tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378116292012-01-31T15:41:33.247-08:00Literature doesn't need new friends; it needs new tacticsFinn Harvornoreply@blogger.comBlogger2481100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-86222795014498675882012-01-06T17:12:00.001-08:002012-01-06T17:12:44.490-08:00

This post has proven popular, so I'm re-posting: I stumbled across this Powerpoint description of the factors behind the Great Depression in the United States,and it jigsawed well with several books I've read in the past few years which either deal with the Depression directly, or as an important element of the book's topic -- titles such as Robert Bothwell's THE PENGUIN HISTORY OF CANADA, Jean 

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-60797416165812661422012-01-02T04:00:00.001-08:002012-01-02T04:00:51.744-08:00

Frances Madeson has a new blog up. It's promisingly entitled WRITTEN WORD, SPOKEN WORD, and you can read it here.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-28564070840531006112011-12-25T22:09:00.000-08:002011-12-25T22:09:27.787-08:00

The latest edition of CANADIAN NOTES AND QUERIES is out. You can check out the online version of the magazine here. (I have an article in this one, though it's not online.) With the help of Charles Yang, I am building a new version of the CBT blog. Check out its first, somewhat gangly and awkward first post-steps here. Other than that, happy holidays.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-88669676757011616802011-12-19T21:36:00.000-08:002011-12-19T21:36:51.631-08:00

Dan Green, who has been running his litblog since its inception primarily as a one-person operation (though he did for a while have a side-blog entitled CRITICAL DISTANCE) invites others to contribute to THE READING EXPERIENCE. He is hoping to put a particular emphasis on poetry. I hope he might also consider contributions on graphic fiction as well as web-published fiction, though I realize that

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-34015673138461791052011-12-15T20:56:00.001-08:002011-12-15T20:56:21.221-08:00

Dan Wagstaff's favourite book covers of 2011.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-45964832001212242912011-12-13T20:38:00.000-08:002011-12-13T20:41:23.252-08:00

Nigel Beale interviews book historian Jonathan Rose. The interview takes as its starting point the history of British publisher John Malaby Dent; however, it also provides an interesting overview of the publishing of the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th centuries.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-90302853014729825632011-12-07T17:28:00.000-08:002011-12-07T17:28:50.209-08:00

Korean film critics Bak Eun-young and Kang Yoo-jeong on Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Biutiful.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-70387407383195077772011-12-06T17:31:00.001-08:002011-12-06T17:31:58.578-08:00

Doug Saunders on Canada at war, at war.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-39134195197866731522011-11-30T17:55:00.000-08:002011-11-30T17:55:10.374-08:00

- Jacob Russell on OWS organizing - Rusty Truck's most recent.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-63269419051073297962011-11-28T19:09:00.000-08:002011-11-29T02:54:32.744-08:00

- Quebecois publisher Marcel Broquet, who was kind enough to be interviewed for an academic section of my series on contemporary publishing, has released an autobiographical account of his life in Quebec letters. It is entitled LAISSEZ-MOI VOUS RACONTER: 53 ANS DANS LE MONDE DU LIVRE (Let me tell you a story: 53 years in the world of books). - Jimoondang Publishing [집문당] of Korea continues with

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-12842487317191898562011-08-29T18:03:00.000-07:002011-10-25T04:01:48.821-07:00

From an interesting customer review of Mitiarjuk Nappaluk's novel of an Inuit woman's life, Sanaaq: Cette oeuvre renseigne sur les us et coutumes des Inuit. On ne lit pas Sanaaq pour la beauté de l'écriture. L'auteur raconte tout simplement leur lutte acharnée pour survivre. La chasse et la pêche font partie de leurs activités quotidiennes. Le phoque compose leur nourriture de base. C'est

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-56664947076092453732011-08-10T18:55:00.000-07:002011-08-10T19:09:19.310-07:00

Matt Kindt of Super Spy, The Tooth, Revolver, and 3 Story (The Secret History of the Giant Man):  1. Graphic fiction, we are told, is in; it has arrived. Academics talk about it, literary publishers include it -- sometimes -- on their lists. But how accepted is it really? Is it genuinely accepted by the high-brow, and viewed with true objectivity? Or is some of

