Unsolicited Press: Q&A with Sean Murphy
Sean MurphyTHIS KIND OF MAN by Sean Murphy offers an unvarnished look at life in 21st Century America, excavating the complicated, tender, wild truth of what it is to be a…
2023: A Final Farewell to Some Irreplaceable Icons
Wow, it's sad to look back and see the sheer number of all-times greats we watched depart our planet this year. Of course, these losses are invariably mitigated by the…
The Struggle of Memory against Forgetting: Why Milan Kundera Matters
i. Kundera almost killed me, still in my creative cradle, a writer needing nourishment. He arrived in my life too early. As a reader, it wasn’t soon enough, as what…
The Style’s the Thing: The Inimitable Martin Amis
Martin Amis poses for a photographer June 12, 2000 at a book signing at the Beverly Hills Library in Beverly Hills, CA. (by Frederick M. Brown/Online USA) Style is not…
He is Martin Amis (and We’re Not)
Martin Amis was not merely the supreme literary stylist of his generation, his non-fiction was, arguably (unbelievably) possibly even better than his fiction. An absolute master, and incomparable in every…
THE ORIGIN AND ANATOMY OF A STORY
Write what you know: at once the best and worst counsel offered to the aspiring fiction writer. It is insufficient, if not too smug and certain, too limiting, and possibly…
1455 RECOMMENDS: A READING LIST
Coming soon: a movie list and, inevitably, some musical suggestions to accompany social distancing, working from home, reading, relaxing, and staying both healthy and sane. But first, some easily recommended books. Disclaimer:…
Routines, Rituals, and Writers
Winston Churchill famously remarked: “My vices protect me but they would assassinate you.” And he managed to achieve a thing or two in his time, decadent proclivities be damned. But…
He’s Martin Amis…and We’re Not
Reading Martin Amis's non-fiction is like riding in a plane. As you cruise over miniaturized skyscrapers, crop circles, mountains, even oceans, you recognize—and remember—how tiny and insignificant your own piece…
Sui generis on the rocks: Christopher Hitchens, Five Years On
The best way to compliment a writer, as a reader, is to recommend their work to others. That I wholeheartedly do --and have done. The best way to compliment a…