Greetings

Hi folks, Alan here. First off I just want to say/reiterate that I'm thrilled to be part of the "LBC experience." Thanks for the opportunity to blog here, and for putting together a really fascinating, diverse list of books for every season (literally and figuratively). I'm also really excited to pick up Mark's and Marshall's books--my book is in fine, fine company this spring.

Ultimately, without getting too corny, I want the rest of this week to be more about you, the reader, than me, the writer. Yeah, you! Sit up straight! (Just kidding.) For me, the LBC, and lit-blogging in general--for which LBC is a common square--is a celebration of books and their readers, in all of their manifestations. So I guess I want to ask--what do you all want to talk about? What floats your boat? By the way, this doesn't mean that it has to be a whitewashed experience. Say, if there were certain stories in the book you didn't like, and see criticisms as part of an ongoing process, by all means, throw them out there. No one is expected to like everything; the world would be a pretty drab place if that were so. Books, with any luck, elicit passions, and those aren't so neatly contained or codified.   

For sure, I'm going to blog about two subjects in the upcoming days: (1) space opera, and (2) poetry. Or...something along those lines as starting points. I wanted to think of ways in which the collection intersect with other modes that I write within (or against), and how different writing traditions, at times, combust with each other, even if it's not readily apparent on the page.

Thanks again, be well, and keep reading.

Comments

[Dan Wickett]

Hey Alan,

What are your opinions on writers being pigeonholed into specific categories? By chance, have you seen the Best American Fantasy collection? If so, what do you think of it?

Thanks.

[Gwenda]

Hey Alan -- Since you're going to talk about poetry anyway, I'd like to hear about whether your poetry and your fiction intersect and how. Do you work on them at the same time? How is writing each a different process (or is it)? And that sort of bizness.

[Gavin]

Alan, you've written for Rain Taxi and maybe other book reviews. How is the book review situation in the Twin Cities and are people worried that about it? (a la the Atlanta paper etc. losing pages and editors.)

[CAAF]

Hi Alan — Thanks so much for blogging this week with us. Yay to space opera!

It reminded me: My stepson had a writing class with a guy who was in the midst of writing a 3,000-page space odyssey, and I have my own fair share of Wonder Boys-type manuscripts stowed away. I am wondering if you have any stories of the One That Got Away variety, that is the stories that you couldn't make work for whatever reason (overdrink, dead-ends, attack by zombies) and had to abandon.

[John Klima]

You've just had a story come out in Logorrhea, what's next for you big guy?

:)

[Compression tube fitting]

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[flexible led strips]

When we read this book ,we will understand it.