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The Ones That Got Away in Italian soon

Racconti is putting it out November 10th or so, here. They’re the publisher with the dead bug: Pretty cool group of people, near as I can tell. And, as the title-in-English loses its punch in Italian, they dialed back to the collection’s original title, “The Meat Tree.” Here‘s their page on it, with the full […]

My First Reading, ca. 1993/1994

Digging through some old boxes, stumbled onto this little pamphlet. Way I remember my first reading, it was for this story “West Texas Dirt” I’d won an award for, in 1994, the last year of my undergrad work at Texas Tech. I guess I must have done this one too, though—with a friend I’d go

Texas

This is so right, so real. It’s how you feel, growing up in Texas, then one day leaving. [ from Terms of Endearment ] Then, once you’re somewhere else, this is always playing in all your backgrounds:

Blair Witch

I have to share my favorite #BlairWitch anecdote since the (really good) sequel is coming soon. pic.twitter.com/rsOBAsEf1O — BenDavid Grabinski (@realbdgrabinski) July 29, 2016

The Stanley

One of the cooler group-photos I’ll ever get to have been in, I suspect, since, I mean, it’s too late for me to photobomb The Right Stuff or Reservoir Dogs, or sneak into that hot tub with Steve McQueen, or jump off the roof behind Joan Didion’s Vette: And, for reference, here’s the original: So cool

Writing: It Takes a Village

For the thing I’m writing right now, I of course needed info. This is just for today and yesterday, too. Here’s the process: What’s a likely military-cargo plane out of the Middle East?  ➔ called my dad (retired USAF) Where’s John Wayne buried? ➔ asked Google How does a doctor get certified to perform surgery? ➔ facebook-mailed

Writers, Writing (and not)

Makes me half-nervous, making fun, as I know you see your own frailties best in others. But still—well, I don’t like coffee, or beer, or fine dining. But I’m sure I’m a poser in some way all the same: List of Things That Don’t Make You A Writer When I moved to Austin, I was

Fine Dining

This must by my first post about food, ever. Anyway, was just commenting on a friend’s pic of a some pie on Facebook—can’t link to it, but the Instagram’d version’s here—and realized that the reason I have yet to try keylime pie (that’s what the pie in question was), even though I promised myself to

Al Jazeera Panel

Was live, and now it’s here. Good times, good panel, good hosting; we could have gone a couple hours I figure. And, we were all talking before things cued up, and I don’t think any of us are trying to pull JK Rowling down. I mean, all writers owe her for creating a whole generation

Podcasts

I should have put a podcast category on my 2015 list. I’ll just do a whole post instead. Because a lot of them deserve a wider audience, and, honestly? Not sure I could really pick a favorite. Podcasts are so . . . situational, like. At the gym I want one thing, driving another, walking across

Year in Review: 2015

‘Tis the season for lists, yes? And mine at this time of year, they’re always skewed by my terrible recall—the books and films &etc that just happened always seem to get higher billing. Still, in an effort to be even-handed, I did scroll back a few places, just to refresh, refresh (that’s a story joke)

Jeremy Robert Johnson & Skullcrack City

Because I kind of insist on assigning amazing stuff for my grad workshops, I of course assigned Jeremy Robert Johnson’s Skullcrack City (my original write-up here). It was dug by all. Here’s JRJ’s answers to the questions we crowd-sourced: —To start with the ending: Is this bleak or is it hopeful? Are they (that is,

The Shining in Emoji

From forever ago, yes. But I’m just now stumbling onto it. And, is ’emoji’ the right word? Like, what are those little character-based happy faces people put in their texts? It’s all confusing to me. But this isn’t: The Shining, without words. Pretty cool. Wondering if I should learn whatever this language is (he said

Ello

I’m there now. Or, I’m here: https://ello.co/sgj I like the smiley face a lot more than the birdhouse, and I like the distinct non-blueness of the whole thing so far. Feels a lot like a Tumblr, really, but I got on Tumblr like fourteen years too late. G+, though, I’m still one of the holdouts

Society Isn’t Doomed

mix Buzzfeed‘s “23 Things that Prove Society is Doomed” with Salon‘s “War & Peace on the Subway: How Your iPhone is Saving Literature,” then angle it through my publicists’ rose-colored glasses, and you end up with something a lot  like: 1. Sitting together and reading still counts as socializing: ↳ Via quoteinvestigator.com, once upon a time. 2. It’s

This was (my) 2011

Favorite movie → Tucker & Dale vs. Evil Favorite novel → The Enterprise of Death or 11/22/63 Favorite collection → We Live Inside You Favorite non-fiction → Shock Value or Teenage Wasteland or Blind Descent Favorite current tv → Breaking Bad and Phineas & Ferb Favorite catch-up tv → Deadwood tv I miss the most

This Just In

“Novelist Hit by Electric Car, Claims ‘He Never Heard it Coming,’ Swears Revenge”

Other people make me worth money

This is a guest post by Caleb J. Ross as part of his Stranger Will Tour for Strange blog tour. He will be guest-posting beginning with the release of his novel Stranger Will in March 2011 to the release of his second novel, I Didn’t Mean to Be Kevin in November 2011. If you have

The Real Dogs

So one time I’m on the phone with the bank, talking to a robot about money, when I hit the wrong key, somehow ended up with Laird Barron on the other end, and I could tell from the way he was talking that his mouth was just real close to the phone, close enough I

10 from 2010

Couple (of my) lists, one at Dzanc, one at the San Antonio Current. And, yeah, for each, I had to check, make sure Sorority Row hadn’t come out in 2010. Not that it for-sure could have edged close to Machete. But definitely maybe.

Me and My Ansible

My take on the Kindle2, over at Slushpile. Click here to get there.

From the Trenches: Preliminary Kindle 2 Report, or, ‘My Ansible and Me’

From the Trenches: Preliminary Kindle 2 Report, or, ‘My Ansible and Me’ Before I offer anything like a review, a quick sketch about where I’m coming from with regards to all this : Even though Tofu for Mac is great, still, I absolutely despise reading on-screen — CRT, flat, whatever else there is (though I

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