Suspend Your Disbelief

Posts Tagged ‘Blog’

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length matters

by Anne Stameshkin

In this week’s NY Times Book Review, Stephen Millhauser waxes succinctly on the short story — its virtues and titanic ambitions: The short story — how modest in bearing! How unassuming in manner! It sits there quietly, eyes lowered, almost as if trying not to be noticed. And if it should somehow attract your attention, it says quickly, in a brave little self-deprecating voice alive to all the possibilities of disappointment: “I’m not a novel, you know. Not even a short one. If that’s what you’re looking for, you don’t want me.” Read the rest (and see what cut of […]


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Idlewild Books

by Anne Stameshkin

Idlewild Books, a new Manhattan bookstore specializing in international literature and travel, shelves guidebooks and novels together, organized by location. As a fiction devotee, I like this idea for two reasons: First, would-be-explorers can get a taste of their destination’s literary landscape. Second, this is further testament to fiction’s (and, yes, memoir’s) ability to capture a specific, detailed sense of place and experience — to offer a more “true” account, in many respects, than the brief synopses and practical advice you’d get from a guidebook alone. You can read the New York Times review here or visit the store itself […]


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palin fails poetry, grammar

by Anne Stameshkin

We knew Palin could recite fiction. Now Slate’s Hart Seely adds line breaks to give us the poetry of Sarah Palin; among her works are “Befoulers of the Verbiage,” “Small Mayors,” and a haiku. Also on Slate, Kitty Burns Florey attempts to diagram the candidate’s sentences. “…The more the diagram is forced to wander around the page, loop back on itself, and generally stretch its capabilities, the more it reveals that the mind that created the sentence is either a richly educated one—with a Proustian grasp of language that pushes the limits of expression—or such an impoverished one that it […]


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recommended review: Erika Dreifus on How Fiction Works by James Wood

by Anne Stameshkin

One of my favorite blogs is Erika Dreifus’ Practicing Writing, an offshoot of her larger site The Practicing Writer, originally referred to me by Celeste. One day I’ll have to devote a long entry to the awesomeness of the many rich resources and services Erika provides to writers–most free of charge–but for now I’ll just link you to her astute review of James Wood’s How Fiction Works, a book that I’ve been both savoring and smacking against things this fall. How Fiction Works will be FWR’s next Discussion Review. If you’d like to join the conversation — I’m getting in […]


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nyc-based writers: seeking an agent?

by Anne Stameshkin

Head to the Asian American Writers Workshop (AAWW) next Tuesday, October 7 at 7pm for: The Practicing Writer Panel: How To Get An Agent Literary agents Jin Auh (The Wylie Agency), Ayesha Pande (Collins Literary Agency) and Amy Tipton (FinePrint Literary Management) will discuss how to get your manuscript into the right hands and find a good home for your book(s). The AAWW is located at 16 West 32nd Street (between Broadway & 5th Avenue), 10th Floor, NY, NY.


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reviewlet: How Far is the Ocean from Here by Amy Shearn

by Anne Stameshkin

How Far is the Ocean from Here, Amy Shearn’s captivating debut, follows a young surrogate mother who flees to the desert shortly before her due date. Accomplishing a seemingly impossible goal, the novel sustains the quality and language of a short story for 320 pages. Shearn exceeds at painting characters and relationships – particularly the bond between surrogate Susannah and father Julian; an adopted child himself, Julian feels a strong pull to the woman carrying his first blood relative–much to the chagrin of his wife, Kit. The book’s POV, a shifting third person with hints of omniscience, is ambitious and […]


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against depression

by Anne Stameshkin

This story (audio and transcript available here) covers the high rate of teen suicide on Nantucket. The community is struggling with how to cope – and how to prevent further cases; psychologists and trauma specialists are working with police officers and teachers, training them to identify (and recommend to counseling) kids who suffer from depression. At a town meeting earlier this year, Harvard’s Robert Macy urged parents to take the time to really listen to their kids, stressing that this was more important that actively trying to prevent them from harming themselves. All of this seems like good work and […]




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