"sign on the line that is dotted"

We finished up Glengarry, Glen Ross today, and overall, it seemed the students did not find it quite as harrowing as three hundred pages of Humbert Humbert's manipulations and madness or the ten to twelve of Dorothy Allison's "River of Names." Raymond Carver's "Cathedral" was one they could see as having the feel-good ending they crave. Next up, Chris Offutt's The Same River Twice.

no escape

Argh!!!

Before you have a good weekend, don't forget to take your vitamins, drink your water, and of course, read your indie novels.

lamont b. steptoe

If you find yourself yearning for some poetry and discussion from Lamont B. Steptoe, I discovered you can google "lamont steptoe" and get plenty of entries for this American Book Award winner. Here's a nifty interview from 2007.

Lamont currently keeps watch over what was the Southwestern edge of University City (until the realtors and migrants decided UC should extend to 52nd Street or so), and you can find him on the 34 line, the 42 bus, the walking path, bicycle, or by other means heading West after a day in center city.

Here is what amazon can offer if you'd like to read his poems.

I suspect that getting in touch with Lamont is the best way to access his most recent work. If you see Lamont in person, and are interested in travel narrative, I am certain he can deliver.

Stay warm.

shelve your indy novel in the superbookstore month

Yes, it is true. February is national "Shelve Your Indy Novel in the Superbookstore" month. This means that sneaking into a local big-box store known for housing book product and in clandestine fashion placing your independently produced novel on the shelf, with sticker price affixed, is the thing to do. No dark glasses, trenchcoat, or other disguise is required; a hidden camera might make things more interesting, but of course, the store most likely already provides those. Alphabetical order is expected, but the organizers of this month's theme have not yet arranged to check up on folks. I'm assuming this means it can also be "Pretend Your Last Name Begins with a Q Even if it Begins with an X" month.

Reminder: It is absolutely NOT national "Sneak Strong Coffee for Free in the Superbookstore Cafe" month, and as per usual, shoplifters will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Ah, humanity, and the way of all fiction...

bilingual in bucharest

If you are interested in joining Daniel D. Peaceman's bi- and even trilingual literary project, this blog entry includes submission guidelines:

http://contemporaryhorizon.blogspot.com/2009/11/submission-guidelines_4625.html

He requires stories, poems, essays, book reviews, art, photos, and more for both the print (paper) publication as well as the journal's online presence. I recommend you email him at the stated yahoo address before you submit.

kudera's kafkas in romania

It looks like I am soon to receive my paper copy of the January/February 2010 issue of the Romanian journal Contemporary Horizons (or, in Romanian, Orizont Literar Contemporan). The line up is diverse and from several continents; I think I see my Kafkas cozying up to contributions from India and Spain:

http://contemporaryhorizon.blogspot.com/2010/02/contemporary-horizon-magazine-issue-no_5228.html

From perusing the previous issue, which includes 6 poems by Don Riggs, we can see that Daniel D. Peaceman and his colleagues do a tremendous amount of work to prepare this bi- and even trilingual publication. (All of the contributions are in both English and Romanian and some are represented in three languages.)

Be well, Daniel Dragomirescu.