Wrote a bit about Sophia Giovannitti's "Working Girl: On Selling Art and Selling Sex" (on @versobooks.bsky.social) for this @insidehook.bsky.social roundup. www.insidehook.com/books/read-a...
Would never have guessed "Santeria" would still be a crowd favorite 30 years later. Related: I am still not a fan of "Santeria." Sorry, Sublime Hive.
The timing was surprising to me, since Dark Horse's deal with 3W3M seemed like a pretty big deal.
Maybe I'm wrong, but it feels like SFF has been getting a steadily larger presence at AWP, and I'm glad to see it.
Exclusive cover reveal and excerpt of the latest from one of the coolest genre authors out there, @jchaplinsky.bsky.social!
John Langan's LOST IN THE DARK.
Steve-O got a ruptured testicle by letting one of his castmates jump on his crotch with a pogo stick and he is unquestionably more morally sophisticated than most of our sitting lawmakers
Also in newsletter form for those who prefer their culture writing there. open.substack.com/pub/tobiasca...
It's a little amazing how this season has gone from "hey, maybe Spurs will qualify for Europe" to "holy shit, this is a spiral that's going to be a cautionary tale for years to come." (Not, I should stress, the good kind of amazing.)
Baltimore AWP folks! Tonight! I'm reading at the Cheseapeake Theater Shakespeare Studio along with Cynthia Weiner, Erika Swyler, Amber Sparks, Hugh Sheehy, William Lessard, Jennifer Sears, Alex Behr, DW Arden, and Farooq Ahmed! Drinks downstairs beginning at 6, readings kick off at 7!
...and sometimes you sit down and realize you've just written 800+ words on why the 2016 movie A Cure for Wellness is a parable for US conservative politics in 2026.
(Will probably wind up on my blog later this week.)
because I keep forgetting to mention it: LITERALLY ANYONE can nominate books for this prize! yes! that means you! you have until march 31st!
I watched a bit of the Finnish LotR adaptation, and it's a very interesting choice to have Gollum played by a guy who seems to be channeling George "The Animal" Steele.
Kinda wondering if it's time to revisit Vikram Chandra's Geek Sublime: The Beauty of Code, the Code of Beauty now that AI coding has become more prevalent. www.graywolfpress.org/books/geek-s...
Really should've gotten a haircut before AWP. Might just wear a knit cap all conference.
Chotiner: And when you engraved "One Ring to rule them all" on the—
Sauron: I don't understand why everyone keeps taking that out of context.
Chotiner: Well, do you mean to rule us all?
Sauron: I'm here to talk about Gondor's illegal encroachment in Ithilien, Isaac.
One of my favorite parts of last night’s election results.
The only Democratic talking point should be: we don’t abandon anyone.
One of my favorite parts of reading Joe McPhee's recent memoir was the bit about McPhee and Pauline Oliveros collaborating with Pollack on a musical project. An unlikely convergence of genius, but I'm glad it happened.
wait WHAT
Been meaning to revisit that myself, for similar reasons.
At Zona Motel, I wrote about Daniel Rachel's This Ain’t Rock ‘n’ Roll: Pop Music, the Swastika, and the Third Reich (on @akashicbooks.bsky.social). zonamotel.substack.com/p/review-thi...
Don't love that chart, nope.
Wait, I can get waffles at Uncle Louie G's now? Amazing.
Would be excellent to see you!
The "somehow, Tilly Norwood returned" of it all is, once again, making the film SIM0NE feel prescient. I wrote about the flick in question in 2023. www.insidehook.com/film/simone-...
I'm so here for this.
People looking at what widespread betting has done across sports and thinking, "Yes, we really need to expand this to every part of society!" (Or, more likely, "We will get a lot richer if we expand this to every part of society!")
Love the combination of scammers ambitious enough to build a website but not so ambitious that they bothered to look up what the writers they're purporting to work with actually look like.
Thanks for reading! And for sharing!
