Literary books that YA readers might love: Calvino, Jackson, Yu, Carter, Bender, etc.

I wrote a list for Buzzfeed called 13 Literary Books that Young Adult Readers Will Love. Note: not making an argument about "literary" vs. "young adult"--literary is certainly a problematic term in many ways--only suggesting some books that are normally shelved as "literary fiction."

flash fiction monster flicks

I was asked by Necessary Fiction to write some movie-inspired fiction, and came up with six flash fiction pieces loosely based on classic movie monsters: Frankenstein, Nosferatu, Mummy, Creature, Poltergeist, and Werewolf. Check them out.

"Fragments of a Young Conquistador" in e-single form

My Day One story "Fragments of a Young Conquistador" is now available as an e-single. It's only 99 cents (or free if you have Amazon Prime).

I also now have an author page on Amazon as well as on Goodreads, which is pretty rad.

don't judge a book by the taste of its cover

I somehow succeeded in starting a hashtag on twitter with puns on book titles and candy. Buzzfeed wrote about it and made an awesome collection of fake covers book like If on a Winter's Night a Twizzler and Fall of the House of Gushers.

I like pretty books

I wrote my first piece for Buzzfeed about "19 Awesomely Designed Books From 2013 That Prove Print Isn’t Dead." It made the front page, which is pretty awesome. Check it out if you still need some gifts for book lovers in your life.

best non-book things

Over at VICE, Justin Taylor included my Monsters of Modern Literature cards (produced by Nadxieli Nieto) in his round up of the "best books and non-books of 2013" round-up. Very excited to be included, and super honored by his comments:

 Lincoln Michel is one of contemporary literary culture’s great natural resources. He writes fiction and essays (sometimes for VICE), draws comics, co-edits the literary magazine Gigantic (which has lately expanded into book publishing, with a literary sci-fi anthology called Gigantic Worlds due out in 2014), and—perhaps most impressively—has a genuinely funny internet presence that never makes you want to kill him or yourself.

Free book blurb?

You can check out the cards over at etsy.

"Fragments of a Young Conquistador"

I'm excited to say I have a long surrealist picaresque short story titled "Fragments of a Young Conquistador" in the newest issue of Day One. The subscription price is only .37 cents an issue, so check it out if you like sea monster attacks, hungry alchemists, and so on. (However, you currently buy back issues so if you want to read my story you'll have to subscribe before next week's issue.)

lit gifts

In addition to Monsters of Modern Literature trading cards, which were recently featured on BuzzFeed's "16 Fantastic Gifts For Lit Lovers Who Have Enough Books," we are selling these sweet Animals In Midlife Crises comics that I did with John Dermot Woods. Sets designed by Nadxieli Nieto.

Check both out on our etsy store.

there's an app for that

I'm excited to have the first story (recommended by Sam Lipsyte) in the debut of Connu, a really interesting new publishing venture. The Connu app is free in beta now, so download it to your ipad/pod/phone, people.

my first "book" review

A writer named Peter Tieryas Liu wrote a very nice "book" review of my short story "Our Education" (published as an ebook by Electric Literature) in the New Orleans Review. Very exciting and flattering to read:

As part of the Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading Program, Our Education is a quick, thought-provoking read. The prose is neither cumbersome nor too sparse, perfectly matching the conversational tone of a teenager stuck in a teacher-less school. Those expecting a Twilight Zone episode twist ending need not apply. Those looking for a surprising lesson on the perpetual education we call existence should enroll right away.

Shit was real back then

After doing a lot of historical research, I wrote a anthropological poem for Hobart. It starts out:

When my friend is upset because someone posted
about them on the internet in a way they aren’t
sure is ironic, it makes me wish I wish I lived in
olden times. Shit was real back then.

If you were stressed out it was because one of your
limbs had been gnawed off by forest beasts
or your crops had been blighted to dry twigs
by the pond god. You know what I mean, man?

Monsters of Modern Literature trading cards

For the past two years I've drawn literary monsters for Halloween, and this year we turned them into trading cards. You can buy them on etsy for the pretty cheap price of 5 bucks (plus shipping).

CURRENT LITERARY MONSTERS: 

Bone Didion
Thomas Python
George R. R. Martian
Haruki Murderkami
Sheila Yeti
Cormac McCabre
Deborah Eyesenberg
Michel Hellbecq
Roboto Bolano
Louise Eldritch 
Ben Oak Tree
Tao Fin
Golem McCann
Clarice the Spectre

more to come

new story in The Collagist

I have a new story that I'm really proud of up at The Collagist. It is called "One or Two Afternoons" and begins:

The woman at the door wore coveralls and carried a long metal tube. Her mouth was large and closed.

"Bug lady," she said after a second. She shook her spray nozzle in front of my face.

Click here to read the rest. I had another story, "Hike," in The Collagist in 2011.

The Green Child

I'm very excited to have a blurb (from a review in Tin House) on the back of the new edition of Herbert Read's The Green Child. If you want to learn more about this odd and haunting novel, check out Eliot Weinberger's intro published in Harper's.

social media sundries

- I was named an "essential literary Twitter feed" by Brooklyn Magazine. Gigantic, whose twitter feed I mostly run, was also named. Follow me and Gigantic and everyone else on that list, if you want. 

- Our Gigantic Worlds sci-fi tumblr also got a shout-out on that list. 

- My "Monsters of Modern Literature" drawings from last Halloween were resurrected by Flavorwire.com and Picador's Tumblr. 

I guess that's it. 

The Canon of Frat Boy Philosophy

Over at McSweeneys.net I listed the canon of frat philosophy books, such as Atlas Chugged and Beer and Trembling.

positive about negativity

Electric Literature asked me to pick some of my favorite recent book reviews for their "Critical Hit" column. I decided to pick mostly negative reviews, and spent some time talking about why I think negative reviews are important for the literary conversation. My winners were Emily Cooke, Christian Lorentzen, JW McCormack, and Michelle Dean.

funny ha-ha or funny eh?

I have a new comic up at Everyday Genius.

interview with Jack Handey

I interviewed Jack Handey, one of my all-time favorite writers in any genre, for VICE. We talked about writing his new novel, funny grammar, and proper cowboy dance moves.

What are the core elements a successful "funny cowboy dance"? 
You can't force it. When you're doing the dance, if you suddenly feel like flinging your hand out, do it. Don't think about it. Or if you feel like pretending you're chewing tobacco and spitting, as you dance, do that. Don't be too rigid, is what I'm trying to say.

Talking SF with Ed Park

A short interview with the great Ed Park about SF bands and invisible books over at The Believer Logger.