Amber Sparks
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Some Bright Bits to Carry You Through the Gloomy Midweek Slump
March 23, 2011 — 2 Comments
This terrifying picture was taken by Peter Hinson, and you can buy it from his sister on Etsy if you click here.
One of my favorite books that I’ve read this year so far is Ethel Rohan’s wonderful debut, Cut Through the Bone. I finally had the chance to review it over at Vouched.
xkcd put together this chart that breaks down how much radiation we’re exposed to normally, how much the Japanese around the power plant and elsewhere are being exposed to, and what exactly that means in terms of health and safety. Really interesting stuff.
I’m reading this weekend in DC with Joseph Riippi, Laura van den Berg, and Paul Zaic at the inaugural reading of the Three Tents Reading Series, put together by the folks at Big Lucks. If you’re here or close, come on over at 7pm Saturday the 26th, to the Big Hunt in Dupont Circle, and watch some good people read. This should be a very fun event.
Over at Fiction Writers Review, Tyler McMahon reviews Alan Heathcock’s short story collection, Volt. I’ve been very much looking forward to reading this one, and even if I hadn’t been McMahon’s review would have sold me. Love this:
Heathcock’s third-person narrator has the big heart and bright socks of a Garrison Keillor, but the bad liver and hard knuckles of a Raymond Chandler. (more…)
NEW NEW NEW NEW IMPROVED EMPRISE REVIEW – NOW WITH ACTION-PACKED ISSUE 18!
March 22, 2011
That’s right, kittens. Gotta tell you about a whole new thing over at Emprise Review. Yes, we know our site has been in maintenance mode for a while. Yes, we know it’s been a while since the last issue. But we think it’s been worth it. Truly. I mean, have you seen how great the site looks? That’s all thank to our Editor-in-Chief, Patrick. He’s done a fabulous job making this site awfully specutacular.
And now…drumroll please…THERE’S A BRAND NEW ISSUE! Yes, brand-spanking new and full of amazing amazingness by some of your favorite writers and some new ones who we think will become some of your favorite writers. Check it out, read the pieces, give the writers some love, won’t you? All of our issues have been amazing but I really do think this might be the tippy top of the heap so far. Everything in it is nothing short of greatness.
FICTIONEvery Day Periplaneta Americana Now With 50% More Domestic Problems Stillborn Box Riders This Fog of Ash The Lobbers Share Thanksgiving as an Asteroid Hurtles Toward Earth Quickly Kill Yourself (viii) |
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FEATURED WRITERSESSAYWhat’s Left Behind: Memories From A High School Yearbook POETRYArs Poetica Sky Poem |
Every single Wonderfort piece so far is amazing. So is this poem by Peter Schwartz.
March 14, 2011 — 2 Comments
It is called 104 F. I don’t know how to do the little degree thing on my computer. Hopefully Peter will forgive me.
His poem is beautiful and you should read it. It’s well worth your time.
PANK 5! IS SO GOOD! And not because I’m in it.
March 1, 2011 — 2 Comments
Though my piece in the new Pank IS one of my very very favorites. This is such a standout issue. More risks taken. More experimentalism. More new faces. More extraordinariness.
Here are some favorites from the issue (though you should really just read it all, front to back and cover to cover and upside down and in a mirror): J.A. Tyler’s oddly lovely story; a raw and revealing and really great piece by Rion Amilcar Scott; Brian Oliu’s strange and wonderful story that begins with a file extraction and pulls you in with the weight of the whole world; Lauren Becker’s award-winning “The Apple Dress” which you MUST read; “The Right Company for Death,” by Lydia Ship; an amazing multi-faceted glittery piece, “The Bell Curve,” by Valerie Suffron; two great, rubbed bare stories by the always top-notch Andrea Kneeland; “Quisling” by Nick Ripatrazone; Lucas Southworth’s creepy-good Little Red story; and brilliant side-by-side poems by xTx and Sheldon Compton. Oh, and the artwork! Genius.
