The Mumpsimus

I got caught up in the hype, got curious, and found a way to watch True Detective . It's my kind of thing: a dark crime story/police procedural/serial killer whatzit. Also, apparently the writer of the show, Nic Pizzolatto, is aware of some writers I like, and even one I know, Laird Barron . (Hi Laird! You rock!) What struck me right from the beginning was the marvelous music, selected and produced by the great T-Bone Burnett , and the cinematography by Adam Arkapaw , who shot one of my favorite movies of recent decades, Snowtown , and also the very good film Animal Kingdom and the marvelous Jane Campion TV show Top of the Lake . Something about Arkapaw's sensitivity to color, light, and framing is pure mainlined heroin to my aesthetic pleasure centers. If I found out he'd shot a Ron Howard movie, I'd even watch that. So many other people have discussed the show that there are now, I'm sure, nearly as many words written about it as there are words in Wikiped...

photo by Eamonn McCabe, from The Guardian I was stunned this morning to learn of the death of Stuart Hall , one of the great intellectuals of our time. Stunned not because it was entirely unexpected — he was not in the best of health, and had mostly retired from public life — but simply because it feels strange to live in the world after Stuart Hall. It's entirely likely that you have never heard of Stuart Hall. His fame, particularly outside of the UK, is mostly related to a specific academic field (cultural studies) and his work has not been as well collected and disseminated as it deserves. I was late to his work, learning of it only when I began my master's degree (in cultural studies), and at first I couldn't see its significance — a lot of what he said seemed tied to specific events, specific moments, and many of the ideas he considered were, I assumed at first, part of an academic past that was no longer relevant. His sentences tended to be complex, his vocab...

I've been thinking about short fiction a lot recently. The truth is, after working on three  Best American Fantasy  anthologies, I was shellshocked from reading piles of short stories, and stayed away from them. I pretty much stopped writing them for a while, focusing instead on academic writing, film stuff, etc. Judging the Shirley Jackson Awards was fun and brought me back to short fiction, but again in such an overwhelming way that by the time it was done, I didn't want to read another short story for months. And I didn't. I've gotten over that, finally. I've read a few short stories over the last month (and it's been a busy month, so reading a few of anything is an accomplishment!), and, just as importantly, for the first time in years I've gotten back to writing stories — two so far this year, one of which already sold (I'll reveal the details once I've signed the contract). I've had plans to write more about short stories here, but t...

Ron Hogan has an interesting post over at Beatrice, updating a 2008 post called "What's Your Ultimate Blogroll?" for the new year. This reminded me of a discussion I had with a creative nonfiction class in early December, where I was one of a few folks invited in to talk about blogging. One of the things the students asked was, "What blogs do you recommend?" I said, "Well, I've got a blogroll on the sidebar of my site with some blogs listed in it..." The instructor for the course laughed and said, "And it's got something like 300 blogs on it!" It does certainly list a lot of sites, some of which, I'm sure, are defunct. I keep up with them all via Google Reader , and, in fact, display the list via Google Reader -- if you wanted, you could subscribe to the list itself  and see every post from everybody on it. Not very practical, though, as a recommendation service. And though in some ways it does, in fact, represent some of wh...

Just an addendum to my previous post , in which I lamented the breaking of Google Reader's share function, which enabled the "Fresh Links" widget over on the sidebar— I have created a near fix, as you'll see if you look over on the side. I'm using the RSS feed from my Delicious account for this, since it was sitting dormant. (Thus some of those links are very much not fresh right now!)

Google has done gone and broke Google Reader , removing the sharing function to encourage people to use Google Plus instead. This means the "Fresh Links" section over on the sidebar is no longer able to be refreshed, and I'll probably go back to occasionally doing linkdump posts. Here, for instance, are some links: My latest Strange Horizons column, "Reading Systems" , has been posted, as has my latest Sandman Meditations piece. (The Sandman pieces are going to be biweekly for the rest of the year rather than the regular weekly schedule because I'm just too busy to keep up with a weekly schedule right now, and I was getting really frazzled.) Team VanderMeer has launched The Weird Fiction Review , an online journal about kumquats. Famed kumquat collected Neil Gaiman is interviewed , and there's an interesting selection of nonfiction, art, and fiction about kumquats. Don't believe me? Well, go over there and see for yourself! In publishing new...

Some things of interest... If you liked my recent column on Sexing the Body , evolutionary psychology, gender, etc., then you should really keep your eyes on the ongoing series of posts about sex science at the essential (though not essentialist) Echidne of the Snakes . Over the holidays, she read three books on the topic -- one I mentioned in my column, and have also praised before, Pink Brain, Blue Brain ; but also two I haven't yet seen, Delusions of Gender and Brainstorm: The Flaws in the Science of Sex Differences by Rebecca M. Jordan-Young. At the very least, read Echidne's first post of seven short conclusions reached after finishing the books. Great, great stuff. And if you're curious to know more about this stuff, and Pink Brain, Blue Brain in particular, here's a lecture by its author, Lisa Eliot. I was hoping Aaron Bady would respond to the New York Times article  "In Sudan, a Colonial Curse Comes Up for a Vote" , and lo and behold, my w...

