small.spiral.notebook

our swan song...

2007-11-17T16:58:00.001-05:00

After six years of publication, articles in major newspapers and magazines, and solicitations from top agents and publishers, which have helped our writers score agents and book deals, I'm sad to announce that SSN will cease publication on 12.31.07. This was a very difficult decision for me to make, however, it was one that I felt was best for the journal. We will continue to publish reviews, interviews & features until the end of the year, and the site will remain online indefinitely. We will publish a final print issue in 2009. Subscriptions will be fulfilled.

I want to thank you all for your unwavering, wonderful support and for reading! I’d also like to extend a special thanks to my wonderful staff. SSN wouldn’t be where it is today without my incredible and devoted team of editors, reviewers, feature writers and readers. My humble thanks.

Cheers, Felicia C. Sullivan, Editor/Founder

Writers Revealed 10.7.07 Serial Killers & Free Books!

2007-10-06T13:59:00.001-04:00

An Absolute Gentleman is fiction, the memoir of self-confessed serial killer Arthur Blume, in prison for killing twelve, perhaps seventeen, women. He wishes to correct the media’s distorted view of him and his mother. He juxtaposes memories of his childhood in the hands of that loving, but psychotically cruel woman, with his more recent history as aging writer and itinerant instructor, and with observations about the nature of the world—no place for any creature. Offhandedly, he slips in horrors, some of which he endured, and others, perpetrated. While he’s a nice guy, champion of the insulted and outcast, he is also a monster who will, most certainly, strike.

Arthur Blume took shape from my association with murderer Robert Weeks in the mid-eighties, from lengthy research, including consultations with police officers, detectives, and psychologists. The Afterword to An Absolute Gentleman answers some anticipated questions about the inspiration for this novel.

About the Author: Rose Marie Kinder, who writes under the pen name of R.M. Kinder, won the 2005 University of Michigan prize for a collection of short stories titled A Near-Perfect Gift. Another of her short story collections, Sweet Angel Band, was awarded the Willa Cather Award in 1991. R.M. Kinder’s prose has also appeared in Other Voices, Short Stories, and The New York Times. She holds an MFA and Ph.D. from the University of Arizona and currently resides in Warrensburg, Missouri.

Essential Links
Visit R.M. Kinder's website
BookStandard Review
Buy the Book!

Want to score a copy of An Absolute Gentleman? Leave your question for the author here, and if I use it on air, you'll receive a free book!

SSN Contributors in the Best American series!

2007-09-27T07:58:00.000-04:00

I'm incredibly pleased to announce that three of our authors have been recognized in the Best American series. Congrats to Scott Snyder ("Dumpster Tuesday") and Mia Alvar ("Roundabout") for their notable mentions in this year's Best American Short Stories. Click here to read their stories. Shari Goldhagen ("It's Really Called Nothing" ) has garnered a notable in this year's Best American Non Required Reading.

Publishing News for SSN Contributor Paul Yoon

2007-09-21T13:37:00.000-04:00

Paul Yoon's debut collection, ONCE THE SHORE, will be published by
Sarabande Books in early 2009. The stories take place on an island off the
coast of South Korea and span the years between the 1940s and the present.

SSN Reviewer Reese Kwon in Commentary Magazine

2007-09-09T15:38:00.001-04:00

Check out Reese's work by clicking here

Writers Revealed 7.22.07 Matthew Sharpe/Jamestown

2007-07-16T15:24:00.001-04:00

Jamestown is a fantasia on the Jamestown settlement of 1607, the first viable English settlement in North America, set not in the past but in an indeterminate future, some years after an unspecified cataclysmic event. The U.S. has devolved into warring corporate city-states. The settlers, rather than setting out for Virginia from England on three ships in search of gold and a route to the Pacific, set out from Manhattan on an armored bus in search of fuel, food, and uncontaminated water.

About the Author: Matthew Sharpe's novel Jamestown was published this year by Soft Skull Press. He is also the author of the novels The Sleeping Father and Nothing Is Terrible, as well as the short-story collection Stories from the Tube. He has taught at Columbia University, New College of Florida, the MFA program at Bard College, and the Bronx Academy of Letters, and now teaches in the English department of Wesleyan University in Connecticut.

Links
Sci Fi Weekly Review
Bookforum Review
Small Spiral Notebook Interview
Matthew Sharpe reads from Jamestown
Read an excerpt from Jamestown

Do you have a question for Matthew Sharpe? Leave your question in the comments field and if I use it on air, you'll score a free copy of Jamestown!

