Literature links

You always need more to read, right? Yes, yes, of course you do.

Genres: Alternative, non-cheesy covers for science fiction books — "to reach out to a new audience who wouldn't dream of picking up the standard sci-fi book."

Poetry: The story of a controversial minimalist poem from 1965: "lighght" — Congress got annoyed at paying $750 for one word, but it "still manages to make people think."

Fiction: "Smitty", a short story by Jacob Berman about some guys, a girl, and a boat — published in Spectrum and written by one of my favorite professors.

Criticism: Is Harry Potter just about wealth and connections? — "Harry rarely puts hard work or effort into anything...Hogwarts is nothing more than a magical Mensa meeting."

Learning: Kurt Vonnegut on the silliness of writer's conferences — "Nothing is known about helping real writers to write better."

Comedy: Anton Chekhov spoke at Barnes & Noble and signed books — Improv Everywhere is great.

Pedantry: Why not to decapitalize E. E. Cummings — "we hope the dismal lowercase custom will disappear from the face of the earth," from 1992.

Our patron saint: Dylan Thomas had a messy little writing shed that he painted blue — "...then from two til seven he would retire to the shed to write, think or sleep off the beer."