Who can remember the color of a stranger’s belt, and the precise angle of the back corner of an old movie theater’s lobby, but not the number of his own apartment, or any of the movies he saw? What kind of memory is that?

This is a story [audio] about how much I love you [audio].
posted on Apr 30, 2008 - View this thread

from ACT I SCENE 4

J: Your pardon; did I break thy concentration?
Continue! Ah, but now thy tongue is still.
Allow me then to offer a response.
Describe Marsellus Wallace to me, pray.
posted on Apr 20, 2008 - View this thread

Those big, wonderful book blogs like Paper Cuts, Guardian Books, and Poetry Foundation haven't totally satisfied your book blog bloodlust?
posted on Apr 16, 2008 - View this thread

Free Speculative Fiction Online is a database of free science fiction and fantasy stories online by published authors (no fan-fiction or stories by unpublished writers). Among the authors that FSFO links to are Paul Di Filippo (14 stories), James Tiptree, Jr. (4 stories), Connie Willis (3 stories), Eleanor Arnason (3 stories), Bruce Sterling (5 stories), Robert Heinlein (7 stories), Ursula K. LeGuin (3 stories), Jonathan Lethem (5 stories), Michael Moorcock (6 stories), Chine Miéville (2 stories), Samuel R. Delany (3 stories), Robert Sheckley (8 stories), MeFite Charles Stross (33 stories) and hundreds of other authors. If you don't know where to start, there's a list of recommended stories.
posted on Apr 5, 2008 - View this thread

Edinburgh author Iain M. Banks, creator of the post capitalist space faring society The Culture and it's oddly named ships, has long been the UKs top science fiction writer, but has never had more than a toehold in the US (in part through lack of availability, in part due to lack of promotion and in part due to some pretty awful covers. That could change: Matter, his latest, has been heavily promoted in the US and sports a cover nearly identical to the UK edition. This week Orbit are releasing US editions of the two earliest Culture novels, with the third following in July, which could mean a complete release of all the novels in the US in order.
posted on Mar 23, 2008 - View this thread

If Metafilter did time travel, it might end up like Desmond Warzel's Wikihistory. It's a short piece in the latest issue of Abyss and Apex and features snippets from the WWII subforum of the International Association of Time Travelers. Takes only moments to read but might amuse for hours.
posted on Mar 19, 2008 - View this thread

IPAF (International Prize for Arabic Fiction) is a new prestigious $50,000 literary prize managed the Man Booker Prize in London and sponsored by Abu Dhabi's¹ crown prince of the United Arabs Emirates. The inaugural winner was announced on March 10: Baha Taher's Sunset Oasis (shortlist). English translations appear to be unavailable although some are in the works. This is the first international prize for Arabic literature, and it has stirred up some passions.
posted on Mar 17, 2008 - View this thread

Ladies, have you ever dreamt of being whisked away kidnapped by a dashing young Prince? Or being swept off your feet and losing your virginity to a dark and mysterious stranger, who happens to be a Sheikh? Or how about being sold to an Arab aristocracy and living off the rest of your days in married bliss. No? Then how about considering a Royal who is so down-to-earth you won't meet anyone else quite like him? Much better than the alternative of marrying his polar opposite, don't you think? Of course, you can always try and keep it platonic if you wanted to. Welcome to the wonderful world of Sheikhs and Desert Love, where all of your fantasies can come true! (via)
posted on Mar 15, 2008 - View this thread

Good Girl Art is defined as "A cover illustration depicting an attractive young woman, usually in skimpy or form-fitting clothing, and designed for (mild erotic interest)[sic]. There have been several prior posts on pulp fiction cover art (1, 2, 3); this site focuses on the "good girls" usefully organized into categories such as "Swamp Babes", Ringside Jezebels, Crazy!, Vietnam Vixens, and Peeping Toms. via
posted on Mar 12, 2008 - View this thread

Rick Cook, the author of the 5 novels in the "Wizard's Bane" series of computer-infused light fantasy from the early 90s (the first two are available, free, and legally, courtesy of the Baen Books Free Library) was in the middle of writing a sixth in Spring 2000, when he underwent emergency heart surgery. The result of that, and the meds that followed — he says in his blog — is that he has the sixth book (The Wizard Recapitalized) about 90% complete, but can't finish it, and he wants to know if he should release it anyway. Not all that much
posted on Feb 22, 2008 - View this thread

MicroHorror: Terrifying tales, related in 666 words or fewer.
posted on Jan 17, 2008 - View this thread

It's round robin, user generated, choose-your-own-adventure style, web 2.0 fiction. My productivity is now permanently crippled. The cbc gives some background, if you care about that sort of thing.
posted on Jan 9, 2008 - View this thread

Security Question A short story by Ramon Rozas III. [via Schneier on Security]
posted on Dec 29, 2007 - View this thread

The Page 69 Test --inspired by Marshall McLuhan's suggestion to readers for choosing a novel, a new blog, inviting authors to describe what's on page 69. One says: Not the best, but not the worst. If my pages were presidents, I’d put page 69 somewhere in the James K. Polk range.
posted on Dec 11, 2007 - View this thread