Announcing...The Fourth Comings Mini-Film Contest

2007-07-02T20:21:00.000-04:00

Who: Fans of Jessica Darling, aspiring film-makers, obsessive vloggers,
or anyone who is creative with a camera

What: Create an original 3-minutes-or-under video that summarizes the action in Sloppy Firsts, Second Helpings and Charmed Thirds

When: Starting right now, submissions are due by August 7th, 2007 (aka the on-sale date of Fourth Comings)

Where: Post your video on YouTube with the tags Fourth Comings, Megan McCafferty, then email Megan McCafferty the link: megan@meganmccafferty.com

Why: To bring new and forgetful readers up to speed on the action leading up to Fourth Comings. The director of the best video will win a customized Fourth Comings tote bag, containing The Megan McCafferty Collection, including (but not limited to) autographed copies of all the Jessica Darling novels and other books she's contributed to, audio books, and an original You, Yes, You T-shirt

How: Dramatic reading! Music video! Interpretive dance! Anime! Finger-puppet theater! However you want to express yourself...as long as the video is under three minutes and complies with YouTube's Terms of Use

Megan McCafferty will blog about the most entertaining videos as they come in. Have fun!

Visit the author's website

Book Reviews!

2007-06-26T09:40:00.002-04:00

Have you been checking out our reviews section? It's updated weekly!

Writers Revealed: 7.1 Sin in the Second City

2007-06-26T09:40:00.001-04:00

Step into the perfumed parlors of the Everleigh Club, the most famous brothel in American history—and a catalyst for a culture war that rocked the nation. Operating in Chicago’s notorious Levee district at the dawn of the last century, the Club’s proprietors, two aristocratic (or so they said) sisters named Minna and Ada Everleigh, attracted the elites of the world with their opulent parlors and stunning courtesans. While lesser whorehouses specialized in deflowering virgins, beatings and bondage, the Everleighs spoiled their harlots with couture gowns, gourmet meals and extraordinary salaries. Not everyone appreciated the sisters’ attempts to elevate the industry. Rival madams hatched numerous schemes to ruin the Everleighs, including attempts to frame them for murder. But the sisters' most daunting foes were the Progressive Era reformers, who whipped the entire country into a frenzy with lurid tales of “white slavery.” It was a furor that shaped America's sexual culture and had repercussions all the way to the White House, even leading to the formation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. With a cast of characters that includes Jack Johnson, John Barrymore, John D. Rockefeller Jr., Theodore Dreiser, William Howard Taft, and Al Capone, Sin in the Second City is Karen Abbott’s portrait of the maverick Everleigh sisters, their world-famous Club, and the perennial clash between our hedonistic impulses and Puritanical roots.

Karen Abbott worked as a journalist on the staffs of Philadelphia magazine and Philadelphia Weekly, and has written for Salon and other publications. A native of Philadelphia, she now lives with her husband in Atlanta, where she’s at work on her next book for Random House, a portrait of Gypsy Rose Lee and Depression-era New York City. Visit her at www.sininthesecondcity.com.

Want to score a free copy of SIN? Simply leave a question for the author here and if we use it on the air, you'll win a free copy!

Writers Revealed: Virtual Book Club

2007-06-20T17:05:00.000-04:00

Have you thought about joining a book club but grew tired of the drama, the scheduling, the shrieking: I HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK YET!? Afraid to commit to a monthly book club but want to check out a few new books? Want to chat with today's most buzzworthy authors, LIVE? From the comfort of your own home? Well, pull up a chair, put on a pot of tea and charge your phone, because Writers Revealed will launch the WR Virtual Book Club.

Each month you'll have the opportunity to chat live with one of our authors and score a free book in the process.

We're kicking off our Virtual Book Club on August 5, 2007 with Meredith Hall, author of Without a Map and in September, we'll be chatting with Dani Shapiro, author of Black and White

There is no commitment to the club - you pick and choose which live chats you want to participate in, and we'll send you a copy of the book a month in advance of the chat date.

Interested? Leave a comment on the WR website or send an email to writersrevealed -at- writersrevealed -dot- com with the subject line: VIRTUAL BOOK CLUB.

Writers Revealed Site Launch

2007-06-11T17:06:00.000-04:00

Check out my new venture: Writers Revealed. Chat with today's most buzzworthy authors, LIVE, and score some free books in the process.

Writers Revealed 6.10.07 Joshua Ferris & Michelle Goodman: the Post-it edition & *free books!

