In that indeterminate cosmic way, contributors Jacob Singer and Benjamin van Loon both decided—independently—to venture into the monolithic world of Roberto Bolano’s 2666. In the universe of contemporary literary fiction, 2666 is like a wormhole, through which strands of messiahs, murderers, and mysteries swirl together in a strange, self-referential literary thread. Both Jacob and Ben realized that a […]
After finishing two novels set in the Soviet Union, Gary Shteyngart’s writing has sailed to America. In a world where your self-worth is determined by your credit score, onion-skin pants display your genitalia in public, and people connect only through their Global Teen accounts, can one remain innocent enough for true love to exist? This […]
I. Salad Days …without thinking I reached under the grill for a second spatula and pulled my arm back streaked with BBQ sauce. I pulled a folded towel from my back-pocket and wiped away the smear. And the skin on my arm. A waitress shouted an order for two Caesar salads and some Pavlovian part […]
It might be better said as the immateriality of evil. There’s something pernicious about the way Bolaño writes. It lacks the pulp and flame of commercial horror, but it cuts the center of horror. It takes that nasty thing, throws it against the wall, and watches it drip to the floor. That’s the real secret: how […]
It is doubtful that any significant percentage of Anobium readers will respond to Amelia Gray’s name with a “duhh who?” type of response, or anything close to it. A site and project dedicated to both literature and weirdness, such as this one, will have a good amount of readers who love Amelia Gray. Should I […]
