And I think a lot of American life resolves into certain versions of subculture. The people I know in rural Maine will say to me, “Not only have I never been to New York but I would never wish to go.” It’s just an inconceivable world. Well, Mainers don’t go to conventions where they wear nametags that say “I’m from Maine and my name is such-and-such.” But they are also participants in a sub-cultural identity as Mainer—specifically, this flinty, caustic, sea-salty, coastal Maine identity is a subculture. It may not have as many love beads as being a hippie, and it wouldn’t be very willing to see itself in the framework I’m proposing as analogous to MFA programs. But it’s another kind of sub-cultural choice that’s been made.

There are only subcultures, in a way, is what I’m saying, and then an idea of a whole or outside. Even “mainstream” literary authority—let’s just say, to be able to isolate more or less what we mean—the people who are routinely asked to write reviews for the New York Times Book Review and therefore, and let’s please understand that it is therefore, guaranteed that their own books will be reviewed by the New York Times Book Review, among whom I will now number myself. As hegemonic and oppressive as the assumptions that go with that, the degree to which that subculture has the privilege and utilizes the privilege of pretending there are no other literary cultures besides itself, it’s also still a subculture, where social reinforcements and tribal ritual prevail. And where a limited number of people are executing maneuvers amongst one another as though it is a whole world, but it’s not.

YES. THIS.

Both these issues are remarkable, remarkable, remarkable. As always, as ever, artistry shining sharp and deep through. I am surrounded in both by too many amazing writers to put to pen (or pixel) here, but take it from me: you must read both these publications all the way through.

My piece in Gargoyle, “The Woman Across the Water Wore the Shape of Love,” can be found here.

And my piece in Smokelong Quarterly (which you might like if you’re a fan of Peter Pan–or not a fan at all) is called Never Never, and can be found here.

Enjoy! And seriously–read the whole thing(s.)

WEEP…to read Michael Kimball’s sad and creepy and lovely new flash, at Matter Press!

DIVE IN…to Chantel Louise Tattoli’s excellent, fascinating essay on the Little Mermaid statue and its anthropological history!

DISCOVER…interviews, articles and more, as The Lit Pub celebrates xTx’s amazing book, Normally Special!

GET PUMPED…and pre-order a book by Lauren Becker, Erin Fitzgerald, Kirsty Logan, Michelle Reale, and me called SHUT UP/LOOK PRETTY, published by Tiny Hardcore Press, the likes of which is going to rip your face off!

GASP…as you discover that you, yes, YOU, can get the brilliant Laura Ellen Scott’s new book, Death Wishing, on Kindle for exactly ZERO DOLLARS HOLY SHIT DO IT NOW.

Whew. Wipe brow. Exhale. Now go shopping.

I have a new piece, “Five Kinds of Human History,”  in the DC-based Big Lucks magazine, thanks to Mark Cugini and Laura Spencer, the fabulous editors of that publication. It’s a great issue, full of really good poetry and fiction by people like Ryan W. Bradley, Dawn Elisa Gabbert, Ricky Garni, Joe Hall, Kathleen Rooney, Nick Ostdick, Nick Ripatrazone, Justin Sirois, and, J.A. Tyler. Best get you some words today. 

And Mud Luscious Press is fast becoming one of the most consistently stellar presses out there. They keep pumping out these terrifically designed, beautifully and engagingly written small books and this makes me happy. What makes me newly happy about MLP? They’ve just released my friend and terrific writer Robert Kloss’s magnificent How the Days of Love and Diptheria, as part of their Nephew imprint. Buybuybuy!

John Sevier
Aubrey Hirsch

Gilly the Goat-Girl
Julie Innis

Karen The Temp
Jason Jordan

The Irradiated Man
Ken Poyner

The Wolf Who Cried Boy
Sam Rasnake

The Kimono Tailor
Eric Dreyer Smith

POETRY

Vanessa Blakeslee

Christopher Dungey

Brett Elizabeth Jenkins

James Silas Rogers

REVIEW

Fragmentation + other stories
Reviewed by Nathan Huffstutter
]]> http://ambernoellesparks.com/2011/08/02/have-you-read-emprise-review-20-yet/feed/ 0 emprise20 anoelle emprise20 http://ambernoellesparks.com/2011/08/02/issue-four-of-a-genius-mag-arrives-zine-scenes-the-reprint/ http://ambernoellesparks.com/2011/08/02/issue-four-of-a-genius-mag-arrives-zine-scenes-the-reprint/#comments Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:54:49 +0000 Amber Sparks http://ambernoellesparks.com/?p=1874 ]]>

Image by Joe Scarano

I think the Reprint is one of the best ideas in indie lit today. I think it’s brilliant. Take stories, that let’s face it, probably most people haven’t read because not a lot of people are buying print mags nowadays, and reprint them in their own beautifully illustrated online magazine. Voila! Genius.

