In our afternoon reading: thoughts on novels by Barbara Pym and Susannah Felts, revisiting Norman Mailer, and more.
Afternoon Bites: Revisiting Barbara Pym, Susanna Felts’s Novel, Scott Adlerberg on Norman Mailer, and More
LySandra Vuong on Bookmarking a New Volume of “Covenant”
In recent years, LySandra Vuong‘s fantasy series Covenant has found a dedicated audience with its take on fantasy adventures, musings on religion, and romance. A crowdfunding/preorder campaign for the sixth volume is now on Kickstarter; among the incentives is an enamel bookmark, which we have a preview of below.
Saving the One You Couldn’t Save: On “Surviving Derrida: A Politics of Friendship with Avital Ronell in Six Parts”
In recollections of her friendship with Kathy Acker, Avital Ronell writes, “Derrida locates in surviving the origin and essence of friendship. Not empirically or chronologically clocked but fundamental, the structure of surviving means that one of you will be left behind, responsible and responsive to the intemporal, irretrievably mute other.”
Morning Bites: Edith Wharton on Screen, Colette Shade on Writing, Steve Aylett Interviewed, and More
In our morning reading: looking back at “The Age of Innocence” on film, interviews with Colette Shade and Steve Aylett, and more.
Afternoon Bites: Deb Olin Unferth’s Latest, Big Other Award Winners, David Keenan’s Tour Diary, and More
In our afternoon reading: reviews of novels by Deb Olin Unferth and Allie Rowbottom, a literary tour diary, and more.
Announcing the Cover of Matthew Wong Foreman’s “Sunset at Lion Rock”
We’re pleased to debut the cover art for Matthew Wong Foreman’s forthcoming novel Sunset at Lion Rock, set to be published by 7.13 Books on September 15, 2026. The novel, set in Hong Kong in the early 21st century, follows a young man experiencing a dramatic change in his beliefs about religion and politics. The author explained the significance of the cover:
Morning Bites: “Assorted Crisis Events” Reviewed, Not David Markson, Pondering Soccer, and More
In our morning reading: thoughts on “Assorted Crisis Events,” good reading on soccer, and more.
Sunday Stories: “After You”
After You
by Alex Treuber
I was nineteen years old when I started following people. The first was a young man holding a bouquet of flowers with tears running down his cheeks. I followed him down to the docks and watched from afar as he ripped the heads from their stems and tossed them into the current where they floated away like paper sailboats. As he wailed into the gray wind I felt something inside me settle into place, an overwhelming sense of warmth and solace, and that night I dreamed I was walking down the aisle in a great white wedding gown made of roses.