David Kuhnlein - Bloodletter (2024, Amphetamine Sulphate, limited print run, available from UK via Ebay, and worth it)
Audrey Szasz - Counterillumination - (2023)
Blake Butler - Aannex or Void Corp (Aannex from Inside the Castle, Void Corp originally published in mangled form as Alice Knott by Riverhead, 2020)
John Treffary - Massive (2024)
Catherine Lacey - Biography of X (2023)
Cody Goodfellow - Unamerica (2019, fuck off, close enough)
C. Pam Zhang - Land of Milk and Honey (2023) or her debut How Much of These Hills is Gold (2020)
Sergia De La Pava - Every Arc Bends its Radian (2024) the sole book on this list I have not read. But De La Pava is a good author and Naked Singularity was fantastic. You can disagree, and you're wrong.
AND just because the prose is DELIRIOUSLY GOOD, and she was a one hit wonder, breaking my heart, this is the fifteenth anniversary of Orange Eats Creeps, by Grace Krilanovich, with a foreword by Steve Erickson, which is quite an endorsement, and a new edition out from Two Dollar Radio.
And something that may appeal to the prose theorist inside you, Leland de la Durantaye - Hannah Versus The Tree, (2018) I bought it because it managed to get a blurb from Amy Hempel (this is a very, very rare occurrence) and the author is primarily a scholar of Quxote studies. The book is written in a mythopoeic framework, it's short, tight, and every sentence does its job.
Warning, some may be more to your taste than others, some are highly experimental work, (Massive is, well, Trefary founded his publisher, Inside the Castle, to publish his fourth person novel, and he's a typesetting nerd. Don't think I need to say more.) But as a prose stylist myself, uhh, there's some good stuff on there. Hope you like some of it fam.
Notice how I pretty well tried to gender split this to point out that MEN ARE STILL GETTING PUBLISHED... Because I did that on purpose.
And even if C Pam Zhang got nominated for prestigious awards for Land of Milk and Honey, I have a friend on this list whose last novel, put out on a very small press, has surpassed 30-35k copies SOLD since release (almost 4 years.) Which is most likely more than Land of Milk and Honey will sell in the next five years.
Doing the Lord’s work here sir. Well done. Appreciate this list very much. Mother Howl in the buy queue. I just saw it described as “weird noir,” which accurately describes my story wheelhouse for all mediums. Sold.
Castro was going for watered-down alt-lit Nicholson Baker, who (apart from the amusing THE MEZZANINE and THE FERMATA) is himself a pale American copy of certain techniques lifted from Robbe-Grillet. Castro’s take on any of this is kindergartener crayon-tier and his “moral content” is also ChatGPT-tier cliches
For a while there was an indie cinema equivalent to this kind of writing, where the filmmaker would just set up the camera and film the actors doing mundane things for long stretches. I'm thinking of some of the early 2000s work of Gus Van Sant, like Gerry or Last Days. Some creators think there is something really deep in just watching or reading about people doing really mundane things in really mundane ways and thinking their mundane thoughts. And maybe sometimes there is. But there's just such a lack of drama in it that it's the opposite of arresting. I think you're right that Ellis is responsible for some of this.
Off the top of my head Gerry and Last Days are what I remember most. Though Zone of Interest is in a similar vein, trash compared to the novel. Some early Soderbergh like Full Frontal was in this style. Bela Tar’s movies though these are definitely more artful. But I think if you need to see one or two Gerry and Last Days are the most obvious.
The subtitles. lol just kidding. Well, I'm not a Tar expert and haven't seen all his work but in general I'd say I find them more fascinating and hypnotic than the works by Van Sant.
Really enjoyed reading this. Laughed a few times, Billy from 6ix9ine, the wife finishing off her night of fun with the Verizon Fios guy. Thought you showed some restraint too, legit felt like you could’ve gone in on it more and didn’t. I appreciated that as well. And I am sorry the book under delivered. I haven’t read it, but after reading those passages, I’m grateful you spared me from trying. That passage of the narrator’s time on the throne was a stinker. Back to the goods. I’ve also started Mailer’s The Fight and it’s pretty damn impressive.
