“I’m a bastard.” Could you ask for a better opening line? But the narrator in Todd McNamee’s debut novel, Drifting, isn’t speaking figuratively or self-depracatingly: he means this literally. “My name is Patrick Mulligan and I was raised an only child in Portland, Oregon, by a mother who loved me,” the narrator continues. “My father’sContinue reading “Todd McNamee releases “Drifting””
Author Archives: Samuel Snoek-Brown
North Texas writers
I tout the books of friends and writers I admire here on the blog from time to time, but as good fortune would have it, lately I’ve been getting a lot of news about books from former classmates! I did my doctorate in English at the University of North Texas, where I had the tremendousContinue reading “North Texas writers”
Unshod Quills One-Hit Wonders and reading in Portland
I am so, so fortunate to be part of so many little circles of writing communities — authors, poets, editors, publishers, public readers, Portlanders…. And when two of those circles overlap in a kind if literary Venn diagram, the fun doesn’t get smaller, it gets more concentrated. So you can imagine the degree of AwesomeContinue reading “Unshod Quills One-Hit Wonders and reading in Portland”
How to handle rejection from a literary agent
Sit quietly and sip coffee all morning long. Resist the urge to switch from coffee to hard liquor. At least until after lunch. Forget breakfast. You’re wallowing, after all. Absentmindedly nibble banana chips just to say you ate something. Eventually, let your loved ones express outrage on your behalf. Secretly feel both validated and vindicated,Continue reading “How to handle rejection from a literary agent”
Even the Jersey Devil worships the Great Old Ones
When I was in high school, I was a huge horror fan. I plowed through Stephen King, devoured Clive Barker, dabbled in Dean Koontz. When I discovered that Poe — which we were supposed to read for school and was therefore supposed to be boring — was actually a killer horror writer, I plunged intoContinue reading “Even the Jersey Devil worships the Great Old Ones”
How to order The Disordered
Sunnyoutside Press is doing book trailers now. Their first is for the poetry collection The Disordered, by Anhvu Buchanan. The book comes out next week, but you can get on the preorders here: http://sunnyoutside.com/releases/066/o.html Why share this with you? Two reasons: Sunnyoutside has a hell of a reputation with poetry, and they put out some of my favorite poetryContinue reading “How to order The Disordered”
More books to read this summer
Back at the end of May, I posted a list of new books out or soon to come as a kind of summer reading list. But there’s plenty more where that came from. Just today I realized I was entering that delicious part of summer where I am physically stacking up on my nightstand theContinue reading “More books to read this summer”
This week in reading and writing on the Interwebs
I’ve been reading a ton of little articles and blog posts about writing the past couple of weeks, to the point that my browser was getting sluggish from all the tabs I had open because I wanted to revisit articles. Not all of them are recent, and only a handful were ultimately of any use.Continue reading “This week in reading and writing on the Interwebs”
Jersey Devil Pressed until the blood squeezed out
It’s that time again, folks: Jersey Devil Press‘s new issue is out and in your face. And just in case you were getting comfortable with the level of awesomeness our writers bring to us, we’ve got a few surprises in store for you. In addition to the requisite killer turkeys and absurdist superheroes and drunkContinue reading “Jersey Devil Pressed until the blood squeezed out”
Oregon Literary Fellowship recipients in a chapbook
Literary Arts and the excellent Mel Wells have issued a special promotional e-chapbook for the 2013 Oregon Literary Fellowship recipients. I have the honor to be among that amazing group of writers and publishers, and so I’m in this chapbook, where you’ll find a little Q&A with me, an excerpt from the novel (you getContinue reading “Oregon Literary Fellowship recipients in a chapbook”
Samuel Snoek-Brown 