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Books

Flavorwire Exclusive: Norman Lock on His Favorite Short Story

By Emily Temple on

The short story can be a magical thing. It’s a breath, a moment, a captured mood — or an entire teeming world packed into a few pages. Maybe, if it’s really great, it’s both. The only trouble with short stories is that not enough people read them. So, in a series to celebrate Short Story Month (and help you add to your reading list), Flavorwire is asking some contemporary masters of the form to talk about the short stories they love. In this installment, virtuosic fabulist Norman Lock, whose newest collection Love Among the Particles hit shelves this month, tells us about his literary love of the moment. … Read More

Photography

From W.E.B Du Bois to Waris Ahluwalia: Portraits of History’s Most Fashionable Men

By Emily Temple on

Admirers of the well-dressed man, look no further. Artist/Rebel/Dandy: Men of Fashion, out this week from Yale University Press in conjunction with the RISD Museum of Art’s exhibition on the same subject, is chock-full of photographs of famed sartorial geniuses and flamboyant clotheshorses, not to mention essays on “notable dandies” like Charles Baudelaire, Oscar Wilde, and John Waters. It’s enough to inspire anyone to consider a wardrobe overhaul. After the jump, you’ll find just a small sampling of the book’s many great portraits — so if you’re in the Providence area, make sure to head on over to the exhibition for the full experience. … Read More

Photography

Fascinating Early-20th-Century Color Photos of Famous People

By Emily Temple on

There are some historical figures who we always think of in black and white. After all, the world trucked on in monochrome, Pleasantville-style, until the middle of the 20th century, right? Well, not exactly. In fact, color photography dates back to the mid-1800s — the first three-color process photo was taken in 1855, but it wasn’t until 1907 that the first commercially viable method of color photography, Lumière Autochrome, was invented — and perhaps unsurprisingly, photographers jumped to take snapshots of their famous friends. Below, some notable characters, from Mark Twain to Auguste Rodin, whom we usually see in black and white, showing their true colors. … Read More

Books

10 of the Greatest Cold War Spy Novels

By Emily Temple on

Before his death, legendary crime writer Mickey Spillane entrusted the completion of his unfinished work to his longtime friend, Max Allan Collins — a top-notch writer in his own right. This month, Collins has completed and released Complex 90, Spillane’s unfinished sequel to The Girl Hunters. To celebrate its publication, Flavorwire asked Collins to sound off on a few of his favorite Cold War thrillers. Bone up on your spy skills with his picks, and be sure to add any favorites that Collins missed to the list in the comments. … Read More

Books

Flavorwire Exclusive: Lindsay Hunter on Her Favorite Short Story

By Emily Temple on

The short story can be a magical thing. It’s a breath, a moment, a captured mood — or an entire teeming world packed into a few pages. Maybe, if it’s really great, it’s both. The only trouble with short stories is that not enough people read them. So, in a series to celebrate Short Story Month (and help you add to your reading list), Flavorwire is asking some contemporary masters of the form to talk about the short stories they love. In this installment, Lindsay Hunter, whose electrifying second collection Don’t Kiss Me is forthcoming in July, recommends one that she can’t just get out of her head. … Read More

Books

15 Books You Should Definitely Not Read in Your 20s

By Emily Temple on

The Internet (this site not the least bit exempt) is fond of telling you which books you should read. Particularly, it seems, when you’re in your 20s. But now that you have enough of those lists to last you a lifetime, which books should you make sure to steer clear from in this most transitional and tender of decades? Well, here are a few to consider. Disclaimer: all of these (okay, most of these) are good books. They’re books you should read. Just not in your… Read More

Books

In Case You Hadn’t Noticed, Dan Brown Is Really Freaking Weird

By Emily Temple on

Dan Brown’s newest much snickered-at mega-blockbuster novel hit shelves this week, and all the ensuing publicity for the author should be reminding you of something: Dan Brown is a really, really weird dude. Sure, he’s a writer, and writers often have strange habits. But, as the evidence below proves, Brown is a head above the rest — whether that head is upside down or not. … Read More

Television

Flavorwire Exclusive: S.E. Hinton on Her Epic Love of ‘Supernatural’

By Emily Temple on

This week, while in a Twitter black hole of sorts, I made my way to the profile of legendary author S. E. Hinton (of The Outsiders and Rumble Fish fame). I was surprised to find that she described herself thusly: “writer for a long, long time Supernatural fan horsewoman wife mother friend.” Now, being a (semi-closeted) Supernatural fan myself, I was tickled to see that the writer loved the show enough to make it part of her online identity. With a bit more research, I discovered that she is a committed fan who has appeared on the show and has even been known to write Supernatural fanfiction. So, just in time for tonight’s Season 8 finale, I emailed Hinton to ask about her love for the show. And she wrote back! … Read More

Books

17 Things We Learned From Bret Easton Ellis’s Reddit AMA

By Emily Temple on

Yesterday afternoon, famed novelist, screenwriter, and Twitter terrorist Bret Easton Ellis graced Reddit with his presence for an AMA (that’s Ask Me Anything, for the uninitiated). Unsurprisingly, it was full of cheeky questions, blunt answers, and insights into the mind of Patrick Bateman. Surprisingly, there was not much in the way of ranting about GLAAD. Check out the most interesting tidbits after the jump, and sound off on them in the comments. … Read More

Books

10 Forgotten Fantastical Novels You Should Read Immediately

By Emily Temple on

Fans of magical prose and magical worlds, take heart. Titan Books has recently released a special limited edition version of steampunk legend James Blaylock’s The Aylesford Skull, a classic from one of the genre’s trailblazers. To celebrate the release, Blaylock has put together a list of forgotten or ignored works of literature that have inspired his own writing, and should be must-reads for anyone interested in science fiction or the fantastic. … Read More