"The Pulp Gallery is a visual reference guide to the wonderful cover art of pulp and pin-up magazines." From the bizarre (Lovecraft!) to the breezy (NSFW?), the savage (Any relation to Adam?) to the spicy (Eel Trap!). And don't miss the gallery of recycled art.
posted on Nov 30, 2007 - View this thread

Imagine a world without lightsabers—where, instead, every big Star Wars finale consists of a 10-minute slap fight. Thank the maker we’ll never have to witness such a spectacle, because magical and impossibly high-tech weapons are staples of nearly all of our favorite entertainments! ToyFare Magazine presents the 50 Greatest Fictional Weapons of All Time.
posted on Nov 21, 2007 - View this thread

201 Stories by Anton Chekhov translated by Constance Garnett presented in order of Russian publication.
posted on Nov 11, 2007 - View this thread

"The Great God Pan," by Arthur Machen. "The Beckoning Fair One," by Oliver Onions. "Green Tea," by J. Sheridan LeFanu. "The Boarded Window," by Ambrose Bierce. "The Horla," by Guy de Maupassant.
posted on Oct 31, 2007 - View this thread

Gay Pulp. Enjoy Queens in Drag. Thrill at The Killer Queens. Puzzle about The Flesh Mast in this fascinating (and mildly NSFW) photoset from one Miss Magnolia Thunderpussy.
posted on Oct 25, 2007 - View this thread

"“If the book were to be published as it is in its present edited form, I may never write another story, that’s how closely, God Forbid, some of those stories are to my sense of regaining my health and mental well-being.” The New York Times reported today that Raymond Carver's widow, Tess Gallagher, is pushing to republish the stories in Carver's acclaimed 1981 breakout collection, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love," in their original, unedited form.
posted on Oct 17, 2007 - View this thread

"“If the book were to be published as it is in its present edited form, I may never write another story, that’s how closely, God Forbid, some of those stories are to my sense of regaining my health and mental well-being.” The New York Times reported today that Raymond Carver's widow, Tess Gallagher, is pushing to republish the stories in Carver's acclaimed 1981 breakout collection, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love," in their original, unedited form.
posted on Oct 17, 2007 - View this thread

"“If the book were to be published as it is in its present edited form, I may never write another story, that’s how closely, God Forbid, some of those stories are to my sense of regaining my health and mental well-being.” The New York Times reported today that Raymond Carver's widow, Tess Gallagher, is pushing to republish the stories in Carver's acclaimed 1981 breakout collection, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love," in their original, unedited form.
posted on Oct 17, 2007 - View this thread

"No notice was taken by the press of artist-writer Sheri Martinelli's death in November 1996, unfairly ignoring the significant role she played in the cultural history of our time." Just to drop a few names. Nin. Pound. Parker. Gaddis. Cummings. Bukowski. Brando. A staggering roll-call for a life almost forgotten.
posted on Oct 16, 2007 - View this thread

"Humanity will wither and die. It’s inevitable now..." It's a work of fiction, or so one would hope. I humbly submit for your perusal if not approval, Humanity’s Final Message to Those Who Would Come After by Jeff Harrell. "It’s not hard to understand why. The big picture is scary. The big picture is that we’re all dying. Every last one of us."
posted on Oct 7, 2007 - View this thread

Exit Music. The King of Tartan Noir, Ian Rankin has retired his detective John Rebus. Ageing him with each novel, Rebus has finally reached the retirement age at Edinburgh CID; Although that may not stop him...
posted on Oct 1, 2007 - View this thread

Help! A Bear Is Eating Me! A podcast of Mykle Hansen's comic novel. One chapter a week, read by the author. A first person narrative, as told by an asshole, as he is eaten by a bear.
posted on Sep 12, 2007 - View this thread

Let's Tell a Story Together (A History of Interactive Fiction)
posted on Sep 2, 2007 - View this thread

"Mem, mem, mem." A fascinating memoir of global aphasia -- total language loss -- following a stroke, by British poet and novelist Paul West.
posted on Aug 17, 2007 - View this thread

With the Bourne Ultimatum released, that would appear to be it for the series. Not so for the books, even though original author Robert Ludlum has been dead for six years. This type of thing isn't exactly new, but do these ghost-written books do the originals justice, or are the authors' estates just cashing in?
posted on Aug 4, 2007 - View this thread

You should read these three stories by Amy Hempel. (Oh, and maybe listen to her read, here.) While you're at it, read some of these idiosyncratic but beautifully-written stories by grammarian Gary Lutz.
posted on Jul 30, 2007 - View this thread

"Something woke her in the night." Genre fiction is rising from the dead to terrorize serious literature! In response to Michael Chabon’s (previously) new book, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Ruth Franklin wrote a review in Slate beginning with the line “Michael Chabon has spent considerable energy trying to drag the decaying corpse of genre fiction out of the shallow grave where writers of serious literature abandoned it.” Well, that didn’t go over too well with Ursula K. Le Guin, who bent her considerable imagination and skill to the task of envisioning the zombie corpse of genre fiction and wrote an entertaining response, which was then given a suitable cover. The whole thing is also available as a pdf linked to from Le Guin’s website. via
posted on Jul 20, 2007 - View this thread

