I liked this bit from Susan Sontag’s journals. Apparently, the LitHub post from whence this came was in violation of something, so it’s gone. Rules for Being a Writer from Sontag’s journals, December 3, 1961 The writer must be four people: The nut, the obsédé The moron The stylist The critic 1 supplies the material; … Read more
I know I’m not the first to notice that lots of recently-authored books seem more like a verbose screenplay written in prose than a novel. This seems to especially be the case with genre books. I recently finished the first book in an acclaimed new fantasy series, the Draconis Memoria trilogy. The Waking Fire is … Read more
As workplaces demand that their employees hustle harder in a more precarious world, mindfulness has emerged as a means to manage stress and increase productivity. Since its import to America, it has been oddly well-suited at making the individual citizen responsible for mitigating the suffering and loss that our necrotic social structures have induced. So … Read more
The season may be officially over, but that doesn’t mean the party has to stop. As you can see, Don Quixote is the strong, silent type, but he’s enjoying the vibe. Clink!
So a customer was shocked last year when Alexa blurted out: “Kill your foster parents.” Alexa has also chatted with users about sex acts. She gave a discourse on dog defecation. And this summer, a hack Amazon traced back to China may have exposed some customers’ data, according to five people familiar with the events. … Read more
On January 1, 2019, original works from 1923 will move into the public domain. This batch will be the first new public domain works in over 20 years. Mickey Mouse was born via Steamboat Willie in 1928. That means that, barring further Disney intervention, in 2024, the Mouse can become…anything. I, for one, am keen … Read more
Shame is now both global and permanent, to a degree unprecedented in human history. No more moving to the next town to escape your bad name. However far you go and however long you wait, your disgrace is only ever a Google search away. Getting a humiliating story into the papers used to require convincing … Read more
The elements of Christie’s fiction are all already in place: a country house, a finite list of suspects, the outsider detective intruding into a place of order and hierarchy that has been disrupted by a crime. The world of Christie’s books is something like the ‘imaginary’ as described by Cornelius Castoriadis, a mental representation in … Read more
Create a list of everything you’re interested in, ever, here. All of it. Sea mammals Global politics Linguistics Micro-timing and latency adjustment Evolution as a heuristic for other things Cultural influence on story-telling See also, folk stories Crimes and how they’re solved Religion Mythology