Fiction
(in no order)

Jeff Jackson DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (FSG Originals)

Jean-Jacques Schuhl DUSTY PINK (Semiotext(e))

Katie Jean Shinkle RUINATION (Spuyten Duyvil)

Troy James Weaver TEMPORAL (Disorder Press)

Danielle Dutton SPRAWL (Wave Books)

Sam Pink THE GARBAGE TIMES / WHITE IBIS (Soft Skull)

Lynne Tillman MEN AND APPARITIONS (Soft Skull)

Rebecca Brown NOT HEAVEN, SOMEWHERE ELSE (Tarpaulin Sky Press)

New Juche BOSUN (Kiddiepunk) & ADULT BABY (Amphetamine Suplhate)

Germán Sierra THE ARTIFACT (Inside the Castle)

Kyler James MERCURY’S CHOICE (Rebel Satori)

Shane Jesse Christmass YEEZUS IN FURS (Dostoyevsky Wannabe)

Sabrina Orah Mark WILD MILK (Dorothy, a publishing project)

Jamie Iredell THE FAT KID (Civil Coping Mechanisms)

Thomas Moore & Steven Purtill SMALL TALK AT THE CLINIC (Amphetamine Sulphate )

Johanna Hedva ON HELL (Sator Press)

Jennifer Natalya Fink BHOPAL DANCE (FC2)

Harry Mathews THE SOLITARY TWIN (New Directions)

Hector Meinhof THREE NAILS, FOUR WOUNDS (Infinity Land Press)

Laura Riding EXPERTS ARE PUZZLED (Ugly Duckling Presse)

Lucia Berlin EVENING IN PARADISE (FSG)

Michael Seidlinger MY PET SERIAL KILLER (Cinestate)

Grant Maierhofer CLOG (Inside the Castle)

Ann Quin THE UNMAPPED COUNTRY (And Other Stories)

M Kitchell IN THE DESERT OF MUTE SQUARES (Inside the Castle)

Megan Boyle LIVEBLOG (Tyrant Books)

 

 

Poetry
(in no order)

Eileen Myles EVOLUTION (Grove Press)

Dorothea Lasky MILK (Wave Books)

Michael Lally ANOTHER WAY TO PLAY: POEMS 1960–2017 (Seven Stories)

Joseph Grantham TOM SAWYER (Civil Coping Mechanisms)

Lonely Christopher THE RESIGNATION (Roof Books)

Jos Charles FEELD (Milkweed Editions)

Chiwan Choi ABDUCTIONS (Civil Coping Mechanisms)

Wayne Koestenbaum CAMP MARMALADE (Nightboat Books)

Shy Watson CHEAP YELLOW (Civil Coping Mechanisms)

Francis Ponge NIOQUE OF THE EARLY-SPRING (The Song Cave)

Rae Armantrout WOBBLE (Wesleyan)

Ariana Reines TELEPHONE (Wonder)

Thomas Moore WHEN PEOPLE DIE (Kiddiepunk Press)

Melisa Machado THE RED SONG (Action Books)

Terence Winch THE KNOWN UNIVERSE (Hanging Loose Press)

Lyn Hejinian POSITIONS OF THE SUN (Belladonna)

 

 

Nonfiction
(in no order)

Duncan Hannah 20TH CENTURY BOY: NOTEBOOKS OF THE SEVENTIES (Penguin)

Kevin Killian FASCINATION (Semiotext(e))

Anne Boyer A HANDBOOK OF DISAPPOINTED FATE (Ugly Duckling Presse)

Peter Sotos INGRATITUDE (Nine-Banded Books)

THE YUCK ‘N YUM COMPENDIUM AND INTERREGNUM (Yuck ‘n Yum)

Bill Berkson SINCE WHEN (Coffee House Press)

Jared Pappas-Kelley SOLVENT FORM: ART AND DESTRUCTION (Manchester University Press)

Jacques Roubaud SLEEP PRECEDED BY SAYING POETRY (Fence Books)

