Publishers of flash fiction

See the article in its original context from September 2, 2001 Section Page Buy Reprints View on timesmachine TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Some days, Jonathan Franzen wrote in the dark. He did so in a spartan studio on 125th Street in East Harlem, behind soundproof walls and a window of double-paned glass. The blinds were drawn. The lights were off. And Franzen, hunched over his keyboard in a scavenged swivel chair held together with duct tape, wore earplugs, earmuffs and a blindfold. ''You can always find the 'home' keys on your computer,'' he says in an embarrassed whisper, explaining how he managed to type under such constraints. ''They have little raised bumps.'' For Franzen, this is the imagination's price, the arduous means by which he conjures a fictional world and reproduces it on the page. ''It's very, very hard to concentrate,'' he says. ''You have to hold your mind free of all the clichés.'' The days … [Read more...] about Jonathan Franzen’s Big Book

0 This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own. Community Corner North Shore Senior Center launches new peer-led learning classes on current issues, literature, culture and society, film, theater and more Alan Blitz, Volunteer Media Writer , Community Contributor Posted | Updated Reply Ready to join your peers in an exciting new learning format at North Shore Senior Center (NSSC)? The new peer-led classes, formerly operated as the Lifelong Learning Institute at National Louis University in Skokie, are now part of NSSC’s Lifelong Learning in a new category of programs called INQUIRE. More than 20 new INQUIRE classes are offered each term, all developed and coordinated by participants. Classes feature current issues, literature, culture and society, and film and theater topics. For a program listing and to register, visit www.nssc.org . “Peer-led learning is a great … [Read more...] about New Peer-Led Learning Classes: Inquire, Explore, Discuss and Have Fun

close Video Fox News Flash top headlines for March 27 Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. A man from Idaho has broken the state’s 13-year northern pike fishing record with a catch that was more than half a pound heavier than its predecessor. Thomas Francis reeled in a 40.76-pound northern pike from Hayden Lake in North Idaho, according to a press release and Facebook post shared by the Idaho Fish and Game (IDFG). On Friday, March 24, the government-operated fishing and hunting agency, revealed Francis caught the record-breaking pike, which measured 49 inches in length and 26.5 inches in girth. INDIANA FISHING RECORD BROKEN FOR 3RD TIME AFTER ANOTHER ANGLER BREAKS RECORD TWICE ON SAME DAY Photos of Francis holding the record-breaking pike show the length of the fish is wider than his shoulders. The record-breaking northern pike Thomas Francis caught from Hayden … [Read more...] about Idaho fisherman catches record pike weighing nearly 41 pounds: ‘Needed to find a bigger scale’

Americans spend an estimated $5 billion a year on unproven herbal supplements that promise everything from fighting off colds to curbing hot flashes and boosting memory. But now there is a new reason for supplement buyers to beware: DNA tests show that many pills labeled as healing herbs are little more than powdered rice and weeds. Using a test called DNA barcoding, a kind of genetic fingerprinting that has also been used to help uncover labeling fraud in the commercial seafood industry, Canadian researchers tested 44 bottles of popular supplements sold by 12 companies. They found that many were not what they claimed to be, and that pills labeled as popular herbs were often diluted — or replaced entirely — by cheap fillers like soybean, wheat and rice. Consumer advocates and scientists say the research provides more evidence that the herbal supplement industry is riddled with questionable practices. Industry representatives argue that any problems are not widespread. For the … [Read more...] about Herbal Supplements Are Often Not What They Seem

Edward Albee ’s At Home at the Zoo seems such a complete piece of theater it is surprising to consider that 46 years separates the creation of its first and second act, which are in themselves two separate one-act plays. A wonderfully acted and polished production at New York City’s Pershing Square Signature Center , directed by Lila Neugebauer, makes the two halves, the play itself, cohere brilliantly. Albee —most famous for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , and who died in 2016, at 88­—wrote the first part, Homelife , in 2004, as a companion piece to his debut play, The Zoo Story (1958, first performed in 1959). That original story features the tense, and ultimately terrible, encounter between languid publishing executive Peter (Robert Sean Leonard) and needling itinerant Jerry (Paul Sparks) on a bench in Central Park. The first half of the play features Jerry at home with his wife, Ann (Katie Finneran). Albee ’s pen portraits of the characters are delicious in … [Read more...] about Edward Albee Takes Us to the Edge: Review of ‘At Home at the Zoo’