Dave Eggers

The Eggman has a new nonfiction book coming out called Zeitoun. Goo-goo-ga-joob. It follows a Muslim-American family around New Orleans during the Katrina disaster. Sounds inarrestin’.

Eggers recently sat down with Stephen Elliott from The Rumpus for a “long interview,” which you can read here. Enjoy.

Kurt Vonnegut

I unpacked a storage unit on Saturday, which contained a bunch of boxes filled with books. During the process of unloading and organizing these many disparate volumes, I noticed that I own far more books by one author than any other: Kurt Vonnegut. Funny, ‘cause while I do consider myself a great fan of his, I would never guess him to be my favorite; e.g., if I were at a party and someone were to challenge me to list my favorite writers in order (a drunken, unreasonable query to be sure, but bear with me), I likely would rank him fourth or fifth. But on Saturday afternoon, with the evidence to the contrary scattered before me across the living room floor, that notion sure did disintegrate fast.

Anyway, for the hell of it, here’s Part One of an interview with the guy who appears to be my favorite all-time author, which took place in what has to be nineteen-seventy-something. (Notes: 1. The opening is super-cheesy; best to start at around the 2:15 mark, a.k.a. “Chapter 1,” 2. You can link to further installments of this interview from there.)

James Frey v. Oprah

Frey is in town this week to promote his new fiction book, Bright Shiny Morning. Seems like a good time to post this: a video of Frey’s publisher, Nan Talese (Doubleday), giving her account of what happened between the author and Oprah Winfrey. Says Talese here: “I really, really am bothered by the sanctimoniousness of Oprah Winfrey, because it simply does not exist.”

Yowzaa. Now this is her take, so who knows how accurate it is. Regardless, it takes brass ones for a publisher to lower her shoulder and go right at the Big O (non-Oscar-Robertson variety) this way.

Junot Díaz

Some great points here re: the Myth vs. Reality of American Culture, and the pervasive unspoken misogyny therein.

John Cheever

For no particular reason...

A 1976 Paris Review interview with John Cheever. Enjoy.

10 Rules for Writing Fiction

In celebration of Elmore Leonard’s visit to our fair city this week, I give you his “10 Rules for Writing Fiction”:



(Some of these are spot on. But man, does he have a lot of rules for what you should NEVER do. Never use a prologue? What if a prologue is exactly what the story needs? And Rule #3 has always bothered me. Never use any word but “said” to carry dialogue? If a character is upset while speaking, is “How dare you?” she said really better than “How dare you?” she cried? All right, all right, enough. I love and revere Elmore Leonard. Go to this event if you can: this Thursday (5/14) at the Free Library. You won’t be sorry.)

Choke Off

Thought I’d post this since Mr. Palahniuk will be at FLP this Friday for a reading and discussion. Here, he talks about being 12-years-old, masturbating for the first time, and immediately wondering how he could turn this activity into money. (The punchline is so easy, I can’t bring myself to type it.)