Justin Taylor

next book news

especially the ones he killed in space

Happy 100 years today, Michel Foucault. My own small contributation to his legacy came out last month in @nplusonemag.com, give it a read. www.nplusonemag.com/issue-54/ess...

the novel LIVES OF THE SAINTS by Nancy Lemann is currently free as an audiobook on iBooks for some unimaginable reason. look under "special deals" or whatever it's called. this book is absolutely stunning

This is a top ten all timer record for me, one of the most delightful things ever committed to tape. Go buy it!!

was here too (standing next to isaac)

was there

mid-555

[my contribution to EL discourse]

6-song Fey Fili EP is gonna be my most-listened to album of the year isn't it

50 years ago tonight, the grateful dead in rochester, featuring a wild 2nd set jam suite with one of the last fully opened-up versions of “slipknot!” nice soundboard tape, notes, etc.: heads.social/deck/@bourgw... #deadfreaksunite

There’s a beautiful new edition of Evan S. Connell’s Mrs. Bridge, which is on my personal great American novel shortlist. if you’ve never read it, now’s your chance! i have yet to meet a single reader who didn’t have their world changed by reading it: mcnallyjackson.com/book/9781582...

my copy of Viva Terlingua now skips in two different places but I don't see any scratch on the vinyl anyway it’s really bumming me out

My introduction to the Cash4Gold reissue of Rudy Wilson’s The Red Truck is now available at the Sewanee Review. I hope it will inspire you take a chance on this singularly wild novel, which is somehow always on the verge of both disappearance and rediscovery

👀

listening to Veneta a day late so instead of pretending I was there i’m pretending the internet existed in 1972 and the show was posted this morning

Tree of Smoke is *at least* as good as Blood Meridian

getting on a plane to Scotland in 3 hours but first I got this done

last year, i made an index of independent fan-owned/maintained setlist sites, what the goddamn WWW was built for! please put more in the comments! jessejarnow.com/2025/12/a-pe...

putting next newsletter out soon, maybe tomorrow. two playlists, lot of road time, some sculptures and a good picture of pancakes. free if you wanna sign up and get it

Emily Wilson gets one more piece on The Odyssey and then she needs to move on and let us know what she thinks about Mallrats

Things We Lost in the Fire, Trust, Great Destroyer Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding (also World Gone Wrong, Time Out of Mind, “Love and Theft”) American Water, Bright Flight, Tanglewood Numbers Dick’s Picks 2-4, 13-15, & 28-30

“Leisure Suit Larry, Pokemon Trainer,”new from Sierra games this fall!

just heard there’s a new Donald Antrim novel coming in January, his first in 25 years. super excited about it & gives occasion to recall that 14 years ago for @bookforum.bsky.social I wrote what I believe was the first and still the only assessment of his first trilogy *as* a trilogy

who else learned the word "lacustrine" from John Ashbery

even w the qualifier in the footnote this is a truly insane detail

thoughtful & sweet essay by @courtcarney.bsky.social on bob dylan's friendships with jerry garcia & johnny cash & "the vulnerability of brotherhood" thedylanreview.org/2025/03/02/q...

this is what missouri thinks is a gas station

tried this yesterday and it works

This is terrific and worth your time. (One of the many things I admire about it is that it makes the persuasive arguments without pretending that we’ll be able to discern the AI from the human-generated.)

second hour wouldn’t have hurt either but oh well

sometimes you just need an hour alone in your office listening to Spiritualized real real loud

Anyone have a theory as to why Joy Williams’ story “Congress” is called that?

Shot-for-shot remake of The Odyssey

my Conway Twitty Tribute Pistol is raising a lot of questions that, frankly, I don’t have to answer so long as I’ve got my Conway Twitty Tribute Pistol

I read Attention-Seeking Behavior by Aea Varfis-van Warmelo because of the review by @justintaylor.bsky.social and, as usual, he did not steer me wrong! I'm not going top that with my own. Just read the linked review! And, also, read the book! It's great! But I do have some thoughts... 🖋️📚💙 [1/8]

Taught this essay to a grad nonfiction class the year it was in BAE ( @alexanderchee.bsky.social, ed.) & we had a blast discussing it, listening to the song in class to hear what So heard, & then doing an exercise where they each picked a song of their own to listen to a billion times & write about

Writing tip: Give your protagonist a pet cat. In the final pages, shift to the cat's point of view. Follow the cat outside, through moonlit woods, to a pasture where cows kneel in worship around a glowing spacecraft. As the cat trots up its gangway, we glimpse in the windows an all-cat crew.

this patreon exit survey belongs in Poetry magazine

Happy A Live One anniversary to all who celebrate.

🐑 I recommended Mark Doten’s 2025 collection Whites 🐑