damages…back on track.

a solid episode last night.  blissfully absent of the annoying whiny Katie character (sans about 10 minutes - which was all that was tolerable).  nice little chunks of information are immerging and i’m interested.  we got some much needed relationship stuff between Ellen and David and some great development for both Tom and the Tom and Patty relationship.  i could have done without the ridiculous scene at the restaurant with Tom and his wife and his friend and friend’s girlfriend.  in my experience real adults rarely behave that way in an upscale restaurant, regardless of how much they’ve had to drink or what they are celebrating.  it was a bit absurd.  otherwise a strong episode. 

if you are trying to catch up or have decided to start watching the show (surely based on my brilliant coverage), they are showing a marathon on Labor Day weekend - September 3rd, starting @ 3pm on FX, the marathon will be followed by a new episode the following night at the regular time - Tuesday, September 4th @ 10pm (there is no new episode next week). 

short fiction rejection #2

i’ve decided to track my short fiction rejections (and acceptances - should i be so lucky).  i just got a rejection today :(  so i guess it’s time to start tracking.

i had previously submitted two pieces total in my life.  last year i submitted two and got one rejection (from Swink) and one acceptance, from Pearl.  my piece “I Hate The French” will be published in Pearl #38 (winter 2008).

this year i submitted 4 more and i just got my rejection today for The Threepenny Review. the piece is titled, “Adele, The Unremarkable”.  it is a bit of a departure piece for me, so it is disappointing (rejections always are i suppose) but i still have several pieces (3?) out there, so i can’t be too sad yet. besides, my novel is out there in the world as well, and i’m sending all my energy to that one right now, no energy left to worry about the poor short fiction bits…

so here’s the official rejection count:  1 for 3

here’s a link to Pearl Magazine:  http://pearlmag.com/

the apocalypse is not always interesting…

this is the hardest book review i’ve had to write yet.

#25. The Apocalypse Reader. Edited by Justin Taylor. Short Fiction Collection.

i desperately wanted to like this book, both because it is a collection of great writers both seasoned and relatively new, giving their original takes on the apocalypse, which is interesting in and of itself, and just because i adore good short fiction. there are 34 stories in total by 35 different authors, all dealing in their own ways with “the apocalypse” and if i have complained before about an uneven collection, then boy was i complaining before i even knew what to complain about it. this is the most uneven collection i have ever read, some of it just awesome and mind blowing and hilarious and some of it so dull and underwhelming that a few times i gave up and didn’t complete a story (unheard of for me - i always trudge through!). however, i want more collections, i want to support both the short story form and the vision of what this collection is about. so i’m torn about this review.

i suppose the real truth of it is: 2 stars for the half of it i didn’t like and 4 stars for the half of it i did like? hmm…split the difference and give it 3 stars? jeez. i hate this. 3 seems too high. maybe i have to admit that my expectations were too high? is that part of the problem here?

pieces by the following artists were awesome: Jared Hohl, Matthew Derby, Shelley Jackson, Adam Nemett, Brian Evenson, Robert Bradley, Josip Novakovich, Allison Whittenberg, Justin Taylor, Kelly Link, Neil Gaiman, Tao Lin, Elliot David, Colette Phair, Michael Moorcock, Jeff Goldberg, Jocye Carole Oates. I desperately want to add Dennis Cooper to this list with The Ash Gray Proclamation, and he had me for the first 15 pages, but i couldn’t hold on for the last 10 or so, it just got too ridiculous, which was perhaps the point, but somewhere my enjoyment was lost.

the piece by Jeff Goldberg, These Zombies Are Not A Metaphor, was my favorite as it was hilarious and inventive and just utterly enjoyable. second runners up include An Accounting by Brian Evenson, The Last Man by Adam Nemett, and Fraise, Menthe. Et Poivre 1978 by Jared Hohl.

the ones i didn’t mention were either passable or borderline unreadable and i’m sad to say that this included several VERY famous writers and even some that whether famous or not, i’ve been a fan of, for quite some time. very disappointing.

the problem i suppose with any review, be it movie, book, or album, is that so much of it is based on personal tastes. i’ve always tried to make it known that my reviews are very personal, which means that it is just one girl’s silly opinion and it may not work for everyone. but at the same time, with this book, i couldn’t in good conscience recommend it to anyone, which is the mark of a genuinely good book, right? jeez. a simple book review shouldn’t be so difficult…

Okay, 3.0 stars - with the stipulation that there are many 4 star pieces in there, but that for me, there are also a lot of 1 and 2 star pieces, so read at your own risk. if anyone has read this book, i would welcome comments about which stories worked for them, particularly if you have an argument as to why a story i didn’t list was a favorite of yours.