Scholar, Essayist, Storyteller, Educator
At Georgia State University Thursday evening:
Sheri Joseph & Mike Dockins—April 5 (7:30 p.m. Troy Moore Library) A celebration to mark the publication of Sheri Joseph’s novel Stray, and Mike Dockins’ poetry collection Slouching in the Path of a Comet. See you there…
Zombies are True
Book Review…
Link, Kelly. Magic for Beginners. Orlando: Harvest Books, 2006.
The nine stories in Kelly Link’s second collection are fantastic, meaning incredibly good and also containing elements of fantasy. They are innovative and down to earth, about people, the things people do and feel. Some of the most sparkling gems in this collection are “The Faery Handbag,” “The Hortlak” (my favorite), “Stone Animals,” and “Magic for Beginners.” The collection does not ostentatiously defy genre, but perhaps simply disregards the literary market’s desire for such superficial distinctions. Link’s style is confident and innovative, borrowing from various traditions, most notably fantasy, horror, and fairy tale—humbling and improbable vestiges of life, worlds that exist only between the covers of the book. But don’t all fictive worlds only exist in this capacity?
Link achieves the nearness and reality of the world by oscillating between the ultimately fantastic and the simple basic truth of human reaction and interaction, what is and what is not. In Link’s work, zombies exist as incidental, assimilated, mythic, harmless, feared, fictive, and real. Zombies, like haunted objects and animated cats, can be considered in their relation to action, to private thought, to the larger continuing world. In “The Faery Handbag,” as well as other tales in this collection, the shocking, inventive, and unfamiliar are crafted with beauty and a sensitivity to human interaction—attention to a character’s inner world as well as the outer. These crossings of people, in and out of each other’s minds and physical worlds, is what is real. In “Stone Animals,” Link explores this human interaction in a haunted, mysterious setting. The plot folds in on itself in repetition, similar to how time and interaction repeatedly fold in and out for the characters.
A reader of literary fiction may look askance at Link’s work, what has been called fantastic or fabulist, and wish to pass preliminary judgment based on preconceived notions of reality. But there are often opposite ways of getting at the truth, and in Magic for Beginners Link has bravely forged her own path, a path any open reader will be drawn through, surprised by, pleased by, amazed by, and ultimately affected by.
The Iowa Review on New Media, Games, and Interactive Fiction has a fascinating online issue. Check out some of the links to networked novels / narrative projects…From the editor’s introduction:
In most hypertext fiction, the role of chronology in structuring the narrative is greatly diminished in comparison to print fiction conventions. In the absence of chronology, the authors of fragmented multilinear narratives need to offer their readers other tools for navigating the text. In an environment described as cyberspace, developed with home pages on web sites, geographical metaphors make almost intuitive sense. Any textual link is of course itself a means of navigation, but authors of web hypertext typically offer readers other orienting strategies as well. In addition to a calendar and character-based means of navigation, Bobby Rabyd a.k.a. Robert Arellano’s network novel Sunshine 69 [1996] also provides a map of the San Francisco Bay area, enabling the reader to organize their reading geographically. The reader traverses Matthew Miller’s “Trip” [1996] by first choosing a state in the US and then by choosing specific interstates to change course. The collaborative hypertext novel The Unknown [1999] likewise used geography as an organizational strategy, and the road trip as a trope. Stuart Moulthrop’s Reagan Library [1999] can be navigated both by textual links and by moving through a three-dimensional Myst-like Quicktime VR world. In Moulthrop’s most recent work Pax [2003], the user clicks on bodies rising and falling through space, momentarily visiting each avatar’s consciousness in the process of assembling a patchworked story of American consciousness during the war on (or in) terror. The collective narrative project Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood includes hundreds of individual contributions of short fiction and nonfiction set in specific locations all over New York City. The reader can navigate to stories by selecting a New York neighborhood or by zooming in on a satellite map of Manhattan to the specific street address where the story takes place.
