Rob Walker's Blog, page 11
September 16, 2010
S.O. Book News
This is the third installment in a series of twenty posts announcing — in no particular order — which 100 stories will be collected in the Significant Objects book (forthcoming in 2011 from Fantagraphics).
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11. Sarah Manguso's JAR OF FLOWERS story. Excerpt:
All the tiny things were wrapped in tissue and put into boxes and then into a crate to donate to the church. I didn't see my brothers take anything but I pocketed the corked jar because I knew it wouldn't get crushed in my pocket on the...
September 15, 2010
Significant Objects Meme (19)
From the AP, 11 hours ago:
NEW YORK — A University of Delaware graduate student who made a bold bet has become the biggest one-day winner in the history of the game show "Jeopardy!"
Roger Craig earned $77,000 on Tuesday's telecast. He beat the $75,000 standard set more than six years ago by legendary "Jeopardy!" champ Ken Jennings.
Craig finished the regular part of the game with $47,000 and bet $30,000 on the category "Literary and Movie Title Objects." The clue was: "The inspiration for this ...
September 14, 2010
Author Updates
1) S.O. contributor Scarlett Thomas reviewed S.O. contributor William Gibson's new novel, Zero History, in this past Sunday's New York Times Book Review. Excerpt: "One of the great things Gibson does is put some romance back into the digital world. His characters, as they roam darknets, monitor trends, observe ghostbranding and so on, find that there is always someone listening to the same record, or wearing the same jacket. Whether or not one should care about a piece of denim is a question ...
September 13, 2010
S.O. Book News
This is the second installment in a series of twenty posts announcing — in no particular order — which 100 stories will be collected in the Significant Objects book (forthcoming in 2011 from Fantagraphics).
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6. Maud Newton's CRACKER BARREL ORNAMENT story. Excerpt:
Enraged that the people had apparently failed to apprehend the full meaning of the rainbow promise he had made to Noah after the flood, the Lord waved His hand. Volcanic lava rained down, killing everyone but Lot and his family —...
September 11, 2010
Author Updates
1) Last month, we reported that Significant Objects author Tom McCarthy's novel C had landed on the Man Booker Prize 2010 longlist. Earlier this week, the Booker Prize shortlist was announced — and McCarthy's C is on it. Congratulations, Tom! Fingers crossed.
PS: McCarthy's Significant Objects story is here.
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2) Over at our sister site HiLobrow, SO author James Parker is back from vacation and has just published the ninth installment of his exciting serialized novel The Ballad of Cocky the...
September 10, 2010
S.O. Book News
After a somewhat agonizing process of editorial decision-making (because we're proud of every story we've published so far), we're thrilled to announce which 100 stories will be reprinted in the Significant Objects collection forthcoming in 2011 from Fantagraphics.
We're going to make this announcement over a series of twenty posts, each of which will reveal five of the stories — in no particular order — that will be in the book. Here's the first installment in this series!
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1. Wayne...
September 7, 2010
Coming October 9: Significant Objects event at San Francisco's Litquake!
See these Significant Objects in person
SIGNIFICANT OBJECTS presents …
An Evening of Remarkable Stories about Unremarkable Things
PLUS:
The first-ever … Object Slam!
Saturday, October 9, 2010 6-7p.m.
ROOT DIVISION
[Map to Venue.]
Part of the Litquake Litcrawl.
Featuring original fiction inspired by random thrift-store doodads and written by:
Rob Baedeker (your host): Rob Baedeker is a member of the Kasper Hauser comedy group, authors...September 6, 2010
September 2, 2010
Author Updates
1) Stephen O'Connor's new collection of stories, Here Comes Another Lesson, has just been published by Free Press. He will be giving readings and participating in other events throughout September and October. For details and reviews, click here.
2) Rosecrans Baldwin's first novel, You Lost Me There, has received raves from NPR, the Daily Beast, and Entertainment Weekly. The book is a NYTBR editor's pick. He'll be reading in New York on September 15 at McNally-Jackson Books.
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* For more...
September 1, 2010
Workin'
In progress
Hello, friends and readers and interested parties:
Just a quick word to say we're here, and there will be news of our activities soon. We're hard at work finalizing the lineup and other details of the Significant Objects book. We'll have more to say and announce soon. Thank you for your patience!
Oh, and we are still doing the Twitter thing, of course. Follow us @SignificObs if you please.
