August 2011
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Teaching myself piano. Day 2.
September 2010
1 post
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Free Mooney, find Mooney.
We are all of the same tribe. We all wear the same markings. The book is, in one way, a family portrait: a portrait of our tribe. There are obviously many people missing from this portrait, but that makes sense to me. Someone is always missing. -Blake B. interviews Chris Higgs at Bookslut, and says this: ‘The Complete Works of Marvin K. Mooney seems to me unprecedented via form, making new ways...
July 2010
3 posts
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June 2010
4 posts
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Shit, Keeping Up, And Moving Away
What a coincidence!
“The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.”
Just over seven months after the plan to send an additional 30,000 soldiers was...
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“Somehow all of this conversation, but especially Contesa’s memory,...”
– American Genius by Lynne Tillman
May 2010
1 post
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Sunday, going backwards.
Drove to the farmer’s market and ate a tamale. Walked and found razor blades in a PO box. Caught a longhaired toehead rollerblading past me. Ate a donut. Emails. Going to ride digital horses and grill onions.
Hung out with Michael Kimball. He is amazing. We showed some movies he made with Luca Dipierro:
We looked at most of LACMA. Got an idea from Beuys, and we’re both working on...
April 2010
3 posts
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Mooney, Bluets, Blab.
The Complete Works of Marvin K. Mooney is now available in three more bookstores: St. Mark’s in NYC, Pilot Books in Seattle, and Porter Square Books in Cambridge, MA. Thanks to the buyers/friends there.
Also, you can listen to a preview from the Mooney audiobook. Go here, scroll down just a bit. I mashed three tracks together.
Started writing another book. If I finish, it’ll be my...
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God.
I forgot about a nightmare I had in early morning sleep until this evening. Upon remembering, I almost puked.
In the dream, the walls of my house suddenly became bubbled and you couldn’t sand the bubbles down or destroy them. Harder than wood.
And as I went room to room, afraid of the bubbles spreading, I noticed small outcroppings of the bubbled wall in corners…
I’m...
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The word of the century is crump.
You can comment on these posts again.
I had a great time with everyone at AWP. Getting punched in the ribs and thug rap in minivans and reading poems in elevators and eating pizza at 4:30am and cab drivers who speak five languages and this guy performing a Rastafari/Tupac mix in his boxers, in a bar. Selling books. Buying books. Being reinvigorated again after spending time with the friendliest...
March 2010
3 posts
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Smeef of Small Hygenics
Reading: Firework by Eugene Marten. This isn’t published yet, it’s coming soon from Tyrant Books. Eugene wrote a book called Waste that is one of my favorite books; it’s full of grime and longing. This new one, the big one, Firework, is proving itself a weird gathering of mirrors and beer cans and thrownness.
I also read The Hollywood Economist, a nonfiction guidebook of sorts...
melanielabarge-deactivated20100 asked: Hello, sir. As a fan of routine/ritual I was wondering what your non-working morning ritual looks like, do you have one?
imjeremyr asked: Did you ever act in Dallas and have a Dallas agent or did you go straight from Abilene to L.A.?
February 2010
14 posts
itjusthappened asked: I think that music can be a fairly solid litmus test for people. Do you have a favorite song lyric or lyrics? The kind of phrase you try to live by or one that's just downright goofy but makes you feel good?
mjvla asked: Where do you see yourself in five years?
insanelytame asked: Better rephrased: Do you remember talking to a girl who called in WZAP radio?
insanelytame asked: I live with my dad in the San Fernando Valley (LA). Do you ever get tired of California? or ever in the mood to move because all the crap in CA?
2010emily asked: hi,
i sent you an email, traveling to LA to spend time at USC. what is your favorite part of living in LA?
emily
i sent you an email, traveling to LA to spend time at USC. what is your favorite part of living in LA?
emily
daanieeee asked: whats your favorite movie?
digaman asked: What was the first thing you can remember reading that gave you a clue as to who you really are?
adiejonasmonteith asked: What can you tell me about Ben & Amy for this season or this upcoming season?
battery-kinzie asked: Hey, what kind of music do you like?
roxiihs asked: How did you find London when you came here?
eugeniac asked: do you like working on secret life?
hiiiiiimjuliaaaa asked: What's your favorite part about filming on the Secret Life set?
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'Exploration. Great theft.'
My secret project, a.k.a. A Big Thing, is not a secret anymore. I now own & operate a nonprofit publishing company. My first title, The Complete Works of Marvin K. Mooney–a novel by Christopher Higgs–is available in paperback, ebook & audiobook forms. Special presale prices, limited edition cover. Click here to look & maybe order.
I captured the book as it fell from the sky, landed...
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'Metastasis' shouldn't mean what it does.
Reading: Closer by Dennis Cooper. Dennis is a friend of mine, and I’ve only read God Jr. Correcting this. Halfway through Closer, and it’s a stunningly compact text. There are these logical leaps, held in fantasy, throughout that are just wowing me. I don’t think I can respect Dennis more than I already do, but here’s a toast–to heaping! (clink) Also, still and unstill with...