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-80068272411764742672011-08-01T03:36:00.000-07:002011-08-01T03:36:00.258-07:00

Levi Asher publishes his fourth title, this time an anthology: Beats in Time: A Literary Generation's Legacy.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-9124273625893827022011-07-27T19:00:00.000-07:002011-07-27T19:01:57.188-07:00

Van Jensen -- blogger (Graphic Fiction), graphic novelist (Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer), editor/journalist 1. Graphic fiction, we are told, is in; it has arrived. Academics talk about it, literary publishers include it -- sometimes -- on their lists. But how accepted is it really? Is it genuinely accepted by the high-brow, and viewed with true objectivity? Or is some of the praise that it is

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-42951698281798685642011-07-25T04:39:00.000-07:002011-08-07T05:21:04.727-07:00

Michael Cho of Michael Cho's Sketchbook: 1. Graphic fiction, we are told, is in; it has arrived. Academics talk about it, literary publishers include it -- sometimes -- on their lists. But how accepted is it really? Is it genuinely accepted by the high-brow, and viewed with true objectivity? Or is some of the praise that it is given merely bumpf? After all, MFA programs

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-18823941302474316502011-07-22T18:04:00.000-07:002011-07-22T18:04:55.421-07:00

CNQ has a new issue out. Check out its online version. Via the TNQ blog, the particularly appalling case of the torture of Bahraini poet Ayat el-Gormezi.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-72767905076386489332011-07-18T21:55:00.000-07:002011-07-18T21:56:46.327-07:00

Republican senator Tom Coborn proposes nine trillion dollars of tax cuts, including massive cuts to social programs. One of the more controversial aspects of the plan is to cut veterans' health benefits -- an echo of the 1930s, when World War One veterans also had their benefits cut (some committed suicide as a result). He also, and unsurprisingly, proposes breathtakingly modest cuts to the most

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-31841027024951547162011-07-13T18:42:00.000-07:002011-07-13T18:50:12.073-07:00

Scott Chantler of scottchantler.com, Two Generals,Tower of Treasure, Northwest Passage, etc: 1. Graphic fiction, we are told, is in; it has arrived. Academics talk about it, literary publishers include it -- sometimes -- on their lists. But how accepted is it really? Is it genuinely accepted by the high-brow, and viewed with true objectivity? Or is some of the praise that it is given merely

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-1622835077357798332011-07-12T22:22:00.001-07:002011-07-12T22:22:50.775-07:00

Michael Martone interviewed by Christopher Higgs of HTML Giant (via Dan Green)

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-55767695539877256352011-07-11T18:27:00.001-07:002011-07-11T18:28:54.186-07:00

Anderson Brown of Anderson Brown's Literary Blog 1. When I started this interview series it was already clear that publishing -- especially of literary fiction -- was in dire straits. At that time, one explanation that was fashionable was 9/11 was the reason people weren't reading as much literature (or as much anything) as they used to. Now we are living in a time when the long-term

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-60491382029056332822011-06-29T21:30:00.000-07:002011-06-29T21:33:35.713-07:00

Here are some images from THE BUSINESS ARMY that I've been "greyizing" with Gimp. Not all the images were changed at the same time -- in fact, there was a lag of close to a year between some of them. In that interim, I've become more comfortable with (and, I hope, more competent at) using Gimp. I've also gotten in the habit of saving files as I add each layer of grey-scale. This allows me to

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-68831306040374737072011-06-21T20:59:00.000-07:002011-06-21T20:59:22.508-07:00

L. Lee Lowe interviewed by Tinashe Mushakavanhu. (Mushakavanhu's site -- Sentinel Literary Quarterly -- also looks interesting in and of itself.)

