In Greek mythology, Cassandra was the daughter of the King & Queen of Troy. One day the god Apollo fell in love with her and gave her the gift of predicting the future. But when she didn’t love him back, Apollo put a curse on Cassandra so no one would believe anything she said. Like [...]
There is a saying that every man’s life is a labyrinth, and sooner or later they will have to face their minotaur. I was reminded of this when I first heard Stephen O’Connor’s “Ziggurat,” featured on this week’s edition of Selected Shorts. But first I thought, what the heck is a Ziggurat? Well, a Ziggurat is a kind [...]
Next Wednesday (Oct. 5th) I’ll be interviewing the Irish writer Anne Enright at Symphony Space. Best known for her Booker-Prize winning novel The Gathering, Enright is here in New York to launch her new book, The Forgotten Waltz. The Telegraph said of Enright’s work: Hers is a style that glories in minutiae. She modulates so finely between comedy and pathos, [...]
Did you miss Alec Baldwin reading Colson Whitehead’s essay “Lost & Found”? Don’t worry–it will be repeated on this week’s Selected Shorts, along with three wonderful new stories. First off is “Good Intentions” by One Story author Etgar Keret (seen here pulling an Esther Williams). His story will be performed by the one and only Leonard Nimoy. You’ll [...]
Last year the illustrator Arthur Jones contacted me about an anthology he was putting together, The Post It Note Diaries. I wrote a piece for him about playing in graveyards when I was a kid and he drew some wonderfully eerie pictures. Now, the book is coming out! Next Tuesday, Sept. 27th @ 7 pm I’ll [...]
This week Selected Shorts features one story: “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, read by film and TV actor Dylan Baker. Chosen as one of the Best American Short Stories of the Century, “The Things They Carried” begins with a list of physical objects carried by different members of a platoon in Vietnam, and eventually moves on to spiritual [...]