> Thought you showed some restraint too, legit felt like you could’ve gone in on it more and didn’t.
On my last edit I removed quite a few adjectives and deleted quite a few sentences. I've been facing a more general question about how to go about scathing criticism that I'd like to discuss with you. But I'll save it for an in-person chat.
> I’ve also started Mailer’s The Fight and it’s pretty damn impressive.
Would love to get your thoughts on this once you finish.
Yeah man, sounds good. Always happy to chat on this stuff. I have a lot of thoughts on this which can, at times, be in conflict. Will help me square some of those in discussion.
I get enough of that with the gig I have at the public library where I moderate a reading group. I don’t always get to choose the book, so sometimes I have to read stuff that’s neither interesting to me nor especially well written.
Thank you for reading this book so I don't have to! And you nailed exactly why this judgement is also true of nearly all new fiction: it's easy to write affectless description and action and not really risk anything, and it makes a pointless read.
Opposite of that, it's hard to dig into your soul, and the soul of others, to pull out the real stuff. That kind of work takes effort and exacts a cost, and cannot be taught in MFA programs. But that's what the gods of literature demand--blood for words, of a kind.
If you want any DECENT contemporary lit reccs, I'm RIGHT FUCKING HERE DUDE.
Gimme your top 5
Give me a range of years that comprises contemporary to you in this moment, I will be back shortly thereafter.
2020-2025
Craig Clevenger - Mother Howl (2023) (He IS one of the best prose stylists of an entire generation, and a friend. His EMAILS enthrall.)
Elle Nash - Deliver me (2023)
BR Yeager - BurnYouTheFuckAlive, stories (2023)
Charlene Elsby - Violent Faculties, The Devil Thinks I'm Pretty (2024, 2023)
David Kuhnlein - Bloodletter (2024, Amphetamine Sulphate, limited print run, available from UK via Ebay, and worth it)
Audrey Szasz - Counterillumination - (2023)
Blake Butler - Aannex or Void Corp (Aannex from Inside the Castle, Void Corp originally published in mangled form as Alice Knott by Riverhead, 2020)
John Treffary - Massive (2024)
Catherine Lacey - Biography of X (2023)
Cody Goodfellow - Unamerica (2019, fuck off, close enough)
C. Pam Zhang - Land of Milk and Honey (2023) or her debut How Much of These Hills is Gold (2020)
Sergia De La Pava - Every Arc Bends its Radian (2024) the sole book on this list I have not read. But De La Pava is a good author and Naked Singularity was fantastic. You can disagree, and you're wrong.
AND just because the prose is DELIRIOUSLY GOOD, and she was a one hit wonder, breaking my heart, this is the fifteenth anniversary of Orange Eats Creeps, by Grace Krilanovich, with a foreword by Steve Erickson, which is quite an endorsement, and a new edition out from Two Dollar Radio.
And something that may appeal to the prose theorist inside you, Leland de la Durantaye - Hannah Versus The Tree, (2018) I bought it because it managed to get a blurb from Amy Hempel (this is a very, very rare occurrence) and the author is primarily a scholar of Quxote studies. The book is written in a mythopoeic framework, it's short, tight, and every sentence does its job.
This is awesome, thank you. I will report back after I read some of these.
Warning, some may be more to your taste than others, some are highly experimental work, (Massive is, well, Trefary founded his publisher, Inside the Castle, to publish his fourth person novel, and he's a typesetting nerd. Don't think I need to say more.) But as a prose stylist myself, uhh, there's some good stuff on there. Hope you like some of it fam.
Make a listicle of this and I’ll subscribe!
A listicle, REALLY? Man. I like subscribers, but damn. I'm not Buzzfeed.
Notice how I pretty well tried to gender split this to point out that MEN ARE STILL GETTING PUBLISHED... Because I did that on purpose.
