July 2012
30 posts
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Haiku
the hours of contemplation - thoughts, exhausted, fall to the floor of the mind
3 tags
Haiku
the hours of contemplation - thoughts, exhausted, fall to the floor of the mind
June 2012
22 posts
5 tags
The Reader Is the Author of the Story
Stories are not created by the writer, but by the reader. The writer creates a text, which (if the writer does it well) triggers a story in the mind of the reader, but a thousand people reading the same text will experience a thousand different stories. Even the writer, in the process of writing a book, can experience a story with details that are contradicted by the text.
In my novel When It...
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Blackbird - a Poem for Jeffrey Dahmer
The posts about the literature of serial murder I made last week brought to mind this poem of mine, which is in my book Traffic and Murder. Blackbird I. You come out of the court wearing handcuffs, shirt and trousers. You look like Richie Cunningham, as one newspaper will observe. They’ve watched you during the trial, notebooks in front of them, pens poised and quivering like excited hard...
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Graffiti: Who Decides What Is Art and What Is...
This photograph by Daishin Stephenson was taken on the canal bank in Phoenix. The common argument that graffiti is vandalism strikes me as being about class, not art. While much graffiti is ugly and artless, so is much sanctioned (and paid for) “public art.” What causes graffiti to be called vandalism is its being painted, without permission, on surfaces that the artist does not own....
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Tanka
Inner city neighborhood, summer evening stroll: woman in wheelchair, man on foot - holding hands, love pulls her along.
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A Serial Killer's Comment on Serial Killers
Thinking about what I wrote about serial killers the other day, I remember something Dennis Nilsen said when asked to comment on Jeffrey Dahmer. He said that the term “serial killer” is inaccurate, because it implies the intention to continue to kill. “It’s like calling Elizabeth Taylor a serial bride,” he said.
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A Serial Killer's Comment on Serial Killers
Thinking about what I wrote about serial killers the other day, I remember something Dennis Nilsen said when asked to comment on Jeffrey Dahmer. He said that the term “serial killer” is inaccurate, because it implies the intention to continue to kill. “It’s like calling Elizabeth Taylor a serial bride,” he said.
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The Unmitigated Awfulness of Ayn Rand
Last night a friend hosted a viewing of the worst film I have ever seen - Part One of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. If Chuck Norris and Steven Seagal had been added to the cast, it would have raised the level of the acting. While I think that last sentence is funny, I’m not joking. This film achieves something that the film of The Fountainhead doesn’t - it actually provides a...
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The New York Times Thinks the U.S.A. Invented...
I’m reading The Devil’s Star, a novel by Jo Nesbo. Not bad so far, but I’m struck by the stupidity of the review from The New York Times quoted on the cover: “It’s fascinating to watch this Norwegian author adapt our homegrown monster (the serial killer) to a foreign culture.” It is impressive American ignorance that regards the serial killer as an American...
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The Cultural Meanings of Blow Jobs
This post on the blog Nightmares and Boners discusses sexual acts that some consider degrading. The author writes:
In the pub recently a girl turned to me, she was flirting with a guy at the bar, and they were both laughing hard. “You agree right?” I turned to face her, “Giving a blow job is disgusting, something a nice girl should never do.” Holding my drink awkwardly I took a deep breath, but...
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Sociopath Essentials
Writing the kind of books I write, I read a lot about psychology, especially the pathological varieties. Recently, having read the newly-published Forensic Psychology for Dummies by David Canter, I decided to reread Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini. I read it about ten years ago, but I couldn’t find the copy I had back then, so I ordered a new one.
The book is about...
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Austin Noir at the Bar Is Decadent and Depraved
The picture above, of me reciting from When It All Comes Down to Dust as part of Austin Noir at the Bar, was taken by Peter Farris, author of the much-talked-about novel Last Call for the Living. A superb writer and a great guy.
Earlier in the week, Nick Mamatas did this interview with me. Then Scott Montgomery wrote this review of my work. And then I flew to Austin, where Scott picked me up...
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Prediction for Pacquiao-Bradley Tonight
EDITED TO ADD: Pacman lost by split decision, in one of the worst robberies I’ve ever seen. Bradley might as well not have shown up for the fight. I tweeted as I watched.
Manny Pacquiao has shown poor form recently. I think he was lucky to get the decision over Juan Manuel Marquez in his most recent fight. For tonight’s fight with Tim Bradley, he’s the heaviest he’s ever...
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Prediction for Pacquiao-Bradley Tonight
EDITED TO ADD: Pacman lost by split decision, in one of the worst robberies I’ve ever seen. Bradley might as well not have shown up for the fight. I tweeted as I watched. Manny Pacquiao has shown poor form recently. I think he was lucky to get the decision over Juan Manuel Marquez in his most recent fight. For tonight’s fight with Tim Bradley, he’s the heaviest he’s ever...
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Nick Mamatas Interviews Barry Graham →
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Austin, TX People - Come See Me at Noir at the Bar...
Austin Noir at the Bar featuring Barry Graham Peter Farris Jonathan Woods Jesse Sublett June 7, at 7 p.m. Opal Divine’s 700 West 6th Street Austin, TX
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We Are All Peasants Now
In 1997, with “New Labour” freshly in power in the U.K., Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott declared, “We are all middle class now.” His boss, Tony Blair, parroted his words a few years later.
Looking at the international recession (which is most likely an economic endgame) we’re in now, it’s easy to look back and wonder what happened - but the truth is...
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Get Out As Early As You Can - Back in Print
“Graham’s stories are peopled with the desperate and the mad… A master.”
- Times (London)
In this searing collection of stories, people try in various ways to escape the violence and depravity of urban Scotland. A brutalized child rescues his sister in the only way he can imagine. An alienated, drug-addicted boxer fights to live and then lives to fight. A family man slashes faces for money....
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A Modest Proposal for Today's Jubilee Celebrations...
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Before Is Back in Print
My fourth novel, Before, published in 1997, is now back in print, with a new cover illustration by Vince Larue.
This was my transitional book. As I wrote it, I felt as though I was writing on the very edge of meaninglessness, of silence, of not writing at all. It was an attempt to discover meaning without plot or pattern, to be honest and not fudge anything, not hide behind literary tricks or...
