BEST OF BLOOM: Q&A with Tim Horvath

by Lisa Peet

I do a lot of writing in sections, montage, and then feel them out for the best order. In other words, a lot of tunneling—a hole here, one there, and eventually some catacombs emerge. Continue reading →

BEST OF BLOOM: When Style Is Content — The Fiction of W.M. Spackman

by Nicki Leone

I always find myself arguing on behalf of the book in situations like these . . . The author didn’t write this book to tell you what you want to hear, I point out, he wrote it because he had something to say. So what was it? Continue reading →

When Style Is Content: A Run-In with the Fiction of W.M. Spackman

by Nicki Leone

I always find myself arguing on behalf of the book in situations like these . . . The author didn’t write this book to tell you what you want to hear, I point out, he wrote it because he had something to say. So what was it? Continue reading →

Q&A with Tim Horvath

I do a lot of writing in sections, montage, and then feel them out for the best order. In other words, a lot of tunneling—a hole here, one there, and eventually some catacombs emerge. It’s lovely when a structure asserts itself—it’s like being a lost child wandering in a crowded place and all of a sudden someone trustworthy grabs your hand and pulls you to safety. Continue reading →

Getting Started, Keeping Going: Peter Ferry’s Tricks of the Trade

by Peter Ferry

I write on faith. I love E.L. Doctorow’s analogy that writing is like driving a car at night: you can’t see very far ahead, but you don’t have to, because by the time you get there, you’ll be able to see farther. Continue reading →

I’m Out Here by Myself: The Fiction of Edward P. Jones

by Edward Porter

This democracy of narrative importance makes The Known World a favorite in the academy . . . [W]hat’s more, the novel’s egalitarian agenda extends to the worst of its characters as well as the best—it levels in both directions. Continue reading →

IN HIS OWN WORDS: Norman Rush

Every serious writer is implicitly or explicitly asking that question. What is it that I’m writing about? What does it have to do with the seemingly autonomous evolution of increasingly less propitious circumstances to make change? And the answer to that is the central and most compelling question, it seems to me, for people who write novels which incorporate serious politics and political thinking into them. Continue reading →