solitary bees, 65
Jeremy comes back with a tray of sodas and food. He hands a soda to her, sits down.
This one’s basic. This one has chili on it.
The woman looks at him, slurps her straw.
I don’t care. Either one.
Okay.
He hands her the basic one.
Amen, says the woman in front of them.
solitary bees, 64
The woman sitting in front of them looks back over her shoulder.
You’re lucky.
Karen takes a while to realize she is talking to her.
How’s that?
You’re lucky.
She motions in the direction Jeremy has gone.
Read more
something, 19
The drawings we did were a symbol of her love for us. I know it was hard but we haven’t even got there yet.
Hmm
Is it just me, or does the New Yorker’s fiction really suck lately?
Greedy Pigs
That’s just his way. Ever since the debacle in ’49 Robertson’s just been sore. I told him not to put all his eggs in one basket. I don’t care how long it lives, a man can only make so much on a headless rooster. Smith, on the other hand, had high hopes, even fronted him $50 to travel to California; kept calling it his “Big Investment.” Now I’d call Smith a fool ‘cept he made a killing on horses and has more than a few jockeys in his pocket on account of gambling debts. And, now that he has finally filled those enormous stables of his, he’s started selling gelatin.
“No sense wasting a good horse,” he says.
Still, I think Smith feels bad for Robertson, after getting his own taste for the high life, since he sells him horse meat at a significant discount (so says Smith anyway). Then again, what else would eat horse meat other than Robertson’s pigs? They lap that shit up like it was caviar.
Kevin Drum’s new digs
Friday, Kevin Drum, who blogs at Washington Monthly, will be moving to a new spot at Mother Jones. I read Kevin daily and appreciate the balance and levelheadedness he brings to the liberal blogosphere. Steve Benen, from The Carpetbagger Report, will be the new blogger at Washington Monthly. Both great political writers.
Waste–a Novel by Eugene Marten–Is One You Need to Read
Many Flockers will know Eugene Marten’s work already, having seen it at elimae and elsewhere–or perhaps having had the great pleasure of reading his remarkable novel In the Blind ( Turtle Point Press, 2003). This short novel, Waste, which was the first of his longer works I read, is now available from ellipsis press. I hope you will follow the link and read all of the praise this book has received. I just received two copies today and will soon be buying more to hand out all around.
The Winning Entry in a Bad Writing Contest
“Theirs was a New York love, a checkered taxi ride burning rubber, and like the city, their passion was open 24/7, steam rising from their bodies like slick streets exhaling warm, moist, white breath through manhole covers stamped ‘Forged by DeLaney Bros., Piscataway, N.J.’ “
(Via NPR)
InsideOut Literary Arts Project
Friend of clusterflock, Peter Markus, writes:
For the past 14 years, since its inception, I’ve worked as a writer for the InsideOut Literary Arts Project, a non-profit arts organization that sends poets and writers into the Detroit Public Schools to conduct year-long writing workshops with K-12 students.
Like many non-profit arts organizations, we rely on the generosity of others to keep ourselves alive and running.
We are currently working to raise funds to match a challenge grant of $25,000 and are looking for support from individuals who might want to become a “friend” of InsideOut. We’re looking to drum up grassroots support, so any amount of support ($5, $10, $50, $500) is greatly appreciated.
For more info about InsideOut, go to our website:
Here you can donate by using paypal, or you can send a check, payable to InsideOut, directly to our address:
InsideOut Literary Arts Project
2111 Woodward Ave., Suite 1010
Detroit, MI 48201Thanks ahead of time for listening and for caring and for your support.
The Woman Down the Hall–a review of an ebook by Lily Hoang
Here’s what I know about Lily Hoang: that her book Parabola won the Chiasmus Press First Book Prize in 2007, and that her book Changing is forthcoming from Fairy Tale Review Press. Now, over at Blake Butler’s Lamination Colony (Blake is becoming conspicuously ubiquitous, not only writing great fiction himself but managing to publish seemingly everywhere while at the same time putting up other people’s work as well), Hoang’s The Woman Down the Hall is available to read for free. It’s short, edgy, and I’ve read it three times tonight.
Lily Hoang’s narrator says this about the old woman who is asleep down the hall: “I wanted to be the first to propose murder, but I restrained myself. It isn’t proper for a lady to speak first, even if she is the designated killer.”
