What is the literary equivalent of chocolate and peanut butter? It’s probably not formal inventiveness and eminent readability. Alternately, here’s a sentence that most readers will never utter: “That novel took all kinds of big structural swings; it’s the perfect beach read!” And yet, what if those two qualities could be seamlessly assembled? Enter Kimberly Campanello’s Use the Words You Have.
In our morning reading: an interview with Sloane Murphy, M. John Harrison wins the Booker, and more.
Angelus
by Adam Peterson
The advancement could be called progress.
This, the message she delivers at the day’s press briefing.
In our weekend reading: thoughts on M. John Harrison’s new novel, new writing from Matthew Gavin Frank, and more.
You never know exactly what you’ll find in a Kyle Minor book. Minor has written gripping, haunting fiction — but his latest book, the essay collection How to Disappear and Why, shows a very different side of him. At times formally inventive, at times hauntingly candid, Minor’s new book investigates the concept of disappearance from all angles. We chatted over email about the creation of this new book and the paths that led him there.
In our morning reading: new writing by Emma Copley Eisenberg, a remembrance of Ryu Murakami, and more.
In our afternoon reading: thoughts on a Steve Gunn album, a Kaaron Warren playlist, and more.
Next April, Stalking Horse Press will publish My Painted Smile, the new novel by Matthew Binder. We’re pleased to reveal the book’s cover today, along with statements by Binder and publisher James Reich.