File under: books I remember remembering fondly. Ron Hogan discusses Thomas M. Disch’s “Supernatural Minnesota” novels at Beatrice.com, and I am very much intrigued. …Disch used a deeply caustic and ironic voice, and a keen sense of family drama, to carve out a unique place for himself in late 20th-century horror. I can remember reading … Continue reading
Author Archives: Tobias
November 18, 2010, Author: , Leave a comment
The unsettling fiction, and also Minnesota
Categories: BooksThose of you with a fondness for esoteric music, good literature, and the places where the two intersect may well already be readers of the fine publication known as Yeti. The tenth issue of said magazine is now available for pre-order; it contains, among other fine things, an interview I did with the esteemed Amelia … Continue reading
Made my way up to the Church of St. Paul the Apostle on Monday night for Credo, a concert held as part of Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival. The main draw for me had been a chance to see selections from Jonsi & Alex’s Riceboy Sleeps performed live, and while those pieces did impress*, the … Continue reading
So: I read me some Ulysses last week. To an extent, I did so knowing that this wouldn’t be a fully immersive experience — I had dim memories of a Martin Amis essay on Joyce’s novel rattling around in my head, had some trepidations about approaching it without a small reference library by my side, … Continue reading
Unintended radio silence. Holed up; working on a short novel and something that might end up being a novella: essentially, the most functional parts of the novel you may remember me rambling about a bit around these parts a year or two ago. It’s something of an object lesson, really: word counts of the short … Continue reading
For what it’s worth, I reviewed Matt Bell’s How They Were Found and James Kaelan’s We’re Getting On, both for the October issue of Word Riot. Here’s a bit of the Matt Bell review: From these two stories, one might take Bell for a writer on the more accessible side of experimental fiction: a curator … Continue reading
This week’s reviews at Dusted include Antony & the Johnsons’ Swanlight: Swanlights’ moves in the direction of accessibility are balanced by more unsettling moments. The pair of songs that close the album, “Salt Silver Oxygenâ€� and “Christina’s Farm,â€� are each bracing and occasionally shocking. The lyrical imagery in “Salt Silver Oxygenâ€� moves from a childlike … Continue reading
Spent a couple of hours on Sunday taking in the New York Comic Con. Visited some of the fine people from WORD, who were selling books on-site; bought work from Becky Cloonan, Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba, and Carla Speed McNeil. I did resist the urge to send a post to Twitter saying something like, … Continue reading
Another week, another handful of pieces up at Vol.1. I’ve started off a semi-regular zine review column with a look at issues of Womanimalistic and Pins & Needles. Paquita’s style here favors ornately drawn and arranged pages featuring both illustrations and test. This issue opens with a long, illustrated meditation on love, and lovers, with … Continue reading
Very quickly: it’s worth noting that Zach Baron’s “Is It Possible to Sell Out in 2010?” is one of the best pieces of music writing I’ve encountered this year. Fast forward to 2010. How do consumers vote with their dollar? By not spending it at all. Ask Ted Leo–people are no longer buying enough records … Continue reading
October 4, 2010, Author: , Leave a comment
Living Safely / Living Science Fictionally
Categories: BooksA week after seeing him read, I finished reading Charles Yu’s How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe earlier today. It’s a relatively short novel, and throughout it, Yu navigates a divide between what’s essentially an extended metaphor and a time travel storyline that’s satisfying on its own terms. And he pretty much … Continue reading
October 2, 2010, Author: , Leave a comment
Posting on the internet about movies about the internet.
Categories: FilmSome random thoughts after seeing The Social Network: The way the film is structured is particularly impressive. I’m not necessarily referring to how it covers several timeframes and weaves them together seamlessly, nor how the screenplay deals with flashbacks — the Sorkin/Fincher team does a fine job of dodging expectations for an even bigger payoff. … Continue reading
I posted this to Twitter last night, but it’s too good not to cite here as well. The Portland Mercury has a summary of a Q&A with filmmaker and writer Guillermo del Toro, and it’s fantastic — funny and smart and thought-provoking and inspirational, all at once. Such as: He is, unsurprisingly, a big book … Continue reading
September 30, 2010, Author: , Leave a comment
Thursday Night / Readings, Music, Writing
Categories: Books, MusicEnded up returning to WORD this evening to take in a reading — my fourth there in five days, as it turns out. This time, the writer in question was Joyce Hinnefeld, reading from (and interviewed about) her novel Stranger Here Below. I wasn’t all that familiar with Hinnefeld’s work before tonight, but I suspect … Continue reading
Sunday night found me in Greenpoint, taking in the first installment of the Wold Newton reading series at WORD. Reading were Brian Francis Slattery, Jonathan Berger, and Charles Yu, and hosts Edward Champion and Eric Rosenfield performed some bits between the readers that could, I daresay, be called ‘vaudevillian.’ All of the readings impressed — … Continue reading