This is the way of good prose. This story, like much of Hoang’s other work, is a modern fairy tale, but she isn’t interested in being didactic. We don’t get a feel that there will be some moral lesson gained by the end; how could we with such a charming yet brutally honest narrator whose deepest desire is to commit murder? “I have never killed a woman,” the narrator admits, “but I have often wondered how I would do it. Now, I wonder if her neck, which is not slender or thick, would be easy to grasp or if my large hands would simply slip from smooth skin.”
Hoang’s imaginative leaps are mysterious and inevitable. She changes points of view, tells the story of the man and the dying bird and the old woman as a youthful princess whose beauty brought people to death simply from looking at her. She’s able to tie things together in such a small place. In fact, The Woman Down the Hall offers a whole lot in a small space, with surreal images to accompany the text. It’s like being at a great all-night party in a strange city. Really. This is a haunting and delightful story, and I highly recommend you go over to Lamination Colony and read it.
solitary bees, 63
Tell me about your vacation?
They are at a ball game in a neighboring town.
I think you’ve had first hand access to it.
No. That’s not what I mean. The one you didn’t go on.
Read more
Half Remembered
“Some Alephs are bigger than others, but infinity is still infinity” he whispers, circling that sideways eight endlessly on her arm.
“Oh you’re not gonna Aleph-null your way out of this one, Mister.” She says, unimpressed.
Say Anything
My short piece of fiction, “Say Anything,” is up at Titular Journal.
solitary bees, 62
She throws something at him.
He wakes up.
What?
Have you read the princess and the pea?
Yeah. A long time ago.
What did you think about it?
The obvious, I guess.
Don’t say anything sexist.
What did you think about it, other than being taken care of?
Something she couldn’t ignore but something she didn’t feel comfortable about. Something she wanted to have control over or desensitize herself to. Numb the awareness of.
Are you cold? Do you have enough blankets?
That’s exactly the type of thing I’m talking about; but I’m fine actually. Plenty warm up here. A princess on one mattress.
A while later he is snoring.
The Quarterly; Gordon Lish; Tables of Contents for issues 1–25
When I searched for this information recently I couldn’t find it, but I did encounter a number of people who expressed a desire for it. Perhaps it is out there somewhere and I just missed it. I decided to type these tables instead of scanning them (hence the slight differences in format) because I want to gradually add information. The original tables include the titles of individual works of fiction, but when two or more works by an author are presented the number of works is all that is given. I want to add those specific titles in brackets. Also, poets are represented by their names only, and I want to add the titles of their poems in brackets. After that is done–and it may take a while–I might try to provide a simple index comprised of authors’ names followed by the issue numbers in which their work appeared. If any of you see that this has been done elsewhere, please let me know and I’ll spend the time on something else. Also, if you see any errors at any point in this process, please let me know and I’ll make repairs.
No Colony — first issue
Blake Butler and Ken Bauman’s No Colony is about to release its first issue, including work from Kim Chinquee, Tao Lin, Brian Evenson, Robert Lopez, our fellow flocker Derek White, and more. Go buy a copy. They’re also reading for issue two, which will include a short piece by yours truly.
Dear Clusterflock
Is fiction’s job to disturb the comfortable, comfort the disturbed, or both?
solitary bees, 61
What’s that sound?
What?
What’s that sound?
I didn’t hear it. I was asleep.
Listen.
Read more
something, 18
If I wanted, I could borrow her camera. It had a view-finder above the cassette deck.
solitary bees, 60
I need you to scratch my back.
Anything else?
Why don’t you just take care of that.
solitary bees, 59
I want a massage. I want you to rub my feet. I want you to paint my nails. I want you to make me something to eat. I want you to draw me a bath. I want you to find something pretty you think I might like, something I’ve never thought of before. If I’ve thought of it before there will be other tasks I require of you until you find something for me beautiful that I could never imagine. After that I want a soda, in a nice tall glass with lots of ice…. Are you sure you’re awake?
Silence.
You aren’t even listening to me.
She farts.
Solitary Bees, 58
When we get this puzzle done, I’m free to go?
He nods.
Are you sure you’ve thought about it?
He nods.
All the way through?
Of course I have.
I don’t think you’ve prepared yourself for what’s going to happen.
solitary bees, 57
I want you to brush my teeth. After that, I want you to shave my legs. And under my arms. If it tickles me, I don’t want you to stop. I want you to smile but not respond to me…. Are you awake?
Yes.
Did you hear what I said?
Sort of.
Go and get my toothbrush.
solitary bees, 56
What’s the square root of three?
I have no idea. That’s not my kind of intelligence.
Mine either.
Tao Lin
Anybody read Tao Lin? Should I?