The Beat Generation
Calling on Paul Bowles: Tangier, Morocco, August 1979
Calling on Paul Bowles Tangier, Morocco, August 1979”There it is,” someone says, and in the darkness, in the distance, you can see Tangier sprawled across several hills, a white city illuminated by electric lights and veiled by a thin fog. … [read more...]
Michael McClure’s GHOST TANTRAS published by City Lights in new edition
Originally self-published in 1964 and long out of print, Ghost Tantras is one of McClure's signature works, a book mostly written in "beast language." A mix of lyrical, guttural and laryngeal sound, lion roars, and a touch of detonated dada, this is one … [read more...]
Interview – Paul Maher Jr., author of Burning Furiously Beautiful: The True Story of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road
Burning Furiously Beautiful: The True Story of Jack Kerouac's On the Road is an accurate, up-to-date, meticulously researched account of how Jack Kerouac's 1957 novel, On the Road came to be written.Kerouac scholars Paul Maher Jr. (author of Kerouac: … [read more...]
Literature
The Opening Line – Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
"We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold."And so begins the first sentence to Hunter S. Thompson's seminal 1971 book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American … [read more...]
Book Collecting
For collectors: where and how to buy Beat Generation books (and others)
We've gathered together booksellers, publishers, and other services for book book collectors of all stripes. Please get in touch if you'd like to suggest a resource for this list.Booksellers - Beat, small press & poetryBeat booksellersThe … [read more...]
How to Identify a First Edition Book
This page has lots of information on it! Here are some quick links to the most important topics.General guidelines for identifying a first edition Identifying 1st editions from specific publishers Identifying book club editions On printings & … [read more...]
The Best 25 Marketplaces to Buy Collectible & 1st Edition Books
So, what's the best way to find books online? There are thousands of large bookselling sites, and individual booksellers, and Google searches don't always work well for turning up the results you want.Book marketplaces make finding books easier. … [read more...]
Music
(Music Review) Soutak by Aziza Brahim
At first glance the Sahara Desert of North West Africa seems like one of the most inhospitable places on the face of the earth. Movies, and other Western media, usually show us images of trackless wastes, endless miles of sand dunes dotted with the … [Read More...]
Film
(Movie Review) Come Back Africa: The Films of Lionel Rogosin, Volume ll
Documentary movies always seem to get short shrift. For too many people there the things people tell them to watch at school so they will learn something. Growing up on a diet of talking heads sitting around talking about subjects you're not really interested in would turn anybody off watching them. … [read more...]
Movie Review – Kill Your Darlings
Long before Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William S. Burroughs would be celebrated as the poetical and political figureheads of a 'beat generation,' there was a murder.In the new film, Kill Your Darlings, the crime scene sets itself at Columbia University, 1944, when a young Allen Ginsberg … [read more...]
Poetry
Poems by Sam Silva: “Long Before the Peaceful Song” and “Hell as an Institution”
LONG BEFORE THE PEACEFUL SONGSick in the dark before dawn irrupts shedding light on the need to sleepthe dead like me pondering their being against that sole thing unforgiven.There is nothing to hold onto here ..a cigarette!, an empty … [Read More...]
For the Woman Who Keeps My Forever
We struggle to appear as golden embers gone beyond days of the christchild drawing near when we get old...winter nights and brittle cold drowsy days and melting ice Februaries' left over lights ...the dusty tree! ...the old TV! ...the ornaments … [Read More...]
Art
Book Review: Hijos de la Selva: Sons of the Forest
In the early part of the 20th century photographer Edward Curtis was funded by American businessman J. P. Morgan to undertake the extensive task of making a photographic record of Native Americans across the United States. While some of these photos are … [Read More...]
Writing & Publishing
Reflections of a Writer
In 2012, for NaNoWriMo, which is an annual (November) novel writing project that brings together professional and amateur writers from all over the world, I commenced work on my third novel. I honestly had no desire of doing so because in the 1st week of … [Read More...]
How to Publish Your Poetry – Some Advice.
Though the focus of this article is on poets & poetry, many of the tips below are appropriate for writers of fiction and nonfiction as well.Where should I publish my poems? Finding the right places to submit your can be tricky. Here's where to look. … [Read More...]
10 places to find reviewers for your self-published book
Self-publishing is a great way to get your book into the world. But when you self-publish, you take on all the responsibilities that a traditional publisher usually would, including marketing the book, soliciting reviews, sending out review copies, and … [Read More...]
Top Ten Books Lists
Anna MacDonald’s Ten Favorite Books
1. The Snow Geese: A Story of Home by William Fiennes2. The Rings of Saturn by W. G. Sebald3. Rodinsky's Room by Rachel Lichtenstein and Iain Sinclair4. Lights Out for the Territory: 9 Excursions in the Secret History of London by Iain … [Read More...]