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-25004819942163545062011-06-16T00:09:00.000-07:002011-06-16T00:42:23.018-07:00

Kate Beaton's Hark! A Vagrant! on the relationship between Benito Juarez and Maximilian of Habsburg. Melanie Chartoff and Larry David  on Alexander Haig, post the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, taking control -- albeit, in this case at least, very momentarily [via Long Sunday] Phil of Le Blog de Phil on Louis Hemon's Maria Chapdelaine.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-69219534756538895032011-06-13T20:38:00.000-07:002011-06-16T00:00:16.512-07:00

art: Finn Harvor [from "The Business Army"] Levi Asher's recent post on Paul Ryan -- the Republican who wants to cut spending by drastically reducing social programs -- can arguably also be seen as a continuation of his  series on posts on egoism. For instance, central to this post is the effect that the egoism-embracing thought structures of Ayn Rand has had on a certain brand of

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-81944219803802477732011-06-10T15:20:00.001-07:002011-06-10T15:20:24.682-07:00

Michael Bryson on Daniel Jones.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-26276931086554315402011-06-09T17:42:00.003-07:002011-06-09T17:49:05.580-07:00

Finn Harvor In recent months, Levi Asher of LitKicks has been writing a series of interrelated posts which might be characterized as being about the importance of human beings working together. As part of this, he's written a book entitled Why Ayn Rand is Wrong (And Why it Matters). And he's also written in a more general manner on his ideas about collective – as opposed to individual and

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-48824690182920389502011-06-08T18:06:00.000-07:002011-06-08T19:32:28.656-07:00

Via Muhammad Iqbal, a teacher I met while at the CWC (Creative Writing Conference) held at the Politeknik Negeri in Jember, Indonesia, a link to the Dark Mountain Project. An interview with Kathryn and Stuart Immonen (via Dan Wagstaff).

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-36398061405583539062011-06-07T04:19:00.000-07:002011-06-07T14:29:20.879-07:00

Deer Girl, by Knut Larsson.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-38099628995094342252011-06-06T19:41:00.000-07:002011-06-06T19:41:10.558-07:00

 Kevin Peterson of Kevin From Canada 1. When I started this interview series it was already clear that publishing -- especially of literary fiction -- was in dire straits. At that time, one explanation that was fashionable was 9/11 was the reason people weren't reading as much literature (or as much anything) as they used to. Now we are living in a time when the long-term repercussions of 9/11

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-22028191684190164342011-05-30T20:16:00.000-07:002011-05-30T20:16:21.118-07:00

Hank Campbell on Satoshi Kanazawa and evolutionary psychology's blind spots. Stanton Peele on same.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-66820521998371115942011-05-28T02:34:00.000-07:002011-05-29T06:33:15.427-07:00

Andrew Smith on the military-industrial complex and domestic prosperity. Levi Asher on David Brooks. Charlotte Ashley on Natalee Caple and e-books vs. print. Caple herself on the same subject. Gordon Lockheed of Dooney's Cafe on what is threatening Canadian publishing.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-23503937693467480062011-05-25T18:44:00.000-07:002011-05-26T19:28:24.394-07:00

I stumbled across this Powerpoint description of the factors behind the Great Depression in the United States,and it jigsawed well with several books I've read in the past few years which either deal with the Depression directly, or as an important element of the book's topic -- titles such as Robert Bothwell's THE PENGUIN HISTORY OF CANADA, Jean Edward Smith's FDR, Amity Shlaes' THE FORGOTTEN

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-72137918236715924802011-05-23T20:27:00.000-07:002011-05-23T20:27:27.621-07:00

Cartoonist Joe Sacco in Gaza (via Galago).

