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 15, 2005

>Slow Newsreel of Man Riding Train (Cont’d–Part I.7)

>7.At the bottom of the millpond lies a ruined slipper.Sleet falls slantwise into the canal. The gelid surface is blank with the pain of…
April 15, 2005

>The Book Quiz

> You’re A Theory of Justice! by John Rawls In the beginning, you lived in a town. The town had many problems!Rather than moving,…
April 14, 2005

>Under the Volcano, by Malcolm Lowry

>I meant to read it years ago, but didn’t. This year I took it with me to Mexico to read while I attended Under…
April 13, 2005

>Ride on Bald Rock Hill

>My flash piece has just been posted on the beat Ride on Bald Rock Hill
April 11, 2005

>Slow Newsreel of Man Riding Train (Cont’d–Part I.6)

>6.My father was never rewarded by the Board of governorsof the Atlantic Seaboardor by the Overseers of the Ohio & Gulf Mobileor by the…
April 8, 2005

>The Line of Beauty

>For the first 400 or so pages of The Line of Beauty, by Alan Hollinghurst, I was sure the 2004 Man Booker Prize judges…
April 7, 2005

>123.5

>A new book meme circulating around the sphere is going by the name “123.5,” and its rules are these:1. Grab the nearest book.2. Open…
April 6, 2005

>Saul Bellow

>Bellow was an early influence. No, “influence” isn’t quite the right word; I didn’t read him closely enough, or identify with him, or imitate…
April 5, 2005

>Wild Daffodils

>Wild Daffodils Hundreds of daffodils appear each year (of course) in the field behind my house. Until I bought the land, it was pasture…
April 3, 2005

>Twelfth Night

>If music be the food of love, play on;Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,The appetite may sicken, and so die.That strain again! it…