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth, by Chris Ware. I’m embarrassed to say this is the first graphic novel I’ve read. (Hangs head in shame.) I also picked up a copy of Ghost World, which was recommended to me in reference to the novel I’m revising. Jimmy Corrigan is a huge doorstop, while Ghost World is a thin book. I have to admit I’m confused about several things in Jimmy Corrigan…but I’m holding on, reserving judgment. It’s pretty damn funny.
Tracks, by Louise Erdrich. I’m deconstructing this book in terms of craft, for a presentation in one of my classes. I’ve found myself picking through old essays I’ve read from guys like Gardner, Booth, and Baxter. Excited yet?
The Golden Apples, by Eudora Welty. This might be my favorite collection of Welty’s that I’ve read so far. The names in these stories are great–I have a list of recurring names and phrases to Google…to try and find any juicy connections. “June Recital” captures the particular mood of adolescence well.
All of the above books are coursework. I’ve also started Stray, which is enthralling, but I’ve set it aside until I can curl up and be in that relaxed place where I don’t have any bizarre study-related thoughts like, this is what Gardner meant about ‘delay,’ or whatever.
On the coffee table: the latest issues of Marie Claire, The Atlantic, and Bookmarks.
Tangent: not a book but definitely a narrative, I started playing Indigo Prophecy, which is perhaps the most intriguing video game I’ve ever played. It’s a first person narrative where you’re running from the authorities while also trying to figure out what actually happened to bring you to that point; there’s a psychological element. Every single action or inaction you take has a mental toll–you have to keep an eye on your anxiety and depression, as well as physical health….if you go about things the wrong way you can lose the game by driving yourself to commit suicide. So, you have to be sure to play that iPod and eat some good food while you’re running from the law and investigating a conspiracy
There is an interview with Heidi Julavits up at Bookslut. I think I mentioned this before, but her second novel, The Effect of Living Backwards, was one of my favorite books of last year. Her third novel, The Uses of Enchantment, also came out in October of last year. In addition to writing fiction, Julavits edits The Believer.
AWP was a good time. Some panels were infinitely more interesting than others, but, what are you going to do. And I had no idea restaurant service was so horrid downtown. There are conferences all the time; aren’t they used to crowds? And why does a bottle of domestic beer cost $5.75? For the love of god. That’s what a flask is for. I paid $6 and some odd cents for a bottle of 420 at the bar at the Hilton and the darn thing wasn’t even cold. Anyway, the panel Friday about research and the novel was interesting–the best thing was learning how each author on the panel conducted research in a different way. There is no right way, you just have to figure out how to serve your particular story. I’m going to start thinking more about protagonists’ professions/jobs, because that is a significant part of life. The Five Points reception Friday was good, but I didn’t make it to the John Barth reading because I opted to continue partying instead (ooops!). It was definitely the right choice. One of the biggest benefits of a writing program has been building relationships with like-minded writers; the value of those relationships cannot be underestimated. Saturday I attended a panel on how to start a reading series. I found all the work Marc Fitten (editor of Chattahoochee Review) and Megan Sexton (editor of Five Points) do organizing readings and events in Atlanta particularly interesting. It’s wonderful when organizations (lit mags, newspapers, NPR, food vendors, etc) can all get together for mutual publicity and to host fun literary events for the public. Daren Wang (founder of Verb and organizer of The Decatur Book Festival) was also on the panel. I also saw a panel about crossing over into YA, which was really ispiring and got me brainstorming new book ideas.
At the bookfair I renewed my subscription (I’d let it lapse!) to the Chattahoochee Review. I bought a second copy of Stray at the MacAdam/Cage table, because it was such a steal. I picked up two chapbooks at the Small Beer Press table. Horse Blow Up Dog City & Other Stories, by Richard Butner, is really good. I especially like “Ash City Stomp,” (recommended by Kelly Link!) which you can read or listen to here.
I met Kelly Link and managed to act like a mute idiot for a significant period of time before summoning the courage to tell her how awesome she is. Because she is truly awesome. Magic for Beginners is an amazing, original work. If you feel the joy has been sucked out of reading (are you in academia perhaps?) then get thee a copy of Magic for Beginners and curl up on a stormy night and dig in. I cannot get over “The Hortlak,” “The Faery Handbag,” or “Stone Animals.” You can read “The Faery Handbag” here.