I've been sharing items via Google Reader's sidebar widget on this site for quite a while, calling it "Fresh Links".  Whenever I see something in the RSS feed that seems interesting, I click the little share button, and voila, y'all get to see it.  It's increased my laziness, causing me not to create linkdumps much any more.  If there's something I am especially impressed with, interested in, or challenged by, I'll incorporate it into a post somehow; stuff in the Fresh Links section is stuff that seemed to me worth the time I put into reading it. One of the things it allows me to do, if I choose, is see all I've shared.  I haven't done this before, but today I wondered what, for instance, I had noticed at this time last year.  Here's what was there: December 3, 2009 Anne Fernald on Girls Write Now December 4, 2009 Claire Dudman on Herta Müller's The Passport Chad Post with some Bolaño links John Williams on Carol Sklenicka...

First, the  Norton Critical Editions  have their own  Twitter account .  I love love love the NCEs and, in fact, have assigned three of them ( Heart of Darkness , Things Fall Apart , Modern African Drama ) in a course this term.  I cannot express the incredible booklust the background photo on that Twitter page causes me... Second, the NCE Twitterers are seeking people's favorite ghost/horror stories.  I said Joanna Russ's "My Dear Emily" and Robert Aickman's "The Stains", though could have certainly listed 100 others, too.  Maybe they'll decide to do a big Norton Critical Edition of horror stories....   Wouldn't that be fun?   Go share your own favorites! In other news, I am not alone in connecting certain elements of the work of William Faulkner with that of Samuel R. Delany.  [In that discussion, I'm username Melikhovo] In further other news, and also from Ta-Nehisi Coates's extraordinary blog, news from Paris Review  ed...

The end of summer continues to be busy for me (in good ways), and I've neglected a few things I should have linked to. Actually, I've probably neglected many things I should have linked to. For now, though, just a few... I'm continuing to explore Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics over at Gestalt Mash , one issue each week. Last week was issue 5, "Passengers" ; this week issue 6, "24 Hours" . And for Amazon.com's Omnivoracious blog, I interviewed Nnedi Okorafor , author of the wonderful novel Who Fears Death . (And Nnedi has just been interviewed over at Tor.com , too.) Finally, my favorite internet item this week: a film called "Words" , presented as an extra feature to a Radiolab program .

The ever-extraordinary Anne Fernald has just put up a post asking for recommendations of essays , since she is on the advisory board for The Norton Reader and they're planning a new edition. I have an extraordinary fondness for The Norton Reader , though some of that fondness is, as they say, extra-textual. The textual fondness is that I think it's a wonderfully generous selection of stuff -- in fact, I like it so much I've assigned the book in classes, and if I ever taught such a class again, I'd almost certainly use it again. The extra-textual fondness is entirely for John C. Brereton , one of the main editors of the book, who, almost exactly one year ago, had the excellent taste to marry one of my best friends and mentors. So I care a lot about The Norton Reader . And I like essays. Thus, while my students were taking tests this afternoon, I thought about essays to recommend to the folks at the NR. My thoughts are all a-jumble on this topic, though, because I har...

I didn't intend to disappear from this blog for quite as long as I did, but I got busy with work on the manuscript of Best American Fantasy 3 (the contents of which we'll finally be able to announce next week!) and I've been teaching an online course for Plymouth State University, an interesting experience, since I've never taught classes entirely online before (nor am I all that sure it's a way I like teaching, but that's another story...) I probably owe you an email.* Readercon is coming up -- July 9-12. I'll be there Friday afternoon and most of Saturday. The great and glorious Liz Hand and Greer Gilman are guests of honor. The other guests ain't too shabby neither. Except for that Cheney guy. He's a putz. Some things I've noticed out on the internets: Hal Duncan wrote a little post at his blog about ethics, reviewing, criticism, etc. A few people commented. Hal wrote another little post responding in particular to comments by Abig...

I have finally made my way through the 3,000 emails that had accumulated in the mumpsimus at gmail account during my absence from checking it. Thank you to everyone for bearing with me on that. If you need a response of some sort to something, and I haven't yet replied, please send me another note, because I think I have responded to everything that seemed to need a response. There are some sites and items I discovered from the mail, including: The First Book , a site created by Scott William Carter to provide interviews with and information about authors of first novels. Scott was my roommate at the very first science fiction convention I went to, and he's not only a tremendous nice guy, but has developed a great career with lots of short stories published in a wide variety of markets and now a novel that is forthcoming from Simon & Schuster in 2010. Noticing my comments on Cormac McCarthy's The Road , Henry Farrell let me know about a conversation with China Mié...