365 Portraits, 365 audio pieces, 365 speculative fiction pieces, 365 plays. All because one a day is good for the soul.
posted on Jul 16, 2007 - View this thread

The West Side. (episode 1; 7 min.; flash 9 req.)
posted on Jul 12, 2007 - View this thread

Bill O'Reilly alerts the nation to the roving lesbian gang menace.
posted on Jul 9, 2007 - View this thread

Looking for something to read this summer? Well, if you like crime fiction The Rap Sheet has some recommendations for you.
posted on Jul 8, 2007 - View this thread

St. Nicholas Magazine.
posted on Jun 11, 2007 - View this thread

Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey is Chuck Palahniuk's eighth novel. It takes the form of an oral history of one Buster 'Rant' Casey, in which an assortment of friends, enemies, admirers, detractors and relations have their say on this (in Chuck Palahniuk's words) 'evil, gender-conflicted Forrest Gump character'. His work is controversial, but I imagine a few Palahniuk fans who read The Blue might have missed the fact that he has a new book out. [ Previously ]
posted on Jun 9, 2007 - View this thread

FBI 101 -- "Essentials for Writers," an "exciting and informative" interactive workshop for writers being offered to members of my union -- the Writers Guild of America, East - by the FBI Office of Public Affairs and FBI New York. ... -- Very interesting account of a workshop the FBI puts on for writers in NY. What's in it for the FBI? ...The only question we have for you is 'Will it show us in a good light?'" ...
posted on Jun 9, 2007 - View this thread

After an abysmal, embarrasing attempt at collaborative fiction by Penguin Books, a new site takes a stab at the Wikinovel, this time, it appears, with a little better organization and planning. Though, still no users.
posted on May 30, 2007 - View this thread

The British Ministry of Defence has been thinking about the future , and 2037 looks like it'll be a doozy. Others have been thinking about it too, and they believe they'll be mainly hot, sweaty, dirty and confusing. Of course, if you're the Canadian military, you get a science fiction author to write your future for you.
posted on Apr 24, 2007 - View this thread

How to build your very own balsawood crow, the poetry of Dennis Beerpint, Little Severin the Mystic Badger, plus lobster diagrams and of course the Binnacle of the Week await you at Hooting Yard. Celebrated in song and story, Hooting Yard (also a radio show and podcast) is the home of Frank Key, author of such works as Sydney the Bat is Awarded the Order of Lenin and A Complete and Utter History of Norwich.
posted on Apr 12, 2007 - View this thread

An excerpt from Don DeLillo's eagerly anticipated and much-hyped new novel Falling Man. It's been done before, at times more memorably [.pdf] than others, but early reviews suggest a return to form for the eerily prescient novelist.
posted on Apr 5, 2007 - View this thread

Modern Thai fiction, in English et plus en français.
posted on Mar 26, 2007 - View this thread

Nude Marathon! Psychotherapy traveled down a lot of strange paths in the 60s and early 70s, but perhaps none stranger than the naked group therapy sessions, some up to 48 hours long, supervised by Paul Bindrim. Bindrim's sessions were the subject of a documentary film and an unflattering, thinly fictionalized novel by Gwen Davis Mitchell. Bindrim sued Mitchell for libel. Can descriptions of a fictional character be libelous of a real person? Yes.
posted on Mar 23, 2007 - View this thread

Ficlets are extremely short stories (a maximum of 1024 characters). Other writers swoop in and write prequels and sequels to your ficlet, making interesting branching narratives a la Create Your Own Adventure.
posted on Mar 15, 2007 - View this thread

Five Chapters. Weekly, serialized short fiction edited by David Daley, the man behind McSweeney's 20-Minute Stories Contest. Some contributors so far: Vendela Vida, Arthur Phillips, Sam Lipsyte, Anthony Swofford, Jess Walter, Stewart O'Nan.
posted on Mar 7, 2007 - View this thread

Booktribes is a new site from the creators of writing site Abctales where bibliophiles can compile lists of every book they've ever read. Replete with a simple, intuitive interface, compiling your life's reading list becomes strangely addictive, and for the whole of March, the best comment of the day on this as-yet underpopulated site wins a copy of David Mitchell's Black Swan Green, with the best comment of the month winning the entire 21 volume Sceptre Collection. And if you're worried your reading list isn't up to scratch, don't panic - you can always cheat.
posted on Mar 3, 2007 - View this thread

Esquire sends out 250 napkins to writers across America - from prolific novelists to those finishing off first works. Nearly a hundred respond back - from sex to frustration, poetry to twisted liaisons, even a mini book and plans for murder.
posted on Feb 27, 2007 - View this thread

Say What Again [audio NSFW] Pulp Fiction dialogue done with motion typography. [via]
posted on Feb 23, 2007 - View this thread