2007-06-06T09:52:00.000-04:00

This week on Writers Revealed: Joshua Ferris, author of the novel Then We Came to the End. We'll be chatting about his novel, the drone of office life, the dot.com era, whether the office is a surrogate of one's home, and what's the deal with Chris Yop and the chair anyway? (hint: it's in the book!). And as soon as I received Michelle Goodman's incredible book, The Anti 9-to-5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube, in the mail (I ripped the package open with my teeth, people), I knew I had to have her on the show. Click here to access the show & we're taking callers so feel free to share your questions, LIVE!

About Then We Came to the End:
Then We Came to the End charts the end days of a Chicago ad agency caught in the burst new-economy bubble. As the firm’s employees watch those around them laid off and wait for their own walking papers, they obsess over one another’s behavior and the secrets co-workers may or may not be keeping. In Ferris’ descriptions of entire floors closed off and abandoned as the firm shrinks, and of workers clinging to a futile illusion of business as usual, there’s a tragic and palpable hubris.
- from the Small Spiral Notebook Review

More Links
Joshua Ferris's website
Powells.com Interview

About The Anti 9-to-5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube The days seem long with too much time for work and the nights seem short with too little time for sleep. What's a modern girl to do? When you have a passion you want follow it, when you have a dream you want to make it reality, but when you have bills, they must be paid. It often appears as though you can't have the best of both worlds. Today, lots of women would love to integrate their passion with their career and are seeking advice on how to do just that. Michelle Goodman, a self proclaimed, "wage-slave" has written a fun, reassuring, girlfriend-to-girlfriend guide on identifying your passion, transitioning out of that unfulfilling job, and doing it all in a smart practical way.

More Links
Michelle Goodman's website
MediaBistro Interview with Rachel Kramer Bussel

Update! Publishers of both books are sending over *free* copies for our readers/listeners! If you have a question for any of the authors, leave it on my website or feel free to call in on Sunday!

SSN Interview: Dani Shapiro

2007-06-04T15:21:00.001-04:00

JDH: I've certainly read good books about angry children and angry parents before, but no author explores anger with the psychological complexity you do in [your novels]. Even your piece from Story in 1993 explores anger—a mother irritates a daughter by intruding on her while she's getting a bikini wax. What are your thoughts on anger?

DS: I’ll resort to another favorite quote. Edward Albee once said this: “For the anger and rage to work aesthetically, the writer’s got to distance himself from it and write in what Frank O’Hara referred to in one of his poems as ‘the memory of my feelings.’ Rage is incoherent. Observed rage can be coherent.” I’ve thought of that quote often, over the years. You can substitute pretty much any intense emotion there—grief, elation, heartbreak, desire—and it’s true that it is impossible to write out of the immediacy...

I’m glad you brought up that short story, “The Way Women Laugh”, which was published a long time ago in Story Magazine. It was, by my estimation, my first decent story. Talk about the shimmer around the edges—that story was borne out of a moment when my own mother did in fact walk into a room in a spa where I was getting a bikini wax. If you’re a writer, and your mother walks in on your bikini wax, you’re pretty much gonna write about it. I was blessed with a mother who gave me tremendously good fodder as a writer. She was a difficult mother in almost every other way, but she supplied me with many years worth of material—which is probably how I managed my own rage toward her. You might even say that I turned her into my muse—the way Ruth turns Clara into hers. Though nakedness in writing and nakedness in image-making are completely different animals. As is taking on one’s mother—versus taking on one’s daughter.

Click here to read Small Spiral Notebook's interview with Dani Shapiro

Writers Revealed 6.10.07 Joshua Ferris

2007-06-04T15:16:00.002-04:00

This week on Writers Revealed: Joshua Ferris, author of the novel Then We Came to the End. We'll be chatting about his novel, the drone of office life, the dot.com era, whether the office is a surrogate of one's home, and what's the deal with Chris Yop and the chair anyway? (hint: it's in the book!). Click here to access the show & we're taking callers so feel free to share your questions, LIVE!

About the Book:
Then We Came to the End charts the end days of a Chicago ad agency caught in the burst new-economy bubble. As the firm’s employees watch those around them laid off and wait for their own walking papers, they obsess over one another’s behavior and the secrets co-workers may or may not be keeping. In Ferris’ descriptions of entire floors closed off and abandoned as the firm shrinks, and of workers clinging to a futile illusion of business as usual, there’s a tragic and palpable hubris. The novel is rich with stirring images, as in this scene of after-hours dormancy:

After everyone went home for the night, after we all fell asleep and the city dimmed, Oldies continued to play inside the abandoned office. Picture it—only a parallelogram of light in the doorway. A happy tune by the Drifters issuing in the dark at two, three o’clock in the morning, when elsewhere murders were taking place, drug deals, unspeakable assaults.