Good job, everyone in this issue. Thank you, Roxane Gay and Matt Siegel, for another amazing issue.
Anyone, if I spelled your name wrong, I’m sorrier than I can say. I’m reading from notes scribbled at three in the morning and as you probably would guess, my handwriting is not so awesome even at three in the afternoon. But I love you all anyway.
As if I didn’t already love Guillermo Del Toro.
February 7, 2011 — 6 Comments
This profile cements the love. (I really really really wish he were still directing The Hobbit.) He loves monster and monster makeups the way Rick Baker does, the way Forrest Ackerman did, the way Tom Savini does, the way Lon Cheney Sr. did. But there’s more to him than just the horror fanboy, obviously. This rather hits it perfectly:
A del Toro monster is as connected to a succubus in a Fuseli painting as it is to the beast in “Predator.” His films remind you that looking at monsters is a centuries-old ritual—a way of understanding our own bodies through gorgeous images of deformation.
I’ve watched Del Toro’s movies again and again and again, marveling at the worlds he creates but especially at the creatures that inhabit them. They’re unlike anything else. Yet we know them like ourselves, in a strange way. They’re the insides out of us. This sort of explains why that’s so. Read read read.
Seth Fried is an Original and Here is an Interview to Prove It
February 2, 2011
Seriously, of all the names I hear bandied about in the tiny literary world I inhabit, I don’t hear Seth’s nearly as often as I should. That needs to change. The minute I read Seth’s piece in One Story I was floored by the originality of his voice. I wish people would stop comparing him to George Saunders. (I wish people would stop comparing everyone to George Saunders.) Seth’s voice is all his own and I think his debut collection is going to knock people backwards when they read it.
So, read the interview here and see if you don’t agree. Even just with this excerpt:
If a story is all concept and no urgency, I think that’s when you run the risk of shallowness and/or gimmickry. Conversely, if a story is all urgency with no concept to make it compelling, you can start to run the risk of sentimentality and/or preachiness. What works for me is to decide first what urgent thing I’m hoping to express, and then to come up with a concept/scenario that suits that urgent thing. Of course, both the urgent thing and the concept can change radically throughout the writing of a given story. What’s important is that there be a strong relationship between the two.
Here’s an example of what I mean:
You mentioned a story of mine called “Life in the Harem,” which is about a man who is inexplicably placed in a King’s harem alongside a bunch of beautiful women. Summarizing it like that, it definitely sounds overtly concept-y. But the idea grew out of real anxieties I had about the way heterosexual men seem to perceive desire in our culture.
David Foster Wallace once wrote in a criticism of one of John Updike’s protagonists, “[...] he persists in the bizarre, adolescent belief that getting to have sex with whomever one wants whenever one wants is a cure for human despair.” That’s an attitude that seems not only prevalent among heterosexual men in our culture, but encouraged among heterosexual men by our culture. Obviously, that’s just a gut feeling I have (probably a result of sitting through one too many Axe body spray commercials) and not something I can really substantiate here. All I’m saying is that, as a heterosexual, it was an anxiety I had about our culture. The concept of the harem provided the perfect opportunity for me to explore that anxiety. Without the idea of the harem that story would have just been me complaining about Axe body spray commercials. And, as you can tell from reading this paragraph, that would have been kind of awkward.
An AWP 2011 Edition Guide to DC for People Who Like to Eat and Drink and Aren’t Painfully Cool
January 31, 2011 — 2 Comments
You’ve no doubt read a lot of the guides and blogs and notes people have been posting about DC. And most of those people are, no doubt, super cool. Like, painfully cool. So, in solidarity with people like myself, here is an insider’s guide to DC for not-super-cool but still youngish-and-not-completely-old-fogyish people. Those of us who just like to be comfortable, eat, drink, hang with friends.
