Devoted to publishing, publishers and to those who craft the written word

I love reading about imaginary books inside of books, imaginary movies inside of books, and any other kind of imaginary text hiding inside a real book. These twisty bits of metafiction make a literary world more textured and mysterious.

The public radio show, To The Best of Our Knowledge, has an entire episode dedicated to metafiction, including interviews with Jorge Luis Borges and Robert Coover--two keystones of my bookshelf. (Thanks, Now What!) 

If metafiction isn't your cup of tea, then try something shorter--flash fiction. Five Easy Questions graduate Jeff VanderMeer has a piece in an Amnesty International-sponsored compilation of short short fiction. Check his sample, then dig the book here.

Finally, Barrett Hathcock has a guest essay up at Conversational Reading about the chronological order of Philip Roth's career. It's worth it for this quote alone, a new way of thinking about your favorite writers:

"I for one hold a special fondness for the chronological listing; it’s like seeing the geological strata in a roadcut in some mountain pass."