This, the fourth issue, is as fantastic as the last three and features stuff from top-notch writers like xtx, Brandi Wells, Meg Pokrass, Kirsty Logan, Aubrey Hirsch, Roxane Gay, Adam Moorad, and Travis Hessman; creepy-great artwork that made me think of nothing so much as Ren and Stimpy (also genius, still) by Joe Scarano; a kick-ass intro by Sarah Rose Etter, and interviews with Travis Hessman and Annalemma Editor Christopher Heavener.

I know, right? Get to reading! Seriously, this is one I read cover to cover every time because not only is it a great idea, but editor Richard Mocarski is an amazing curator with really terrific taste in fiction and in writers of fiction. This one should always be on your go-to list for great fiction, on and offline.

Ai Weiwei has been released!

Mel Bosworth’s highly anticipated novel, Freight, is available for pre-order.

This piece by Christy Crutchfield in The Collagist is well worth your time.  Promise.

Al Gore has a great piece about climate deniers in July’s Rolling Stone.

Having lived in college towns in both Wisconsin and Minnesota, I’m more than familiar with sports-born rioting. And no one riots quite like a hockey fan. And so having witnessed my share of violence-by-rioter, it warms the cockles of my heart to see that at least the crowd in Vancouver could be persuaded to refrain from book-burning, for Christ’s sake.

Sarah Palin continues her quitting streak.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, is as pleasurable to read as Christopher Hitchens tearing some writer a new asshole. And when that writer is David Mamet, smug and self-satisfied after giving birth to a monstrously-formed, cobbled-together-by-orcs-on-speed political philosophy, the pleasure increases ten-fold.

Damn. That is a LOT of money. Go get some, writers!

How can you not love this picture? Taken from the Tumblr blog linked here, Awesome People Hanging Out Together.

Jen Michalski has an amazing new story in the latest issue of Bluestem. In fact, lots of people have amazing stories in the latest issue of Bluestem, so you should definitely read through it.

You probably noticed–since there so many great things posted and written there–but Matt Bell, at his blog, spent the entire month of May writing about short stories for Short Story Month. And I mean WRITING. There was so much good stuff, both from him and his guests, that I’ll be taking stuff away for a long time to come.  And now he’s written a beautiful essay about the experience which makes me so proud to be a part of this writing community, and he’s put his writing into an e-book that you should certainly download, and he’s put up links to all the posts as well. Bookmark this! Get the ebook! It’s free, dummies! Why wouldn’t you? Matt retains his title as the Hardest Working Man in the Indie Lit World and ups the ante for anyone else who’s gunning for that title.  Seriously.

The always excellent Roxane Gay has a really, really good story in The Fiddleback. You should read it here .

The Lit Pub has launched into being! What the hell is the Lit Pub? Well, it’s Molly Gaudry, Chris Newgent, Mike Young’s press Magic Helicopter, and a whole bunch of other hardworking indie writer/publisher/editor/publicist types. It’s great literature. It’s support. It’s a community. It’s a conversation. It’s a bunch of really really good books and people who feel passionately about them. No need to say more–I’ll let Lit Pub explain itself, here.

Finally, perfect for Friday, how great is this Tumblr blog? Awesome People Hanging Out Together? I could look at these for hours. I kind of did. Your turn.

Have a great weekend wherever you are and hope the weather is what you want it to be. Inside and outside.

I loved this essay. Jessica Kane, thank you. I love (good) historical fiction and I love the blurred lines between history and memoir and interpretation and biography and fiction and I, too, am ” missing the gene others seem to have that makes them worry, when they read a novel, about what is true. ” I also have concerns about the maligning of historical fiction as some sort of sub-genre, as if all history weren’t fiction, as if all history weren’t interpretation, as if anything other than a rote recitation of dates and names and places was could be other than subjective, spun, partly conjecture.

Celebrate Pushkin’s birthday with Melville House! This offer makes me outstandingly happy:

To help you get into the spirit of the thing, Melville House is offering all of our Russian novellas at 50% off the retail price—for one day only. That includes Pushkin’s own Tales of Belkin, Tolstoy‘sThe Death of Ivan Ilych and The Devil, Dostoevsky‘s The Eternal Husband, Gogol’s How the Two Ivans Quarrelled, Turgenev‘s First Love, andMy Life by Anton Chekhov. Clicking on the titles above will take you directly to the book page.

I love this piece by Sarah Rose Etter at Matter Press. Love, love, love.

Have you been reading Everyday Genius this month? No? Shame on you. Go back and read, every single day. Genius abounds, just like the site promises.