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-56526099806014899912011-05-21T18:41:00.000-07:002011-05-22T14:25:25.644-07:00

Fade in. A classroom in a rural Korean university. The class is empty now. The walls of the room are painted a utilitarian colour which is, upon inspection, difficult to identify. It is white, but with a grey underlay. It's not quite beige. It's grite. Jumpcut. The main hallway of the building. It is filled with students, either on their way to class or -- and very noisily -- enjoying a break.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-49039431193525450302011-05-18T16:38:00.000-07:002011-05-20T20:51:42.513-07:00

On May 17, a story ran that quoted Rick Santorum as criticizing John McCain [see post] for not understanding, in the words of the article, "how effective waterboarding and other harsh interrrogation techniques can be". What followed what a field day of Internet commentary, ridiculing Santorum. I don't doubt Santorum is, as people put it, "an idiot". But that doesn't mean his argument -- or the

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-76875253668835188362011-05-17T17:26:00.000-07:002011-05-17T17:26:41.070-07:00

Today is the 31st anniversary of the The Gwangju Uprising. It is otherwise known as the Gwangju Massacre, though the Korean translates from 5.18 광주 민주화 운동  to the May 18th Gwangju Democratization Movement.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-91106154629580786242011-05-16T19:34:00.000-07:002011-05-16T19:34:52.894-07:00

War crimes in Iraq (via Jacob Russell) The privatized army/security complex here to stay. Amrullah Saleh knew where bin Laden was. Top Shelf does Stockholm,

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-19492002972233155362011-05-16T05:18:00.000-07:002011-05-16T20:11:44.439-07:00

Today is the 50th anniversary of the Park Jung-hee coup d'etat. Although the story received a long editorial in the English-language paper I usually buy (The Korea Herald), it's received little attention in the English-language expat blogs, at least that I've been able to find so far. In Korean, the top news site by net ranking is this Ohmynews piece.  At the school where I work, there was

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-47218571844497657182011-05-13T18:21:00.000-07:002011-05-14T05:09:36.165-07:00

At the Yahoo homepage, buried beneath stories about MLPs (the acronym, apparently, doesn't need to be explained) throwing funny pitches, basketball players dunking amazing shots, the royal couple's honeymoon, "the best supermarket coffee brands". and Charlie Sheen, was a story about John McCain and former U.S. attorney general Michael Mukasey and the use of torture by the CIA and military in

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-27172163268149504302011-05-13T17:37:00.000-07:002011-05-13T17:37:28.109-07:00

Clark Blaise on the importance of short fiction's first blips Doug Allan on the ongoing move to privatize health care in Canada. Michael Bryson on John Lavery.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-24127729672618061192011-05-11T18:14:00.000-07:002011-05-13T13:34:21.489-07:00

Michael Kleen on fascist movements -- both exported from Europe, in the form of the pro-German Bund, and domestic, such as the Black Legion [above] -- in the United States during the Great Depression. Kleen: One such group was the Black Legion, a secret offshoot of the Midwestern Ku Klux Klan. An Ohioan named Dr. William Jacob Shepard formed the Legion during the late 1920s, but never intended

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-29274226783385384322011-05-10T17:30:00.000-07:002011-05-10T17:30:02.196-07:00

My mom on what she looks for in poetry (via Steven Beattie)

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-16505695683845409032011-05-09T18:04:00.000-07:002011-05-09T18:04:54.482-07:00

Beatrice on Helon Haliba. Dan Wagstaff on Penguin book covers, esp. that of Titus Groan. (nb. We used to have this book in our house; I'm fairly sure the cover art is a drawing by Peake -- my understanding is he did sketches of the characters in his novels.)

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-27023724885977549302011-05-06T05:12:00.001-07:002011-05-06T05:12:48.150-07:00

EXT. A SMALL KOREAN VILLAGE. AN EARLY SUMMER EVENING, MID-WEEK. A WESTERN MAN is walking down the city's main street. To his left is Haemi Fortress, a medieval Korean fort. Its wall is built of unevenly-matched stones, each lightened by age to a gentle ochre, as if the stone itself has softened. The MAN walking beside this wall has a peaceful expression on his face. But from his body language

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-39805523149556561282011-05-06T03:57:00.000-07:002011-05-06T03:57:33.175-07:00

김영하의 책읽는 시작  -- Korean author Kim Young-Ha's Time to Read a Book blog, as well as photos from his album

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-37370688554102550792011-05-03T17:51:00.000-07:002011-05-03T17:51:52.536-07:00

