Existential Pornography
For a hopeful magazine editor stuck in the wrong career, when Playgirl comes a-calling, it looks like the answer to her prayers—but not everything is as it seems. An excerpt from the new memoir “How to Be a Playgirl.”
publishing
A collection of 137 issues
Joan Wickersham
Our man in Boston sits down for an extended chat with author Joan Wickersham about her new story collection, lurking near architects, the wisdom of good editors, how to profit from artist colonies, and the benefits of avoiding the MFA trap.
Mikhail Shishkin
This is it, friends—the last round of our Reading Roulette series of contemporary Russian literature in translation, with one shot left in the chamber. But we’ve saved the best for last.
Charles Yu
Our man in Boston puts the mighty Charles Yu in the ragtop and interrogates him over his background, dystopian fiction, lawyering for a day job, his lack of a creative writing graduate degree, Apple thingies, and why economists operate under pen names.
Igor Sakhnovsky
We continue our series of publishing contemporary Russian literature in translation—stories you won't find anywhere else, unfortunately—with a novelist who turns Mr. and Mrs. Nabokov into objects of captivation. Don't miss out on your chance to win a gift card from Powells.com.
Ninety-Nine Bottles of Pee on the Wall
Everyone says they’ve got a book inside, but hundreds of people actually write them—and are preyed upon by scam artists. The greatest story of literary vigilantism ever told.
Down and Out in a Repurposed Troop Carrier
Stunt memoirs are ubiquitous: writers who eat, pray, and love straight into their bank accounts. But what happens when the material for your book—for which you took a dozen amusement park jobs to acquire—isn’t all hijinks and zany locals? What if it’s rather nice?
Nobody Says I Love You Anymore
I’ve spent my life complaining and arguing and telling stories about the city I came from. Then I changed—but it did, too.
H.P. Lovecraft, Author, Is Dead
Today marks the 75th anniversary of H.P. Lovecraft's death. From Stephen King's It to “The Call of Cthulhu,” a survey of the 20th century's greatest horror writer's afterlife of influence.
The 2012 Pre-Game Primer
Booth commentators Kevin Guilfoile and John Warner introduce the eighth annual Tournament of Books, sponsored by Field Notes.