Quick Update

by Nate

Some quick updates, and I’ll be sure to post some cooler stuff soon.  Expect at the very least some new published flash fiction around December 15th at an AS YET UNNAMED location!

I read a couple of books:

1.  Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis

This was a super, super fun read and I finished it all in literally one sitting.  It helps that it’s also pretty short.  I also laughed out loud ~10 times during the read while I was alone in my apartment.  All in all definitely recommended!

2.  The Girl on the Fridge by Edgar Keret

This one was amazing.  Mind-blowing.  I had been meaning to buy and read this FOREVER since it seems to be featured in the “staff pics” section of every indie bookstore in the Bay Area.  Seriously I have vivid memories of considering this purchase like last January at Pegasus Berkeley (hollatcha Simon!).

But seriously – believe all of the hype.  Keret is like, super famous in Israel, and it’s immediately clear why from these ultra short (like two pages each) stories / flash-fiction pieces.  Each one is a little funny, there’s a little “restrained magical realism” (to quote some reviewer) from time to time, and each one is twisted in an extremely subtle yet mind-bending, stick-with-you type of way, so you end up thinking about them over and over again.  Really really great read, especially if you don’t have lots of time to devote to a new novel and are looking for something super-satisfying and deep that you can read for only a few minutes at the time.

Some other news:

as per the usual, Sam Owen brings the nightmarishly-rad art like it’s his job.  This newish piece is a sweet example of his intersection-of-text-and-visual-art type of style.  What does it mean to write something like this as an static “art piece” that addresses like, what is happening in real time as you write it?

And finally some records I’ve been into lately!  Pictures are links 🙂