Levi Asher responds to Nicholson Baker's article, "Why I am a Pacifist". The post went up just hours before the news of Osama bin Laden's assassination was made public. An interesting comments thread ensues.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-82090496379086817302011-04-28T22:14:00.000-07:002011-04-28T22:27:03.288-07:00

Gaspereau Books' Trala Biblioasis' new Clark Blaise collection

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-5131793790964409132011-04-28T04:52:00.000-07:002011-05-06T05:11:44.875-07:00

The Globe and Mail -- which, the last time I was in Canada looked like a flyer for Future Shop -- sounds off about its support for the increasingly unpopular Conservatives; a party top-heavy with extremists, and hedged-in during its terms in office by its minority status, not its inherent centrism. Unsurprisingly, the Globe's editorial is disinterested in social programs that actually make a

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-76439566870194522692011-04-26T17:46:00.000-07:002011-04-26T17:46:32.979-07:00

Michael Norris on Under the Volcano

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-84377298584824567502011-04-20T18:47:00.000-07:002011-04-20T18:47:19.487-07:00

화장실  이야기...  a sweet example of Korean comics culture.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-58797235985120226132011-04-18T21:46:00.000-07:002011-04-18T21:47:29.319-07:00

From the book description of Oh Jung-hee's Chinatown: Oh Jung Hee deserves major credit for the success of women fiction writers in Korea today. Since her debut in 1968, she has produced a body of short fiction that renders in unsparing detail the effects of a rapidly modernizing society on family life. Her command of language, facility with dialogue, and use of stream-of-consciousness narrative

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-88913939186800172832011-04-15T19:13:00.001-07:002011-04-15T21:21:20.067-07:00

Republicans call for massive cuts to military spending ... just kidding.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-59899015517631319992011-04-15T19:10:00.000-07:002011-04-15T19:10:23.188-07:00

Catherine of TNQ on deadline-prompted correspondence.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-79779784625301986692011-04-13T19:31:00.000-07:002011-04-13T19:31:57.853-07:00

Levi Asher's interesting account of meeting Daniel Malakov, whose murder has been written about by Janet Malcolm in IPHEGENIA IN FOREST HILLS: ANATOMY OF A MURDER.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-80233182204137689352011-04-13T05:56:00.000-07:002011-04-13T05:56:39.246-07:00

Bud Parr on Treesaver.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-83495873692214890702011-04-11T20:43:00.000-07:002011-04-11T20:43:53.830-07:00

Dan Green on the (ongoing) MFA-ication of literary production. LitLove on John Thompson's MERCHANTS OF CULTURE

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-8537339599814205312011-04-09T17:47:00.000-07:002011-04-09T17:53:17.592-07:00

Manning is the whistleblower who revealed classified military information on the waging of the war in Iraq. This information included clear evidence of war crimes. Manning contravened US military law. He also was acting in keeping with the Nuremburg laws; laws that were enshrined at the end of World War Two after the sacrifice of millions of Allied soldiers and civilians. He is currently being

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-33641112031663296932011-04-09T05:11:00.000-07:002011-04-09T17:44:13.026-07:00

Corey Redekop on  ROOM, by Irish-Canadian writer Emma Donaghue. I haven't read ROOM myself, though I came across a Korean translation of it on a front-of-store table at a bookstore in Seoul. While I have "gi-cho Hanguka" and managed to divine from the front flap that Donaghue is being marketed internationally simply as Irish, not hyphetated Canadian, I was not able to read passages from the novel

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-25120367945156649142011-03-17T06:36:00.000-07:002011-04-09T05:12:36.876-07:00

Breaking news from the New York Times. It's worth noting that shortly after the tsunami hit and it was clear there had been damage to Fukushima Daichi plant, CNN's Asian desk chief Stan Grant was strongly suggesting there was nothing to worry about. The nuclear angle of this story has been as much about premature assumptions as it has been about the unfolding tragedy. TOKYO — Amid widening alarm

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-45673970914784122632011-03-09T16:29:00.000-08:002011-03-09T16:29:02.975-08:00

