Random Notes

And now you find yourself in 1982…

September 20, 2013

VJ: The Unplugged Adventures of MTV’s First WaveGavin EdwardsAtria Books The Kennedy Chronicles: The Golden Age of MTV Through Rose-Colored GlassesKennedyThomas Dunne Books (This review originally appeared in the Washington Independent Review of Books)   “We’re the reason you have no attention span. And you can pin reality TV on us too. You’re welcome.”   (Mark […]


Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia

September 7, 2013

Just reread this 1993 play, prompted by a recent piece in the New Yorker. It’s a wonderful work, probably one of the best dramas of the last 50 years, masterfully blending the past and present in the same setting, exploring sex, truth, and the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Yes, you got that right. You know, […]


Bozos on the fiction bus?

Once again, David Shields tosses a literary grenade across the table, challenging everything we think we know about fiction. (Everything we know is wrong? Are we all bozos on this bus?) A fervent provocateur for a complete re-thinking of how we write and think about books (novels mostly), Shields continues his advocacy of collage – […]


On the road again…

August 5, 2013

Peddling Pepperland in July! DC, New York, Minneapolis…


“An effervescent momentum…”

ForeWord Reviews loves Pepperland! Read it here!