Like the apocryphal story of Nero fiddling as Rome burns, nostalgic Oldies play with no one to listen and herald the assumed safety and detachment of those “inside”—even while they are sleeping at home—from the dangerous world beyond the American office.
- from the Small Spiral Notebook Review

More Links
Joshua Ferris's website
Powells.com Interview

Writers Revealed: Leslie Bennetts recap

2007-06-04T15:16:00.001-04:00

If you missed out on yesterday's Writers Revealed show, feel free to click here to listen! Leslie Bennetts and I chatted about the perils of economic dependency and how stay-at-home mothers (through rigorous and sound financial and career planning) can keep current while out of the job force (and the startling statistics that reveal, after only a year, how a woman’s earning power can sharply decline). We discussed how The Feminine Mistake is not another salvo at the Mommy Wars but more that it raises awareness and criticism of U.S. policy issues - why aren't women's choices equally rewarded? Why don't we provide financial security for women who choose to remain at home? We talked of the marriage dynamic when there is a soul breadwinner (after me having screened Todd Field’s Little Children that afternoon) and how that can possibly change the relationship from one of a partnership to a parent/child dynamic. Bennetts addressed her critics who spoke of her narrow demographic (the educated, affluent Northeast) and we discussed statistics that show children of stay at home mothers fared no better than children of working mothers.

Want to listen to the show? Click here! And thanks to all who submitted terrific questions!!! I used a great deal on the show and I've contacted those who will receive their copy of Leslie Bennetts's book.

This Week on Writers Revealed (6.10.07) Joshua Ferris, author of Then We Came to The End

NEWSWEEK ESSAY ON CONDOLENCES & MORE

2007-05-21T19:37:00.000-04:00

Hello Friends, This is Jess, Book Review Editor of SSN.

Below you'll find links to my recent Newsweek essay on condolences, as well as links to some of our amazing review staff's publications: Carolyn Slutsky's article in The New York Times. Jessica Allen's article in Poets & Writers and Reese Kwon's review in The New York Sun. Enjoy!

'I'm Sorry' Shouldn't Be the Hardest Words
Losing my father was painful enough without having other people try to talk me out of my grief. By Jess deCourcy Hinds. Click here to read the article.

Reese Kwon's Review of "Singing America" by Caille Millner in The New York Sun

Carolyn Slutsky's piece on immigrant protest in The New York Times (Carolyn is also a reporter with Jewish Week, so you can find her on the newsstands every week!)

Jessica Allen's piece about Miranda July and The Believer in Poets & Writers magazine.

SEED Magazine Essay Contest

2007-05-21T10:50:00.000-04:00

A favorite science magazine of mine, Seed Magazine is holding a 2007 Essay Writing Contest. The contest is designed to foster young talented writers – and will feature 1200 word essays that tackle the question: What does it mean to be scientifically literate in the 21st Century? The essays will be judged by a panel of Seed editors and special guest judges.

The winners will receive a monetary prize and have their essays published in the September/October issue of Seed Magazine. The call for entries has already begun, and the submission deadline is July 1st.

Oh, and check this Phylotaxis by Jonathan Harris. It's pretty sweet.

Between the Sheets: Writers Revealed

2007-05-15T21:09:00.001-04:00

I'm beyond excited to launch my new project, Between the Sheets: Writers Revealed. My debut show will air live, this Sunday, May 20th at 7pm EST/4pm PST. I'll be live in the studio with a fuzzy mike praying I won't need Xanax.

Join me each week in a new kind of Sunday Book Review where I guarantee it won’t be books as usual. Participate in live discussions, book giveaways, and opportunities to get between the sheets with some of today's most buzzworthy writers. From examining choice feminism in Leslie Bennetts’s The Feminist Mistake, to recalling our horrifying and hilarious high school memories with the authors of When I Was a Loser, to dissecting bad mothers in contemporary fiction, to reimagining Jamestown in a post 9/11 New York to reliving The Office, really, in Joshua Ferris’s Then We Came to the End, the writers you’ll meet and the stories you’ll hear will get you talking long after the show is over.