More experiments with GIMP.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-41570942083960056122011-02-11T20:54:00.000-08:002011-02-11T20:54:18.986-08:00

Melissa of TNQ on The Found Press

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-9126844858558825862011-01-31T09:00:00.000-08:002011-01-31T09:03:43.179-08:00

[Note: the following is an interview I did in December 2006 with Nash when he was still with Softskull. He subsequently left the press and is now launching a new venture, with releases scheduled for this spring. However, the following still makes for interesting reading.] Richard Nash: 1. Ever since Sept. 11, there has been a decline in book sales, particularly sales of literary fiction. And

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-75839544785016798582011-01-03T20:18:00.000-08:002011-01-03T20:18:03.207-08:00

Dan Wagstaff's Favourite Books of 2010 L. Lee Lowe's new novel. Levi Asher on satori..

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-9275045940152781022011-01-03T20:13:00.001-08:002011-01-03T20:13:41.227-08:00

Again, I'm experimenting with Gimp. I'm getting better at using the paintbrush and eraser tools (I hope), though I'm still not where I'd like to be in terms of grey-scale effects.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-2332727859253262462010-12-28T19:44:00.000-08:002010-12-28T19:44:54.295-08:00

A good documentary produced by Swedish public television on the history of WikiLeaks [via L. Lee Lowe].

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-22991894297470918712010-12-28T19:07:00.000-08:002010-12-28T19:08:55.637-08:00

These drawings show my progress, for what it's worth, over several days as I keep experimenting with Gimp. I've done a few drawings in colour more successfully than the first one above, but thought I'd include it as a sample of how much I was wrestling with the software at first (my version is in Korean, and its script is what appears to be sub-6 point type). Since then, I've focussed more on

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-87746750176165109702010-12-19T20:18:00.000-08:002010-12-19T20:19:19.932-08:00

I'm experimenting with Gimp.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-9514063148613310092010-12-18T17:25:00.000-08:002010-12-18T17:26:03.800-08:00

Michael Breen on the Youngpyong-do artillery attack. Michael Pate in Art, War and Literature

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-41787084447996081342010-12-06T04:51:00.000-08:002010-12-06T04:53:25.315-08:00

The Guardian's WikiLeaks coverage. A must-read from Reporters Without Borders. WikiLeaks current site. Incidentally, I've read several articles which quote Hillary Clinton, Mitch McConnell, Sarah Palin and others all state or strongly hint that what WikiLeaks did was illegal, and furthermore have read more than one reference in news wire stories to Assange and some of his colleagues as

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-88251028860749277372010-12-04T17:43:00.000-08:002010-12-04T17:47:19.931-08:00

Paypal defends decency, takes firm stand against journalistic recklessness.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-35208415000051587112010-12-01T05:36:00.000-08:002010-12-01T05:36:30.441-08:00

Sarah Palin demonstrates her increasing grasp of the principles underlying civil rights in the 21st Century.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-72892425920939457982010-11-22T05:13:00.000-08:002010-11-22T16:34:45.211-08:00

Evan Munday of Quarter-Life Crisis and publicist for Coach House Press: 1. Graphic fiction, we are told, is in; it has arrived. Academics talk about it, literary publishers include it -- sometimes -- on their lists. But how accepted is it really? Is it genuinely accepted by the high-brow, and viewed with true objectivity? Or is some of the praise that it is given merely bumpf? After all,

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-10672278262420994002010-11-19T17:18:00.000-08:002010-11-19T17:23:12.089-08:00

Nigel Beale responds to Susan Swan's accusations of insider trading by 2010 Giller jury member Ali Smith. Alex Good shakes the dust off his feet and moderates a panel discussion of the GG shortlist for poetry, with Jacob McArthur Mooney and Brian Palmu.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-63937269698985178362010-11-16T19:58:00.000-08:002010-11-16T20:00:57.528-08:00

L'edition Boreal blog on Michel Lavoie, winner of the GG for non-fiction for C'est ma seigneurie qu je reclame.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-63656893855945245052010-11-16T19:53:00.000-08:002010-11-16T19:54:55.092-08:00

