4/24

Just heard that "So Long, Anyway," the last story in Trouble, originally published by EPOCH, will be included in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2007, due out in October. Sufjan Stevens is writing the introduction.

I will now do whatever is in my power to encourage him to turn his eye to God's Favorite State for the next album.

Yes an omniscient being can have an opinion.

4/9

I'll be reading at Quimby's in Chicago in a couple of weeks (4/22, 4 PM) - Matt Briggs, a writer from Seattle, will be in town, and Punk Planet is going to welcome him. I will be the person standing in the back corner, holding a boomerang and staring at you.

Also, look for my (very small) contribution to GQ in the upcoming May issue. It's not about cufflinks.

1/26

Wanna read a story from Trouble? The Barcelona Review has published "The Cold War" after the fact - and check out the Music Inspired by Literature quiz to boot

1/3 - Happy '07. I mean it. I mean it with more emotion than I actually have.

Time Out Chicago has named Trouble the best book of the year by a Chicago author.

12/16

The Chicago Tribune has a big (and good) review of Trouble in this week's Weekend Book Review - have a look. (For those of you w/out registration and without sufficient motivation to register, I'll get a copy of it up on my site as soon as I can.) Also, I've been a little remiss pointing out all of the great reviews the book has gotten in college newspapers around the country, so have a look here, here, and here if you're into that kind of thing. Thanks, college kids. You're my people.

Merry Christmas. I mean it.

11/4

I actually had some news this week, but I was away from the computer, so I couldn't put it up. I had a story up on FiveChapters, which you can still read in the archives. Also, this week there's a profile of me in The Reader. I look mad in the picture; it's because I knew beforehand that the idiot Packers were going to call a pass when it was 1st and goal at the 1 in the 4th quarter. Nice thinking.

10/19

Yesterday author Pete Coco and I drove up to Madison to talk to our old English Department, and were met by a ton of actual questions and interest, especially about what to do in the world after you've done an MFA. On the way up Pete offered me a 3 over/under on turnout and I took over, but reluctantly. We made our 3 in the end--special thanks to the janitor for coming in and listening.

Here I am on the NBCC's critical mass blog, talking about why my head is so huge. Also, good news from Boston: last week, Trouble made it onto the Globe's Bestseller List. New Paperback Fiction, #10.

9/29

How nice to get a nice review from the home town newspaper (well, not quite home town, but close enough.) The small respite is over; off to Minneapolis tomorrow, then Boston and New York next week. In Boston I'll be at Porter Square Books (Wed, 10/4), and in New York, McNally Robinson with Karen Russell (Thurs, 10/5) and Piano's for the One Story reading (Fri, 10/5). Check this for details.

Also: A big long interview and a discussion of Trouble is here at Kash's Book Corner.

9/25

Hey y'all. Go here if you'd like to listen to a long reading and interview I did at WNUR yesterday evening. (Be prepared for me to say "like" 70,000 times. I swear I don't do it in real life.)

Warning: it's a php file on the site, so you'll need quicktime or something else.

9/23

Well, the book's out and on the shelves, and I'm back from the west coast after a couple of readings in Portland and Seattle. The Packers still suck.

Here's the 5/6 starred review from this week's Time Out Chicago. Here's the Daily Candy note from a release day, and here's my Book Notes essay on Largehearted Boy.

Thanks so much to everyone who's come out to readings so far--East Coast, I'm coming for you next.

8/21

Say there, let me mention that the artist who did the cover is New York-based Christopher Silas Neal, and his website, which includes a number of ABSURDLY cool prints, is right here.

Is it just me, or is Deadwood 4000 times better than anything else that's ever been on television? If anyone needs to talk about Elsworth, please get in touch.

8/20

A little late on this, but check out my little story The Unrealized Subversive Fantasies of a Medium Pizza up at The L Magazine. I've got an mp3 of me reading the same piece over here.

7/21

Good news late last week--got a job teaching creative writing at the Graham School in downtown Chicago. I'll look forward to meeting all of my future students this fall--feel free to send an email if you'd like to make some early introductions.