A kind and thorough review of Nothing in the World is now out and about in the latest issue (Vol. 19, No. 45 Fall/Winter 2006--scroll down to the fourth review) of Other Voices, thanks to Kelly Zavala.
It's been a good long while since I shifted from writing mostly poetry to writing mostly fiction, but every so often I hear a sentence that's got a line break built into it, and on my good days I pay attention. One result, a poem called "Alchemical Failure," is just now in the splendid Fall/Winter 2006 issue of Confrontation, sharing pages with stories by Tom Stacey and Kathleen Spivack, a play by Tom Lavagnino, nonfiction by George Held and poems by Brett Foster, Rachel Trousdale, Alan Britt and Andrew Kaufman, among many others.
December 5, 2006, 7:46 p.m.Category: Poetry
I taught for five years at the University of Piura in northern Peru, and participated in a fair number of literature conferences there. After the one we did in 1999, two of my colleagues and fellow presenters, Carlos Arrizabalaga and Ricardo Huamán, decided to put together a volume of essays based on the presentations. There were the usual number of false starts and reimaginings, and when I left Piura in 2000, it wasn't clear whether or not the project was ever going to come together. But Carlos and Ricardo never gave up, and the result is now out, a handsome volume called Aproximaciones a la literatura peruana. My contribution is called "Pelando la fruta," and works through one of my favorite books of poetry, Carlos Oquendo de Amat's 5 metros de poemas.
I really wish this poet, and this book, were better known. Oquendo died young, and only published this one slim volume. Not all of his poems have aged equally well, but most of them are beautiful and a few are extraordinary. The book's quite hard to find these days, even in Spanish; the most recent edition is that of Ediciones el Taller del Libro in Madrid, published in 2003, ISBN 84-933844-1-0.
In English, the only translation currently available is this one, and according to Amazon, there are all of two copies for sale, both used, the cheapest of which retails for almost $200. But if you read Spanish, you can find all of the poems here, thanks to Jesus Castagnetto.
December 1, 2006, 11:36 a.m.Categories: Nonfiction, Poetry
I wish I could tell you that I was punk rock. I wish I could tell you I wore the right boots and shaved my head with the right razor and knew all the lyrics. Sadly, I cannot in clear conscience tell you this. The good news is they let me go to their concerts anyway, and Punk Planet even let Elizabeth Crane interview me, which was excellent fun.
(Damn. See what I mean? If you use phrases like 'excellent fun,' you cannot be punk rock no matter how bad you want it.)
November 24, 2006, 4:39 p.m.Categories: Interviews, Novellas, Short Stories
Daniel Olivas' hugely kind review of Nothing in the World just showed up in today's issue of the El Paso Times--a nice pick-me-up on a gray day here in Beijing.
Along with some great stuff by Sheila Heti and Stanley Elkin, among others, a story of mine called “Stillness” has just appeared in Volume 1, Number 1 of a great new magazine called New York Tyrant.
September 22, 2006, 6:40 p.m.Categories: Litmags, Short Stories
Brian Kornell shoots from the hip, and I answer, also from the hip.
September 22, 2006, 12:33 p.m.Categories: Interviews, Novellas, Travel
Writers get to talk all they want about their work. Writers' kindergardeners are less often asked. At the behest of the delightful Sue Henderson of LitPark, my wife and I sought to get to the bottom of my daughter's interest in colors and sharks. I'd only ever done one other interview before, so it took a while to find our groove, but once we were in it: groovy.
September 6, 2006, 1:19 p.m.Categories: Art, Interviews, Novellas, Travel
Great news--The Kenyon Review, a pillar in the litmag world, has just put out Volume 28, Number 4, which includes a story of mine called "Wait," a number of terrific poems by Meghan O'Rourke, a great Eric Gansworth story, and Willard Spiegelman's strong review of Jorie Graham's Overlord.
September 5, 2006, 6:52 p.m.Category: Novellas
McSweeney's issue 20 is on the shelves, and there's a story of mine in there called "Loess"--a fairly odd conversation that lasts for decades. And it's got some pretty amazing company--work by Susan Steinberg and J. Erin Sweeney for starters, plus Jack Pendarvis' fantastic story "The Big Dud."
September 1, 2006, 6:54 p.m.Category: Short Stories
