Dan Chaon flashes Raymond Carver (via).
Writing through aphasia — imagine being able to say nothing but “mem.”
Or writing amnesia, from amnesiac characters to creating the experience of amnesia on the page. (The book is old, but if I’d heard about it before, I’d forgotten).
David Rosen, author of I Just Want My Pants Back, creates a soundtrack for the book at LargeHearted Boy. Someone has said that Pants is the return of the slacker novel.
Next time I feel like slacking: red velvet cupcakes with peanut-butter frosting.
The inimitable Bat Segundo is no slacker. Recent interviews include William Gibson, Antoine Wilson, Marianne Wiggins, Rupert Thompson and Gabe Kaplan (yes, that Gabe Kaplan).
Another flashback: Frank Zappa on Crossfire, 1986, on free speech in music. Robert Novak seems almost human — at first.
Mark called it and now the New York Times agrees: all love The Indian Clerk by David Leavitt. It’s really close to the top of my to-be-read stack, I swear.
I may have to break my book-buying ban for Zeroville by Steve Erickson.
More goodness: A preview of the new Best American Short Stories, edited by Steven King.
Someday, when they’ve finished this new library, I’m going to Prague. (via)
Pissing in the snow and other Ozark folk tales: tales of diddling, cowshit, and the kind of fella that couldn’t find his butt with both hands in broad daylight (via).
By all means lift your buying ban – it’s an excellent novel by Erickson.