"A fast-paced, suspenseful dystopian picaresque, part Huck Finn and part bizarro-world Swiss Family Robinson..."
---Kirkus
Long-listed for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and finalist for the Crawford Award. Title short story listed for the 2000 O. Henry award.
Right after Wiscon, two 11+ hour days of work in a row. Tonight might be pushing past that by quite a bit. Crikey. Kristin’s uncle is very sick and they are going to remove life support tomorrow. We all knew this was going to happen at some point but it’s hard, still. I wandered through [...]
Thu, June 1 2006 » Fiction, Life Studies, Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead » 3 Comments
Back from Wiscon. So…fucking…great. Today, work has been nonstop. So…fucking…tired. I’ll try to post more later on. I love each and every one of you. Yeah, even you.
Tue, May 30 2006 » Fiction, Life Studies » 1 Comment
Very busy lately…feeling like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs…just a few random notes for the bloggingsphere: Kristin’s b-day is today, w00t! Great appreciations of Jeff Ford at the Litblog Co-Op Zoilus is one of my favorite new blogs. I keep trying to fit in the contents of this excellent post [...]
Wed, May 3 2006 » Fiction, Life Studies » No Comments
Has anyone ever had a dentist’s appointment where they do your x-rays, have the dentist check things out to make sure you’re ok, and then schedule a cleaning for two months in the future? I want my teeth cleaned, dammit.
Wed, April 5 2006 » Life Studies » 1 Comment
With Daylight Savings time, and working 2nd shift today (and probably tomorrow too), the Internet time warp that I’ve experienced has now bled into my normal, daily life. What day is it? I’ve picked up The Recognitions again. That Otto, he’s a funny guy. I didn’t mean to go off too much on my last [...]
Mon, April 3 2006 » Life Studies » No Comments
Tue, March 14 2006 » Life Studies » 5 Comments
…sliding cars and jack-ass mist-must be in the snowflakes-which cause people to barrel through St. Paul spaghetti junction 50mph where there’s not, because of the snow, any real lanes. That was fun. Or this morning, when the woman in the VW SUV turned right into the street I was crossing with full right-of-way priviliges. Awesome. [...]
Tue, March 14 2006 » Life Studies » 2 Comments
Gambit had his stitches out but he still has to have the stupid cone (I call it a cone but it’s actually an “Elizabethan collar”, so what do I know) for another two weeks:
Wed, March 8 2006 » Life Studies » 6 Comments
Crazy book sale from Small Beer Press. I mean it’s really insane. Trampoline for $8 and Meet Me in the Moon Room for $5! Meghan has some good writing advice. Weird L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E-type poetry from the 70s involving a vampire, kind of, appropriately named Dracula. Goldmine Shithouse. Gambit is doing very very well, btw.
Fri, March 3 2006 » ?!?!?, Life Studies » No Comments
Good news. Gambit’s surgery went well. He had a birth defect that was wholly unrelated to his neutering surgery. (I don’t remember word for word the exact science of it, so rather than misquote it, I’m going to go bare bones with it.) Essentially, one of his kidneys was shot and useless, and had to [...]
Thu, February 23 2006 » Life Studies » 9 Comments
Our puppy Gambit was neutered Friday, but we knew something wasn’t right-he was having trouble going to the bathroom-so we took him in Sat. to the vet, who gave him antibiotics, checked him out, etc. And he seemed to be doing better, although still having trouble peeing. Last night he pissed a lot of blood [...]
Wed, February 22 2006 » Life Studies » 7 Comments
I’m at work. Check the timestamp. Yeah, that’s pretty much been my week. In the interests of readerly pleasure, I present to you a sentence from this book that I just finished reviewing: “Of course, it was a method of assassination the Aztek High Command had authorized against the Nazis in World War 2, when [...]
Sun, February 12 2006 » Fiction, Life Studies » No Comments
I was out at a watering hole with some coworkers last night, then trekked back to my car in the garage, and couldn’t find my car key. Ahhhhh! Hung out at Pizza Luce until Kristin drove all the way to Minneapolis to deliver the spare key. (Someone coronate her.) So I’m feeling kind of shaggy [...]
Thu, February 2 2006 » Life Studies » 1 Comment
1. It’s way too warm today. I love it. Upper 30s should not be “way too warm” but you take what you can get up here. Tomorrow: 41! 2. Had to pull glass out of the puppy’s mouth over the weekend. He also likes tossing the cat toys up in the air with his mouth [...]
Wed, January 25 2006 » Life Studies, Minnesota » 3 Comments
Was telling Kristin this morning about the “weird habits” meme. “How about blogging about 5 weird habits of my husband?” she said.
Fri, January 20 2006 » Life Studies » 3 Comments
weird habits (meme from Haddayr): 1. playing with the volume of the TV, turning it up/down, up/down by a few notches during a show. At times. 2. after fueling, clicking the gas cap shut waaaay more times than it needs to be done. 3. peeling off labels of beer bottles. (hmmm, trend here?) 4. at [...]
Thu, January 19 2006 » Life Studies » No Comments
Greetings in the new year; the flu has finally passed and I’m finally feeling human and able to do human-like things, e.g., talk to people, eat, go outside, etc. So that’s good. I go back to work on Tuesday after maybe the longest, non-con vacation I’ve ever had, which has been really, really nice in [...]
Sun, January 1 2006 » Life Studies » No Comments
Well, the invitations to the annual “Chistmastime Flu/Bronchitis Dance in Alan’s Body” have been sent, and they’re already kicking up a storm. Not fun. I hope this isn’t the best I can muster to Christmas and beyond, but you never know.
Wed, December 21 2005 » Life Studies » No Comments
I was semi-vegitative yesterday after our long drive on Sunday from the Commonwealth and the Fortress of Words, but I’m feeling much more articulate today. It was a really superb visit with Chris, Gwenda, Barb, and Richard. The only hiccup driving down was a blown out tire somewhere around Champaign. But AAA got us on [...]
Tue, November 29 2005 » Life Studies » 1 Comment
I almost don’t believe I’m writing this this, but I agree with what a lot of what Peggy Noonan wrote in her latest WSJ column. (This Democratic analysis of the column-rather positive, like mine-is also worth reading.) And I think the elites she’s referring to are different than the ones I’m thinking of. But I [...]
Tue, November 22 2005 » Life Studies, Polis » No Comments
