Monica Drake

True History of the Kelly Gang Peter Carey (Knopf) In The Politics of Experience, R.D. Laing wrote, “Around us are pseudo-events, to which we adjust with a false consciousness adapted to see these events as true and real, and even as beautiful.” He’s talking about manufactured culture. We find recurring plots and screen images often […]

Not a Chance Jessica Treat (FC2) FC2, or Fiction Collective 2, is a smaller press out of Florida State University that publishes about six titles a year. They’re selective in their choices, taking a risk on new names and material, but always supporting quality. Jessica Treat, with her short story collection Not a Chance, is […]

My Date With Satan: Stories Stacey Richter (Scribner) “She smiled when she saw me coming, the Bitch, she smiled and stuck her fingers in her mouth like she was plucking gum out of her dental work. Then, with a little pout, like a kiss, I saw a line of silver slide toward my face. I […]

Anthropology Dan Rhodes (Villard Books) Some writers have one story to tell, and will tell the same story over again in different forms. Perhaps it’s a story of lost love, lost under different names and circumstances, in short stories and novels, but always portrayed as equally tragic. With his book Anthropology, Dan Rhodes has taken […]

Hollow City Gentrification and the Eviction of Urban Culture by Rebecca Solnit (Verso Books) The Hollow City looks like a small, stylish coffee table book. It begins with a series of black and white photographs titled “Wrecking Ball Overture;” this is a photo essay, combining the dialogue of construction workers, finishers, and developers with images […]

What We Don’t Know About Children Simona Vinci (Knopf) I wish I hadn’t exposed my delicate psyche to the disturbing material of these brief pages. One evening spent reading, and I’m done with the novella What We Don’t Know About Children, but this creepy book isn’t done with me. Terribly graphic images of awful events […]

IN THIS INTERVIEW, Monica Drake talks with author Eileen Myles about her new book, Cool For You. For more info, see our Readings calendar, pg 24. Monica: Why do you think it’s harder for women than for men to cash in on the cache of cool? Eileen: The cool thing is a great topic that’s […]

Featuring salient essays on everything that makes authors tick: fame, grief, drunkeness. SLEEPLESS IN LONDON Advice For the Just-Famous Author Chuck Palahniuk FAULKNER DID IT FOR THE MONEY by Kassten Alonso THE THRILL OF GRIEF Grief’s Roller Coaster and the Successful Memoir by Monica Drake SHOWDOWN WITH EVEL! Former Portlander Steve Mandich and the King […]

Kokigami: Performance Enhancing Adornments for the Adventurous Man Burton Silver and Heather Busch (Ten Speed Press) It’s a book of paper dolls for the penis, based on an ancient Japanese practice. There’s a dancing squid, a bull dog, a speedy little sports car, a happy-faced pig called “Buta,” who “likes to root about in the […]

AS I LEFT a midday yoga class, the woman in the lobby ahead of me was already on her cell phone. “You know how to drain the Jacuzzi?” she asked whoever was on the other end. The book the woman held, along with her bag, car keys and towel, was Frank McCourt’s first memoir, Angela’s […]