Michael Chabon speculates on why we’re suspicious of entertainment, whether it’s deserved, and how things got this way.
Entertainment has a bad name. [...] The word wears spandex, pasties, a leisure suit studded with blinking lights. It gives off a whiff of Coppertone and dripping Creamsicle, the fake-butter miasma of a movie-house lobby, of karaoke and Jägermeister, Jerry Bruckheimer movies, a “Street Fighter” machine grunting solipsistically in a corner of an ice-rink arcade. [...] Entertainment, in short, means junk, and too much junk is bad for you — bad for your heart, your arteries, your mind, your soul.
But maybe… the reason for the junkiness of so much of what pretends to entertain us is that we have accepted — indeed, we have helped to articulate — such a narrow, debased concept of entertainment.
What’s amazing about Chabon is his ability to evoke Street Fighter in one breath and the Lacanian parole in the next, without coming off as a poseur or a slumming intellectual. He’s telling us to demand smart junk!
Smart Junk! That oughta be a magazine. I’d subscribe.
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July 4th, 2008
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This has been sitting in my drafts folder for a couple of months… a profile of my favorite fiction mentor Steven Galloway by the CBC. The piece talks about The Cellist of Sarajevo and has a brief but interesting Q&A with Steven. A good length for whiling away a coffee break, I think.
Rock.
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June 24th, 2008
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Long time no see, litfarmers. Blogs, man. They don’t update themselves, do they? Err. Anyway.
The Federation of BC Writers is having a competition for short fiction: Literary Writes 2008. Deadline is right around the corner, July 1, 2008, and the entry fee is $20 ($15 if you’re a member). Any genre is acceptable, and prizes are $500, $300, $150, plus publication in WordWorks and an opportunity to read at Word on the Street, Vancouver’s annual downtown literary fest.
Good luck, and let me know if you enter.
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June 23rd, 2008
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I went to see David Albahari last night with some of the other litfarmers. He talked about his writing in a way that managed to be both intellectual and down-to-earth at the same time. He began by reading a conversation between himself and his wife (who he described as his favorite character both in fiction and real life). In what I expect is normal Albahari post-modern trickery, the couple bickered while scheming to escape from the story, which took on the shape of a cage, trapping them between sentences without bread, kajmak or a suitable definition of love.
He has some interesting and serious ideas about memory, nostalgia and identity, but through it all is an unstoppable sense of humor and humanity that made the lecture feel more like a private conversation over strong coffee and a few dozen cigarettes. I’m extremely curious to read Snowman
, the first novel he wrote in Canada.
Many thanks to SFU, Geist and Canada Council for inviting Mr Albahari to speak, and inviting us to listen.
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May 13th, 2008
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Got this in my inbox on Friday.
David Albahari, the world-renowned novelist and writer of short fiction, will be speaking on Memory and Narrative, and reading from his work:
SFU Harbour Centre,
Fletcher Challenge Theatre
Monday, May 12, 2008
at 7:00 pm.
Admission is free.
Reservations are required–please reserve your seats by email to: cstudies@sfu.ca or by phone: 778.782.5100
David Albahari left Serbia in 1990 and moved to Calgary, where he now lives. He is the author of several award-winning booksm and his work has been translated into fourteen languages.
“He belongs to that select group of writers in the world today whose work may be said to be indispensable.” —Charles Simic
A note on David Albahari and his work can been seen at: www.geist.com/albahari-david
Some of his stories recently published in Geist can be found at www.geist.com/author/albahari-david
Albahari’s work has been an inspiration to many writers around the world.
Hope to see you there. Don’t forget to reserve your seats!
(This event is sponsored by SFU Writing and Publishing and the Geist Foundation)
(Thanks Geist.)
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May 5th, 2008
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Another Sky Press is an example of how print-on-demand, internet distribution and alternative payment models might be changing the face of publishing. First, all their books are free for download online. Sure, you’re thinking, but according to litfarm, that’s practically mainstream. Well, they also sell hard-copies of their books at cost, plus an optional “contribution”, and that contribution goes to paying the author. From their site:
We want people to read our books, even if they read them for free. This isn’t anything revolutionary - unless your local librarian is a subversive of the highest order.
To best accomplish this goal we release all of our books online for free. Because we know how good ‘real’ books feel in your hands, we also price our trade-paperbacks via a sliding scale system in which the base price is the cost for us to ship you a book (we don’t make a penny) and you set the final price by choosing what you’d like to contribute (if anything) to the creative team behind it (most of which goes to the author). You can’t ever be ripped off. We call this pro-artist, pro-audience system neo-patronage.
There are a whole bunch of reasons we are doing this. Some of them are idealistic (we trust people!). Some of them are economic (we want everyone to be able to afford our books!). Some of them are philosophical (we believe it is a better system!). Some of them are technological (flow with technology, don’t fight it!).
You can read more on their philosophy of publishing at their site, but in effect, they’re happy enough if someone downloads and reads their books. They’re even happier if someone orders a book at cost and they make nothing, since again someone is reading their books. If the person wants to pay more, it goes directly to the creative team behind the book–which they mention means mostly the author, but presumably includes the designer, editor, etc.
The whole thing reminds me of the 1,000 True Fans idea I blogged a while back, and could be a great way to establish a following that could take you into the mainstream. Or who knows, could support you outright.
I’m currently listening to a podcast of the first chapter of Ash Dogs by Justin Nicholes, a novel about a recently discharged marine, looking to get back the parts of himself that he lost in Iraq. Check it out.
(Thanks, Groundswell Collective.)
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April 29th, 2008
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Last night was the Vancouver launch of Steven Galloway’s new book, The Cellist of Sarajevo
. I’d like to thank Steven for inviting me to the event, which featured a reading, a massive book signing queue, an open bar, a live performance of Abinoni’s Adagio, an open bar, amazing food by the Blue Water Cafe, a cake in the shape of a cello, and an open bar. I got home at midnight and decided to read the first little bit of the novel. One hundred pages later, I forced myself to sleep. Recommended by litfarm.
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April 18th, 2008
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I crack myself up. Anyway…
Local literary fixture and all-around friendly guy (he was decidedly cordial at the legion that one time I went) Kevin Chong profiles that other fixture and my mentor at SFU, Steven Galloway. Steven’s got a new book coming out, The Cellist of Sarajevo, which is getting a lot of attention in the press, and rightly so. I’ve heard the ending (dammit, Steve!) and can’t wait to read the rest.
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April 16th, 2008
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The winning title: If You Want Closure In Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs. ‘Nuff said.
No really. The prize committee noted that the title really does accurately summarize the entire book.
Honorable mention goes to the author’s name: Big Boom. Name just doesn’t go with leg-closing, does it?
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April 16th, 2008
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Another one for the sf novelists out there, it’s um, sfnovelists.com, a group blog by a few dozen science fiction and fantasy authors, aimed at promoting and discussing their work.
The site is filled with thoughtful posts like A Guide to Reviewing a Book (for the truly rash among you), What Makes Me Stop Reading, an article on craft and plotting, and the tantalizingly titled My Dragon Takes Your Starship about why fantasy outsells science fiction (or does it?).
May the force be with you. Always.
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April 14th, 2008
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