Gary Indiana VILE DAYS (Semiotext(e))

Jeff McMahon SIX MONOLOGUES 1990 – 2007 (NoPassport Press)

Antonin Artaud ARTAUD 1937 APOCALYPSE – LETTERS FROM IRELAND (Infinity Land)

Joshua Wheeler ACID WEST (FSG Originals)

Matias Viegener THE ASSASSINATION OF KATHY ACKER (Guillotine)

Tao Lin TRIP: PSYCHEDELICS, ALIENATION, AND CHANGE (Vintage)

Ishmael Houston-Jones FAT (Yonkers International Press)

Mark Fisher K-PUNK (Repeater Books)

 

 

Music
(in no order)

Yves Tumor SAFE IN THE HANDS OF LOVE (Warp)

Yikii 空虛之蝶 ❀ [nihil∞butterfly] (bandcamp)

serpentwithfeet SOIL (Secretly Canadian)

Puce Mary THE DROUGHT (PAN)

E Ruscha WHO ARE YOU (Beats in Space)

Mind Over Mirrors BELLOWING SUN (Paradise of Bachelors)

Guided by Voices SPACE GUN (GbV)

Sonae I STARTED WEARING BLACK (Monika Enterprises)

King Vision Ultra PAIN OF MIND (Ascetic House)

Tim Hecker KONOYO (Kranky)

Ben LaMar Gay DOWNTOWN CASTLES CAN NEVER BLOCK THE SUN (International Anthem)

Grouper GRID OF POINTS (Kranky)

Iceage BEYONDLESS (Matador)

Amnesia Scanner ANOTHER LIFE (PAN)

Rabit LIFE AFTER DEATH (Halcyon Veil)

The Breeders ALL NERVE (4AD)

JPEGMAFIA VETERAN (Deathbomb Arc)

William Basinski + Lawrence English SELVA OSCURA (Temporary Residence)

Carl Stone ELECTRONIC NUSIC FROM THE EIGHTIES AND NINETIES (Stranded)

Brood Ma THE HANGOVER II (no label)

Pig Destroyer HEAD CAGE  (Relapse)

Dabrye THREE / THREE (Ghostly International)

Eartheater IRISIRI (PAN)

The Quick MONDO DECO (Real Gone Music)

 

 

Film
(in no order)

Michelle Memran THE REST I MAKE UP

Jean Luc Godard THE IMAGE BOOK

Lucrecia Martel ZAMA

Scott Barley SLEEP HAS HER HOUSE

James Benning L. COHEN

Wes Anderson ISLE OF DOGS

Rouzbeh Rashidi PHANTOM ISLANDS

Abbas Kiarostami 24 FRAMES

Ryan Trecartin PERMISSION STREAK

Gaspar Noe CLIMAX

Peggy Ahwesh THE FALLING SKY

Tzuan Wu A GIRL’S PRAYER

Jean-Marie Straub GENS DU LAC

Frances Stark THE MAGIC FLUTE

Mikel Guillen INTERMISSION

Michael Salerno NOTRE MORT

 

 

Art
(in no order)

Adrian Piper A Synthesis of Intuitions, 1965–2016 (MoMA)

Reza Abdoh Retrospective (PS 1)

B Wurtz This Has No Name (ICA, Los Angeles)

Urs Fischer PLAY (Gagosian, NYC)

Aiko Hachisuka & John Williams Untitled (Van Doren Waxter, NYC)

Torbjörn Vejvi Within Their Shores P.L. (South Willard, Los Angeles)

Frances Stark Teen O.P.E.R.A. (Gavin Brown, NYC)

Vincent Fecteau ten works (Matthew Marks Gallery, Los Angeles)

Oscar Tuazon New Sculptures (Luhring Augustine, NYC)

John Ashbery Oh, What Fun! (Tibor de Nagy, NYC)

RAMMΣLLZΣΣ Racing for Thunder (Red Bull Arts New York)

Jack Smith Art Crust of Spiritual Oasis (Artists Space, NYC)

