"If we had to say what writing is, we would have to define it as essentially an act of courage."

--Cynthia Ozick



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Anthology contributions

MCSWEENEY'S ENCHANTED CHAMBER OF ASTONISHING STORIES
From Publisher's Weekly :
"With this varied collection of enchanting though not always astonishing tales, Chabon (who also edited McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales) aims for an anthology full of 'genre bending and stylistic play.'

My contribution is the short story "7C", winner of the August Van Zorn Prize for the The Weird Short Story.




Vintage (Trade Paperback)
$13.95
ISBN: 1400078741


826 Valencia Press
$25.00
ISBN: 0977084434

DON'T FORGET TO WRITE
54 Enthralling and Effective Writing Lessons for Students 6-18

From 826 Valencia:
"If you're a teacher, we think this book will make your life easier. If you're an aspiring writer, we've got lots of great ideas for you too. And if you're a reader, we offer entertainment and food for thought -- 54 lesson plans' worth."

My contribution is entitled Story of Me: Writing About Your Life and Your Family.

CREATED IN DARKNESS BY TROUBLED AMERICANS
The Best of McSweeney's, Humor Category

From Amazon.com::
"The biggest risk here is binge-reading, as you may exchange audible laughter for the feeling that you are being force-fed an ice cream sundae."

My contribution is entitled The Latest in Innuendo Bumper Stickers.




Knopf
$16.95
ISBN: 1400042240

 

Articles, stories and other shorter works

When a piece of mine becomes available online, I try to post a link to it here. Click on the title and they'll open in a new window.

Review: The Lost Painting, by Jonathan Harr
"Harr is indisputably a masterful storyteller, and if anything that's what makes this book a less than satisfactory read."
San Francisco Chronicle, December 11, 2005

Interview with Ian Frazier
The author of On the Rez discusses his ideal writing style and his ideal woman—though only one is “heavy with hot bloatum.”
The Believer, September 2004

Light: Bioluminescence
"If you want to see something truly beautiful, try making a shrimp vomit."
The Believer, August 2003

Review: The Judges, by Elie Wiesel
"Calling Elie Wiesel a writer is like calling Martin Luther King Jr. a pastor -- it's technically true, but it misses entirely the purpose that overrides the profession. "
San Francisco Chronicle, September 29, 2002

Review: The Writer and the World, by V. S. Naipaul
"Disdain can drip from the pages, and yet there's a consistent sense of the writer drawing ever closer to his subject, not farther away."
San Francisco Chronicle, August 18, 2002

Review: When Eve Was Naked, by Josef Skvorecky
"Ignore the airs of quasi-memoir--a swamp of a notion, if ever there was one--and find your own path through the stories. "
San Francisco Chronicle, June 23, 2002

Review: The House of Blue Mangos, by David Davidar
"Although not autobiographical, "Mangoes" clearly draws its ambling force from his own cherished memories, sense of family and pride of place."
San Francisco Chronicle, March 17, 2002

Review: The Floating Brothel, by Sian Rees
"The strain of overreaching prose takes a backseat to concerns about the facts presented: Some contradict, some seem grounded in arguable logic and others seem flat-out wrong."
San Francisco Chronicle, March 3, 2002

Review: The Birds of Heaven, by Peter Matthiessen
"His nonfiction is consistently driven by a sense that personal truths emerge from the wilderness--or at least from the imperfect quest to engage the wilderness on its own terms."
San Francisco Chronicle, December 30, 2001

Review: Reading Chekhov, by Janet Malcolm
"Most stabs at meaning proceed casually from the mundane, a tactic which of course echoes Chekhov himself, who was a master of small moments illuminating big themes."
San Francisco Chronicle, December 16, 2001

Review: Stories of the Invisible, by Philip Ball
" A frustrating number of technical terms, such as sarcoplasmic reticulum, are invoked exactly once, for no particular purpose, as if the author simply likes the sound of them."
San Francisco Chronicle, November 4, 2001

Review: A Voyage for Madmen, by Peter Nichols
"Nichols' prose has a wonderful streamlined quality, a purpose-built economy of expression that doesn't call attention to its own grace."
San Francisco Chronicle, August 5, 2001

         
         

 

 

text copyright © 2006, Jason Roberts
image by .Susanne, displayed under
Creative Commons license.