Electric Literature's Recommended Reading

Electric Literature Recommends Maggie Shipstead

electricliterature — Wed, 22 May 2013 07:30:00 -0400

Vol. 14, No. 1 EDITOR’S NOTE When Simon Orff, a thrice-married movie producer, asks his...

“Angel Lust” by Maggie Shipstead - An Electric...

electricliterature — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:31:05 -0400

“Angel Lust” by Maggie Shipstead - An Electric Literature Single Sentence Animation

The Sentence: “Her mascara, running down her smooth, downy cheeks, made her look like a tragic urchin, a child whore, Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby, Jod Foster in Taxi Driver.”

Animation by Suneet Sethi. Music by Giving The Table A Name.

Read the story tomorrow at Recommended Reading, but don’t delay! “Angel Lust” is free for one week only.

The Paris Review Recommends Ottessa Moshfegh

electricliterature — Wed, 15 May 2013 07:30:00 -0400

Vol. 13, No. 4 EDITOR’S NOTE Every year The Paris Review gives the Plimpton Prize for...

The Paris Review recommends “Bettering Myself” by...

electricliterature — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:01:23 -0400

The Paris Review recommends “Bettering Myself” by Ottessa Moshfegh, winner of the 2013 Plimpton Prize and featured in their 60th anniversary issue.

Judging for the Plimpton Prize, Jeffery Eugenides said: “The narrator of ‘Bettering Myself’ is a problem drinker and Catholic school math teacher who says to her students, “Most people have had anal sex. Don’t look so surprised.” There’s a deadpan humor to many of Moshfegh’s utterances. A little Henny Youngman in there, trying to break out. But also something a whole lot sadder … What distinguishes her writing is that unnameable quality that makes a new writer’s voice, against all odds and the deadening surround of lyrical postures, sound unique.”

Read it for free tomorrow at Recommended Reading.

CLMP recommends "These Are the Fables" by Amelia Gray

electricliterature — Wed, 08 May 2013 07:30:00 -0400

Vol. 13, No. 3 EDITOR’S NOTE If I’m the first person to tell you about Amelia Gray, we...

Two Dollar Radio Recommends Bennett Sims

electricliterature — Wed, 01 May 2013 07:30:00 -0400

Vol. 13, No. 2 EDITOR’S NOTE With debut authors, it’s natural for folks to compare them to...

“WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE UNDEAD SO FAR IS THIS: they return...

electricliterature — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 19:01:30 -0400

“WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE UNDEAD SO FAR IS THIS: they return to the familiar. They’ll wander to nostalgically charged sites from their former lives, and you can somewhat reliably find an undead in the same places you might have found it beforehand.”

Read an excerpt from A Questionable Shape by Bennett Sims, recommended by Two Dollar Radio, for free tomorrow morning at recommendedreading.tumblr.com.

"Firewood" by J. Robert Lennon

electricliterature — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 07:30:00 -0400

Vol. 13, No. 1 EDITOR’S NOTE If you’ve ever spent time in a house heated by a wood-burning...

In this Single Sentence Animation for Electric Literature,...

electricliterature — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:01:00 -0400

In this Single Sentence Animation for Electric Literature, Gaetano Evangelista animates “Firewood” by J. Robert Lennon. Music by Dr. Mint.

The sentence: “Somehow the beetles seemed akin to the firewood, he couldn’t put his finger on how.”

Single Sentence Animations are creative collaborations. The writer selects a favorite sentence from his or her work and the animator creates a short film in response.

Read the story tomorrow here.

Monkey Business Recommends "A Once Perfect Day for Bananafish"

electricliterature — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 07:30:00 -0400

Vol. 12, No. 4 EDITOR’S NOTE Monkey Business is a literary journal that aims to introduce...

“Feigning ignorance to test him, she listened to the young...

electricliterature — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 19:01:23 -0400

“Feigning ignorance to test him, she listened to the young man with curly hair and gentle wide-set eyes saying all kinds of correct things about bananafish. Neither too much nor too little, intimately, and above all, empirically!”

From “A Once-Perfect Day for Bananafish” by Mieko Kawakami. Translated by Hitomi Yoshi. Recommended by Monkey Business.

Read it for free tomorrow here.

Slice Recommends "Missing Persons" by Norman Lock

electricliterature — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 07:30:00 -0400

Vol. 12, No. 3 EDITOR’S NOTE When a story is published it is fixed in place, but a great deal...

Fiona Maazel recommends "PU-239" by Ken Kalfus

electricliterature — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 07:30:00 -0400

Vol. 12, No. 2 EDITOR’S NOTE My feelings about this story actually begin with a Ken Kalfus...

In this universe, which is, of course, our universe, thousands...

electricliterature — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 19:01:27 -0400

In this universe, which is, of course, our universe, thousands of people are dying every day because someone pushed the wrong button. Or the button was in Urdu. Or someone didn’t know her periodic table and couldn’t be bothered to read the book. Just a few weeks ago, I saw Obama on 60 Minutes say that when he took office, the first thing Bob Gates told him was to remember that at this moment, somewhere, somehow, someone in the federal government was screwing up. Which reminder asserted two things: One, that the president will always have someone else to blame, in essence: that deniability is king, and two, that incompetence is the currency most responsible for the buying and selling of our future. Want to know more? Read “Pu-239.”
—Fiona Maazel, author of Woke Up Lonely

Read Ken Kalfus’s “Pu-239” for free tomorrow at www.recommendedreading.tumblr.com.

"Todd" by Etgar Keret

electricliterature — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 07:30:00 -0400

Vol. 12, No. 1 EDITOR’S NOTE If you’re a writer, chances are you’ve heard this...

In this animation for Recommended Reading, a free fiction...

electricliterature — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 19:01:00 -0400

In this animation for Recommended Reading, a free fiction magazine, Tatia Rosenthal animates a sentence from “Todd” by Etgar Keret. Music by Christopher Bowen.

The sentence: “My friend Todd wants me to write him a story that will help him get girls into bed.”

Single Sentence Animations are creative collaborations. The writer selects a favorite sentence from his or her work and the animator creates a short film in response.

You can read the story tomorrow for free at recommendedreading.tumblr.com.

Black Lawrence Press Recommends "The Sub-Leaser" by Adrian Van Young

electricliterature — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 07:30:00 -0400

Vol. 11, No. 4 EDITOR’S NOTE Somehow, before we ever met, before he ever sent his manuscript...

“And so I returned from a series of errands to find my...

electricliterature — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 19:01:27 -0400

“And so I returned from a series of errands to find my apartment unalterably changed.”

From “The Sub-leaser” by Adrian Van Young, recommended by Black Lawrence Press.

Read it for free tomorrow at recommendedreading.tumblr.com.

Ben Greenman Recommends "Yours" by Mary Robison

electricliterature — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 07:30:00 -0400

Vol. 11, No. 3 EDITOR’S NOTE What is a life? I don’t mean that abstractly. I mean it...

“We anticipate, adding plot, and then later we remember,...

electricliterature — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 19:01:23 -0400

“We anticipate, adding plot, and then later we remember, adding theme. In time’s vast sky we look at a few clouds and pretend we recognize their shapes.”

- Ben Greenman, author of The Slippage (Harper Perennial, May 2013) on “Yours” by Mary Robinson.

Read it for free tomorrow at Recommended Reading.