I’m 32 and married, and my body’s feeling the abuse of past years, so, you know, my clubbing and serious partying days are long long gone. The things I really like to do involve going to bookstores, eating, hanging out with friends, and drinking. Occasionally going to a show, if I really want to see the band. That’s about it. I like townie bars and cheap mom and pop ethnic food restaurants. I like ripped seats in my bars, and I don’t like scenes in my bookstores–I prefer to actually look at books. I like quiet, and I hate waiting in long lines to get into a restaurant or bar. So, if that stuff really isn’t your thing; if you’re more into, say, drinking fancy drinks in the kinds of bars that celebrities hang out in, or eating at the latest four star white tableclothy restaurant, then probably you shouldn’t read any further. Just sayin’.
Also, I’ve tried to keep most of this central to where AWP is happening–but not all of it because a)DC is a really, really tiny city. Seriously. and b)public transportation here, while maddening sometimes, is quite extensive and as a last resort, unlike NYC, you can pretty much always catch a cab.
Do’s and Don’ts
- DO NOT wear your conference badge or name tag outside of the conference. We get LOTS of conferences and most of them are full of really annoying tourists, so that lanyard is a great way to ID you from far away and decide to treat you like an utter moron.
- DO stand to the right, walk to the left on the Metro or people may kill you. Know how to work your metro pass ahead of time so you don’t jam the line, especially at rush hour. And please, for the love of jesus, don’t take pictures of the metro escalators. We really, really hate that. Give yourself plenty of time if you’re taking the Red Line anywhere, which you will be. DC Metro has no money and something is always breaking down and it’s usually on the Red Line, causing massive delays and irritation.
- DO NOT ask directions of any group of grown men playing dice in the street or alley, or sitting or standing around a van parked in a deserted parking lot during the middle of the day.
- DO bring CASH for cabs! They do not have credit card readers which is both infuriating and aggravating but like most things about DC, no one will fix this. DC cabs used to charge by zone which was a great way to rip off drunk tourists, but now they charge by the mile like everywhere else.
- DO NOT assume that if the sign says “Mexican”, it really is. Mexican food is not actually Mexican in DC. It’s actually Salvadoran, most of the time. Or Salvadoran attempts at Mexican food. I would recommend skipping it, especially if you come from anywhere that actually has authentic Mexican eats.
- DO NOT hang around outside of bars in Adams Morgan or Dupont Circle at 2 in the morning drunk as shit and loudly and obviously looking at your map. You will get mugged, and you will totally deserve it.
- DO relax. Crime in DC, aside from petty theft and car break-ins, is pretty much gang-related and drug-related. Are you in a gang? Do you plan to buy drugs here? No? Then you’ll probably be fine. Just be smart, don’t hang out in out of the way places looking like a tourist, and know where you’re going and how you’re getting there ahead of time.
Where to Eat
There are lots of good eats in DC. We have people and food from all over the world here, so take advantage! In Cleveland Park/Woodley Park/Adams Morgan/Dupont, where you’ll probably be, there are a million good restaurants. And luckily for you, eating is pretty much my favorite activity, next to drinking, reading, and sleeping, so I’ve got lots of experience in this department.
For cheaper but delicious food some of my favorites are: Meskerem (Ethiopian), Open City (Americanish), Himalayan Heritage (Himalayan/Tibetan), Thaiphoon (Thai, duh), Vace (Italian deli-style, no eating in, great pizza), Tono Sushi (Japanese) and Ray’s Hellburger, which, okay, is in Arlington but still close and the best damn burgers I’ve ever had. Matchbox in Chinatown is always a long wait but has excellent pizza for not that much. Sichuan Pavillion is on K street and has the best Chinese you can get in DC and it’s dirt cheap. (Outside of DC is another story, but since you won’t have a car let’s not worry about that.) There are also food carts all over DC, so keep a look out for some good, cheap burritos or salad or falafels or whatever.
