An article today in the New York Times addresses the issue of “complex casualties,” the mentally and physically debilitating wounds affecting a large percentage of the 16,000 US soldiers wounded in Iraq:
To describe the maimed survivors of this ugly new war, a graceless new word, polytrauma, has entered the medical lexicon. Each soldier arriving at [...]
Three prizes of $2,000 each are given annually to writers between 20 and 35 years of age for works-in-progress. The Joseph Henry Jackson Award is given for a work of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction. Applicants must be residents of northern California or Nevada for at least three consecutive years prior to the deadline. The [...]
I’ll be highlighting a new lit contest each day this week. For starters, there’s the Lamar York Prize for Creative Nonfiction.
A prize of $1,000 and publication in Chattahoochee Review is given annually for a creative essay. All entries will be considered for publication. Submit an essay of up to 5,000 words with a $10 entry [...]
Bad Reporter is where I get my morning giggles. Here, Don Asmussen takes on Leroy & Frey: “Bush: Both theories of James Frey’s past should be taught.” Although, in Laura Albert’s defense, I am of the mind that her literary hoax was just that–a well-conceived hoax–not really comparable to James Frey’s bestselling act of deception. [...]
A quick trip to Green Apple yesterday en route to my new doctor (glory be! now that I’ve finally, at long last, abandoned Kaiser as my HMO, which, despite all those television ads so seductively narrated by Allison Janney, is absolutely incompetent, I have discovered that it is actually possible to call one’s physician’s office [...]
Laurie Stolarz, author of Bleed, stops by with her literary soundtrack.
The Soundtrack to My Latest Book: Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos.
One song title that would make a great book title: Crucify. This would apply to the book I’m currently working on. It’s a companion book to Bleed, which is due out [...]
The surfer who washed ashore yesterday near Sloat Blvd. on Ocean Beach has been identified as 33-year-old Sean O’Flaherty Fahey. Ocean Beach is one of the wildest surfing spots in Northern California, blessed by big waves and cursed by an extremely dangerous riptide. The cause of Fahey’s death has not yet been determined. As a [...]
At 113 pages, Janet Thornburg’s Rhubarb Pie is about as skinny a story collection as you’ll find, but what this debut collection lacks in length it makes up for in charm. The book opens with the story of a lesbian from San Francisco who lands in Willa Cather’s hometown of Red Cloud, Nebraska, for an [...]
Questionable poetry in the news on two fronts these days:
1. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s second mate, can be heard reciting poetry to inspire his disciples on an audiotape that’s been making the rounds of terrorist websites. The title of the poem apparently translates as “Tears in the Eyes of Time.” Hmmm, has he been [...]
Savannah Knoop, a.k.a. Leroy’s foil, on Larkin Street. Hair: black. The look: slightly upscale grunge.
Just read: that potboiler I promised myself, by way of a New Year’s resolution. The title: The Light of Day, by Graham Swift. Featuring: a woman who murders her husband after he ends his affair with a young Croation [...]
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