What crappy weather for walking around downtown today! There are hundreds of panels, but I have my eye on a few. From the AWP Conference Schedule for today:
R143. Deviant Fictions by Women. (Kathryn Davis, Jaimy
Gordon, Kate Bernheimer, Kellie Wells)
In her introduction to Halldór Laxness’s novel Under the Glacier,
Susan Sontag says, “Narratives that deviate from [the] artificial
norm” of realist fiction “and tell other kinds of stories, or appear
not to tell much of a story at all…still, to this day, seem innovative
or ultraliterary or bizarre,” suggesting they “occupy the outlying
precincts of the novel’s main tradition,” and it is with some of
these deviant, Martian fictions that this panel will be concerned.
Panelists will read from and discuss their work.
R159. A Tribute to Leon Stokesbury. (John Holman, Leon
Stokesbury, Katie Chaple, Maudelle Driskell, Delisa Mulkey)
Three former students honor Leon Stokesbury on his 20th year as
a creative writing professor at Georgia State University. Stokesbury
is co-winner of the first Associated Writing Programs Poetry
Competition in 1975 for his book Often in Different Landscapes.
Speakers will discuss Stokesbury’s influence and read from their
work before Stokesbury shares his poetry.
R184. Publishing the ATL. (James Iredell, Dan Veach, Daren
Wang, Tania Rochelle, Megan Sexton, Christopher Bundy)
This panel, consisting of editors from Atlanta journals and magazines (Five
Points, the Atlanta Review, GSU Review, Verb, the Chattahoochee Review,
and Terminus), focuses on each publication’s mission to serve both its immediate
and greater literary community. Panel participants discuss their
editorial preferences in terms of their pub’s specific audience, be it international,
academic, student, audio, independent, and combinations of these.
R195. Robert Dana Tribute Reception: Sponsored by
Anhinga Press and the Chattahoochee Review.
The gsu review presents Jake Adam York Thursday February 22, 7:30 pm, in the Troy Moore Library. (General Classroom Building; Georgia State University.) Jake Adam York is the author of Murder Ballads, selected for the Fifth Annual Elixir Press Awards Judge’s Prize. His poems have appearedin Shenandoah, Oxford American, Greensboro Review, Gulf Coast, New Orleans Review, Quarterly West, Diagram, Octopus, Southern Review, Poetry Daily, and other journals as well as in the anthologies Visiting Walt (Iowa University Press, 2003) and Digerati (Three Candles, 2006). His work has been nominated four times for the Pushcart Prize and has placed in numerous other competitions.
Later:
Percival Everett—March 22 (7:30 p.m.)
Sheri Joseph & Mike Dockins—April 5 (7:30 p.m.) A celebration to mark the publication of Sheri Joseph’s novel Stray, and Mike Dockins’ poetry collection Slouching in the Path of a Comet.
Keith Lee Morris—April 18 (7:30 p.m.) Presented by gsu review
(Public Reading, 7:30 p.m.)
If you’re in Atlanta, get yourself downtown Thursday evening for the reading.
