the modern rambler

about | reviews | quotes | links (i'm also on twitter & shelfari)

[modernrambler]

Here There is No Rainbow at Emrys Journal

Here There is No Rainbow at Emrys Journal

Pleasantly surprised to receive my copy of volume 36 of Emrys Journal, which features my short story “Here There is No Rainbow.” Here’s the cover:

The story has become the seed of a much longer, and evolving project, although I’m still not sure the scope of it—what it will turn into, if anything. It also served as assay into a different style I’d been playing around with for some time, and…

View On WordPress

[modernrambler]

Review of "Fever Dream" at Literal Magazine.

My review of Samanta Schweblin’s skin-crawlingly creepy Fever Dream is now live at Literal Magazine. My review, in a snippet: For Fever Dream is truly less a dream and more a nightmare, although the kind that—like the best of horror—you cannot help but wanting to see through. In a happy coincidence, the book was named to the Man Booker International Prize shortlist.

View On WordPress

[modernrambler]

Review of "Seeing Red" by Lina Meruane.

My review of the essential Seeing Red by Lina Meruane has been published over at the Colorado Review. An excerpt: One evening in New York, Lina Meruane’s body “seize[s] up” and leaves her “paralyzed, [her] sweaty hands clutching at the air.” Just as she reaches to her purse to pick up an insulin shot, a “firecracker” goes off in her head: “That was the last thing I would see, that night, through…

View On WordPress

[modernrambler]

Recent Reading.

As I’ve been mostly working on fiction lately, I’ve not been as active in my book reviewing. But I’ve still been reading—of course—so I thought I might make it a regular part of this blog to round-up some of the better books I’ve come across. The bulk of my reading lately has been as a committee member of One Book One Lincoln, the great reading program from the Lincoln City Libraries. Bound by…

View On WordPress

[modernrambler]

Of the books I read that were published in 2015, these are my favorites.

This has become a yearly tradition—joining the chorus of book lists to toss in my thoughts on the great books published this past year that I was able to read this past year. In 2014 I enjoyed Amy Bloom’s Lucky Us, among others, and the year before it was The Infatuations by Javier Marías that topped my list. For more explanation about the long title, see this post. This year, I reviewed ten…

View On WordPress

[modernrambler]

Coheed and Cambria Sing Justice Scalia's Recent Dissents.

The best part is the bringing in the “SCOTUScare” line. Funny for law nerds everywhere, and Scalia fans or haters alike.

View On WordPress

[modernrambler]

My review of "Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Days."

My review of Salman Rushdie’s latest novel is online at the Lincoln Journal-Star and in today’s (Sunday’s) paper. It starts: In all that has been written about him, no one has accused Salman Rushdie of lacking imagination. The author of the Booker Prize-winning “Midnight’s Children,” one of the past century’s great novels, as well as “The Satanic Verses,” the novel that brought a fatwa upon him,…

View On WordPress

[modernrambler]

Franzen on Turkle.

The Franzen review of Sherry Turkle's new book is so worth reading.

This review by Jonathan Franzen of Sherry Turkle’s new book is worth reading and re-reading for so many things. Here’s just a snippet: [Turkle’s] new book, “Reclaiming Conversation,” extends her critique, with less ­emphasis on robots and more on the dissatisfaction with technology reported by her recent interview subjects. She takes their dissatisfaction as a hopeful sign, and her book is…

View On WordPress

[modernrambler]

My review of "Purity."

My review of Jonathan Franzen’s latest novel, Purity, is now online at the Lincoln Journal-Star. An excerpt: There are many brilliant bits of this novel, and Franzen remains one of the country’s most gifted writers. His psychological acuity may be unmatched, at least among living American writers, and he deserves credit for squarely taking on the political — often territory even brave writers…

View On WordPress

[modernrambler]

On James Salter.

Blog post: On James Salter.

Enigmatic—and brilliant—writer James Salter has died. Invariably, the obituaries and online remembrances call him a “writer’s writer” and point to his reverential, if small, following. That is probably true. It’s ironic, then, that Salter’s true gift was how he was able to encompass the entire human experience. A couple years ago I first encountered Salter in reviewing his final novel, All That…

View On WordPress

[modernrambler]

My review of "The Narrow Road to the Deep North" is in today's Journal-Star. My review of Richard Flanagan's Man Book Prize-Winning novel, The Narrow Road to the Deep North…

[modernrambler]

"Stare Decisis" in Midwestern Gothic

Very excited to share that Issue # 17 of the great lit mag Midwestern Gothic is now out, and it includes a short story of mine, “Stare Decisis.” Here’s a somewhat representative excerpt:

Nobody told Walters, upon putting on the judicial robes, how all of his friends would change their conversations around him, how they would treat him differently. Even the longtime confidants—the ones he’d…

View On WordPress

[modernrambler]

Of the books I read that were published in 2014, these are my favorites.

Of the books I read that were published in 2014, these are my favorites.

(This is part of series I try to do every year. For more explanation about the long title, see this post.)

Fiction

Lucky Us, Amy Bloom: This sharp, short novel about the lives of two half-sisters was consistently surprising and heartbreaking. Bloom deserves more attention for it. (Review) (Buy)

10:04, Ben Lerner: Lerner, a poet, has written some of the most wonderfully interesting WMFU novels of…

View On WordPress

[modernrambler]

On the Aeropress.

Shawn Blanc:

The AeroPress has become this sort of cult classic, popular geeky way to brew coffee. Everyone with a Twitter account recommends it. There’s even an AeroPress world championship competition. And yet, while you can go to your local hipster coffee shop and buy a french press or a pourover, you’d be hard pressed to find a shop that sells (much less even uses) the AeroPress.

So for…

View On WordPress

[modernrambler]

"Stare Decisis" at Midwestern Gothic.

Thrilled that my short story “Stare Decisis” was accepted for publication at the great lit mag Midwestern Gothic. It’s my second fiction publication this year (“At the Turn” just recently appeared in Palooka), and I couldn’t be happier it’s found a home at a magazine that highlights great midwestern writing (we’re here, too, NYC and MFA).

If you’re not familiar with the Latin legal term, Cornell

View On WordPress

[modernrambler]

Fall 2014. If you're like me, and sort of obsess over computer desktops, you're always looking for something new.

[modernrambler]

On the first proofs.

As I have mentioned before, my first short story to see the light of publication (outside of student publications), “At the Turn,” was accepted by Palooka Magazine. Having just finished looking through all of the proofs, it’s sort of hitting me now that it’s actually coming out.

Although I’ve been writing fiction off and on for years, I only have recently in the last year or so started extensive…

View On WordPress