Over the course of the last four or five months I’ve been trying my hand at a certain type of flash fiction. When I say a certain type, I say it because everyone has a different definition of flash. I tend to subscribe to the 1000 word cap, but lately it seems that the 500 word cap is popular. There’s a weekly contest over at the Tin House blog right now, for which I’ve sent a few 500 worders in. Also, Bateau press is having what they call the Keel contest, a contest for an entire chapbook of 500 word flash. Both of these contests are very cool, and you should all check them out. But why am I talking about them on bark? Read more »
Hi, how are you? It’s been a little while, hasn’t it? Did you miss me? I’ve been away. But I’ve been sneaking peeks at you sometimes, when you weren’t looking: Don’t be creeped out.
I’d like to take this moment of my triumphant return to talk to you a little bit about zombies. Hopefully Tyler has got you all excited about zombies with his post about genre.
You know me. Or maybe you don’t. But if you know me, you know I maybe have a bit of a thing for my sci fi and fantasy. Maybe a bit of a thing for zombies. Maybe not as much of a thing for pure literature. So, way back in last year when Jason Sommer told me that Colson Whitehead was coming out with a zombie novel, my reaction, naturally, was, “Isn’t he that literary writer that you love?” And that was pretty much it for me. I didn’t really go out of my way to track it down. You know, there are a lot (a LOT) of zombie stories in the world. Read more »
So the other day I was in Barnes and Noble for the typical post-holiday-gift-card-shopping, with my girlfriend, who is a big nonfiction reader. I was standing with her while she was looking at the pitifully small memoirs and essays section, and I noticed that, next to this nonfiction section, was a (relatively?) new section for Barnes and Noble. The section title, I shit you not, was Teen Paranormal Romance. As seperate, apparently, from young adult books and from romance books. The Teen Paranormal Romance section at Barnes and Noble is at least twice as large as the essays and memoirs section. She was sad, and I tried to put on a brave face and give a little mini-speech about market forces, but really, inside I was crying. Obviously, this is all because of Twilight. Read more »
So the other day I was shopping around Barnes and Noble, getting ready to spend a birthday gift card. After finding a Murakami book, I wandered, as I do, into the sci fi/fantasy section. One thing I found was a first volume of a two volume series of zombie short stories, each of which was quite thick (the first one, which I bought, clocks in at 483 pages). Now, this is not the first collection of zombie short fiction that I own. And the one other that I own is not the only other collection. It seems like, these days, you walk into the sci fi section of a book store, close your eyes, and touch the spine of a book, odds are you’re touching, or within 3 books of touching, a zombie book. Novels, collections, “survival guides”, fake zombie memoirs, zombies are everywhere in book stores. And it isn’t just trashy SF Horror writers any more, either. This collection that I’ve just purchased, for instance, has some surprises. Aside from big names Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, and George R.R. Martin (who just so happens to be my all-time favorite author, next to, perhaps, Douglas Adams), this collection also features stories by Kelly Link and – most surprising of all – Sherman Alexie. That’s right, I have a zombie short story by Sherman Alexie that I bought at Barnes and Noble. Chew that one over for a second. Like a bit of human intestine. Read more »
So this is the first two panels in what is perhaps my favorite individual and overall web comic of all time. I felt weird putting the whole thing up, but here is the rest. Read it read it read it read it read it. The comic series is called Pictures for Sad Children, and it is written and illustrated by John Campbell. I first discovered Pictures for Sad Children via this specific strip, which was taped to Brandon Getz’s refrigerator, for those of you who know Brandon. Read more »
This may be old news for some people, but a couple of weeks ago, I found this new Ben Folds album on iTunes. A collaborative effort between Ben Folds and Nick Hornby.
Awhile back I made a discovery, I forget how, of epic proportions. I discovered a band called Alestorm. Alestorm’s genre: Scottish pirate metal. Oh yes. It takes a special kind of person to enjoy Alestorm on the level of, say, learning the lyrics and listening often enough to sign along, but here is a little taste, and even if you are not special it should at least make you smile, and pay attention to great lines like, “it’s not my place to judge a man, but for [his crimes] he will burn in hell”: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99a6DaheLqs
Anyway, I was singing along (oops) to one of their songs for the manyeth time, and it occurred to me that pirates can say a lot of things that literary characters cannot. The particular lyric: “I stand here alone on the bow of the ship, counting the hours til I die. Abandoned to fate with no chance of return, I raise up my fist to the sky…” Read more »
This all started at the Spokane airport, when I was killing time at Auntie’s book store in the main terminal. I noticed a hardcover book, which immediately caught my eye. There was a picture of a Viking longboat flying through space, and the title, in large friendly words: And Another Thing. The words seemed familiar somehow, and so I took a closer look. On the top, in smaller print, were the words, “Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy part six of three.”
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