My Car Stereo Is Possessed

My car stereo is possessed. Somewhere inside the diodes and resistors is the soul of an audiobook critic, who, for the past few months, has had no problem vomiting up a CD with extreme prejudice. This morning, my esteemed spectral companion would not let me listen to JCO's Freaky Green Eyes after the opening attempted rape scene, which disappointed me immensely, because I was just starting to get in touch with my inner teenage female.



He did, however, let me get through the first two chapters of For Whom the Bell Tolls.



Either this critic is insecurely masculine, or he just has a hankering to blow up a bridge. Whatever the case, I think it's time for an exorcism in the form of an iPod.

Later Fiends,

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I'm in a Michael Chabon State of Mind

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, animals both domesticated and wild, welcome to my cyber home, where the only pork projects here involve squealing, conveyor belts, dull blades and ... well, it's all very messy really.

Michael Chabon will be speaking at Lehigh University on Sunday, March 22. It's free and open to the public. If you're in the Northeast Pennsylvania area, and you've been dying to meet me, then, you know, he'll be there too. The information can be found here.

In anticipation I've been reading a collection of short stories edited by Chabon. And what an awesome collection of writers, from Stephen King and Joyce Carol Oates to Peter Straub and Margaret Atwood.

Whether or not you appreciate Chabon's writing style, you should at least give the guy credit for bridging gaps between literary and genre fiction, and this collection is something of a testament to that ability, putting together genre and literary writers in one fantastic collection.

Another book I've been reading bit by bit is Chabon's nonfiction collection of essays Maps and Legends. Many of the essays were previously published, but as a collection and because of the gimmicky cover (which I am always a sucker to) I think it stands as a fine collection and brings a deeper, sometimes bitterly passionate understanding of why Chabon walks that line between literary and genre fiction.

Later Fiends

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