The terrific Gary Amdahl (Visigoth, I Am Death), talks shop with A Public Space.
Meta-Dialogue
A Screwball Tragedy
"Expertly constructed, Mister Monkey is so fresh and new it’s almost giddy, almost impudent with originality. Tender and artful, Prose’s 15th novel is a sophisticated satire, a gently spiritual celebration of life, a dark and thoroughly grim depiction of despair, a screwball comedy, a screwball tragedy." Cathleen Schine reviews Francine Prose's newest novel, Mister Monkey, over at The New York Times.
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Septuagenarian Akutagawa Prize Winner
Paging Sonya Chung and the rest of the Bloom gang: one of this year’s Akutagawa Prize winners is a seventy-five year old woman named Natsuko Kuroda. How’s that for a Post-40 Bloomer? (h/t Dustin Kurtz)
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Plan B
"It’s rough out there for artists and writers right now, I know. There are days when you just want to throw in the towel, say fuck it, fake your own death, give insurance fraud a go, and live out of a Winnebago somewhere in remote Ontario. That’s a good plan—that’s a really good plan—but remember, you’ve got options." The Paris Review considers the life of artist Reuben Kadish, who bought a disused dairy farm, made it a viable business in a decade's time, and changed his medium from painting to sculpture in the process.
For those of us who refuse to trade in the typewriter, however, there's always our popular piece on how to write a novel.
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Literary Libya
Those following this weekend's events in Tripoli will no doubt be interested in Banipal's issue dedicated to Libyan fiction. And, as Moammar Gaddafi's reign appears to be ending, the Guardian's evisceration of his short stories is worth a read. On NPR's site, Hisham Matar also explains the influence of Gaddafi's rule on Libyan writing.
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Self-Published, Self-Promoted
Four days ago, The New York Times exposed the practice of purchasing five-star reviews on Amazon. So far, few have offered solutions. A Reddit user explains how to properly read Amazon review graphs through the cloud of purchased hype. Erin Keane calls for independent writers to hold themselves to higher standards.