Things are going to continue to be light around here for at least a month, as I have various duties to attend to, deadlines that are quickly threatening to pass, etc. And last night I decided that I needed to start the Big Project over yet again, despite progress, because it's obviously in the wrong POV and starting far too far from the stuff that matters. And I owe 13,593 people 642,482 emails. And only a few of them are princes in Nigeria who want me to take care of their money for a few days. And I've been sick, which is never fun, though I have reached the post-sickness point of being just utterly weary. (I perplex my students repeatedly because they have all been indoctrinated into believing that sentences cannot begin with such words as "and" or "but", that paragraphs cannot have more than five sentences in them, that sentences with more than a certain number of words in them are run-ons, etc. I tell them this is not true. I tell them what matter...

Ed Champion linked to this, and I'm passing it on, because the customer reviews on this product are the funniest things I've read all week.

Virginia Woolf and Gene Wolfe are topics of a few conversation out on the internets these days: Some of Virginia Woolf's first editions are a bargain on the collector's market . Woolf and other artists are being used to promote arts education . Woolf [and others] and neuroscience . Or not. (The author of the book in question responds here .) "Virginia Woolf and Boring Habits" Larry at OF Blog of the Fallen is reading a lot of Gene Wolfe and writing up his responses . Waggish reads The Book of the New Sun . Spurious offers further thoughts on Book of the New Sun . Richard Crary's thoughts on Mr. Waggish's thoughts . Hoof and Hide is a Gene Wolfe blog. Which is not to say a blog by Gene Wolfe. Which is an interesting thought. In fact, I'd like to see Gene Wolfe and Virginia Woolf collaborate on a blog. Yet another of my impossible desires...

My thoughts are fragmentary today. Here are some of the shards: A few days ago I watched The Dresden Dolls: Live at the Roundhouse , and though it didn't give me the utter and complete joy of the Dolls' earlier DVD, Paradise (because how could they possibly top Christopher Lydon listening to the song about him ?! And Brian Vigglione's wonderful drumming at the beginning of "Half Jack" ? And the stiflingly heat and invigorating intimacy of the stage? And...?), it's great fun if you like their music. I was particularly taken by the collaboration with Trash McSweeney (of the Australian band The Red Paintings ) on the old Tears for Fears song, "Mad World" . I've liked the original version of "Mad World" since I first heard it while riding on the school bus one day many years ago -- that version of the song seems utterly psychotic to me now; Gary Jules offered a somewhat more melancholic and teen angsty version later. The McSweene...

This post will be updated throughout the day with links to material about Christopher Barzak and his first novel One For Sorrow , released today. Thanks to everybody who is participating! Colleen Lindsay offers an in-depth interview and a classic photo. She's also giving copies of the book away! The Stage @ The Oakland is heading up the Youngstown, Ohio side of Barzak Day. Into My Own presents an interview with Chris. Chris guest-blogs at Gwenda Bond's place. Small Beer Press and LCRW (about whom more later) offer "Barzakian Secrets of the Barzakian Plan for Barzakian Galactic Domination". Colleen Mondor writes about Chris's short stories. Jason Erik Lundberg has been reading Barzak from the very beginning. Jeffrey Ford has some nice things to say. The Creativity Incubator launches a new feature, Creative Spotlight, with One for Sorrow . The new Science Fiction Awards Watch notes that Mr. Barzak is in their database. Secritcrush remembers One for Sorrow from a...

My advanced age has taught me the resignation of being Borges. -- Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) "El informe de Brodie" ("Dr. Brodie's Report") Some Borges links in honor of this fine day: The Borges Center at the University of Iowa Modern Word page of Borges resources Another Borges site Wikipedia entry Borges site with English translations of some stories, poems, and essays Borges's poem "Heraclitus" translated by Thomas Frick Borges's story "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" in English and Spanish Audio excerpts of Borges's Norton Lectures at Harvard in 1968 A lovely HTML version of Borges's story "The Garden of Forking Paths" Borges's very short story "The House of Asterion" provided by Mr. Waggish "The Analytical Language of John Wilkins" by Borges A 1980 interview with Borges Video: Jorge Luis Borges: The Mirror Man John Barth on Borges and Calvino NYT article on Borges's ...

This is the beginning of Jamestown week at the LBC , with much fun and excitement promised. I'm putting together at least one post about the book, but for now will offer some links of related, or even unrelated, interest: An interview with Matthew Sharpe at Failbetter.com A reading by Matthew Sharpe at NPR A Q&A with Sharpe at New York magazine A TimeOut New York article about Sharpe and Jamestown More Sharpe & Jamestown links from Scott Esposito John Clute's review : "It is in this treating of its characters as soft-shoe, and of the world(s) they do their numbers on as an extremely slippery stage, that Jamestown seems so 21st-century, so surprisingly capable of making the reader feel that it has been told from some point far beyond the events remembered and anticipated between its opening and its closing curtain." Ed Park's review : "On any given page, Sharpe can swing contagious exuberance ('How unpleasant and interesting it is to be a...