Cell Stories

You may have studied cell theory, the concept that all life is made up of cells; read The Count of Monte Cristo, certain action of which takes place in a dark cell; or heard of the cell phone novels, written by people tapping on cell phone keys on their commutes to work and whose pen names, like Mone and Mika, are made up of few syllables.

OK, forget all that. Daniel Sinker, who teaches journalism at Columbia College in Chicago and blogs about media for the Huffington Post, has developed Cell Stories, which will deliver a story to iPhones, iPod Touches, or other mobile devices each day for free.

So. Send your work. All sorts: 1500–2000 words of fiction, creative nonfiction, personal narrative, or literary journalism, Sinker just requested that it be good. Here's an article about it. Submit to: stories@cellstories.net. (And, no, these Cell Stories, by Lilly Zhang, aren’t the same thing. But go there, too.)

E. Ethelbert Miller and Assorted Friday Things

• E. Ethelbert Miller reads from his book The Fifth Inning, 7 pm, Monday March 16, at Busboys and Poets, 14th and V streets NW. The first publication from Busboys and Poets Press.
• Soon-to-be-mustachioed volunteers of the Capitol Letters Writing Center in the WaPo! CLWC is truly a bright spot in a world that needs one (seriously).
• Speaking of hirsute DC residents, this May 31 is Walt Whitman’s 190th birthday, which you can celebrate now or then by downloading Leaves of Grass in its entirety, or shouting poetry in the street . . .
• Which brings us to Poetry Please, the BBC program for which listeners send in their favorite poems to be read by a cast of actors (like Judy Dench and Ian McKellen), now in its 30th year.
• Completely unrelated to anything, here’s a site that defines (and, I guess, helps you avoid) clichés. But people who don’t know, maybe they should read a little, live a little? (OK, yes, I’m making a case for listening to the BBC.)
• Apparently you can now, literally, feel as if you have ice water in your veins. It’s a bit creepy, this article. Could be fodder for a story? I don’t know. (It’s Friday the 13th?)

AWP, Aggregated

Er, ah, so, I really did hope someone would lord their experience at AWP in Chicago over us, but, yes, irony isn’t the best means of inspiration . . . anyway, here, Dear Reader, flies a try at vicarious blogospheric connective tissue:

• For the live blog, see this here.
• For an aggregation of links, see one fell swoop at Rarely Likeable. With links to more links! And a small, mysterious helicopter . . .
• The Writer’s Center, briefly. Said to expand . . .

• To inspire anxious hope that Mike Scalise found his luggage and his reading went well . . . 
• From Work in Progress, the exhaustedness and the excitedness.
• Poet Sandra Beasley, highlightedly.
• For an incredibly cynical view of humanity, see this essay at Agni.
• For a better example of satire, see this.

• For Ryan Call’s response to said cynicism, see this.

• For a bit of a tangent, see UNESCO designates Iowa City a City of Literature. Note to self: Field trip to UNESCO HQ (Paris!). Bring Fall for the Book invitations.
• For a reminder to get back to work, see Katherine Mansfield (quoted here), “It’s always a kind of a race to get in as much as one can before it disappears.”

"Realer than Realism"

As the theater-of-the-absurd political opera limbers up for its next round of yodeling, we might ask, can anyone write fiction better than this? Apparently, yes, say some reviews of one-time DC resident Curtis Sittenfeld’s third book American Wife (though the NYT didn't love it). Sittenfeld's protagonist bears a striking—no, no, it's pretty much Laura Bush. What to make of this? “Realer than realism”? “All too realism”? It’s not political satire, although some people averting their eyes from certain passages may wish it had been. Sittenfeld has some company in this endeavor, A.M. Homes’s “The Former First Lady and the Football Hero” (in Things You Should Know) and Robert Olen Butler’s “18 ½”—but it seems like a tightrope walk to write. You decide—catch her reading from it Friday (tonight) at 7 at Politics and Prose. And, as she told Salon, “If you don't know if something in the book has some real life parallel to the Bushes, then you should assume it's made up."

