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Author Archives: Second Shoppe Manager
Q&A with Chia-Chia Lin: ‘The Unpassing’ and Making Sense of Absence
Chia-Chia Lin’s The Unpassing (278 pages; FSG) is the haunting story of a year in the life of a Taiwanese immigrant family living in rural Alaska. The novel, told through the eyes of ten-year-old Gavin, observes the disintegration of the family after tragedy leaves them raw. With prose as stark and spare as the Alaskan shores and forests she precisely details, Lin conveys an intimate and understated account of trauma, beautifully rendering the internal world of each person affected by a shared loss. Gavin has a sister who squirms away from her background by changing her name from Pei Pei …Continue reading
Posted in Interviews
Tagged Alaska, chia-chia lin, fiction, interview, novel, q&a, the unpassing
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‘A Student of History’ by Nina Revoyr: A Term Among High Society
In Los Angeles, there exists a rarified social echelon known as the Street People. These are not, as their moniker might suggest, the many who find themselves without shelter (much like San Francisco, L.A. is currently dealing with a staggering increase in its homeless population). Rather, the name refers to the wealthy landowners and developers who saw prominent streets named after them: the Crenshaws, the Chandlers, the Van Nuys. The descendants of these 20th century tycoons move in a world of power and privilege, the kind that isn’t even whispered about in the society pages. It is into this hermetically …Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged a student of history, book review, California, fiction, Los Angeles, nina revoyr, novel
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‘Kathleen Hale Is a Crazy Stalker’ by Kathleen Hale: Embracing the Inner Animal
Kathleen Hale’s essay collection, Kathleen Hale Is A Crazy Stalker (174 pages; Grove Press), presents a fascinating reflection on the sexual assault that shaped part of Hale’s life, as well as on humanity’s rapacity, Internet trolling, and mental illness. Although the collection of six non-fiction essays grapples with heavy topics, Hale’s self-deprecating humor helps to build and release tension, showcasing the irresistible charm of her writing. In the book’s titular essay, Hale recounts the time she once visited a negative Good Reads reviewer’s house in an effort to make amends. The story takes multiple turns as Hale discovers the negative …Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged book review, creative nonfiction, essay collection, kathleen hale, memoir, nonfiction
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ZYZZYVA wins CLMP’s 2019 Firecracker Award for Best Magazine: General Excellence!
We’re thrilled and honored to have won CLMP’s 2019 Firecracker Award for Best Magazine: General Excellence! We want to thank CLMP for all they do to support independent publishing; thanks to Poets House for hosting this event; and thank you to all our readers, contributors, and colleagues for inspiring and sustaining us in this work. And congratulations to all the finalists! The event in New York City proved a beautiful night of literary community.
Q&A with Yu-Han Chao: ‘Sex & Taipei City’ reveals a strange, secretive world
Yu-Han Chao’s Sex & Taipei City (195 pages; Red Hen Press) offers twenty short stories that explore the repressed world of sexuality in Taiwan and how it is often secretive, awkward, and stranger than one might expect. Chao’s collection reads like a witty recount of gossip slipped between friends. There is an intimacy to each character and their lives that pulls the reader into modern Taipei with its night markets, karaoke rooms, and bustling streets. Chao doesn’t shy away from the provocative world she is exploring: the stories range from a young girl selling her body as a form of …Continue reading
ZYZZYVA Recommends May 2019: What to Read, Watch, & Listen to
May, we hardly knew you! Yes, it seems we are well and truly in the midst of summer now, which means we’re gearing up for our Annual Fundraiser & Celebration on June 21st. But we’re also taking time out to share what ZYZZYVA recommends this month—a roundup of the works we’ve been reading, watching, and listening to: Julia Matthews, Intern: While I’ll admit I’m often one to play songs out of order, hitting shuffle or getting distracted, I relish an album that begs to be listened from start to finish. Tierra Whack’s dreamscape Whack World is one such project. Released a year ago this spring, …Continue reading
Posted in What We're Reading
Tagged joe swanberg, netflix, rachel cusk, staff recommends, staff roundup, Tierra Whack, zhang yimou
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Q&A with Ross Gay: ‘The Book of Delights’ and an Essay a Day for a Year
Ross Gay’s The Book of Delights (288 pages; Algonquin Books) is a collection of over 100 short essays. The project began as a type of writing exercise: Gay would write one essay about something delightful every day for a year. While the collection doesn’t contain an essay for every single day of that year, and some of the essays might be called more thought-provoking than purely delightful, the book couldn’t be more aptly named. The pieces read at times like prose poetry or journal entries, and they cover a variety of topics, such as a single flower growing out of …Continue reading
Posted in Interviews
Tagged author interview, essays, interview, nonfiction, poet, Poetry, q&a, Ross Gay, the book of delights
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ZYZZYVA & Ploughshares Subscription Bundle!
Get the best literature from coast to coast this Memorial Day Weekend with ZYZZYVA & Ploughshares! Subscribe now and get two great literary journals –– ZYZZYVA & Ploughshares –– for one low price of $49.99. That’s 35% off the cover price! Beginning with the next issue of both Ploughshares and ZYZZYVA, subscribers will receive: 4 issues of Ploughshares (print and digital) 4 issues of ZYZZYVA Free submissions to the Ploughshares regular reading period Don’t delay –– subscribe now before this offer ends!* *Offer valid though May 28th, 2019.
‘What My Mother And I Don’t Talk About,’ edited by Michele Filgate: A Complex Bond
In What My Mother And I Don’t Talk About (288 pages; Simon & Schuster; edited by Michele Filgate), fifteen writers grapple with the unexpected developments and shortcomings of their relationships with their mothers. In her introduction, Filgate explains that while each individual essay is an achievement in itself, together they work to address the ways we tend to idealize our mothers, as well as reflect honestly on the imperfect relationships we forge (and sometimes end) with them over the course of our lives: Acknowledging what we couldn’t say for so long, for whatever reason, is one way to heal our …Continue reading
Posted in News
Tagged book review, cnf, essay collection, essays, michele filgate, motherhood, nonfiction
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‘King of Joy’ by Richard Chiem: Millennial Malaise
King of Joy (176 pages; Soft Skull Press) floats out from under a narcotic haze. The first novel from Richard Chiem follows the recent reissue of his story collection, You Private Person, and expands on that book’s knack for exploring millennial ennui. As King of Joy opens, lead character Corvus finds herself in a purgatorial place; on the run from a painful past, she’s spent the last year residing in a secluded woodland manor with a host of other young women and their employer, a pornographer named Tim. Her days are loosely spent in a druggy stupor, socializing with her …Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged book review, fiction, novel, richard chiem, Soft Skull Press
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