While I contemplate just what the new version of this site will entail, sans Reluctant, here are recent articles, essays, podcasts, and other strange things…
This morning, I filed for divorce from Return of the Reluctant, citing irreconcilable differences. It was an amicable parting. No children, no property to squabble…
Andrew Wheeler: “Blowing off half a year and then not doing the reading is what a layabout does at a minor state college, not the…
Ah, the folly of youth! College journalist William Sindewald had the funny idea that attending a Chris Dodd rally would reveal a limitless avalanche of…
In an act of hubris recalling Napoleon’s activities during the Hundred Days, Nick Denton has proclaimed himself emperor of Gawker. Apparently, Denton wasn’t impressed by…
Whirring wind, the whistling of asthmatic ghosts, the clinks of cans and other detritus thrown out windows by careless neighbors and left to pick up…
Longtime readers know that many years ago, I opened an envelope in my mail that contained a hastily handwritten letter and a small, poorly Xeroxed…
Laura Huxley has died. Also, I missed this but Anthony Burgess’s widow died a few weeks ago. Speaking of Burgess, it appears that some Northwestern…
This is the first in a series of posts on Lindsay Anderson’s masterpiece, O Lucky Man! The other night, I revisited O Lucky Man!, courtesy…
When the last words of a litblogger’s post are “Fuck you, B.R. Myers,” and the rest of the litblogger’s argument is ignored by a bunch…
If you are receiving email replies from me from several months ago, do not be alarmed. I’m simply very thorough about the email backlog. Many…
Publishers Weekly reports that Houghton Mifflin’s purchase of Harcourt has been effected for $4 billion. The new company will be called the “Houghton Mifflin Harcourt…
In today’s Guardian, you can find a blog post by me on current author correspondence volumes.
Diana West’s The Death of the Grown-Up, has received a handful of notices: William Grimes mocked it and The New Criterion‘s Stefan Beck was less…
In response to the NBCC’s ethics survey, Quill & Quire‘s Derek Weiler observes that Carlin Romano and company missed out on far more interesting questions…
People Paula: “I’d like to know why you have abandoned the problems we’ve had for 10 years (the reality and basic cable issues) in favor…
Stephen King’s editor Chuck Verril demonstrates the parallels between the first chapter of Duma Key and a story called “Memory” which appeared in Tin House.
GQ: “Well, as you may have heard, I’m mainly a fiction writer. So I apologize in advance for my ineptitude.” (via Erin)
AP: “A man nearly died from alcohol poisoning after quaffing a liter (two pints) of vodka at an airport security check instead of handing it…
Orson Welles has made appearances in four dreams I’ve had over the past week. And I don’t know why. Either old-time radio is very much…
Today, the National Book Critics Circle ballot was issued. And as previously announced on these pages, I am running for Board Member. Even though there…
Sorry, eNotes, but any list of ball-busting women writers without Dorothy Parker, who had the glorious effrontery to tell Norman Mailer, “So you’re the young…
I’ve been tagged by Pete Anderson for a meme that involves listing the first sentence from the first post from each month of the previous…
By PDGACO payday loans uk