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See More Glass

Russ Marshalek — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:28:44 +0000

Let's celebrate this incredible author with a fitting memorial tribute, via Jill Spradley

Naw I'm just playing y'all "Bananfish" remains THE PERFECT short story. STFU about Catcher, though. Once you turn from 13 to 14 that book loses it.

...

He said that the poems happen to be written by the only great poet of the century. He said I should've bought a translation or something. Or learned the language, if you please.

First Snowfall

Russ Marshalek — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:57:23 +0000

The past weekend: weird, slightly magical, and magically-realistic (if we use Kelly Link as our "magical realism" litmus, so, like, pretty, with fairy lights, but also dark and damn twisted) , and, to re-use an adjective already put into play here, magical.

(Apologies for the abundance of "magical", but it fits.)

The past few days:

Best Music

Russ Marshalek — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:26:29 +0000

My favorite music and top 10 albums of 2009, at soldout. For the record, compiling this was fucking difficult and I'm still stressing over it now being out there.

My top novels of 2009

Russ Marshalek — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:30:42 +0000

Over at BabyGotBooks, I've listed my top 3 novels of 2009.

Just Working On My Novel, Dec 7 with Masha Hamilton and Jean Grae!

Russ Marshalek — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:08:52 +0000

Ok, so it's old hat at this point-my new works & critiques and drinking series, "Just Working On My Novel", comes every other month like clockwork, and in December it is on the 7th.. Or like a drunken clock that's also a new works and critiques series.

As usual, this is where I put a picture of Lauren Conrad. She wrote a book, so should (and so can) you.

"Just Working On My Novel": a literary new works and critiques series with drinking, for friends and enemies of modern publishing

December 7, 7:30 P.M.

at The Tank NYC (354 W 45th ST, NY NY)

Hosts: Masha Hamilton and Jean Grae

How "Just Working On My Novel" works:

The reason for the season

Russ Marshalek — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:13:53 +0000

It's the time of year when "Things to Be Thankful For" lists make the rounds. I've already seen one that kinda kicked me in the throat. I have so much to be thankful for as 2009 closes itself that I'd rather wait until the winter holidays have fully released their stranglehold on my sickness-fogged brain to write that list.

Instead, as I just AIM'd to my friend Jill:

Take a second take a second take a year take a year

Russ Marshalek — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:02:57 +0000

My first New York winter is wrecking hell on me, emotionally. I don't do well surrounded by flickering greys that smear into blackness by 5 P.M. every night. As a teenager, I used to romanticise Seasonal Affective Disorder. A lot of this has to do with the fact that my first girlfriend, the girl who was my first kiss and my first sexual experience and my first experience with loving someone being like a brick through a window constantly, would look into the distance in that way that only high school girls can (which is to say looking at absolutely nothing but making a 15 year old boy heart will with the feeling that she's staring into the future and has it all in her hands) and whisper shit like "winter's coming..." only to trail off.

(Again-only something that a teenage girl can get away with, because as women get older, their eyes lose the ability to mask truth.)

Now, though,

Double Standard

Russ Marshalek — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:00:25 +0000

I was on the train this morning, reading AMYNY or METRO NY or THE SUBWAY TIMEZ or whatever free paper it was someone at the stairs to the station pushed into my hands (paper-pushers, indeed), and the giant pull-out Tiger Beat-esque interview with Taylor Lautner, who plays Jacob Black in the film version of Stephenie Meyer's New Moon, turned my stomach.

New York Interlude II

Russ Marshalek — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:12:27 +0000

Last night at I read from the first time from my fictionalized autobiographical collection of stories We Give Ourselves Habits In Order To Live. In reading aloud from these for the first time, I realized two things:

1) Apparently the Joan Didion reference embedded not-so-subtly in my title (I am pretty much blatently ripping off her quote "We tell ourselves stories in order to live.") is not so blazingly obvious that I need worry about a lawsuit.

2)The last piece I read, "New York Interlude II", will eventually be where the collection ends. I need to revisit it, edit it again (and again, and again, ad infinitum) with this newfound knowledge, but it's sort of thrilling: I have a beginning, and an end, to this set of stories that are stupidly close to my heart.

This, then, is where that story stands now, before the revisions and scissors and night-time and knives and blood and glitter all come out to play.

On Personal Blogging, Briefly

Russ Marshalek — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:43:53 +0000

I have been dabbling at the form of self-expression known as "actually fucking writing" for what basically amounts to a minute and change at this point, and the long-form results are slowly becoming, twisting, evolving (so, yes, becoming) into a collection of mostly-true but equally-fabricated stories about a young male growing up over-educated and over-eager to experience every fucking thing in life that I am calling We Give Ourselves Habits In Order To Live.

I am reading from this as-yet-unacquired little tome of darkness and (hopefully) light this Wednesday, Nov the 18 at a reading series hosted by Writers House's Michael Mejias at Kettle Of Fish in NYC.

This is sort of eating away at my ability to blog properly. And I am trying, really, to get back that-I never thought I'd see the day where I write about music more than I write about myself.

I don't know what it is about suddenly both allowing myself the fallibility of the facade of fiction, but suddenly the last thing in the world I want to talk about is...me.

What IS that? Why is personal blogging the most difficult thing in the world right now?

Not sure. I'm sure I'll check in after Wednesday.