If you’re willing to fork out a little more, and willing to travel a little further in some cases, you can eat at some of my favorite favorite restaurants in DC. Downtownish there’s Acadiana (Cajun/Creole), in Chinatown/Penn Quarter (just a quick ride away on the Red Line) there’s Jaleo (Spanish tapas) and Rasika (Indian, and my favorite restaurant in DC. You’ve never had Indian like this), Las Canteras (Peruvian) in Adams Morgan, Palena and Ripple in Cleveland Park (New American), and Etete (Ethiopian) over near U Street.
Where to Drink
Recessions on K Street is divey, cheap, and anonymous, and has an awesome happy hour. My favorite bar is The Raven, in Mt. Pleasant, but it’s tough to get to so you might want to cab it if you’re really intrepid. The Pharmacy Bar in Adams Morgan is another favorite, small and dark and friendly. The Black Squirrel, also in Adams Morgan, has the best damn beer on tap but be prepared to pay kind of a lot. And Toledo Lounge in Adams Morgan may not look so exciting from the outside but it’s a cozy, boothy favorite. The 4Ps (where I’ll be reading on Thursday!) is a giant Irish bar, in Cleveland Park. Busboys and Poets is further away but is hip and fun and has good food and drinks as well as books and literate-type people. Tryst is cozy and you can curl up on a couch and drink coffee, too. Gay bars, either Cobalt or JR’s, in Dupont Circle.
Books!
These are my favorites though there are more:
Politics and Prose is hands down my favorite bookstore in DC–it’s hard to get to, though, since it’s not really metro accessible or at least, it’s quite a walk from nearest Metro stop. But it’s worth a visit if you have time and cab fare or a friend with a car, or time to take the bus. It’s big and stocks a nice variety of lit mags and tons of books on (what else) politics, the staff is really nice and passionate about books, plus really nicely curated fiction section and more. I love it.
Kramerbooks is pretty good–they have a pretty good selection, and the staff are knowledgable, so if I know exactly what I need I can go grab it quickly–but oh my god I can’t stand it there sometimes because it’s TOO FUCKING CROWDED! This is not Kramerbooks’ fault, I want to make this clear–but the space is tiny and there are all these dumb DC hipsters desperately trying to hitting on one another and standing in front of any single book you want to look at because all the guidebooks say “this is the place to meet other smart singles,” and after a while you just want to get out of there because you’re so claustrophobic and so irritated at the non-book-related activities jamming up the place.
Busboys and Poets. Progressive, lots of great events and readings, great staff, plus good food and good bar and music. Can’t go wrong here. But it’s not someplace I get to a lot, sadly, since it’s kind of a pain to get to from my place. I’m more apt to drive up the street to Politics and Prose most days than switch Metro lines to get over to B&P.
Borders on K Street. Yes, it’s a Borders, but a pretty damn good Borders and they have a gigantic fiction selection and excellent history section at this one. If you can’t find it at another bookstore, and you gotta shop chain, this is the place to go.
Other
The National Zoo (which is right across the street from my apartment–wave and say hello!) and which is a really great zoo that funds all kinds of important wildlife rescue efforts and happens to have NEW BABY LION CUBS THAT ARE THE CUTEST THING THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN.
The Hirschhorn is a great modern art museum. The Phillips Collection is excellent, also. The Spy Museum is fun but costly. The National Portrait Gallery is neat, as is the Library of Congress. The National Mall sucks balls and I apologize for its ugliness in advance. We have no money to make it not ugly. All the other touristy stuff, you have guidebooks to tell you about. Some of it is cool but I’ve been to all of it so many times I never want to discuss it again.
Welcome to DC! If you’re from the south or the west, it’s really cold so bring a warm coat and lots of sweaters. And sensible shoes. If you’re from the midwest you’ll be fine. In fact you’ll laugh at the mildness of our winters.
And feel free to email or comment or whatever with questions, if you have them. Have fun! Hope to see you here, soon.