December 2009
2 posts
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sta/sis/tus
Reading: Oblivion by David Foster Wallace. First story: Mr. Squishy. I started it this morning in bed. Keeping with tradition, Wallace managed to keep me in bed and reading for an hour or so. I read through hunger. I bet this story is about to shatter me. Picking at Finnegans Wake in ten page returns. Still incredible. Still amazed.
Watching: Synecdoche, NY. Just finished it. This is the 3rd time...
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helix fever
Slow’s been the holidays. Food, overeating, family, clothing, maintenance. December isn’t a bad month for maintenance.
I look at the story I’m writing—Solip—and I’m confused and full of faith. Kierkegaard and Wittgenstein talk about the inextricability of faith and confusion.(?) Søren said this:
But the absurd is a category, and a category that can have a...
November 2009
4 posts
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Status Quorum
I’m at about 11000 words on the novel, now. Been slow because work on the show has picked up; it’s a big episode—the finale—and I haven’t had as much time at home. I think I figured out a big structural & narrative path though, for the novel, and that’s exciting. The idea came while I ate chips and salsa. Many of the ideas come while I eat chips and...
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October 2009
2 posts
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I’ll be posting excerpts from a novel in progress here, until it’s complete or abandoned.
September 2009
2 posts
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NO COLONY, OPEN
NO COLONY, a paperback collection of new stories published by me and Blake Butler, is now open to submissions. Details can be found at the site.
And if you want to read words that will make you ___________, check out the buying specials at the source. Expansive text for cheap.
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51
There is an artist in Los Angeles who’s name is hum. He is a friender. He is a plax. To not be crossed, he saym. To not be crossed. A fairer father farther norse, up in the green yearnin gables of Ire. I AM A JOYCE RIPOFF! the artist cries! NORMUM ETESPLAT! the boy cries!
?%
-It makes a mess of us all.
-What does?
-What does. What does. … Do you see your coffee?
-No, I...
August 2009
4 posts
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riverrun
I bought a paperback copy of Finnegans Wake (with the cover pictured above) from Shakespeare & Company, the cavernous, warm, wonderful & legendary bookstore in Paris.
Throughout my 2 & 1/2 week trip all over Europe with Blake, I hauled my copy of the Wake around like a newborn, most often cradling it between my right arm and torso, squeezing it tight into my ribs as we walked miles...
Dzanc's Best of the Web nominations:
I’ve nominated Jeff Crouch, Joseph Goosey, and Jason Bredle for their works titled Paper Clips, A Free, Over The Phone Consultation, and Moby Dick, respectively.
Thanks again to Jeff, Joseph & Jason (J city, baby) for their awesome contributions. Your stories/poems continue to inspire and make me happy.
For more info about the Best of the Web anthology, click THIS!
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A Return; A Point to Fixate On and then Zoom-Out...
I subsumed — first I wrote ‘saw’ then ‘watched’ then ‘imbibed’ then ‘saw’ again, then finally ‘subsumed’ - this confused process further explained later on… — I subsumed The Graduate for the first time last night. I really enjoyed it, and would say it’s a great film. Very cool and different and...
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July 2009
2 posts
An essay about a story in a book.
The following text is an essay by Karen Heuler about a story she wrote titled Ball Lightning, which appeared first in Oxford Magazine and later in this awesome book: Best of the Web 2009; a print anthology of the ‘best’ internet-culled short stories, edited by the folks at Dzanc Books (one of my favorite publishers.)
The essay, these words below, is as beautiful as the story it...
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April 2009
2 posts
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The Much Talked About ‘Big News’ Okay. So I’m finally in the clear in a legal sense to divulge the promised information: I’ve optioned the film rights to Log of the S.S. The Mrs Unguentine by Stanley Crawford, and will be writing the screenplay. A little back story: On recommendation of Blake Butler and others, I bought the book. As soon as it arrived in the mail I sat...
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Novellas, A Bunch of Them John Madera recently emailed me asking for a list of my ten favorite novellas and a little commentary on each. I obliged. Little did I know, what John was compiling was something massive. Here’s a bit from his introductory essay: In his introduction to Different Seasons, Stephen King also called the novella “an ill-defined and disreputable literary banana...
February 2009
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On Light Boxes I feel it’s hard today to find a work of art that is earnest, that is compassionate. (Michael Kimball’s Dear Everybody comes to mind). I was startled by Shane Jones’s novel because it is so painfully both; it bleeds itself, and bleeds for others. Light Boxes is a story about a community, about a man’s quest to rid his community of February, a bitter and...
January 2009
2 posts
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NO COLONY Volume 2, Now. NO COLONY Volume 2 is ready for you. This collection has continually wowed Blake and I, we are proud parents again. This issue features: Isadora Bey Kristina Born Aaron Burch Blake Butler Luca Dipierro Scott Garson Rachel B. Glaser Chris Higgs Brandon Hobson Edward Kim Matt Kirkpatrick Rauan Klassnik Lee Klein Darby Larson Evan Lavender-Smith Patrick Leonard Eugene...