MSNBC has an article about a guy working a job in every state in the nation. Daniel Seddiqui gets a gig in each state’s most famous industry, works there for one week, meets the people, and explores the surrounding area, before moving on.
This quest is similar to Sean Aiken’s adventure working a different job each [...]
Recently, the New York Observer wondered if there is any glamour left in publishing. The article generated a healthy amount of discussion amongst the book blogs and I didn’t initially think I had anything else to offer on the subject.
But some of the ideas expressed in this article have really been festering away for me [...]
In a piece about Wallace Stegner’s birthday, Timothy Egan recalls a hilarious interaction between an irritated author and an editor. Here’s the bit:
Norman Maclean, the Montana native whose gin-clear prose makes “A River Runs Through It” an American treasure, certainly carried some of the Stegnarian chip on his western shoulder.
After the success of his [...]
In a move worthy of our country’s best politicians and crisis-management-trained professional athletes, Herman Rosenblat has managed to both apologize and deny fault at the same time.
Reuters says Rosenblat apologizes while the Associated Press says he’s not sorry.
Meanwhile, since in spite of the men in white coats trying to correct me, I still believe I’m [...]
My old man was a pretty serious high school football player in south Georgia. Ohio, Texas, and Florida are now hotbeds of high school football player. But back in those days, small rural Georgia towns were as serious about ball as anyone. Naturally, I figured I would follow in my father’s footsteps.
But I was fucking [...]
With New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez’s admission to taking performance enhancing drugs, the whole issue of steroids in baseball has entered mainstream discourse again this week. I’m not much of a baseball fan, and frankly, I’m tired of the whole affair. However, there’s one part of the steroid discussion that drives me absolutely crazy.
Athletes, fans, [...]
Slushpile.net favorite Stephen Graham Jones has three appearances in Chicago lined up in conjunction with the Association of Writing Programs conference. Just look for the guy with cool western shirts featuring pearl snap buttons.
Today at 6pm, he’ll be at the Chiasmus Press Reading and Party at Barbara’s Bookstore, 1218 South Halsted Street.
On Thursday the [...]
In American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon,, outdoorsman and writer Steven Rinella chronicles his own hunt for a wild buffalo in the Alaskan wilderness. Mixed in with his own adventure is a recounting of the buffalo’s history and its unique place in American culture.
The book received acclaim from a number of critics. [...]
Slushpile.net overlord John Biggs was at the press conference today for Amazon’s launch of a new Kindle. Check out his live-blogging of the festivities here.
Last night, Coldplay won the Grammy award for their song “Viva La Vida.” This is the very same song that is the center of a lawsuit by guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani.
Satch claims that Coldplay’s tune is follows too closely with his 2004 song, “If I Could Fly.” In fact, there was some speculation that [...]