Subverting Boolean Logic and Other Stories

Here's an attempt at borrowing the Friday reins, for one Friday only:

• Although not-so-distantly-former-GMU prof Richard Bausch, in his "Letter to a Young Writer," advises to eschew politics, I couldn't resist posting Michael Kinsley's WaPost op/ed. For anyone struggling whether to tell a story from the first person, or . . . the first person. (Kind of "Malkovich Malkovich," no?)
• Speaking of jaded, see this piece in this month's Atlantic. Eloquent, with bright spots in defense of reading, but pseudonymous "Professor X" doesn't give us much hope for poor overworked untenured English instructors. You think? Well, there are other options for writers, says Keith Gessen at n plus 1. All very cheery stuff.
• So if you are looking for a very brief break from the workaday doldrums, or several very brief breaks, or one very brief break today, and another . . . anyway, go see Baltimorean Joe Young's very small dogs. They are certain not to disappoint. (Thanks to Ryan.)
• For a longer break, see this modest summer reading list (click on "Complete List"), or celebrate June as Reading the World month. Whichever. (Thanks to Cliff for this.)
• Or maybe you'd like to see what my former coworker Jeff Deck, on his Typo Hunt Across America, is up to.

And remember, the Internet goes on semester break too. If you don't see it, it can't see you, or something like that . . .

Some More Links

Okay, some Friday links to entertain the few people who read this. Some are serious and some are a little silly (the links, I mean). Otherwise, good work to everyone on finishing up the semester.

Links:

• Scott Garson, editor of the online journal Wigleaf, has begun a new award series: The Wigleaf Top 50 (very) Short Fictions. He's posted the selections for 2008 at the Wigleaf website. For those interested in online fiction, especially the really short form, this should be a good introduction to what's going on in that part of the writing world. Read his foreward to the award for an explanation and an interview over at The Elegant Variation (thanks Cliff and Matt for the news on this).
• 'Industry' blogs (courtesy of Ron Hogan at Galleycat) talk a lot about what's going in that odd world. Take, for example, this post at Editorial Ass on the state of the publishing industry. But, these blogs are mostly written anonymously, so, yeah. Anyhow, one blogger critiques query letters at The Query Shark. Another blog tracks lit agent news. And we've mentioned before the now inactive blog, Miss Snark.
• For Elizabeth: Erika Dreifus has updated another one of her e-guides. This one is a guide to book review markets (paying).
• Harper's and The New Yorker have started their own litblogs, finally. Right now, critic Wyatt Mason, has a serialized essay at the Harper's blog about contemporary literary criticism that's worth a read ("An Egg In Return").

Alright. I'm done. Now what?

'Barf-O': VQR Blogs About Rejected Subs

Over at the Virginia Quarterly Review blog, they've posted a list of comments from their submission readers about particularly 'bad' submissions. I read the post and as I read it my mind was blank. I smiled once or twice. Read the post if you'd like. I do not know why I posted this link, actually. I just turned in my thesis and I am now bored.

Here's an example of what one of their submission readers said:

"This guy has either the best or the worst cover letter ever. As for the poem, barf-o."

For more(?), go here.

The groves of academe: David Leavitt Interviewed at Court The Jesters

Leavitt, who wears many hats, one being the editor of Subtropics, is interviewed over at Court The Jesters; he talks about their fast turnaround time at Subtropics, their evaluation process, the MFA 'industry,' and the 'state' of 'fiction' 'today.'

Some excerpts for you:



DL: It's my fanatical neatness that drives us to respond quickly. I can't bear the sight of piled-up manuscripts. And yes, I see all the fiction, and Sidney Wade sees all the poetry.

In fiction we operate on the principle that most readers, when browsing through a magazine, will throw the magazine aside if the story they're looking at doesn't captivate their attention pretty fast. Accordingly Mark Mitchell and I sit down a couple of times a week with the fiction manuscripts and start reading them aloud to each other. Sometimes the MFAs participate as well. The rule is that the listener can and should shout "stop!" at the point at which s/he, if browsing, would throw the story aside. If we're able to get past the first page without throwing the story aside, we figure that the story deserves to be read. That story is then put aside and read by one of us all the way through. If the reader likes it, it's shared with others. Usually this process allows us to winnow out about 90% of the submissions. (This is a variant on the approach that my teacher of long ago, Gordon Lish, took in the workshop.)


and


DL: In all honesty, even though I teach in an MFA program, I have mixed feeling about the MFA industry (and it is becoming something of an industry). Here at UF, for instance, the quantity of applications that we receive increases substantially each year. This year we only accepted 6% of our applicants in fiction. More and more people seem to be writing.

