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.
November 5, 2005

>No Country for Old Men

>by Cormac McCarthy This is one of the most violent books I have ever read, including several of McCarthy’s earlier novels. For most of…
November 4, 2005

>What’s Your Blog Worth?

>Thanks to Dave Clapper for the link . . . My blog is worth $4,516.32.How much is your blog worth?
November 3, 2005

>Dehumanization

>The process of submitting to literary journals is dehumanizing and demoralizing. I’ve been doing it for about two years now with just a handful…
November 3, 2005

>Revolutionary Road

>by Richard Yates Many people include this novel, published in 1961, on their list of best novels of the 20th Century. It reminds me…
November 1, 2005

>Rain Taxi

>My latest book review (Michelle Herman’s The Middle of Everything) is up on Rain Taxi.
November 1, 2005

>I’m Back

>I’ve returned from a trip I almost cancelled because I really wanted to be making more progress on the revisions to my novel. At…
October 26, 2005

>Be Back Soon . . .

>Not that I’ve been posting too regularly of late (I’ve been really focused on novel revisions), but I’m on my way out the door…
October 19, 2005

>All’s Well Still

>It was only a few weeks ago that I saw the American Shakespeare Center production of All’s Well That End’s Well. But this past…
October 8, 2005

>Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits

>by Laila Lalami What an excellent book this is. Tied brilliantly together by the opening chapter (“The Trip”), this collection (novel in stories?) reveals…
October 5, 2005

>The Dog of the Marriage

>by Amy Hempel If you’re Amy Hempel, you can get away with a book that’s only 130 pages long. Not that it wasn’t satisfying,…