And even if C Pam Zhang got nominated for prestigious awards for Land of Milk and Honey, I have a friend on this list whose last novel, put out on a very small press, has surpassed 30-35k copies SOLD since release (almost 4 years.) Which is most likely more than Land of Milk and Honey will sell in the next five years.
Doing the Lord’s work here sir. Well done. Appreciate this list very much. Mother Howl in the buy queue. I just saw it described as “weird noir,” which accurately describes my story wheelhouse for all mediums. Sold.
The list may eclipse top five. My top five is a shifting thing.
Really like the honesty. I think it's good to get strong opinions on a work, for some it's an important way to learn and improve.
Castro was going for watered-down alt-lit Nicholson Baker, who (apart from the amusing THE MEZZANINE and THE FERMATA) is himself a pale American copy of certain techniques lifted from Robbe-Grillet. Castro’s take on any of this is kindergartener crayon-tier and his “moral content” is also ChatGPT-tier cliches
For a while there was an indie cinema equivalent to this kind of writing, where the filmmaker would just set up the camera and film the actors doing mundane things for long stretches. I'm thinking of some of the early 2000s work of Gus Van Sant, like Gerry or Last Days. Some creators think there is something really deep in just watching or reading about people doing really mundane things in really mundane ways and thinking their mundane thoughts. And maybe sometimes there is. But there's just such a lack of drama in it that it's the opposite of arresting. I think you're right that Ellis is responsible for some of this.
Off the top of my head Gerry and Last Days are what I remember most. Though Zone of Interest is in a similar vein, trash compared to the novel. Some early Soderbergh like Full Frontal was in this style. Bela Tar’s movies though these are definitely more artful. But I think if you need to see one or two Gerry and Last Days are the most obvious.
Awesome, thank you
What do u think makes Tar’s films more artful than the others?
The subtitles. lol just kidding. Well, I'm not a Tar expert and haven't seen all his work but in general I'd say I find them more fascinating and hypnotic than the works by Van Sant.
That’s fascinating, any specific films of this sort I could check out?
What an outlaw review! I haven’t read the book but props for being honest.
Thank you!
Really enjoyed reading this. Laughed a few times, Billy from 6ix9ine, the wife finishing off her night of fun with the Verizon Fios guy. Thought you showed some restraint too, legit felt like you could’ve gone in on it more and didn’t. I appreciated that as well. And I am sorry the book under delivered. I haven’t read it, but after reading those passages, I’m grateful you spared me from trying. That passage of the narrator’s time on the throne was a stinker. Back to the goods. I’ve also started Mailer’s The Fight and it’s pretty damn impressive.
Thank you!
> Thought you showed some restraint too, legit felt like you could’ve gone in on it more and didn’t.
On my last edit I removed quite a few adjectives and deleted quite a few sentences. I've been facing a more general question about how to go about scathing criticism that I'd like to discuss with you. But I'll save it for an in-person chat.
> I’ve also started Mailer’s The Fight and it’s pretty damn impressive.
Would love to get your thoughts on this once you finish.
Yeah man, sounds good. Always happy to chat on this stuff. I have a lot of thoughts on this which can, at times, be in conflict. Will help me square some of those in discussion.
I haven't read this novel, but there's no line level art in anything you posted from it.
The only reason I would recommend reading it is to learn about what doesn't work, which may be useful to one's own writing.
I get enough of that with the gig I have at the public library where I moderate a reading group. I don’t always get to choose the book, so sometimes I have to read stuff that’s neither interesting to me nor especially well written.
Thank you for reading this book so I don't have to! And you nailed exactly why this judgement is also true of nearly all new fiction: it's easy to write affectless description and action and not really risk anything, and it makes a pointless read.
Opposite of that, it's hard to dig into your soul, and the soul of others, to pull out the real stuff. That kind of work takes effort and exacts a cost, and cannot be taught in MFA programs. But that's what the gods of literature demand--blood for words, of a kind.