Mentioned in Passing
Toby took the Marlboros from his pocket, went to light one, remembered what had happened and threw it into the soft mud around his feet. He looked at it lying there on the ground for a few seconds, debating whether or not to stand on it and push it into the soil. After thinking about it, he decided to just leave it where it was.
By Pete Carvill.
How the Foreign Becomes Familiar
The characteristics associated with traditional Japanese literature — the pilgrimage of the soul seeking perfection, truth, beauty; contemplative silence; the rigors of self-discipline — are at least superficially absent from Japan’s contemporary fictions, in which marginal, often aimless characters dominate.
Roland Kelts casts an eye over contemporary Japanese fiction in the world.
Stuck Inn
Coming shortly is the first article in a new column, Stuck Inn, by Charles Thomson (pictured), the driving force behind the Stuckist movement. In it he details his recuperation from shows by Kylie Minogue and Gina Bold. Hurry if you want to catch the latter’s Born To Be Bold, which is open till Sunday 11 […]
The Jar
So one day Kate is waiting outside for her fella to come down and the Madam of the house is standing outside the front door smoking a fag. So the two of ‘em strike up small talk about the weather and stuff like that, boring shit really, but as they’re chatting Kate is curious about something and so she goes and asks the Madam what the weirdest thing a punter has ever asked for.
By Matthew Coleman.
Cat Flap
“Don’t swear at me,” she says, as if bad language was the problem here. I calm myself down. It’s like I’m not even allowed to get angry, you know. I roll over, fed up with this shit.
By Rik Haslam.
3:AM Top 5: Daniel Scott Buck
Daniel Scott Buck works as an investigator at a public defender’s office in Portland, Oregon. His debut novel, The Greatest Show on Earth, was a 3:AM Novel of the Year 2006, and was also a finalist for the Needle Award. His second novel, Mechanical Thinking, is near completion. Last night, Daniel listened to: 1. “My […]
Tire
In the morning when I got out of bed and looked outside from my second-story window down to the front lawn she was sitting on a tire except we did not have anything like that in the neighborhood because we lived in the suburbs where my old man paid some guy fifty bucks every two weeks to mow the grass. But there was Mom in her robe her hair tucked up behind her head her bare feet stuck out in front of her like pale little twins.
By Michael P. McManus.