cancer at fifty

"The clapping sound is the new crew boss / keeping time. Jane Kenyon, cancer at forty-seven. / Larry Levis, heart at forty-nine. Ray Carver / who had met Tess and beat alcohol which / was going to kill him, cancer at fifty."

~~ from "Harvest: Those Who Die Early in the Middle Years" included in Summer Snow by Robert Hass

Ignatius J. Reilly

"On a book tour, [Susan] Fuentes will call Ignatius J. Reilly a 'Proto-Troll, the Mitochondrial Adam of Incels,' mention his love for Batman serials and penny arcades, his hatred for Doris Day's beauty. She will never know that [Blake] Mesman hadn't actually read the book."

~~ from Jeff Chon's Hashtag Good Guy with a Gun

the struggle to find a publisher. . .

Richard Ford's "I'd spit again" concerning a Colson Whitehead negative review brought me to another Guardian piece on John Kennedy Toole's struggle to find a publisher. It's tough out there, so do the best you can and remember to appreciate any small success that comes your way. Good luck, always. I need it too.