Molly Ivins is Gone

Molly Ivins has passed away. I’m speechless. I can’t imagine a world without a Molly Ivins newspaper column. Hopefully, I can serve up some kind…

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This Explains Everything About Hemingway

This Explains Everything About Hemingway

A list of authors who wrote nude. (via Quiddity)

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Silverblatt's Scripted Pathos?

Silverblatt’s Scripted Pathos?

Escapegrace: “Anyway…at one point, Silverblatt recounted the interviews he had conducted earlier in the week – Mailer on The Castle in the Forest and Dave…

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Speculating Upon Gasps

Speculating Upon Gasps

Jonathan Ames: “On the oral-sex front, I then made a concerted effort to lick the labia, which was something I’ve been guilty of neglecting in…

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DFW Rewritten

DFW Rewritten

Here is the first paragraph of David Foster Wallace’s “Good People” rewritten: Lane A. Dean, Jr. and his girlfriend sat at a picnic table. They’d…

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Perseus Seduces Indie Publishers

Perseus Seduces Indie Publishers

This morning, Jim Milliot reports that Perseus has received signed agreements from “more than 10″ ex-PGW publishers. Presumably, this is the 70 cents on the…

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Roundup

Roundup

Hitch on One Hundred Years: “For this reader, the most arresting episode in the Macondo saga was the epidemic of insomnia that afflicted the tribe.”…

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The Latest on Perseus, PGW & AMS

The Latest on Perseus, PGW & AMS

A former Perseus employee has emailed me, observing the following: Perseus is more concerned with the distribution end of the business rather than the publishing…

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The Death and Life of a Great American City?

The Death and Life of a Great American City?

Robert Sullivan: “For the past two decades, New York has been an inspiration to other American cities looking to revive themselves. Yes, New York had…

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BSS #92: Christopher Moore

Condition of Mr. Segundo: Contemplating his vampiristic sensibilities. Author: Christopher Moore Subjects Discussed: WordStar word processors, using the nouns “monkey love” and “guy,” Midwestern vernacular,…

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Lawrence Welk Meets Velvet Underground

Lawrence Welk Meets Velvet Underground

(via Sarah)

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Reason #4,582 Why the Internet is Cool

Reason #4,582 Why the Internet is Cool

Neighbor receives aggressive notes from crazy neighbor; high school teacher discovers story and has his students read the letters set to music, as well as…

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Roundup

Roundup

It’s Stephen Graham Jones Week at the LBC. Look for copious discussion, prolific guest posts from the author and a podcast interview conducted by the…

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Jonathan Ames Alert

Jonathan Ames Alert

Long-time readers know that I once made a deal with a daemon. An evil eidolen answering to the name of Bee promised that if I…

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World's Oldest Conjoined Twins

World’s Oldest Conjoined Twins

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In Which I'm Threatened With "Legal Action" by Alice Hutchison for Something I Didn't Even Write

In Which I’m Threatened With “Legal Action” by Alice Hutchison for Something I Didn’t Even Write

Back in October, a commenter by the name of Daniel Dagan posted a comment here pointing to textual similarities between Alice Hutchison’s Kenneth Anger and…

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Markson to Naysayers

Markson to Naysayers

From The Last Novel: “Reviewers who have accused Novelist of inventing some of his anecdotes and/or quotations — without the elemental responsibility to do the…

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Could It Be That This Claim Comes from a Humorless Writer Incapable of Recognizing Extremely Clear Satire?

Could It Be That This Claim Comes from a Humorless Writer Incapable of Recognizing Extremely Clear Satire?

Babble: “Like surprisingly many people, I have always held a vague abhorrence for Neal Pollack. Could it be his claim to be the ‘Greatest Living…

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BSS #91: Valerie Trueblood & Anne Fernald

Condition of Mr. Segundo: Fleeing from disco. Guests: Anne Fernald and Valerie Trueblood Subjects Discussed: Weaknesses for beautiful books, life as “structured anarchy,” the definition…

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BSS #90: Richard Ford

Condition of Mr. Segundo: Trying to get the lay of the land. Author: Richard Ford Subjects Discussed: Bill Buford’s “dirty realism,” inland vs. coastal territory…

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Who Wrote This?

Who Wrote This?

“The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which…

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If By "Save Marriages," You Mean "Avoid Speaking to Spouse for Long Periods of Time," Sure!

If By “Save Marriages,” You Mean “Avoid Speaking to Spouse for Long Periods of Time,” Sure!

Arianna Huffington: “Why not experiment? I think Second Life will save marriages.”

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RIP Lester Borchardt

RIP Lester Borchardt

Pioneer Press: “A physicist and lifelong tinkerer, Borchardt revolutionized the breakfast cereal industry. He had a big hand in developing the technologies that allow cereal…

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Smart or Stoopid?

Smart or Stoopid?

My score is 27, but I think this test is a load of phooey. Any test that declares me this intelligent based on a fucking…

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The Skinny on Sarvas

The Skinny on Sarvas

Jewish Journal: “But to really understand why people still come to Hollywood, and why they continue to pitch and write on spec, or still write…

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This Week in Media Convergence

This Week in Media Convergence

Editor & Publisher: “Speaking to hundreds of Los Angeles Times journalists in the newspaper’s Harry Chandler auditorium this morning, editor James O’Shea outlined a bold…

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Not Even Blowjobs Can Save Your Reading

Not Even Blowjobs Can Save Your Reading

Bookish Love: “Doctorow gave the longest reading I’ve ever attended, clocking in at about 40 minutes. Although the writing was captivating and he included a…

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Problem Solved, If Some Vegetarians Stopped Being Self-Righteous Douchebags

Problem Solved, If Some Vegetarians Stopped Being Self-Righteous Douchebags

Laura Miller: “We’re so used to linking masculinity with carnivorousness that we seldom stop to recognize how illogical it is. Just because vegetarianism is correlated…

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But He Also Forgot Core Areas of Math, Geography and Where to Get the Best Tapas in His Neighborhood

But He Also Forgot Core Areas of Math, Geography and Where to Get the Best Tapas in His Neighborhood

Scientific American: “A patient who damaged his left insula, a region of the brain located deep within the cortex on either lateral side, may have…

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The Case Against Malcolm Jones

The Case Against Malcolm Jones

There’s one other thing I should note about Malcolm Jones’ laziness. I was contacted by the book’s publicist to interview Vikram Chandra. I offered profuse…

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