The Fiction Issue 2008
Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom is the preeminent literary critic in the world, and as such he is perhaps the last of a dying breed.
Candy-Coated
CM3 (as he likes to be called, which is kind of dumb) is one of the top “weirdos” in the “bizarro” fiction “world.”
A Conversation With the Porn Rangers
I put my headphones on and began to watch a hirsute man, probably early 40s, receive oral sex from a thin-lipped woman of commensurate age. The byline in block letters read, “BJ From the Wife.”
Max Brooks
Anybody who cares about the state of the world and what happens to people when disease and wars happen should read World War Z by Max Brooks. It’s a fictional oral history of “the zombie war.”
Goodbye
Simon Crump was born in Leicestershire. After crawling out of the middle of the Midlands he found himself being an internationally exhibited artist and lecturing in fine art and photography.
The Field
A master of the short story, Beattie first gained recognition with Chilly Scenes of Winter and Distortions. She scathingly shredded on yuppies way before the rest of America blamed them for everything.
Sad Stories of the Death of Kings
It’s no wonder that David Lynch made two of his best films when he adapted Barry Gifford's Wild at Heart and then asked him to cowrite the script for Lost Highway.
Ivor Cutler
In a perfect world everyone’s grandfather would be a kindly yet razor-sharp old goof just like Ivor Cutler (and we’d also be able to fly).
The Earthquake in Chile
Kleist’s perennial story in this issue, “The Earthquake in Chile,” is part of forthcoming, freshly translated collection of his prose.
Ursula K. Le Guin
Any major science-fiction gourmand will tell you that Ursula K. Le Guin is among the most compelling writers living today.
How to Look Amazing in Photographs
Another up-and-comer, Amanda sent us something that can’t be translated into our non-English editions because it’s an extended riff on the pronunciation of the word “douche.”