Blake Butler
Who Is Zachary German?
'Shitty Youth' is a new documentary by Adam Humphreys about Zachary German. Zachary is a young author whose novel 'Eat When You Feel Sad' was published when he was 21, and who, as a person, is known to be, well, socially bizarre.
The Dark Logic of Clarice Lispector
Though long considered one of the most important writers in Brazil, Clarice Lispector has only recently begun to gain appreciation among US audiences. Formally fearless and possessed of an interior sense wholly her own, her writing wastes no time with...
Dorothea Lasky’s Wild-Ass Shout-Brain
The first time I saw Dorothea Lasky she was standing in the middle of a crowded living room in Brooklyn wearing a dress and shouting into a loudspeaker. Her words go kindly for the throat. Whether she's writing about blood or going to hell or friends...
Michael Chabon’s Dream Journal
Michael Chabon hates dreams. He’s a writer, a children’s book author, and a man with quite a head of hair, but he can’t stand what people see inside their sleep. Which is why it's strange that he keeps emailing me excerpts from his dream journal.
Michael Kimball’s Enormous Death-Eye
Michael Kimball has an uncanny ability to parse the most strange and painful parts of being a person into something most anyone could comprehend. Whether he’s writing about suicidal weathermen or an elderly couple on the cusp of death, Kimball’s...
A Chat with David Byrne About 'How Music Works'
If you’ve never read any of David Byrne’s books, his newest, 'How Music Works,' might be the best place to start. The book is an encyclopedic compendium of mini-essays spanning a huge range of musical subjects from the history of venue architecture to...
Pimp C and Raisin Brain Crunch Are Inextricable Parts of Reality
I don’t know how many people could pull off writing stories about R. Kelly and a guy cleaning up cat shit in the same book, but I do know that no one could do it with a more definitive style and poise than Timothy Sanders.
The Juggalo Summer Reading List
Yeah, Juggalos read books. They actually probably read more than you do, whoever you are reading this. I spent a while the other day going through Juggalo profiles on Myspace, OKCupid, and Wicked Nation (the terrifying Juggalo-only Myspace knock off...
FC2's 40 Years of Brainbending
For almost 40 years now, the publishing group known as Fiction Collective has been a vital wild limb of new American literature.
Three Thin Weird Good Books About Sex and Power
Read these books and then go go get laid, or dominate something.
Beautiful Gross People on Notebook Paper
Atticus Lish is one of our favorite scribblers. His drawings are all about political beheadings, mail order dildos, and men with hairy arms serving people English Breakfast tea.
The Tiny Massive Lardfields of Aase Berg
This is wider than all the combined human chub you ever knew.