Is Mark SaFranko the greatest American writer you’ve never heard of? We don’t know, but 3:AM Magazine makes a strong case in this interview with the author who they call an heir to Charles Bukowski and John Fante. Now you’ve heard of him, at least.
You’ve Probably Never Heard of Him
Lemuel Gulliver Redux
Eighteenth century literature lives: This Christmas, Jack Black will play Gulliver in an adaption of Jonathan Swift‘s Gulliver’s Travels. See the preview here.
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The Road to Progress
Over at Full Stop, Sean Minogue argues that social media can have a positive influence on a writer’s creative development. He mentions Twitter extraordinaire Teju Cole, who thinks his involvement in online discussions “comes from the non-American part of me which is saying that novelists in every other country, with the exception of the American or the Anglo-American sphere, actually consider it part of their work to engage.” Pair with our piece on the best of literary Twitter.
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“The town was called Dayton.”
Recommended Reading: Rachael Maddux’s “Hail Dayton,” which features one of the finest opening paragraphs ever printed.
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Reading Rainbow returns!
LeVar Burton is relaunching Reading Rainbow! Though in a new form: the show that aired on PBS for 26 years will be available as an iPad app, which you can preview at engadget.
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If we explain this any more the joke will be lost
“The Time I Spent On A Commercial Whaling Ship Totally Changed My Perspective On The World,” a blogger named Ishmael writes, on the sister blog to The Onion. (But I like these titles better.)
“Cultivate Lightness”
What should you do if, horror of horrors, you find yourself appearing as a character in someone else’s book? Michelle Huneven shares her experience being fictionalized in an essay for The Paris Review. Her advice? “Don’t read too much into it. Cultivate lightness.” Pair with our profile of Huneven, “Not Lost, Just Rearranged.”
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Live Like Philip Roth, Literally
Philip Roth's New York City apartment is now for sale, and with its choice location and its floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, we doubt it will be available for very long.
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Monster Mash
Infographic of the Week: Are you ready for Halloween? Check out this infographic of literary monsters from Morphsuits at Electric Literature. Pair with our essays on reading House of Leaves on Halloween and long hallways in horror films to get in the spirit.
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