real life, she has a comfortable home, no such history, no tattoos. As a false memoirist, she garnered a glowing review from Michiko Kakutani, an hour-long interview on NPR, an…
…ions speak for themselves. Is it fair to say that in contrast it with your latest book, the structure and the nature of your first book remained pretty much the same from the first draft to your last? The action was pretty much the same. That’s been true of all the books. It’s more so now. By the time I actually show it to anyone, I have worked through the characters and the actions and the scenes. I try not to anticipate too many changes. In the…
…y Authors Guild (who aggressively pursued this issue), might (ironically) benefit Amazon the most in the end. Check out her earlier post on e-book pricing. The latest Kindle news is at Kindlebuzz, and folks are talking about nothing else at KindleBoards….
…ur houses and apartments, ordered to stay home, we scan our phones for the latest news of COVID19, reach out to comfort friends and loved ones, and in doing so are ourselves comforted a little, at least until the next batch of sobering news arrives. Some days it doesn’t quite seem real. That’s what my daughter tells me when I ask how she’s holding up. This doesn’t seem real. I can’t believe this is really happening. Nothing in our experience has p…
…—even with not-yet-invented technologies—storytelling will endure. In your latest novel, Harriet Wolf’s Seventh Book of Wonders (Little, Brown and Company), you talk a good bit about storytelling, and about writing. For instance, Harriet Wolf writes, “The truth that all writers secretly harbor is that all books are failures. We try to do something that can’t be done.” And then: “This is the writer’s first job: to list what’s worth listing.” How mu…
…ls. It seemed perfectly clear that it should be from her point of view. My latest book, Remarkable Creatures, is particularly about a woman named Mary Anning, the fossil hunter, but I knew I wanted there to be a different perspective. Mary was not educated, she didn’t travel, and I felt like we as twenty-first-century readers need a broader view. Also, in religious terms, there were people who saw fossils as a challenge to their ideas about religi…
