Clifford Garstang's Blog, page 148
September 22, 2010
The New Yorker: "Birdsong" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Set in Lagos, Nigeria, this is the story of an angry young woman having an affair with an older, married businessman. The affair proceeds somewhat predictably—it's the sort of plot that is very difficult to do with rehashing some very tired situations—but the woman's anger and her observations about her place in Lagos make this story work very well.She's stuck in traffic and she sees a woman in another car who makes her think of her lover's wife, who lives in America. And as they sit in...
September 17, 2010
750 Words
If you write 750 words every day for a year, you'll have written . . . [stops to calculate:] . . . 273,750 words, which is WAY longer than a novel. In fact, it's like 3 novels, almost 4. But 750 words isn't very much. It's about 3 double-spaced pages. You can do it! Hell, even I can do it. Most days.
I wrote 1000 words today, amidst everything else I needed to get done. It wasn't on my novel though. It was on a book review I was asked to write (that I need to cut down some, so a few of those...
I wrote 1000 words today, amidst everything else I needed to get done. It wasn't on my novel though. It was on a book review I was asked to write (that I need to cut down some, so a few of those...
September 14, 2010
SWAG Writers September Reading
The SWAG Writers Reading Series continues this month with an event on September 29th at the Darjeeling Cafe (in the new space at 103 W. Beverley, Staunton, VA), at 7pm.This month we feature visiting poet Todd F. Davis and local essayist Janet Lembke.
Todd teaches creative writing, environmental studies, and American literature at Penn State Altoona and in the MFA program at Penn State University Park. He has published three books of poems: The Least of These
and Some Heaven
(both from Michigan...
September 13, 2010
Prime Number Magazine News
We had a busy weekend at Prime Number Magazine. Not only were we reading lots of wonderful submissions and working on editing the next full issue of the magazine (scheduled for October 19), but our staff grew by 50% when we added Margaret MacInnis as our Nonfiction Editor. Margaret joins me and Val Nieman (Poetry Editor).But besides that, we put the finishing touches on the latest update to Issue No. 2 -- that would be Prime Decimals 2.5, which went live this morning. The update includes shor...
September 11, 2010
The New Yorker: "The Landlord" by Wells Tower
Wells Tower fans aren't likely to be any happier with me than they were when I discussed his last story in The New Yorker. Lots of people loved that one; it left me cold. Kind of like this one, only worse.
Is "The Landlord" a novel excerpt? I don't know. I do know from the Q&A with Wells Tower that Tower is working on a novel, and I also know that this isn't satisfying as a story, so I hope for Tower's sake that it's an excerpt.
The "story" is in the point of view of the landlord, who has...
Is "The Landlord" a novel excerpt? I don't know. I do know from the Q&A with Wells Tower that Tower is working on a novel, and I also know that this isn't satisfying as a story, so I hope for Tower's sake that it's an excerpt.
The "story" is in the point of view of the landlord, who has...
September 10, 2010
The Book Club : The New Yorker
The New Yorker's Book Club is considering Jonathan Dee's The Privileges
this month. (Dee was my thesis advisor in my MFA program.) I've heard very good things about this book, and it's on my TBR shelf (which is, in reality, a whole bookcase), but I just don't think I'm going to get to it in time to participate in the discussion. Seems like a good idea, though.The Book Club : The New Yorker
Book-clubbed x 2
Since my book, In an Uncharted Country, came out about a year ago, I've visited several book clubs that have chosen it to read and discuss. I attended two just this week! I love it. I'd enjoy doing more, and judging by the lively discussion in even the smaller groups, my book seems to make a good choice for clubs.The first visit this week was to a book club in Harrisonburg consisting of women connected to James Madison University. There were 14 or so women there--including a couple of writers...
September 7, 2010
Man Booker Prize 2010 shortlist announced
Man Booker Prize 2010 shortlist announced: Man Booker Prize newsThe six books, selected from the Man Booker Prize longlist of 13, are:Peter Carey Parrot and Olivier in America (Faber and Faber)Emma Donoghue Room (Picador - Pan Macmillan)Damon Galgut In a Strange Room (Atlantic Books - Grove Atlantic)Howard Jacobson The Finkler Question (Bloomsbury)Andrea Levy The Long Song (Headline Review -
Headline Publishing Group)Tom McCarthy C (Jonathan Cape - Random House)
September 6, 2010
In an Uncharted Country in Mid-American Review
The following review of my short story collection
In an Uncharted Country
appears in the current issue (Volume XXX) of the Mid-American Review. It is reprinted here by permission.
In an Uncharted Countryby Clifford GarstangWinston-Salem, North Carolina: Press 53, 2009204 pages. $14, paper.
Clifford Garstang's debut book, In an Uncharted Country, helps decipher a familiar world, a country that many dwell in and yet may not know. With recognizable plotlines and characters who might live next...
In an Uncharted Countryby Clifford GarstangWinston-Salem, North Carolina: Press 53, 2009204 pages. $14, paper.Clifford Garstang's debut book, In an Uncharted Country, helps decipher a familiar world, a country that many dwell in and yet may not know. With recognizable plotlines and characters who might live next...