Jordan Wolfson Riverboat Song (David Zwirner, NYC)

Kara Walker …calling to me from the angry surface of some grey and threatening sea. I was transported (Hammer Museum, West Los Angeles)

 

 

Internet
(in no order)

SCAB
X-R-A-Y
Rhizome
TOWARDS CYCLOBE
Musique Machine
Original Cinemaniac
The Creative Independent
Shit Wonder
Fanzine
Volume 1 Brooklyn
Entropy
Real Pants
mungojerryfan
Queen Mob’s Teahouse
dark fucking wizard
TL;DR
The Chiseler
espresso bongo
Experimental Cinema
The Wire
SOUL PONIES
{ feuilleton }
The Los Angeles Review of Books
Solar Luxuriance
3:AM Magazine
largehearted boy
Bookforum
pantaloons
Tiny Mix Tapes
UbuWeb
Harriet
Open Culture
Locus Solus: The New York School of Poets
giphy
The Wonderful World of Tam Tam Books
Hobart
TROLL THREAD

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. So, there are my faves of the year. Granted that I’m sure I forgot some things that would be there, or didn’t see/hear/read things that would’ve been there if I had. As the post title said, I’d love to know what commenters’ 2018 faves are, if you feel like it. ** Doupe, Thank you very, very much! And greetings, and welcome to here! ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. The fact that that ‘God Jr.’ was uncharacteristic and differently challenging for me was part of the problem, it’s true. There was a bit of ‘oh, finally’ in the response that rubbed me the wrong way, and also some ‘but where’s the sex’ in the response that was equally confusing. So, yeah, it was … enlightening about what people expected or wanted from me at the time, I’ll say that. I think also the ‘privileged white male’ aspect of The Violet Quill hasn’t aged well. ** Kit-on, Hi. Mm, I have to say that living and learning seems for sure true based on how far I’ve gotten. Knowing and being close with young people is a huge boon on every level, I think. Most of my close friends have been younger than me forever, even when I was young. Strange. Mm, interesting thoughts on the situation here, thank you. This particular uprising is pretty different than the usual French outcrying. Some of what you’re saying fuels it is true, but there’s something else, something broader than the issues of class. Hard to pinpoint what it is, which is exciting about but scary. There’s vastness to it that doesn’t cause it to fall into the hierarchy you suggest easily. I guess it’ll become clearer. Probably starting today because Macron finally comes out of hiding and responds to this evening. Weirdness. ** Sypha, It did, and thank you again! It’s displayed proudly bestride my other two Xmas card arrivals so far: John Waters and Kevin & Dodie. The smoke looks too toxic and mystical to be pot, to my eyes. ** Misanthrope, Thank you. Mm, I don’t know. I think Holleran and Rechy are pretty different writers, but ‘voice’ is a lot of what a book is for me. I do think Holleran has or had some issue with not being or not thinking he was conventionally hot enough in the way that used to be of great importance back when a ‘clone’ look was considered paramount. Thanks about ‘GJr’, man. I do think the last section of that novel might be the best thing I’ve ever written maybe. Anyway, thank you, bud, you’re very kind. ** Bill, Thanks, Bill. Yeah, the protests got hairy, but definitely less hairy than last week’s, and my immediate area was quite quiet area this time unlike last time. Macron is coming out of hiding to do a big TV speech to the public tonight, and how he finagles that is going to going to make a huge difference. Right, we don’t SantaCon here, thank fucking god. It’s such an un-French phenom. Yes, ‘Burning’ is high on my to-see list although I think I might’ve missed its theater run here, I’ll find out. ** Kai, Hi. Your first comment registered. Like I might have said, there’s visibility issue with the blog, I don’t know why. Thank you about the gif fiction. Wow, you’re leaving and coming back that quickly. That’s wild. Yeah, I’ve never been to Japan in the winter. Really hoping to make that happen this time. ** Derek McCormack, Aw, thank you, thank you, great maestro! That mean a million-billion tons. How did the talk go? It was recorded or something, no? Or you’ll publish the ‘talk’ text, no? Yes? Lots of love, me. ** Steve Erickson, It’s too bad about SantaCon. In theory, in its basic premise, it has beauty potential, but … obviously not. Ritual of a dying