As a writer, I relish the occasional night of ritualistic storytelling. Nights where it becomes a sport, sat around bars, campfires, or kitchen tables; exchanging stories of where you've been and what you've seen with friends family and the occasional … [Read more...]
The Invitation of the Mirror: Jonathan Lethem & Me, from the Margin to the Mainstream
Words and images by Jasun Horsley I recently had a podcast discussion with the author Jonathan Lethem. This connection has probably meant more to me than previous connections. For one thing, it’s been ongoing since the inception (very much was the … [Read more...]
Inaudible
Can’t anyone just give us a straight answer? He rambles, doctor. It’s dementia, isn’t it? I see no signs… Here we go. I see no signs of… Here we go… ‘no one can say for sure.’ I see no apparent signs of… It gets on our nerves, doctor. …no … [Read more...]
Heebling’s Journals
The recent, unexpected passing of Charles Heebling and the subsequent discovery of his “third-floor journals” are finally shedding light on an intriguing and relatively unknown area of scientific research. The facts about Heebling’s death, at 38, have … [Read more...]
Book Review – Alex Preston’s In Love and War.
In Love and War is the third novel from Alex Preston, following 2010's This Bleeding City – which won The Edinburgh International Book Festival Readers’ First Book Award, and was chosen as one of Waterstones’ New Voices of 2010 – and its follow-up, The … [Read more...]
Red Warner’s Last Painting
Excerpted from the forthcoming novel, Visual Liberties He's now had his morning coffee and finished off a bowl of oatmeal with raisins and slices of banana. From the back of his closet he digs out the old coveralls he wears when painting, takes off his … [Read more...]
My Otter
“Honey, I am going fishing.” No answer. “OK see you later.” No answer. And it will be much later since she works late. No reason to come home early and the fishing is good at dusk. In the north country, summers are hot, sticky. A rumble way off, maybe … [Read more...]
Chiseled in Rock
Literature is a morgue: I go there to identify my friends. One of them evaporated yesterday, March 6, 2013. The last pic he nailed through the ether toward me had his Woodstock cherry red 335 erecting from the lap into the skies. I was, obviously, born … [Read more...]
Why multi-genre writing rocks!
During the week of June 14-17, I was fortunate enough to win a scholarship to attend the Wesleyan Writers’ Conference. It is a program that offers the opportunity for people to meet fellow writers and learn from some of the best in the field, and I was … [Read more...]
I’m For an Art
1982 SoHo Painting can be an evil mistress. She can love you tender and she can love you raunchy, and she can rip your guts apart. When you put that last stroke on your canvas and you know you've done it right, and you step back to look at what … [Read more...]
Book Review – T.C. Boyle Stories II
Stories II by T.C. Boyle / Viking / Penguin Group / 2013 / 978-0670026258 / 944 pages In some form or another the short story has probably been around as long as man has had the desire and the ability to communicate. Oral tales told around the fire at … [Read more...]
Post-Zen, a reflection for Reilly
When you were put away your car had a half a tank of gas. This surprised me, because I had only ever seen you put five dollars in at a time. While you drove I would watch the dial on the odometer slowly turn as we ate up every tenth of a mile. After … [Read more...]
Book Review – Erik Verhaar’s Andalusian Dogging
Andalusian Dogging by Erik Verhaar, translated by Jonathan Ellis / The Reception Game / 2013 / 17 pages In Erik Verhaar's short story, inspired by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali's 1929 film An Andalusian Dog (Un Chien Andalou), the film itself becomes a … [Read more...]
Lost Angeles: Writers on the Storm
"Lost Angeles: Writers on the Storm" is an excerpt from Jim Cherry’s novel The Last Stage. We pulled up in front of a u-shaped apartment building that opened into a courtyard, the address the writer gave me. Jimmy and I walked up to the apartment. It … [Read more...]
Students: A Play by Peter Rose
The living room of a student house in London. Emma sits holding a mug of tea. Robbie stands looking out of the window holding a bottle of beer. She is twenty. He is sixty. ROBBIE:You think you know something about men? (Pause) Would you say you … [Read more...]