Author: Cliff

I am the author of three novels--THE LAST BIRD OF PARADISE, OLIVER'S TRAVELS, and THE SHAMAN OF TURTLE VALLEY--and three story collections--IN AN UNCHARTED COUNTRY, HOUSE OF THE ANCIENTS AND OTHER STORIES, and WHAT THE ZHANG BOYS KNOW, winner of the Library of Virginia Literary Award for Fiction. I am also the co-founder and former editor of Prime Number Magazine and the editor of the award-winning anthology series EVERYWHERE STORIES: SHORT FICTION FROM A SMALL PLANET.
December 30, 2007

>The New Yorker: "Beginners" by Raymond Carver

>In addition to the story “Beginners” by Raymond Carver, which is a restoration of his original version of the famous story that was published…
December 27, 2007

>The New Yorker: "The Arbus Factor" by Lore Segal

>The photograph accompanying this story (which is not online, it seems) conveys more, I thought, than the story itself (it’s of an woman with…
December 27, 2007

>The New Yorker: "Natalie" by Anne Enright

>This story does little for me. The voice is interesting – a teen Dublin girl – but that’s just not enough. The girl and…
December 25, 2007

>The New Yorker: "Alma" by Junot Diaz

>The Winter fiction issue of The New Yorker kicks off with this very short piece by Junot Díaz. This story is all about the…
December 24, 2007

>Surreal South, Edited by Laura Benedict and Pinckney Benedict

>Surreal South, edited by Laura Benedict and Pinckney Benedict and published by Press 53 is a pretty spectacular anthology of short fiction and poetry….
December 22, 2007

>Six Little Things No. 9

>The “A Penny Saved” issue (No. 9, Winter 2008) of Six Little Things is live. Check out this quirky little magazine!
December 22, 2007

>The New Yorker: Vote for the Year’s Best Story

>After much thought and toin-cossing, I have narrowed the choice down to just five stories – the five best stories that have appeared in…
December 21, 2007

>New Books in 2008?

>I’ve been thinking this morning about forthcoming books because I wanted to pre-order Grace Paley’s Fidelity, which is being published in March. That made…
December 21, 2007

>The Reason for the Season

>Happy Solstice Day! (Although, technically, this year the exact Winter Solstice occurs at 1:08 AM EST tomorrow, most people generally recognize December 21 as…
December 20, 2007

>Free Books!

>No, that’s not an offer. It was more like an orgy. In the local newspaper today there was a story about the closure of…