Winner of the GG for non-fiction, Lakeland by Allan Casey.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-24953492151691481932010-11-16T18:56:00.000-08:002010-11-16T18:58:02.614-08:00

At the lit-site Kevin From Canada, a review of English GG winner Cool Water, by Dianne Warren

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-65489929297950370112010-11-16T18:52:00.000-08:002010-11-16T18:58:29.654-08:00

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-47634804917407325832010-11-16T04:53:00.000-08:002010-11-16T04:53:40.714-08:00

Kerry Clare talks to Zoe Whittall, who most recently has written a short novel for Orca Press's Fast Reads. Gaspereau Press subs a best seller.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-26152158794509794092010-11-15T16:34:00.000-08:002010-11-15T16:34:26.413-08:00

Venerable Korean publishing house Jimoondang -- responsible for the excellent Portable Library of Korean Literature -- releases THE FOG OF WAR.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-63039169159476949562010-11-14T05:15:00.000-08:002010-11-14T05:16:33.163-08:00

Dan Wells refers to the recent James Grainger review of Alexander MacLeod's collection, Light Lifting. In and Out of the Working Class by Michael D. Yates, Arbeiter Ring Publishing.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-75404965520459128052010-11-11T05:30:00.000-08:002010-11-16T04:37:56.443-08:00

Books go eco-friendly ... I mean, more eco-friendly than they already are. Nathan Whitlock on Mordecai Richler. Jacob Russell on Afghanistan. Zach Wells reads two for Remembrance Day. Incidentally, one of my German co-workers told me that the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month is the beginning of Carnival in Germany. This isn't merely an example of cultural difference,

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-39907706194307887372010-11-09T18:57:00.000-08:002010-11-09T18:59:48.876-08:00

Shelley Shaver's Rain: A Dust Bowl Story  James of Workblogging on being canned by text. Kanneth J. Harvey's  Walmart Sucks

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-26022477284380388362010-11-09T18:20:00.001-08:002010-11-18T19:23:28.078-08:00

Above is one of the less iconic photos from the Great Depression. Of course, while the style -- from the fashions people wore to the method by which employment agencies marketed themselves -- has changed, a lot remains the same. I remember first getting work through an employment agency, located around the corner from my shared house on Callandar Street, when I was spending my first years in

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-51010775401594108022010-11-02T20:28:00.003-07:002010-11-09T18:34:40.357-08:00

My interview with John Reed on TALES OF WOE is now up at Literary Kicks.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-38478507481492073222010-10-27T05:59:00.001-07:002010-10-31T23:57:41.634-07:00

EXT. A SMALL KOREAN VILLAGE. AN EARLY SUMMER EVENING, MID-WEEK. A WESTERN MAN is walking down the city's main street. To his left is Haemi Fortress, a medieval Korean fort. Its wall is built of unevenly-matched stones, each lightened by age to a gentle ochre, as if the stone itself has softened.  The MAN walking beside this wall has a peaceful expression on his face. But from his body

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-68293178865057353422010-10-13T18:28:00.001-07:002010-10-31T23:58:23.943-07:00

Adam Bellow of the New Pamphleteer and HarperCollins: Note: This is the first part of a longer interview which I previously posted. An abridged version of it appeared at The Brooklyn Rail. CBT: The philosophy behind the New Pamphleteer is that, where published text is concerned, shorter is better. Yet the current trend of the publishing industry seems to be an almost blind faith in the artistic

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-10388676309115421312010-09-02T19:40:00.001-07:002010-09-02T19:42:30.437-07:00

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-39355054722229009582010-08-26T17:59:00.000-07:002010-08-26T18:24:58.020-07:00

The following publishers have been added to my links section, after having conducted interviews with them. (I began interviewing francophones earlier this summer; I hope to branch out to Korean publishers as well.) Given the cultural divide that exists between English and French literatures in Canada, their sites are well worth checking out: Marcel Broquet, La Nouvelle EditionGuy Saint-Jean,

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-57569804059618519712010-08-08T15:56:00.001-07:002010-11-01T00:00:33.997-07:00

