-
Had a fun time reading last month at QED Astoria with excellent human Dolan Morgan as part of the Risk of Discovery series. Getting to hear new fiction from Dolan is always an excellent thing, and having the reading in place lit the proverbial fire under me to get a story into “read in front of an audience”-level shape. Whether it’s any good is something I have yet to suss out. Will likely give it another pass before too long & commence sending it out and see if there are any takers. The usual routine, as it goes. (As an…
-
Was pleasantly surprised to learn that my novel Ex-Members is one of the finalists for this year’s Big Other Book Award for Fiction. The book’s in great company, alongside work by Norman Lock, Mark de Silva, and Edie Meidav — along with plenty of other fantastic writers. Heart: very warmed.
-
Drove out to Montclair last night to watch the New York Red Bulls take on DC United in the US Open Cup. It was my first live RBNY match of the year, due to both scheduling issues and protesting the team’s handling of an incident of on-field racism and the deeper issues it suggested. While I have mixed feelings on Open Cup games happening at secondary locations (i.e. MSU Soccer Park, where the third-division NY Red Bulls II play), I was curious what the team looked like under new coach Troy Lesesne. Answer: they looked pretty good! A 1-0 win…
-
I have a couple of events coming up in the next two months, about which you can find some details here. I’m genuinely unsure of what I’ll be reading at them — probably something from Ex-Members in Middletown, but possibly something new (or vaguely new) at the Manhattan and/or Queens readings. We’ll see.
-
I’ve been to see live music twice in the last week. (Claire Rousay and FUJI||||||||||TA tonight at National Sawdust; Powers/Rolin Duo at Union Pool last Friday.) I ran into my friend Kevin at the latter, at which point we racked our brains trying to figure out the last time we’d seen one another. Turns out the last time in question was a Mick Trouble show at Alphaville shortly before the pandemic; it was one of a handful of shows I saw before everything locked down. (Garcia Peoples at Wonder Bar was the other.) Since things re-opened, I think the number…
-
Currently in Seattle, a trip which not coincidentally coincides with this year’s AWP. It’s my first time out here since 2019, and brings to an end the longest stretch I’ve gone without a trip to Washington or Oregon in ages. All of which is to say, it’s nice to be back out here for a few days. I would share more thoughts in this vein but I’m still somewhat on NYC time, and am rapidly losing coherence.
-
Ages ago I picked Gene Wolfe’s Free Live Free for a book group I was in at the time and then utterly failed to read the book when it came time for the discussion of it. Head, meet desk. I’m not sure if the book group still exists or if I accidentally killed it with this choice; either way, I feel a little mortified about it. Anyway, I finally read the copy of Free Live Free I’d picked up at the time. It was my second time reading it; I’d read a mass market edition at some point in high…
-
I’m very happy to have new writing in the New York Times Book Review – specifically, a look at three books set in New York City. That includes novels by Matthew Salesses and Dan Kois and a memoir by Patrick Bringley. Spoiler: I enjoyed and was impressed by all three. I have a pair of interviews up at InsideHook as well. I talked with Jamie Kreiner about her book The Wandering Mind, which looks at medieval monks’ practice of concentration; I also conversed with Princeton’s Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer about Myth America, a new anthology that they edited about…
-
I’ve known Ned Raggett through music writing circles for many years now, and I’ve found his Patreon to be an invaluable source for new music recommendations. Today was (and still is, for the next few hours) a Bandcamp Friday, and one of Ned’s recommendations was the Irish group Lankum. They have a new album up for pre-order now, and the version of the traditional number “Go Dig My Grave” was enough to get me to hit the pre-order button several times over. There’s an interesting blend of musical delicacy and doomy drone in there; I’m tempted to cite Swans as…
-
This week I made my way to Frenchtown, NJ to teach a class at Frenchtown Bookshop. I’m eternally grateful to the store’s owner and the attendees for being understanding when I hit some apocalyptic traffic between Brooklyn and Frenchtown, and I had a fine time once I arrived. Frenchtown Bookshop also has a penchant for shelving short books in different publishing series together, which warms my heart. I picked up a few books in the ekphrasis series, and I’m excited to sit down with them in the coming weeks.
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Notes, thoughts, & miscellany 