(emphasis not mine)


Go read more of the interview, if you'd like.

New Book from Jennifer Atkinson - Spring 08

A few random things for the weekend, but first two faculty related links, and some contest info:

• I don't know how new this news is, but Jennifer Atkinson has a new book coming out with Etruscan Press - Art Taylor wrote up a quick, five minute interview in the The Mason Gazette.
• And a friend of mine pointed out this old radio interview on KCRW's Bookworm, during which Michael Silverblatt talks with Courtney Angela Brkic about her book, The Stone Fields.

Okay, now for the contest links.

• Drama over in the UK: the people running the 2008 Willesden Herald International Short Story Prize (that includes judge Zadie Smith) decided not to give out the award this year. The whole thing is sort of confusing, but basically it starts with Zadie Smith's decision to withhold the award, followed by lots of chatter from contest participants about this and that, then some weird talk of splitting the award among the short-listed authors, and then lots of shit-talking in the comments section. The happy ending? The award money will go to an international charity.
• In other contest news, Playboy is currently reading for their annual College Fiction Contest. For work-safe guidelines go here. To read last year's winner, a story called "Lizard Man" by David James Poissant from the University of Arizona, go here. And yes, MFA students are eligible, and there is no entry fee. But this is coming up soon; the post mark deadline is Feb 15th.
• The L Magazine announces its fourth annual Literary Upstart, The Search for Pocket Fiction competition. Basically, semi-finalists give live readings of their work (no more that 1,500 words) at NYC bars and compete for cash, and the judges' approval. Go here for details.
  

Okay, now for a few random things - click away:

• Luna Park, the popular lit-mag review blog, just launched their first issue. Contents include an article from Gary Percesepe on reading for the Antioch Review, an interview with Plimpton Prize winner Benjamin Percy, and an interesting essay on the latest AWP conference in NYC.
• Writer, Rejected has started a new feature at his blog Literary Rejections on Display: the Rejected Story Corner. Basically, he posts a much rejected story by some anonymous reader, and then everyone comments on it. Afterwards, he posts excerpts from the many rejections it has received so everyone can compare notes.
• An online Times article on Master Eggers.
• Discussion over at Kelly Spitzer's blog about magazines that pay versus magazines that don't and contest fees versus prize money.

That's all. Go to Candid Yak. Go to the Fiction Dinner.

Friday

So the semester's started up again - and I've got a small backlog of webjunk to look at, all of which I've blatantly stolen from other blogs. Later today I'll have the interview with Jess Anthony posted. Enjoy?

• "Will cellphone novels kill the author?" The latest doomsday story, all the way from Japan. I particularly like this bit: "As the genre’s popularity leads more people to write cellphone novels, though, an existential question has arisen: can a work be called a cellphone novel if it is not composed on a cellphone, but on a computer or, inconceivably, in longhand?" Huh?
  
• If you don't know yet, The Atlantic has opened up its online archives for free. Go there and read things.
  
• Arist Olafur Eliasson has somehow fit his house inside this very expensive book - using lasers and probably some algorithms or something. Thank you Ron Hogan at Galleycat for finding this and posting it.
  
• I've told some of you about this already: recently I received a form rejection email from Backwards City Review, a magazine I really like and will continue to submit to; unfortunately, the editors made the small mistake of copying every author they rejected (instead of blind copying, you know?) onto the rejection email list. Chaos ensued. Anyhow, for more rejection stories/reactions, you can read this blog, or this blog, or you can read this silliness. Am I wrong to say that there is something addictive about all of this?
  
• Mike has shaved the beard.
• And finally, there is hope: "Area Eccentric Reads Entire Book." From The Onion.
  

