Stephen Elliott’s new book The Adderall Diaries: A Memoir of Moods, Masochism, and Murder expertly weaves together the story of the author’s writer’s block (a byproduct of his relationship with his abusive father) with the trial of Hans Reiser — a computer programmer accused of murdering his wife, Nina. The linchpin: Sean Sturgeon, Hans’ former best friend, Nina’s former lover, and a former member of San Francisco’s underground S&M scene. Now a born-again Christian, he claims to have committed eight and a half murders. Could this be one of them? Read More »

Our friends at The Rumpus have interesting interview up with 21-year-old graffiti artist Jesse Graves; the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student refuses to use spray paint in his work because it’s toxic. For how-to instructions on how to make your own mud graffiti using his stenciling method, visit Graves’ website here.

Back in January I told you about the launch of The Rumpus — an exciting new literary magazine that plays by the Internet’s rules — and I’ve been a big fan of Stephen Elliott’s online baby ever since. But a Web site cannot subsist on quality cultural content alone, which is why Stephen is joining forces with Smith Mag and McSweeney’s to bring us You Are Not Alone, an evening of comedy by Todd Barry and Eugene Mirman; music by Matthew Caws of Nada Surf and Amanda Palmer; and readings by Anthony Swofford, Jessica Anthony, James Hannaham, and Amy Tan; all at the Highline on May 30. After the jump Stephen chats about why he’s giving away copies of his upcoming book for free, what still irks him about Gawker, and why he’s not so worried about the future of publishing. Read More »

There’s a brilliant satirical piece on the future of book publishing by Steve Hely up on The Rumpus that everyone should check out right now. And don’t skip the comments, which no offense to Hely (seriously, I snorted Diet Coke at the inspired idea of a “Post-Paper Evolution Consultant” and the bit about being raised by a Nintendo), might be the best part of the post. Also, the credit for the clever image I swiped goes to Jon Adams, whose Eisner-nominated Truth Serum comic appears in weekly installments on The Rumpus here. It’s like my mom always said: Never trust the quiet Kindles…

OK, it’s been a long time since we’ve asked you to submit these (and it’s not like you were ever flooding HQ with material), so we’ve decided to get the ball rolling and post one of our own from last night’s launch party for The Rumpus at Crash Mansion. To set the scene for you,  founder Stephen Elliot (who we interviewed here) was on stage giving a rundown of his site, and said something along the lines of, “We’re like a literary magazine that plays by the Internet’s rules, meaning we update at least 15 times a day — like a Gawker, or a Huffington Post, but we’re not mean.”

Girl #1: Omigod, I love Gawker!

Girl #2: [Breathlessly] Omigod, I love Gawker too!

They proceeded to chat about their mutual love for the site — Gawker, not The Rumpus — as James Frey took the stage and read a hilarious unpublished piece that he claimed was going to be part of a new Damien Hirst project about Kate Moss. It was all about how she secretly has an IQ of 195 and is working in a secret lab on a formula that will allow her to live forever. But it’s way better than we’re making it sound.

Got a good Heard in the Crowd to share with us? Send it along to tips [at] flavorwire [dot] com and if we decide to run it, we’ll reward you with something cool that’s sitting around our office. Like a CD or a fancy art book.

Meet The Rumpus.net. When asked to describe his new online cultural magazine in six words or less, founder Stephen Elliott first spouted off the categories they’ll cover; “Books, Music, Art, Politics, Sex, Other.” Then he wrote, “Because the web needs an editor.” Then, “The literary equivalent of stolen wi-fi.” Then, “I only look like I’m online.” Once he got to “The national public radio of webzines,” we had to cut him off — he had to prepare for his site’s official launch out of beta 3 mode, which happened earlier this morning. But not before we asked Elliott a few more questions over IM; find our interview after the jump.

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