age or something. Thank you about the gif piece. Maybe I’ll catch ‘Girl’ when I’m in the States in February. ** Will C., Hi, Will. Thank you very much! Well, by very coincidence, there’s a year wrap up on this very day. Huh. Take good care. ** _Black_Acrylic, Thanks so much, Ben. ** Nik, Hi, Nik. Wow, awesome, thank you a lot about the gif work. Yeah, I think it’s maybe the most thorough and realised/ finessed use of what the gif fiction form can be that I’ve managed so far. I think if one actually reads it as intended, it’s the most rich and generous in a weird way. I’m pretty excited about it, thank you. That makes sense about the containment issue on the chaos at the end. Showiness is an interesting device, tricky but very interesting to modulate. How’s the ironing going? Yeah, your guess about my confusion about the ‘God Jr’. in-progress reading is pretty right-on, I think. But the exposure in general was traumatic, yes. I don’t regret the decision because it probably effected the novel in some fruitful way, but it was a lesson learned too. Well, it’s true that reading from my current novel-in-progress in London had the opposite effect and made me more determined to go back and work on the novel. Perhaps, having taken so much time away, I ultimately was surprised and pleased to get such a positive response about my fiction since I hadn’t been concentrating on fiction at all for a long time. Maybe the good response was a reminder that there’s something I can do with written fiction that’s valuable or something. I’m not sure. It was curious. This week for me involves heavy work on the TV script mostly. We’re getting close to the deadline, and there’s a lot to do. So mostly that. See friends a bit. Stuff. You, how’s your week looking? Take care! ** Jeff J, Hi, Jeff! Great to see you! Thank you about the gif fiction. Yeah, I think it’s maybe my best thus far, something of a breakthrough, I don’t know. I did get a copy of your book, and I am nearly finished reading it very luxuriously. Things are good with PGL. Zac and I have taken things into our own hands a bit because our distributor over here is not at all adventurous, and a lot of very good things are in the works. It’s fine. No, we weren’t able to get the film script completely finished before the TV series script work ate us up again. So it’s on hold until at least after Xmas if not early next year, which is extremely frustrating even though there’s only a little left to do on the film script. The TV script is just so much work. Hopefully it’ll all pay off, and I think it will, but, man, I’ll never do anything so assignment-like and so much about finessing compromise like this again, I can tell you that. Lord. Have a great week, buddy! ** Okay. Again, there are my 2018 faves, or the ones I could remember, and what are yours (?), if you care to share and would be so kind, and, in any case, see you tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. ** Kai, Hi. Yeah, it’s glorious. With the big time change, I wouldn’t be surprised re: the post/comment timing, and I am starting to check back now. I’ve ‘harassed’ Ishmael again, and Chris Cochrane too, so hopefully between the two of them, a video will get ponied up and off to you in time. I’m on it. ** David Ehrenstein, Yes, I’m excited for you to see PGL. As soon as the LA date and locale are set, I’ll let you know. Early Feb. ** Derek McCormack, Derek, maestro, my dear pal and hero! Thank you for gracing my place. Millhauser is so great. Easily one the best writers the US has birthed, if you ask me. You good, I hope? I miss you! ** Sypha, Yes, I’ve been waiting for you to comment so I could tell you that I got Xmas card, and it’s wonderful, and thank you so much! And how, if I’m not mistaken, cool that my previous gif story was a source for it? I like the HS cover. It’s woozy. ** Nik, Hi, Nik. It’s a really great novel, I think. I’m a huge fan of his work in general, but that might be his masterpiece. Good luck with the cracking down. It’s good to feel solid enough about what you’re working on to get feedback. I just can’t do it. It totally confuses me. When I was early in the working on ‘God Jr.’, I read part of it aloud at a reading, and the response, which was mostly extremely enthusiastic, was so confusing to me that I stopped working on the novel for a year. I seem to need to guard my stuff until I suspect it’s ‘perfect’. Yeah, Zac and I are writing the TV script together. In a way Gisele is involved too because we show our ‘finished’ drafts to her and then incorporate her feedback in the final version. It’s really easy. Zac and I just have this total mental bond or something, and when we make things together it’s a bit like one person split in two. It changes the process because we have equal say, and I’m not reliant entirely on my own ideas and talent and instincts, and neither is he. It’s very good in our case. I don’t think I could work that way with anyone else, or I would be very surprised. The TV script will go to an official translator. Then Zac (with my help) will finesse the translation so that it works as subtly and intricately in French as it did in English, which will involve a fair amount of work since the languages are so different. I’m easing towards being objective enough to listen to the new Xiu Xiu track, ha ha. This weekend. You have a great one! ** Dominik, Hi! Yeah I like it, the first buche. It’s creepy. It’s kind of like those pods in ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’. Still deciding on the rest, although I have to decide soon. Some of them are ltd. ed., and they do sell out. The innocence of Hatsune Miku is very interesting. You’re watching a spectacle, a young female pop star, where there’s generally always an erotic or longing aspect or something as a part of the show, and that’s absent, and you noice and feel that absence, and that’s extremely interesting. 10 days! Wait, maybe only 9 now! The day before yesterday, I dutifully opened the window on my advent calendar, and there was no chocolate. It was obviously a mistake, but it spooked me a little, like it was a bad omen. I’ll see if I can find something about ‘Girl’ online. My week was heavy script work, as predicted. And my back, which has been kind of shitty to me every once in a while since I was a kid — I grew faster than it did — decided to fuck up on me like it does occasionally, so I’ve been in pain, but it’s getting better. But that did slow me down. Now I’m waiting to see if Paris explodes from the big protests today. All the shops and everything around me are closed and boarded up just in case. Gulp. So I think it’ll be a quiet, or, rather, very noisy, impaired weekend around here. I hope yours gives you everything! ** _Black_Acrylic, It’s a super great novel. I highly recommend it. Enjoy your weekend maximally, buddy. ** Keayton, I think it might be very interesting to get older inside but stay young outside. Hm, or maybe not. I had to do everything yesterday because today everything is boarded up, and the streets will be filled with angry people. I might tiptoe around. I don’t want a dick for Xmas. I don’t even want an ass, I don’t think. Well, maybe. Depending. I’m guessing Parisians are better, but you know me. Survive everything. ** Steve Erickson, I almost never remember my dreams either. Or I think do for about 6 seconds, but then the dream’s gone, vamoose. When I do remember, I don’t think I ever dream about celebrities, which us weird because everyone I know seems to. I’ve always been very fond of the second Pete Shelley album, ‘XL1’. ** Bill, ‘Edwin Mullhouse’ is great. Me too, re: Paris. I’ll know soon enough. The sky is buzzing loudly with helicopters as I type, so … eek. Frith lives there? That’s so weird. Now I want to go listen to my Slapp Happy albums. Especially … what’s the really good one with the Henry Cow collab. … ‘Desperate Straits’? Enjoy your presumably war-free weekend! ** Misanthrope, Good that LPS is sourcing amusing anecdotes again. That’s a good start. Belated happy b’day to your heroic mom! Andrew Holleran? Dude, you’re so gay. I read ‘Dancer from …’ back when, not my thing. I think I tried to read ‘Nights in Aruba’, really not my thing. You never see anybody talk about The Violet Quill anymore. That’s a good thing, if you ask me, which you didn’t. But I digress. Enjoy the shit out of your weekend. ** Okay. I suppose it might a bit ostentatious of me to devote a whole weekend to one of my gif works, but I think this is one of my best ever, and so I’m giving it the two-day treatment, and, if it interests or effects you, I would love to hear anything about how, of course. If it doesn’t, enjoy whatever else you do until Monday. Assuming my portion of Paris remains intact, I will see you then.