Kerry Clare of Pickle Me This 1. When I started this interview series it was already clear that publishing -- especially of literary fiction -- was in dire straits. At that time, one explanation that was fashionable was 9/11 was the reason people weren't reading as much literature (or as much anything) as they used to. Now we are living in a time when the long-term repercussions of 9/11 are still

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-62281496146764482782010-07-26T20:40:00.000-07:002010-11-01T00:01:50.963-07:00

Jacob Russell of Jacob Russell's Barking Dog and the poetry scene in Philadephia 1. When I started this interview series it was already clear that publishing -- especially of literary fiction -- was in dire straits. At that time, one explanation that was fashionable was 9/11 was the reason people weren't reading as much literature (or as much anything) as they used to. Now we are living in a

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-82053104856614614932010-07-25T19:20:00.000-07:002010-07-25T19:22:01.233-07:00

More chronicles of the warz.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-76325032940644912702010-07-20T20:12:00.000-07:002010-07-20T20:23:05.364-07:00

Rain: A Dust Bowl StoryMalcolm X, Triple X, Puritan XZachariah Wells' "C'mon, Goddammit, C'mon"Paul Wells inadvertently provides evidence to the argument that the selection system in AngCanLit is dysfunctional

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-41245403773364013552010-06-25T17:39:00.000-07:002010-06-25T17:45:59.498-07:00

Steven Beattie on the temporary (this time) decimation of democratic principle in Toronto.Michael Bryson interviews T. F. RigelhofPeter Darbyshire begins touring The Warhol Gang

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-15240285744395466582010-06-04T19:35:00.001-07:002010-06-04T19:37:01.535-07:00

EXT. A SMALL KOREAN VILLAGE. AN EARLY SUMMER EVENING, MID-WEEK.A WESTERN MAN is walking down the city's main street. To his left is Haemi Fortress, a medieval Korean fort. Its wall is built of unevenly-matched stones, each lightened by age to a gentle ochre, as if the stone itself has softened.The MAN walking beside this wall has a peaceful expression on his face. But from his body language we

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-26234108055308454522010-04-19T04:26:00.000-07:002010-04-19T04:29:22.633-07:00

Corey Redekop on Rabindranath Maharaj.The Puritan fills its pews.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-21517370484755759732010-04-16T05:57:00.000-07:002010-04-17T17:47:05.346-07:00

D. Harlan Wilson - writer (They Had Goats Heads)CBT: When I started this interview series it was already clear that publishing – especially of literary fiction – was in dire straits. At that time, one explanation that was fashionable was 9/11 was the reason people weren't reading as much literature (or as much anything) as they used to. Now we are living in a time when the long-term repercussions

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-19090652471202098142010-03-31T17:31:00.001-07:002010-03-31T17:33:17.317-07:00

Doug Allan on health care.

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-13065987098731660432010-03-29T16:59:00.000-07:002010-04-14T06:19:47.184-07:00

Brenda Schmidt of Alone on a Boreal Stage:CBT: When I started this interview series it was already clear that publishing -- especially of literary fiction -- was in dire straits. At that time, one explanation that was fashionable was 9/11 was the reason people weren't reading as much literature (or as much anything) as they used to. Now we are living in a time when the long-term repercussions of

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-71516498730382381492010-03-22T17:22:00.000-07:002010-04-14T06:20:24.622-07:00

Lilian Nattel -- author (The Singing Fire, The River Midnight), and blogger (A Novelist's Mind)CBT: When I started this interview series it was already clear that publishing -- especially of literary fiction -- was in dire straits. At that time, one explanation that was fashionable was 9/11 was the reason people weren't reading as much literature (or as much anything) as they used to. Now we are

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811629.post-44009845073334082992010-03-02T16:47:00.000-08:002010-03-11T16:54:36.702-08:00

Steven Beattie begins his coverage of Canada Also Reads.Dan Green on Gilbert Sorrentino's The Abyss of Human Illusion

Finn Harvornoreply@blogger.com0