Bookslut

An Interview with William T. Vollmann

"I think literal histories are essential. At the same time I think that a literary portrayal of an historical event can bring out other sides, can make it somehow more immediate to the read. You know we can read any number of buried descriptions of what happened in General Vlasoff’s (a character and historical person from Europe Central) life, but I feel that I make him real. The paradox of fiction of course is you make things real by making them up." by Tony Dushane

With the Beatles: An Interview with Lewis Lapham

The emphasis in this manuscript is on the story. Admittedly, in order to put the story in some kind of context – nearly forty years later – I tried to add some extra structure to the piece. I don’t think it rises to the dignity of a plot. But it does try to give the whole thing a beginning and end…and leave the story itself as a “middle.”

by Pauls Toutonghi

Our Inner Ape: Sexy, Violent, and, Yes, Kind

No film clips are bundled into Our Inner Ape, but Frans de Waal titles a chapter “Sex: Kama Sutra Primates,” and its subheadings act as a bit of eye candy in themselves: “Penis Envy,” “Bi Bonobos,” “The Great Inseminator,” “Young and Nubile.”

by Barbara J. King

Chris Crutcher's Battle Cry

On a lot of levels, The Sledding Hill operates almost as a literary puzzle box. At first it is a book about life and loss and coping with tragedy. But then, as Eddie finds a way to cope it becomes a book not only about fighting for what you believe in, but for accepting that everyone is allowed to believe in something differently.

by Colleen Mondor

An Interview with Mary Anne Mohanraj

I have always been a bit of a sexuality activist. We need to accept that healthy sexuality is an important part of our world and we need to stop hiding it away like some dirty thing. This is reflected in my writing. For me it is important to imagine characters in their sexual element, because how people are in their bedroom is very different from their everyday life.

by Sumita Sheth

An Interview with Joe Meno

"So in my dedication or my “fuck off” or whatever, to Judith Regan, I felt really strongly that this is it. This is the end. There is no way that people are going to tolerate buying the same kind of books over and over. Slowly, it’s starting to happen. I would have looked like a real jerk, I think, if I put that in the dedication and the book like bombed and there wasn’t this kind of great renaissance in our culture going on." by Beth Dugan