Friday

Some things to check out before we break for a week or two:

• Fiction alum Art Taylor has a series of mystery book reviews over at the Washington Post. Also, he let me know that the next MFA Alumni newsletter (the winter edition, I'm guessing) should have a plug for our blog, but he didn't reveal anything else about its contents. I imagine we can expect to get the newsletter soon though, and hopefully a few more readers will stop by as a result.
• This is an older article, but I just came across it recently. The Mason Gazette profiled fiction alumna Elyse Becker here.
• Non-fiction Mike is doing his best to grow a beard by the time he turns 30 in a few weeks. Visit him at his blog, Beard By 30, to read about it, and send him luck.
• I will not challenge this person to play Scrabbulous.
• MFA programs in the UK are catching on, it seems, but they're called MA programs, I guess.
• The New Yorker published Lethem's Fall for the Book story "The King of Sentences." The afternoon before he read it in Harris Theater, he emailed the file to me so I could print it out. Therefore, I am famous by association.
• A different kind of holiday-inspired, literature-related list: Author Suicides.
• New issue of the online journal The Quarterly Conversation is up.

Okay, that's all I've got.

Friday

For near-end-of-semester-procrastinating:

• Spray Painting Pynchon - academic graffiti...I wish I was still in college
  
• Tao Lin describes the levels of fame fiction writers can achieve
• Another list at The New York Times
• More of Tom Gauld's illustrations here

Spring Registration for Classes

Reminder: registration for Spring 08 classes starts on the 5th of November (next Monday).

And now for some random links:

• TS Eliot butchered by LOLcats here.
  
• Texas Monthly wins Best Cover Line at the American Society of Magazine Editors 2nd annual cover contest.
• Ninja Parade.
• Another thing from the Onion: Third Person Limited Omniscient Narrator Blown Away by Surprise Ending.
• The Blog of Unnecessary Quotation Marks (pretty self-explanatory).
  
• Fiction on Demand has a submission postage calculator.

Okay, that's all I've got for now; I'll have an interview with Alexis Santi (Fiction 07) up next week hopefully.

Friday

I'd like to dedicate this post to Wade.

http://fbcoxfordcollege.blogspot.com/2007/10/some-poetry.html

"Most sniglets are too clever for their own good"

The TimesOnline has an interesting piece about how we make up words to fill "lexical gaps," those ideas and things that we have trouble describing. Actually, I think it's an excerpt from The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature by Steven Pinker.

I think these made up words are called sniglets? That's what Pinker says, and he seems like he would know. Anyhow, here's an example:

Furbling v. Having to go through a maze of ropes at an airport or bank even if you’re the only person in line.

The excerpt also talks about how annoying these made-up words really are.

Online Stuff

I know it's not Friday, but I need to catch up. Here are a few random things I've found to look at in my spare time:

• Mark Z. Danielewski interviewed at Metromix about his latest experimental novel, Facebook, and idyllic writing retreats to Montana. *Spoiler Alert* For those that haven't read (nor flipped through) one of his books, he uses lists. Lots of them.
• Peter Sacks takes a break from his labor in the trenches of the "midlist" to diagnose the poor state of reading and writing in America today. The culprit: " the Huxleyan drug of American Idol and Paris Hilton." I think my favorite part of the article is the link right beneath the title, which takes the concerned, intelligent, liberal, middle-class reader to some articles about Paris Hilton. And people say The Huffington Post doesn't have a sense of humor. Actually, I don't know if they say that, it just seemed like a good, empty phrase to add here.
• Whatever happened to Scotland's literary efflorescence? I did not understand this article at all, and so I thought it was hilarious.
• George Saunders on Letterman here. Watch it now.
• Bookninja is funny, but it certainly helps to have an easy target.
• World's longest novel by Richard Grossman et al to be published by FC2. To me, this sounds like it's not just one doorstop, but 4,000 doorstops.
• Poet David Keeling has been rating his rejections here for a while now. It's a pretty interesting project and has gotten him a small bit of attention from the Virginia Quarterly Review. Local writer Clifford Garstang hasn't quite followed Keeling's lead, but he does have a funny rejection story in his latest post. I still can't figure out what journal he's talking about though.
  

Friday

A headline from The Onion and a headline not from The Onion:

• "Electronic Books With Musty Book Smell Launched"
• "Hard To Tell If Wikipedia Entry On Dada Has Been Vandalized Or Not"

Here and here.

Have a good weekend.