The great “farhearinged” Barry Hannah passes away way too damn young. 67 years. He will be madly missed. “The pier [of heaven shakes] under his feet, wrapped in socks and sandals.”
Category Archives: Fiction
Dickens’ “Hard Times”
February 15, 2010 – 3:58 pm
This week, the Pearl Theatre parts its curtains for Stephen Jeffrey’s page-to-stage adaptation of Hard Times by Charles Dickens. After sitting through the production, I contemplated suggesting an addendum to the Playbill. Perhaps, a WARNING on the cover: “This play is long, and the chairs are Amish in comfort level.” But, I realize that such [...]
Sam Shepard’s “Day Out of Days”
February 4, 2010 – 1:56 pm
Photo by Brigitte Lacombe
Surely it would be blasphemy to suggest that the strongest suit in Sam Shepard’s fecund, polymath deck is his prose. His plays have won him the Pulitzer (“Buried Child”). His acting has garnered an Oscar nomination (The Right Stuff). His direction on stage and screen is highly respected, or better. But it [...]
Fly-Over State excerpt, by Emma Straub
October 11, 2009 – 5:08 am
Margaret had a tight mouth, small features and the personality to match, but she was in charge of the neighborhood committee, so she extended an invitation to the annual gathering at our mutual neighbor’s house across the street. They’d invited over the local policeman and a firefighter and all the dogs and children. It was [...]
Emma Straub’s Fly-Over State
September 24, 2009 – 9:36 am
The lovely Emma Straub’s first stand alone book, Fly-Over State is available at Flatmancrooked for $6. The copies are hand-numbered in an edition of 400. If you don’t know Emma or her writing, she is the cat’s pajamas (almost literally) and I promise you will love her as much as I do.
Oscar the Agnostic: Fiction by Jared Killeen
September 12, 2009 – 3:31 pm
Oscar Adnate finds himself on a beach. Hot yellow air around him, sky, the belting of gulls. A large pale shape moves across sand that is boundless and flat and immensely radiant.
He can feel the heat on his face, the long shriveled stalks of his legs. It is, undeniably, an oppressive sensation. The pale shape [...]
You and I Are More Alike Than I Once Supposed, Fiction by Anna Potter
September 9, 2009 – 12:34 am
My take on the founding fathers debacle is that you and I are more alike than I once supposed. We are both at this point in time somewhat stunned by life, but we know that even so, there are only two ways it can go. Both are pretty unspeakable, though one is definitely preferable, but [...]
