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.
April 27, 2005

>The empty tropes of transgressive fiction

> “Ready-made Rebellion: The empty tropes of transgressive fiction”—Jonathan Dee in the April 2005 Harper’s Magazine. “Good fiction has never been about moral instruction;…
April 27, 2005

>The Professor’s Daughter

>The Professor’s Daughter, by Emily Raboteau, is a fine “novel in stories.” The collection is mostly narrated by Emma Boudreaux (the similarity to the…
April 26, 2005

>Bellow and Roth in The New Yorker

>The piece in The New Yorker (April 25, 2005) by Philip Roth, including a long recollection by Saul Bellow about some of his early…
April 26, 2005

>The Producers

>It’s a stupid show, okay. No one disputes that. It’s by Mel Brooks, so what did anyone expect? It’s hilarious and fun and musical…
April 24, 2005

>Slow Newsreel of Man Riding Train (Part II.1)

>II. A Long Stop-over on the Far Side of Ashtabula 1.Billing Mont. In a room in the Stillwater Hotelfor some months. Little change in…
April 23, 2005

>. . . and the white. 
April 23, 2005

>The crimson petals . . . 
April 22, 2005

>Spring

>This is inspired by Kat’s post about her walk (Illuminate). I’ve been unhappy with the progress on my novel revisions, which means I’ve been…
April 19, 2005

>Nonconformity, by Nelson Algren

>This book length essay, written in the early fifties but not published until after Algren’s death, is a passionate plea for relevance. It was…
April 18, 2005

>Moratorium?

>I have about 3,000 books. I’m certain of that because I entered them all into a database. What I’m less certain of is the…