If there is a ‘Shakespeare of the ghost story’, it is surely Montague Rhodes James (1862-1936), better known to legions of ghost-story readers as M. R. James. No other writer of the ghost story has managed to summon the haunting aspects of the distant past quite so effectively and unnervingly as James. Indeed, he is
Literature
June 29, 2022, 12:46pm Alta Journal just released a map for the Western bookstore road trip of my dreams: it’s a guide to indie bookstores on the West coast (with a few options from the desert and other non-coastal spots thrown in, because why not). A lot of the picks, as to be expected, are
June 28, 2022, 1:03pm Living in New York is great because there are cool things happening all the time. (Quick shoutout to the Center for Fiction’s Indie Press Summer Fridays series, which is free to attend!) But it’s also expensive as hell and bullshit that so much of publishing is centered here. So if you pay
‘The House of Asterion’ is one of the shortest stories by the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986). Even by his usual standards – many of his best-known stories stretch to only a few pages – it is a shorter tale among his oeuvre, running to just three pages in most editions. Published in 1947,
June 28, 2022, 1:52pm In the wake of the overturn of Roe v. Wade by a “vehemently anti-Democratic Supreme Court,” publishers have reported higher sales of both front- and backlist titles about abortion and reproductive freedom. Among the titles in high demand are Annie Ernaux’s memoir Happening (which was recently adapted into an excellent film), Robin Marty’s
June 27, 2022, 2:25pm As per usual, indie bookstores remain a beacon of hope in this country. After Friday’s devastating decision overturning Roe v. Wade, many feminist/social-justice-oriented bookshops became a sanctuary for those grieving across the country—particularly in states with trigger laws in place. Some set up special displays, putting books about abortion rights and
Loneliness and alienation are both common themes of literature down the ages, whether it’s the Anglo-Saxon seafarers and wanderers lamenting the passing of their lives, and perhaps a whole way of life, or protagonists of modern novels filled with existential angst and a sense of being cut off from the rest of mankind. Poets, novelists,
June 27, 2022, 11:34am As the catastrophic Russian invasion of Ukraine drags on, we all continue to marvel at the resilience and courage of a Ukrainian people who, regardless of background or vocation, have united in resistance to imperial aggression. One such stalwart is novelist, poet, and musician Serhiy Zhadan, who has just been awarded
Possibility isn’t just a felt absence. It is a zone of living that some are barred from as a result of the exclusionary logics of racism and heteronormativity. To see one’s own life as a possible life is a kind of fortune, a small miracle even. As a closeted teen in rural northern Alberta, I
The rights of LGBTQ+ Americans are under threat. After generations of struggle, sacrifice, and resistance saw queer Americans earn a modicum of equality in the eyes of the law, an unduly powerful minority of religious conservatives, at all levels of government, is doing everything possible to take those rights away. So as we celebrate this
TODAY: In 1912, English author Mary Wesley, who famously published her first novel for adults at 70, is born. HAPPY PRIDE: Billy-Ray Belcourt wants a whole literature of queer indigenous possibility • Zeyn Joukhadar on the fantastical futures that trans people of color deserve • 111 queer books recommended by librarians, booksellers, and authors • Queer readings
June 24, 2022, 8:44am Remember that exhausting parade of Trump insiders and ex-staffers getting book deals for dishy tell-alls? Turns out no one’s really interested in reading them. Politico went digging around NPD Bookscan (which reflects about 70 percent of sales) to get the receipts: The Chief’s Chief [by former chief of staff Mark Meadows]
June 24, 2022, 9:32am Last week I posted about a bunch of loser Proud Boys who attacked a queer-friendly drag queen story time in San Diego. As ever with these sad-sack wannabe Brownshirts there’s a distinctly pathetic element to their bullying, derived as it is from vast inner bog lands of self-loathing insecurity. But last
From ghost stories to chilling horror tales to short retellings of classic fairy tales, the short story form has often been at home to the supernatural. Below, we select and introduce ten of the very best short stories which feature some supernatural element: a ghost, a magical talisman, a werewolf, or some other fantastical or
June 24, 2022, 11:19am Following the recent onslaught of attacks on LGBTQ+ rights across the nation, the Smithtown Library Board of Trustees passed a resolution on June 21st to remove all Pride month displays from their children’s sections across all four buildings in the library’s district. The New York Library Association was quick to release
June 23, 2022, 11:10am A trailer for the musical adaptation of Bernard Waber’s beloved children’s book, Lyle, Lyle Crocodile has dropped, and it’s… well, here it is: [embedded content] Though this website previously and breathlessly reported that Javier Bardem would be playing Lyle himself in the film, in fact, Lyle is voiced by Shawn Mendes.
‘Memoirs of a Yellow Dog’ is a story by the US short-story writer O. Henry, whose real name was William Sydney Porter (1862-1910). In this 1903 story, the yellow dog of the story’s title recounts his life, his owners, and his love for his master (and his dislike for his master’s wife). Man and dog
June 23, 2022, 12:21pm I was first introduced to the great Frances McDormand as a pig-tailed, knife-wielding women’s studies professor in the Nancy Meyers’ film Something’s Gotta Give, which might remain my favorite role of hers—you know, sentimentally—but there’s a lot more where that came from, including Sarah Polley’s forthcoming adaptation of Miriam Toews’ novel