Table-talk of Parkus Grammaticus for May 11, 2008

I. Levi's on a roll...Among other things, he brings news of a possible Ouroboros sighting—from the files of Hard Case Crime:

[HCC mastermind Charles] Ardai is currently writing Hard Case's fiftieth book, Fifty-to-One, to be published under his own name at the end of the year. Unexpectedly, it's a comedy, written in fifty chapters, each named after a Hard Case Crime novel. That qualifies as Oulipean, if just barely . . . but--question for Ed--might it also count as an Ouroboros? Especially once you see that the cover features tiny versions of a bunch of the Hard Case covers?

II. James takes Oliver bowling.

III. I've been updating ed-park.com with the latest reviews...including this nice one from the Guardian.

IV. What am I going to blog about at Powell's?? This begins tomorrow. Also tomorrow, my longish story (or shortish novella) "The Oblivion Arms" goes up at Five Chapters...it is from the unpublished novel Dementia Americana. (Another bit of it, "T.H.C.," appeared in LIT #12 last year.) A very different sort of novel from Personal Days...or is it?

V. This plug required by law: Pre-order Personal Days!

Bowling for foie gras

Brit in...Buffalo?



[Photo by Adrian Kinloch.]

At Umamimart, Dizzyhead Hua turns out to be a great food writer and illustrator.