Lit-mag Meanjin Quarterly is taking a cue from The Millions and kicking off a new series, The Best Australian Fiction of the 21st Century (so far).
Australian Best
New Classics
The Slate staff compiled a list of “new classics” — “the most enduring” books, shows, movies, and ideas since 2000.
Appearing Elsewhere
A slightly different version of my story “Salt Lick” (originally published in 2006, in the Los Angeles Times Magazine) is now at Flatmancrooked.
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“Because I speak in tongues”
Friday would have been Ray Bradbury’s 94th birthday, which is why Dan Piepenbring, at The Paris Review Daily, looked back on one of Bradbury’s classic stories and picked out some choice quotes from his Art of Fiction interview. Piepenbring also pointed out that the story gets a mention in, among other places, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. You could supplement this by reading Tanjil Rashid on the author’s Middle East connection.
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The Only Real Currency
“Produce like no one is listening. Distribute like nobody’s watching. Contribute like you’ve never been hurt.” Here is lil’ sweetheart Karl Marx like you’ve never seen him before — what a romantic!
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Lolita, in the Margins
When Vladimir Nabokov developed a screen adaptation for Lolita, his director Stanley Kubrick declared it the “best ever written in Hollywood”–meaning, it seems, most gorgeously novelistic, evocative, readable. Here’s a short excerpt of his screenplay with original margin notes.
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Bad Sex in Fiction
Bad sex in fiction! Here are your excerpts from Literary Review‘s annual contest.
Very Brief Respites from the Darkness
Want to learn filmmaking from a self-proclaimed “soldier of cinema”? Then sign up for a class with Werner Herzog. The enigmatic director, whose films include Grizzly Man and Fitzcarraldo, announced he’ll be teaching a course in the summer through the online provider Masterclass.
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“Nature” Is What We See–
“[Emily] Dickinson is often portrayed as some white gossamer recluse, completely divorced from the world outside her bedroom—but that is not really true. The physical circumference of her adult life was small, but its psychological terrain was boundless.” This piece explores the ways in which Emily Dickinson’s work was shaped by her skills as a gardener and naturalist.
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