Laura van den Berg Interviews Jim Shepard
January 25, 2011 — 2 Comments
I am extremely jealous that it is not me interviewing Jim Shepard, who along with George Saunders and a select few others, is my living literary model and hero.
On the other hand, Laura does a wonderful job and I suck at interviewing, so probably I should be grateful to her, and in fact I am. You should be, too. Read the interview! It’s really good stuff.
Get yer JMWW Anthology V, hot off the presses and full of good words!
January 17, 2011
Everyone. You need to order this, and not because i’m in it–but because these people are: Lindsay Ahl, Matt Bell, George Blecher, Andrew Borgstrom, Callista Buchen, Alan Stewart Carl, Alexandra Chasin, Kim Chinquee, Robert Coover, SL Corsua, Patrick Dacey, Jeremy M. Davies, Nicelle Davis, Andy Devine, Spencer Dew, Brian Evenson, Jon-Michael Frank, Timothy Gager, Scott Garson, Katrina Gray, Justin Hamm, Jane Hammons, James Hannaham, Clarinda Harriss, Lily Hoang, Tim Horvath, Joanna Howard, Jamie Iredell, Brian Kiteley, Norman Lock, Ben Loory, Robert Lopez, Sean Lovelace, Miguel Morales, David Peak, Emily Peterson Crespo, Nate Pritts, Timothy Raymond, Ethel Rohan, Davis Schneiderman, Savannah Schroll Guz, Laura Ellen Scott, me, Ken Sparling, Terese Svoboda, and J.A. Tyler. Seriously. That’s a LOT of good shit. And it only costs $10. For 148 pages! You can get it here or at AWP.
And while you’re purchasing said anthology, don’t forget to check out jmww’s winter 2011 issue, now up and full of goodness.
If you go to two readings at AWP, go to these.
January 11, 2011 — 2 Comments
Are you coming to my town for AWP this year? First of all, please stand to the right and walk to the left. I don’t want to have to tell you this again. Also, please do not wave down the food carts as they operate legally here and you don’t have to flag them down. Just find a nice parked cart and grab some tasty pizza/burritos/yogurt/falafals/whatever your pick.
Next, you should obviously go to way more than two readings. And I’m sure you will. But if you DO only make time for two, you should make time for these two. Not only am I reading at these fine events, but hello look at the names and tell me these lineups aren’t amazing-times-a-hundred.
PANK/Annalemma/Mudluscious Divination in DC: Thursday night, February 3 @ 7:00-10 pm at Ireland’s 4Ps, 3412 Connecticut Ave. It’s about a 20 minute walk from the convention center, or a five minute walk from my apartment. 
It’s also a lazy person’s Metro ride from Woodley Park to Cleveland Park metro on the Red Line.
Not only is the venue huge and roomy and a great bar with great food and great beer, but look at this lineup: Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz, Tim Jones-Yelvington, Gregory Sherl, Molly Gaudry, Steve Himmer, Jesse Bradley, Ben Brooks, Mel Bosworth, Sal Pane, Sasha Fletcher, Mary Miller, Ethel Rohan, Michael Stewart, Rob Roensch, Brian Oliu, Mathias Svalina, Matt Salesses, and me.
Yeah. Be there. And be here, too, on Friday (and it’s only until 11 so yes you can totally go to this AND the after-Lit Party thing at the Black Cat. That’s probably what I’ll be doing.):
WHO: Kim Chinquee, Roy Kesey, Lindsay Hunter, Nicolette Kittinger, Tom Williams, Al Heathcock & Scott McClanahan, and me. And sponsored by the good folks at Annalemma.
WHAT: A night of irreverent readings, an extraordinary raffle, and more.
WHEN: Friday, Feb 4 at 8pm
WHERE: Mie N Yu 3125 M Street in Georgetown
And event organizer Jim Ruland (who was really extraordinarily kind, along with Annalemma, to invite me to participate) says to “check back over the next few weeks with exclusive interviews with the readers, special offers and discounts for AWP participants, and merch to be given away.”
