Friday's Links
WBN is a bit knocked flat by allergies and a cold, so this will be a pretty thin set of Friday Links.
(Is it wise to criticize a blog post in the introduction to that blog post?)
— If you have 30 minutes to spare, I highly recommend this chat between Zadie Smith and Nathan Englander, two of our most talented writers. (The last fifteen minutes are audience questions — but we do learn that Zadie has two brothers, a comedian and a rapper. That’s a talented group.)
— And if you still have a few free minutes, watch this video from Electric Lit to find out which beast of a 2010 book can save your life in the event of a gunfight.
— The literary Twitterverse was abuzz this week about the news that NewSouth Books intends to publish a new edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with all 219 uses of the N-word removed. The reactions from all corners have been predominantly negative.
Here’s an excerpt from the book’s preface, written by one of the folks responsible.
I have nothing to say that hasn’t already been said.
— Here are a bunch of highly anticipated 2011 books.
— Last month I broke a bit of news when I learned James Franco had optioned not one but two Stephen Elliott novels. Now Franco is reported to be planning film adaptations of Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying and McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. Franco has also published a new story over at the Good Men Project. When the hell does this guy sleep?
— The Good Men Project’s fiction section is edited by our friend Matt Salesses. Check out the Fringe blog this morning for my Q&A with Matt. We should also go ahead and make Matt our ToW. Follow him @Salesses.
— Shameless Plug of the Week: Check out this post from Wednesday to see WBN’s call for blog writers. Submissions have already started trickling in. Why not add to the trickle? It’s time to get your work out there, WriteByNighters.