Praise for Sheri Joseph’s Stray
Winner of Grub Street’s first annual Fiction Book Prize
“Joseph tells an intense story about an unconventional love triangle… a swiftly moving [and] compelling tale of reconciliation and redemption as the lovers are forced to face their flawed perceptions head-on.” – Booklist
“…a unique and enticing look at a love triangle…seductive and convincing.” – Pages Magazine
“It’s a testament to Joseph’s nuanced writing and sensitive insight that she can create such a fragile but convincing triangle and evoke such empathy from the reader…Stray is the best story of a mixed gender three-person love affair since Michael Cunningham’s A Home at the End of the World.” – Ken Furtado, Echo Magazine
“[Stray] is a telling book that reveals how complex the construction of appearance and identity can be in contemporary society…Joseph has a good insight into the smaller moments of close relationships, the everyday conversations between lovers that speak more about the two people involved.” – Lexington Herald-Leader
“Joseph’s potent tale of sexual deception and emotional redemption is a seductive stew of love story and murder mystery about three fundamentally fine, and gratifyingly complex, people.” – Richard LaBonte, San Francisco Bay Guardian
“With great skill and psychological insight, Sheri Joseph has crafted a highly compelling mystery about the duplicitous nature of what we call love: its tender cruelties and its potential for placing us all in mortal danger.” – Julia Glass, National Book Award-winning author of Three Junes and The Whole World Over
“Sheri Joseph’s three characters are as real as anybody I know, caught up in the rapturous human business of hope and beguilement and self-deception. Stray is mesmerizing. Sheri Joseph has written a seductive, frightening book.” – Jennifer Haigh, author of Baker Towers and Mrs. Kimble
“In the intricately plotted Stray, Sheri Joseph spins a web of such psychological acuity that I could never decide which of her three beguiling characters to sympathize with next. The result is a novel of considerable moral complexity and marvelous suspense.”
– Margot Livesey, author of Eva Moves the Furniture and Banishing Verona
Public Appearances
2/16-18/2007 Dahlonega Literary Festival Dahlonega, GA
2/22/07 Outwrite Books 8pm Atlanta, GA
2/28-3/3/2007 AWP Conference Atlanta, GA (signing at the book fair)
3/14/07 Happy Ending Reading Series 7:30pm New York, NY
4/5/07 GSU (Georgia State Univ) Troy Moore Library 7:30pm Atlanta, GA
4/27/07 A Different Light Bookstore 7pm San Francisco, CA
4/28/07 Bookshop West Portal 7pm San Francisco, CA (with Michelle Richmond)
5/3/07 Grub Street Prize celebration, TBA, Boston, MA
5/4-5/6/07 Muse and the Marketplace Boston, MA
Did anyone else see Charlie LeDuff on the Colbert Report the other night? He was promoting his new book, US Guys. The interview was…strange. I love Colbert, and he is quick. Rarely does he not know what to do with a guest. It wasn’t that LeDuff undermined Colbert, but there were several non-sequiturs which left him simply looking at LeDuff. Colbert was trying to extract what you would think would be important to LeDuff–what is your new book about? Given that it’s a non-fiction text there should be some sort of point. But I’m not sure there is. It is about the American male. It is about what divorce has done to boys. It is about gay rodeos. It is about bowels. It is about what is going on, which is a convenient way of stating anything. Amazon calls him an heir to Kerouac and Thompson, setting the bar a bit high, perhaps. The New York Times (where LeDuff is a reporter) Sunday book review was not so favorable; Allison Glock writes,
LeDuff wants these invisible men to be seen, so long as they don’t eclipse him. As both narrator and subject he is chippy and hostile. Needy and belligerent. At home in obscenity. An erection in print. Fair enough — if this were a memoir. (“Let Us Now Praise Famous Me!”)
But “US Guys” is meant to be an examination of the mind of American men. And if that is the case, these points have been made before (by Studs Terkel, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, Ralph Ellison, Barbara Ehrenreich and Upton Sinclair among many others), better and with less attention to the writer’s bowels.
In the end, we only learn a whole lot about the true and twisted mind of one American man. Who happens to believe he’s Everyman. And if that’s the case, then LeDuff help us.
I found it fitting that Glock mentions Johnny Depp in the first paragraph of her review. LeDuff really did bring to mind Depp when he was on the Colbert Report. I don’t know–I loved him and hated him at the same time. He was one of those so brazenly self-absorbed people that somehow appears sexy for his strong (but vague) passion and convictions (and good hair). Maybe what we are seeing are skewed expectations in terms of genre–in terms of non-fiction / gonzo journalism, when does it become memoir?…A bunch of stuff you did, thematically linked or linked by a personal quest, rather than a true investigative task? Is it me or is the non-fiction market flooded with this type of stuff? It makes me want to take a long road trip, stop at every ________ on the way, then write a book about it.
Amber Nicole Brooks 