In our morning reading: chatting with Colson Whitehead, the end of “The Bear,” and more.
Morning Bites: Colson Whitehead Interviewed, Firecracker Award Winners, Bookmobiles, and More
Afternoon Bites: Revisiting This Heat, Ursula K. Le Guin Prize Shortlist, Penelope Fitzgerald’s Fiction, and More
In our afternoon reading: thoughts on This Heat, the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize shortlist, and more.
Would You Like Some Tarot Cards With Your Graphic Novels?
We’ve covered the sixth and final collection of LySandra Vuong’s Covenant in these (virtual) pages before. Publisher Oni Press recently announced that the crowdfunding/pre-order campaign for the aforementioned graphic novel has added a new stretch goal: Tarot cards illustrated by Vuong. Currently, six of the Major Arcana are in place as incentives; depending on how much money is pledged to the campaign, more may become available.
Devin Kelly’s “Pilgrims” and the Joy of Annotation
I have always highlighted and underlined sentences I like in books. Another writer once told me they loved reading after me because when they turned the page and saw something highlighted, it excited them. They knew a good sentence was coming. I don’t know if anyone would want to read my copy of Pilgrims by Devin Kelly, however. A little squiggle or star or swipe of yellow here and there isn’t a nuisance. But when damn near every sentence is marked up and circled with a yes! next to it, it becomes less charming and more like vandalism.
Morning Bites: Joseph Osmundson’s Recommendation, Jewish Fiction Award Winners, Jim Henson Gets Dystopian, and More
In our morning reading: book recommendations from Joseph Osmundson, a bookstore gets into the literary journal game, and more.
Sunday Stories: “What a Ghost Is”
What a Ghost Is
by Andrew Graham Martin
We lowered our chicken tenders as one. A glob of barbecue sauce dripped off the end of mine and fell with a splat onto my crotch.
“A man?” Leigh asked her mom.
Memory, Art, and Evocation: On Lucy Sante’s “My Heart & I Agree”
There are five poems at the beginning of Lucy Sante’s third collection of short pieces. I knew she started out as a poet but had never read one. I saw references to chapbooks online that were long out of print. When I asked her if there would be a poetry book forthcoming, she said these were the only good ones. I don’t know if I believe that. Sante has always been a writer of musical sentences and in these five small pieces we get to hear that music untethered from narrative. It’s an unexpected treat, like a bit of dessert before the main course.
Brad Neely on “Creased Comics” and the World of Absurdism
Brad Neely’s body of work encompasses everything from absurdist comic books to a revisionist take on a certain early president; he’s also written about the life of Ulysses S. Grant. His latest book, Creased Comics, encompasses decades of his work; in the pages within, readers will find everything from feral leprecauns to an especially enthusiastic shark. I spoke with Neely about a range of topics, from Arkansas punk to his fondness for history.