And this is only the beginning. I'm not a critic (I don't know how to be one), I'm just someone who loves books and loves promoting authors. I've been doing this for almost six years with my literary journal Small Spiral Notebook, and now I have the wonderful opportunity to chat with authors I'm fond of, without being so serious about it.

Feel free to check out my debut show lineup by clicking here and leave your comments/questions because I've got free books!!! to unload.

And if you'd like, won't you please post this little widget on your website or spread the word? THANKS!

Check out our latest interviews!

2007-05-08T14:29:00.000-04:00

Scott Esposito: Jamestown's world is very violent, so violent in fact that it often feels cartoonish. Maybe its best summed up by the observations of one of your main characters, bus-rider and slacker skeptic Johnny Rolfe, who says "Some great, quaint pre-annihilation philosopher described the movement of history as thesis, antithesis, synthesis, whereas I've seen a lot more thesis, antithesis, steak knife, bread knife." Why are things so violent?

Matthew Sharpe: Because they were and are. The Jamestown settlement was a fertile ground for the flowering of man’s inhumanity to man: English against Indians, Indians against English, English against English, Indians against Indians. But especially English against Indians. The settlers decimated the locals, commandeered their land, kidnapped, tortured, and killed them. The English thought their God was better than the Indians’, thought their skin and clothes and civilization were better. And England’s foreign policy in the early 17th century bears a striking resemblance to ours now: extract the foreigners’ resources, save them with our superior values, kill them with our superior weapons, and do it all with breathtaking incompetence.

click here to read Scott Esposito's interview with Matthew Sharpe, author of Jamestown.

Mary Phillips Sandy: I read an interview in which you said that this book started when Joseph came to you and told you to write about him – is that typical for you, that books start with a character demanding attention?

Alison McGhee: No, this was the only time that’s ever happened to me. I blame myself, really, because I was being melodramatic. I’d been a couple of months without a real focus in my work, and that’s a kind of hell for me. I pretended I was Job. I spread my arms to the universe and said, “Give me something to write about!” Then this boy just leaped into my mind. He was sitting in the wheelchair and he looked up at me, his hands were on the wheels. He said – he swore at me, but I won’t say that for the interview. He said, “What, you can’t write about me?”

And I really didn’t want to. I’m not a boy; I’m not a teenage boy. I don’t know what it’s like to get through life using a wheelchair. I felt intimidated by the whole idea of it, but he truly would not leave me alone. I wound up putting years into the work and figuring out what he wanted.

click here to read Mary Phillips Sandy's interview with Alison McGhee, author of Falling Boy.

Rishi Reddi on Current TV

2007-05-03T11:52:00.000-04:00

Finally Current TV has something I can watch (kidding, they're great). Rishi Reddi, author of Karma and Other Stories (who is interviewed on SSN), gets a spot on the Culture Clash section. It's certainly worth a look. Furthermore, and possibly even more exciting, I have one signed copy of Karma and Other Stories just aching to be sent to the first person who e-mails me at signorelli.michael@gmail.com. Please include your mailing address and the subject heading "My Karma Is Green". Good luck.

*Congrats to Brian H.

From our Friends at Dzanc Books...

2007-04-25T13:17:00.000-04:00

Dzanc Books announces the inaugural Dzanc Prize – a monetary award to a writer with both a work in progress, and an interest in performing some form of literary community service.

The award itself will be a total of $5,000 to be distributed in two payments over the course of a twelve month period. The purpose of this prize is to give monetary aid to a writer of literary promise, in order to provide a budgetary cushion for them, allowing the author to concentrate his/her efforts on the completion of their work in progress.

Eligibility: Any author with a Work in Progress, and a project in mind that can be deemed Literary Community Service.

Timing: The Inaugural Dzanc Prize will be issued for the 2008 calendar year. We will accept submissions from authors from now through November 1, 2007. The announcement of the winning author will be made during the month of December 2007. The announcement will be made via email to the author, on the Dzanc Books website, as well as sent to trade journals (P&W, Publisher’s Weekly, etc.).

Submissions: Authors please send your current cv, a description of your Work in Progress, along with a ten page excerpt, and your planned Literary Community Service. These should be sent as MS Word Attachments in an email to info@dzancbooks.org.

Dzanc Books will be selecting the author who will receive this $5,000 Prize based on a combination of the Work in Progress, and the intended Literary Community Service. It would probably benefit authors who are submitting to become familiar with Dzanc Books and the types of authors we will be publishing, as well as the Educational Programs Dzanc Books sets up and runs.

