A recent viewing of the film Inherent Vice led me to try to finish The Crying of Lot 49, which I abandoned out of frustration some time ago. I’ve made a small amount of headway, but am bored again. Action is not being built. The plot is not going anywhere. The woman with the ridiculous… Read More My Pynchon Problem
Book Awards are becoming increasingly ridiculous, an extension of Twitter rhetorical battlefields with some side-talk about literature. You should read it in full, as it nicely encapsulates the descent into madness that has resulted from the beachhead politics has made into fandom and entertainment. But this in particular amused me: I’ve tried understanding American politics… Read More Sri Lankan Author Finds Himself on Nebula Ballot, Completely Baffled By American Political Discourse
Robert E. Howard was, I am coming to understand, a master of his craft. What is the difference between a real savage and a noble savage? Let us look into the iron shadows of the moonlight for an answer. This story is well suited to the question, for it just so happens to have a… Read More John C. Wright Brings Rousseau and Virgil into Conan
All of Cal Newport’s books could be titled, “How to Be an Effective Person.” Or, maybe, “How to Be an Effective Person In This Technological Epoch.” Digital Minimalism is, like Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, about why you should quit or drastically limit the digital distractions that have proliferated in […]… Read More Digital Minimalism — Cal Newport — The Story’s Story
Actually, Thomas Fitz hates tomatoes, but Caligulia is there for his politcal theory and and we start rounding the bend on the third act of Ulysses and the Fugitive. It’s a strong issue. Read it here for free.
Here’s something I wrote, in a short burst: You must, In each blue moment Embrace your Freedom. And in the sickly wilderness of intention, Recognize the you that intends and is free. Fine. Sure. But what does any of it mean? What was I thinking about when I scribbled it my journal? Because it sounds interesting.… Read More An Illumination
The actual title of the piece at the Poetry Foundation, “The Warmth of the Messy Page“, is better. No matter what your approach, engaging in revision will help you see your work more clearly and help you discover more of what you meant and sometimes what you didn’t even know you meant. The word itself… Read More How To Write and Edit Poetry
I’m definitely an agnostic on National Novel-Writing Month. I’m not down on it, and if someone wants to take the moment as a inspiration to create, I’m the last guy to wrinkle my nose at such. Write, you guys. Write like the wind. But I also don’t participate. I’ve got a few reasons for this:… Read More I Don’t NaNoWriMo, But I Do Self-Publish
Prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein had been ruling that country with an iron fist for over three decades. He had prepared the way for a dynasty: his second son Qusay was his intended successor, and by all reports, Qusay was a chip off the old man’s block. Had things proceeded according… Read More Caligulia, Dictatorship, and Monarchy
All kinds of bad craziness. We have three, count ’em, three, chapters of Ulysses and the Fugitive, in which the aliens start taking over and sending their agents to do their bidding. Then Drunk Vampire Hunter makes a return for When’d He Go?, which is absolutely a pun on the name of the cannibal monster from Native… Read More Monsters and Aliens for October – Unnamed Journal 16
Content Blues 