fiction | Nate East

Quick Update

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 🙂

November 30, 2009

Update Update

HIII

First off, a flash fiction piece of mine, “Catacomb Efreet” (kind ridiculous very ridiculous title) just went up at Dogzplot. Check it out here! Also mad thanks to Dogzplot editor Barry Graham for his advice on revisions for this piece.

Also, I set up the domain http://www.nateeast.com with this here site, so if you want to change your bookmark to something shorter go for it!! The nateeast.wordpress.com URL still works too.

Writing stuff: I’m actually really excited about a couple of the things I’ve been working on this past week. I finished two new longish (~30 lines each) poems that I’m going to start submitting this week, and also a good chunk of raw material for maybe a novella maybe some short stories, who knows. But I’m hyped on it! Shoot me an email or whatever if you’re interested in checking any of this out.

Reading stuff: I haven’t been reading too much since been focusing on writing (and riding my bike more), so I’ve been working on this guy for the past lil bit:

So far it’s a pretty weird/cool mix of “cyberpunk” and “sci-fi” whatever the difference really is, and the world created by Mieville is damn interesting. I’m not very far in as of yet. Will give longer (read: shorter) review soon!

MOST IMPORTANTLY: if you didn’t see it yet on the front page of Fecal Face, Sam Owen recently put together a really awesome flash Web ‘Zine of original art from a clutch of different artists. It’s packaged in a really sick multimedia presentation (it’s like the flash version of a moleskine with different work pasted/taped in. must see!!) and you should check it out here on Sam’s site. Takes a bit of time for the flash to load but totally worth it!

A couple still images from the ‘zine:

And finally. As you might know from my twitter I’ve been listening to this record pretty much non-stop for the past week:

Perfect for writing and/or working. Together with their new album Tarot Sport which I picked up a few weeks ago, I’m becoming quite a Fuck Buttons fan.

Also. If you’re not following @BARRR yet on twitter I would heartily recommend it. Constant stream of hilarious updates and also gnarly artwork.

Um and finally for no real reason just wanted to throw out there that I recently bought a Civilian bag from Reload in Philly and it’s rad and can carry hella groceries and books and stuff. OKAY END UP UPDATE.

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October 29, 2009

Aguilas Range

When I was thirteen and still lived in the desert I saw a ghost woman at the top of a dry waterfall in the foothills. I was resting on a rock when she crawled out of the scrub-oak bushes on her hands and knees not ten feet away from me. She hurriedly stood up and her plaid dress was shredded and dotted with cactus spines. I knew she was dead because her clogs didn’t make any sound in the gravel as she stepped over to me and her eyes were white and porous like dried coral. She stared down at me silently but I said “there are better violets down the trail by the watering hole; it’s dug out of the dirt; coyote and black bear tracks. The best flowers are there” and I pointed to the west with my whole arm.

October 18, 2009

Published piece! and some photos and music

In super exciting news, Dogzplot recently posted a piece of mine titled “Downtown” in their flash fiction section! I really dig their layout/works-published, and am planning to continue to submit more short pieces there. Check it out at Dogzplot 🙂

In other news, my friend J and I took a short trip to Santa Cruz to get some coastal-nature/peaceful-rest/out-of-the-city time, and this was pretty much the best trip I could’ve hoped for. Reading writing and wandering around the coast. Some snaps:

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In terms of writing news, I’ve been hard at work on a new set of poems for submission. The rejections have been steadily rolling in on my last batch, which (in a way) is good because when that is complete, I can post them all here! Anyhow, I’ve got high hopes for the next batch: been focusing much harder on editing & tightness so maybe they’ll turn out rad.

BurialUntrue

Finally, I recently bought the ultra-essential Untrue album by Burial, and have been really really loving it. This led me to a very interesting interview with the man himself at Hyperdub. My favorite quotes:

“… I like Underground tunes that are true and mongrel and you see people trying to break that down, alter its nature. Underground music should have its back turned, it needs to be gone, untrackable, unreadable, just a distant light.”

“The moodiness made the tunes, not me. Now when I listen to them, they’re ramshackle, DIY and rolling but I know there is a thing trapped in them so that when I look back on them, even if its dry, I know when it was made, I know what was going on that day, its like stapling real life to the side of the tune.”

9: And the drawing on the front of the new album.

Burial: “I’ve been drawing that same one since I was little. Just some moody kid with a cup of tea sitting at the 24 hour stand in the rain in the middle of the night when you are coming back from somewhere.”

Full interview here.

Nate East

Tag: fiction

December 11, 2009