Megan the actress.
Don’s empty elevator.
Campbell’s heart, rolled up.
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Haiku: Mad Men, Season 5, Episode 7 – “At the Codfish Ball”
Peggy says I do.
Don and Megan, teaming beans.
Sally sees Sterling.
A Letter of Apology to My First Draft
A year ago, I completed the first draft of my second novel. I’m still rewriting it, and while doing so, I had an idea to write it a letter.
Dear Love Love,
Yesterday, you were born. You were not an easy delivery, for the ink on my laser printer was ready to give out. I fed thirty sheets of you at a time so I could take out the toner and shake it, to make sure the words on your pages printed solid and streak-free. I carried you from the output tray to the stack. I watched you grow. I picked you up. You were as warm as a blanket in my hands. Bound with a long rubber band, you were my hefty, luminous bundle.
Haiku: Mad Men, Season 5, Episode 6 – “Far Away Places”
Trifecta of time:
Peggy and beans, Roger’s trip,
Don’s HoJo sherbet.
Haiku: Mad Men, Season 5, Episode 5 – “Signal 30”
How Pete learned to drive.
Pryce and Campbell, dukes way up.
Ken’s secret robots.
Haiku: Mad Men, Season 5, Episodes 3 & 4 – “Tea Leaves” / “Mystery Date”
Fat, tumored Betty.
Don and Harry, rolling stones.
Sterling pays for space.
—
Peggy shakes Roger.
Dream Don chokes Cinderella.
Single mom Joanie.
“Trespassing,” at the Asian American Literary Review
Fresh off the press is the Spring 2012 edition of the Asian American Literary Review. A short story I wrote is in this issue (“Trespassing”), so there’s no better time to support these good folks. You’ll also find works by Ed Park and Ed Bok Lee, and even some writers not named Ed. Check out the table of contents and the sampler and order yourself a copy!
Faith, at THE2NDHAND TXT
I first encountered THE2NDHAND when I bought a used book online. I can’t remember the book, but I do remember a broadsheet I received in the envelope, a fine short story by Patrick Somerville. It turns out that they also have a website where they post short stories, and they ended up liking “Faith” enough to put it up. I read an excerpt of this story at the Sulu Reading series in NYC, which was almost two years ago…? Man, where does the time go. Anyway, you can now read it in full. Much thanks to Rhian Ellis for writing After Life, which inspired this short story.
World Famous in Poland – Paryż nocą
That’s a quote from a movie, by the way — To Be or Not to Be, a Mel Brooks film. Somebody asks Ann Bancroft, who plays Brooks’ wife (who also happens to be his real-life wife), about her actor husband, and she tells them, “He’s world famous in Poland!”
Now I’m proud to say that I, too, am world famous in Poland, thanks to Marcin Kucharski. He liked my story “Paris, at Night” enough that he wanted to translate it to his native tongue. So for those literate in Polish, give my story a read.
Paryż nocą
Dziś był dzień ryżu, 20. kilogramowe worki ryżu w ciężarówkach z logo słonia. Dokładnie ten sam słoń pojawia się na torbach- z głową podniesioną ku niebu i trąbą wykrzywioną w kształt litery S.
- Słoń – powiedział Todd
Powiedział to, gdyż jakiś pracownik gapił się bezustannie na logo. Oznacza to, że się obijał.
- Właśnie! – wykrzyknął mężczyzna. – Nie mogłem przypomnieć sobie słowa.
Drifting House, by Krys Lee
Check out my review of Krys Lee’s excellent collection of short stories, Drifting House, in today’s issue of the Financial Times.
In her powerful debut collection, Drifting House, Korean-American author Krys Lee plumbs the darkness on both sides of this divided nation. Indeed, an alternate title for this volume of nine stories might have been “Koreans in Trouble”; these are people in dire straits – be it a father who loses his job, his family and his sanity, or a young girl with an incarcerated mother. The stories – some set 50 years ago, others in the present day – are steeped in Korean culture, history and food.