Columns

Transgression in Theory: The Idea of a Fight Club

February 29th, 2012

Not very much has been written, on even a basic theoretical level, about this weird thing we call transgressive fiction. I call it weird because the very idea of lumping together some twisted and “dangerous” novels and seeing them as part of a “group” — or worse, a genre — feels, to me, like a bad move. Certainly, as I’ll happily concede, novels like American Psycho and Fight Club have thematic similarities, as well as stylistic ones.

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What The Hell Ever Happened To... Harry Crews?

February 28th, 2012

Harry Crews is, was, and always will be a complete and utter badass. I mean, just look at his face. Would you fuck with that guy? If you're even remotely considering the idea, I'd advise you continue reading.

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10 Graphic Novels for the Literary Minded

February 27th, 2012

As graphic novels continue to become more widely accepted by the general public, I encounter more and more people unsure about where to start reading.  There's a lot of product out there, which can make it difficult to find the right entry point.  Additionally, many pick the wrong entry point and tend to run screaming from the medium.

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Top 10 Words That Need To Die, Immediately

February 24th, 2012

Header image by Pieter Joost Lemmens The English language is full of beautiful words. Like effervescent, and skullduggery, and defenestrate.  And then there are these. These blights. Affectations that are completely devoid of meaning. Crimes against the English language that, just by saying them, you can lower any IQ within earshot. 

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LURID: Deadlier Than The Male

February 24th, 2012

LURID: vivid in shocking detail; sensational, horrible in savagery or violence, or, a twice-monthly guide to the merits of the kind of Bad Books you never want your co-workers to know you're reading.

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Film is Truth? Why Writing Novels Is Probably A Smarter Career Move

February 23rd, 2012

For a guy who's no longer among the living, Stieg Larsson has had a hell of a few years.

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They Do Not Move: Why Boredom is No Excuse

February 23rd, 2012

Why bother? The thought entered my mind every few minutes as I stumbled through another page of Joyce’s Ulysses. Simple answer: I was seventeen and wanted people to think I was intelligent. Other sufferings motivated by just such a pretentious goal: Beckett, Dostoyevsky, Faulkner, Borges, and Nabokov. I’m glad nobody asked me to explain these works. In stable adulthood, most if not all of those authors rank among my favorites, but first introductions were an utter failure. Why?

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Writing in the Negative

February 22nd, 2012

When physicists first discovered the existence of black holes, they identified these gravitational oddities not by physically seeing them, but by noticing how neighboring celestial bodies reacted in their presence. It was enough to compel scientists to rethink their observations, to realize contemporary models were missing a component — albeit one not visible to the human eye.

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The Age of No Controversy

February 22nd, 2012

After my last column on required reading (and after leaving my newly purchased copy of Crime and Punishment on a plane), I decided to put my money were my mouth was and picked up a digital copy of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a novel I had tragically under-read when it was assigned to me in high school. While reading, I found myself wondering about the controversy Golding’s tale generated upon its release.

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Ask The Lit Coach: "Should I Submit Queries To Publishers If My First Novel Isn't Finished?" and More

February 21st, 2012

Certainly, successes in self and ePublishing have shaken the traditional publishing model. Having your work quickly realized as a book, bypassing agents and scores of rejection letters may appear alluring, however there are no short cuts when it comes to good craft. Good writing is still good writing and everything that follows in marketing, promoting and selling the work takes a tremendous amount of time, energy and persistence.  

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