At its best, the Japanese Nobel Laureate’s latest novel dwells on the odd intricacy of a long-running traumatized relationship, which is equal parts love, jealousy, and sexual tension. I wasn’t feeling entirely qualified to review the newest novel from Japanese Nobel Laureate Kenzaburō Ōe, “The Changeling.” It’s the first of his novels I’ve read, and [...]

I really want to write this blog post. I really do. I’ve been wanting to write it for three weeks now. But there’s just too much else to do. And I don’t mean visiting with friends or going for a long walk through the park. I mean other things I need to write. Right now. [...]

This is the blog I publish over at Untitled Books, a literary website based in the UK that you all should check out. I’ll post all the blogs here, just in case you don’t wander that-a-way. So here’s the kind of thing I think about: if and when I publish my first novel, it will [...]

Crime and Punishment In 2001, Niccoló Ammaniti’s novel Io non ho paura (“I’m Not Scared”) was published to great acclaim in Italy. The novel takes place in Tuscany during the so-called “Years of Lead, ” when both right and left-wing paramilitary groups carried out numerous acts of terrorism across the country. In 1978 alone, more [...]

Oh, excitement! My name in the lights of Salon! I’ve included the text of the review below the screenshot, or you can click here to read it on the site proper. Sweet! Sept. 11, 2009 | Muriel Barbery’s last book, “The Elegance of the Hedgehog,” was a massive bestseller both in France and in America. [...]

This post was originally written for my arts and culture blog on Salon, Buzzkiller. All postings from that blog will also be reposted here. The New York Times reported today on a new music festival that came and went last week in Lake Tahoe, CA. Called Wanderlust Festival, it brought together loads of famous musicians—Andrew [...]

Many thanks to all those who made this video possible, especially the fantastic friend and dastardly director Chad Peiken, the gorgeous gendarme Judy Courtland, the crafty cinematographer Kelly Jones, and the phenomenal photographer Suzan Jones! Woo!

So a story I wrote a bunch of years ago was just published on the amazing website, Untitled Books. According to their website: “Untitled Books is a discerning new literary service and online bookshop that combines an authoritative selection of book recommendations with continually updated, exclusive editorial content. The online magazine, features articles, author recommendations [...]

Just wanted to do a little post on Smith Magazine, a really great website (and occasional book series) specializing in memoir, especially of the 6-word variety (After Hemingway’s famous “For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.”). The Smith editor’s blog named Brendan Byrne’s new lit mag The Orphan as one of the “Sites We Love“, and [...]

An old college friend of mine, Brendan Byrne (RIP NYU DWP), has just started an online literary magazine for material rejected from other, more “respectable” venues. It is called The Orphan. According to Brendan: “The Orphan is a nascent webzine dedicated to publishing the otherwise unpublishable: marketless short stories, chunks of abandoned novels, beautiful photographic [...]