Blake Butler
Print's Not Dead: Thirty Years of Dalkey Archive Press
For the past 30 years, Dalkey Archive has quietly and consistently been a vital aesthetic cornerstone in print. Here are some of my favorite titles.
The Bizarre and Terrifying Propaganda Art of the Children of God
The Children of God were essentially a communist cult with an "old world" idea of Christianity that recruited new members by fucking them. They still exist today under the moniker Family International.
'Sprezzatura' Basically Means You’re Chill But You Give a Shit
Mike Young is a writer of great grace, which is weird because the things he tends to write about are oatmeal muffins, garbage vacuums, robotic butterflies, Ice Cube, and pretty much anything you could find out in the dumpster behind a 7-Eleven in Weed...
Underappreciated Masterpieces: J. G. Ballard’s 'High Rise'
I was sold on High Rise (1975) after the first ten words: “Later, as he sat on his balcony eating the dog…”
Why Do So Many Soft Drinks Taste Like Teletubby Blood?
The land of off-brand soda is vast and largely uncharted. The tastes these beverages hold exist only inside of their cans and can't be found anywhere else in the whole world. It’s like a Willy Wonka of weird water, and I found a golden ticket.
Summer Reading List: Zombie Hordes, Snuff Films, Haunted Computers
The hot flesh of summer is here, and the last thing I want to do when I’m living in the thick of it is read about it. If you feel the same, here are three short books that will make you feel strange in the sun.
M. Geddes Gengras Makes Electronic Music for the Last Wild Indian
M. Geddes Gengras is a staple in the LA experimental music scene. His work gives me the feeling of a computer asleep and orgasming at the same time, conjuring weird worlds of sound that mutate and bleed and dig out tunnels through one another. Gengras...
How Many Crystals Do You Have Left Inside You?
Crystal Eaters, the latest novel by Shane Jones, is not about people jacked on crystal meth, but instead is itself a form of drugs.
America Needs Alzheimer’s Funding Now
While the National Institute of Health spends $3 billion a year on AIDS research, and nearly $4.9 billion on cancer, for Alzheimer’s it spends only $500 million, an enormous drop off for an illness that is already widespread and growing rapidly.
Joe Wenderoth Cannot Be Vanquished
Wenderoth's newest book, If I Don’t Breathe How Do I Sleep, is a dark and peculiar volume you might keep in the same drawer with your Faces of Death tapes and the Flowers of Evil. I talked to him about his new poetry collection and...
Underappreciated Masterpieces: Javier Marías’s 'Dark Back of Time'
I ordered Dark Back of Time from an online bookstore, based almost entirely on the title. I know that goes directly against traditional book-buying advice, but that’s really a hell of a title, and it turned out to be one of the best things I’ve...
Are Blake Griffin’s Kia Commercials Psychic Warfare?
Sometimes I’m surprised Blake Griffin has time to play professional basketball. In just about every other ad throughout every break, there he is, dressed up in a red suit trying to sell you a car made by a company whose name sounds like it should be...