Author Archives: Samuel Snoek-Brown

A Writer’s Notebook: newspaper/object story

This is the beginning of something, but where it goes, I don’t yet know: When I was in college I bought pot from a guy who kept turtles in a kiddie pool on his sun porch. I forget how many altogether, but he had at least a dozen in there. All kinds, too — aContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: newspaper/object story”

11-11: Poetry (modern French)

I opted to pick up some French poetry mostly to brush up on my French. Turns out, I’m not quite as rusty as I thought I was, at least in terms of my reading skills, because I still retain enough of my French to not only get some of the subtle in-jokes and layered allusionsContinue reading “11-11: Poetry (modern French)”

11-11: Russian fiction review (Vladimir Nabokov)

I suppose that if one is going to read Nabokov for the first time — as I have with this book — one ought to start with Lolita. Because, well, why wouldn’t you? But Lolita — the character, at least — has become such a part of our cultural consciousness that I fear any readingContinue reading “11-11: Russian fiction review (Vladimir Nabokov)”

11-11: World fiction review (Orhan Pamuk)

Part murder mystery, part historical novel, part spiritual meditation, part political intrigue, part love story, part philosophical treatise, part artistic rumination, part narrative experiment. . . . Orhan Pakmuk‘s My Name is Red, the English translation of which helped him secure a nomination for the Nobel Prize in Literature (he won in 2006), is many, manyContinue reading “11-11: World fiction review (Orhan Pamuk)”

A Writer’s Notebook: a blank page

I’m regifting. Last year, the Writer’s Notebook fell on Christmas Eve, so I put on my sweatpants, poured a cup of hot cocoa, and begged off writing for the day. And I offered you, my readers, a blank page for a Notebook entry. This year, it’s the day before Christmas Eve, and I’m wearing jeans,Continue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: a blank page”

Last-minute holiday shopping: e-books!

Need to do some last-minute holiday shopping? Time is short, driving hurts the planet, holiday shoppers are crazy. Even you — shopping makes us all crazy. So go online and order an e-book! I’m not promoting Amazon’s Kindle, by the way (I don’t own any kind of e-reader), and if you can find other e-bookContinue reading “Last-minute holiday shopping: e-books!”

Not-really-new publication

About a month ago, I was thrilled to have my story “Barefoot in the Guadalupe” appear in Red Dirt Review. (Editor John G. Hartness was extremely kind in his comments on the story, which made the publication all the cooler.) Now, the collected issue of Red Dirt Review — Volume 2 — is available in print orContinue reading “Not-really-new publication”

Speaking truth to agents

So, a few days ago over at one of my favorite blogs, Literary Rejections on Display, there was a hell of a conversation going about literary agents and how we writers should approach them. Not in the “please publish my novel” way, pitching your work and begging for acceptance; we’re talking about talking back toContinue reading “Speaking truth to agents”