Some examples of Literary Community Service:

- Running a series of writing workshops in a school
- Volunteering to do a storytime session or series at your local library
- Volunteering to work at a local book festival (if the festival is run as a non-profit)

The winner of the Dzanc Prize will receive a check for $2500 in the month of January 2008. The remaining $2500 will be paid once the Literary Community Service has been completed.

Dzanc Books will make no claims towards the winner and their Work in Progress. If at the time the author has completed the work, they wish to submit it to Dzanc Books, we will be delighted to have a look. Their manuscript will go through the same reading process every other submission goes through.

The submissions for the Dzanc Prize will be reviewed by, and the prize will be awarded by a panel of Steve Gillis, Dan Wickett and Keith Taylor. All writers, including friends and associates of the panel, are eligible for the prize. The integrity and objectivity of Dzanc Books will not be compromised and, given our vast connections to so many great writers, exclusion of any kind would be impossible.

Any questions can be submitted to info@dzancbooks.org.

NYWC Write-A-Thon

2007-04-23T13:29:00.000-04:00

I really wish I hadn't left that last post stand on its own for so long. I'm very well adjusted to life. Please believe me! The weather is helping.

Just got a little postcard for the Second Annual NYWC Write-A-Thon to be held Saturday, June 9th. The NY Writers Coalition wants you to "Write your a** off" for a great cause! They've given you plenty of time to drum up some sponsors, so why not at least think about it? I am. I am totally thinking about it.

Folderol

2007-04-13T13:59:00.000-04:00

I just finished up one of those naps I was talking about. Wait.

lguic i0k.mh; f.

That

was

my face.

I must still be tired. It's no wonder (and here comes the hook) since there's so many great literary events going on this April!!! No foolies. They're falling out my ass. And once April's over we have BEA in NY and that's a whole other bag of tricks. I can't keep up. But it's good material, Mike. You're a blogger, you gotta write this shit down, man. Let me be. I feel like I need some time to create! You know, to just slip on that purple leotard I have crumpled in my closet and to let loose with all this energy swirling inside of me. Doesn't that just sound delicious, just silky? God, I just want to DANCE!

Until that divine moment of release descends, I'll have to deal with what I got, and that ain't so bad. Right, Rico? You gattit, Mikey.

And for those of you who think this makes absolutely no sense, well...it doesn't.

Links: Dennis Loy Johnson, Mark Doty, Writer's Rooms (you'll love this one), and Roberto Bolano tribute.

New Boldtype

2007-04-05T14:37:00.000-04:00

IZZUP - Boldtype

The New GOOD

2007-04-04T15:08:00.000-04:00

Some time ago, I weighed the implications of the inaugural issue of GOOD magazine. They were all for charity and against advertising, yet had advertisers and were making money. I was mildly suspicious and alternately warmed by the foolhardiness of their venture. With the early release of their fourth issue (May/June 2007) "Plan B," I've been so taken with the content that I've decided to just enjoy what's on offer and give my work-addled faculties a rest.

My highlights:

#1: "Nodding Off: Can afternoon naps save your life?" by Sara Mednick. Now this piece might just as easily fit in Good Housekeeping (or something equally lame) but Sara's got a PhD in psychology from Harvard and I respect that. But I'm having a tough time following this advice--I have no doors to close, anywhere.

#2: "The GOOD Guide to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, aka North Korea" by Paul French. Six pages of scary facts: my fav! Did you know that Kim Jong-Il is 5'3"? That he's afraid to fly? That his favorite movies are Rambo, James Bond, and slasher flicks? The most bizarre facts, however, have to do with daily civilian life. The few images included conjure the unsettling landscapes of dystopic anime, say, like Neon Genesis Evangelion. (Looking for a thesis topic? How about that the fantastical nightmares of some free-Asian artists are identical to visions of North Korea? Fucked, eh?) The jury is mostly out, though, since the NK is an extremely closed society. Welcome to Pyongyang a new book of photographs by Charlie Crane offers a rare glimpse. Find out more at www.chrisboot.com.

#3: "Jen Bekman on art collecting" by...take a guess. Jen gives art back to the masses with her new project 20x200, which will sell limited edition prints for between $20 and $200. Since I got my hands on GOOD a little early ('cause I'm so eager), the site isn't ready for public consumption. In the meantime, Jen has plenty to offer all of us at her gallery site.

*Now that I've looked into a bit more, I'm ahead of even the GOOD site, so consider this a preview. I do suggest you keep an eye out for it; there's much more than what I mentioned.

What Neon Genesis Evangelion character are you?