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GAIMAN HAS 'GREAT WIT', SAYS CHABON
The Associated Press is carrying a profile of author Neil Gaiman today, and Michael Chabon is in it.
"I do think his books would reward reading by people who think they don't like fantasy," Chabon says.
Chabon says Gaiman has a "great wit" that comes through in his writing and a charming personality. When Gaiman approached him with the idea for the character auction, Chabon quickly said yes. LUNA MOTH TAKES OVER FOR ESCAPIST #9
Michael Chabon Presents: The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist #9
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan, Howard Chaykin, Stuart Moore
For the first time in the illustrious illustrated history of Michael Chabon Presents The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist, the mysterious Luna Moth takes center stage! Kicking it off is a stunning image of our heroine by regular cover artist Brian Bolland.
Writer Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Runaways) returns with the second installment of their ongoing feature "The Escapists"! This chapter also introduces rising star Jason Alexander (Damn Nation, Tales of the Vampires) as a new regular contributor to the feature!
Next, Luna Moth takes her faithful readers on a mind-bending tour of "The Library of Consciousness" as curated by the good Messrs. Howard Chaykin and hot new artist Jed Dougherty. Decades worth of Luna Moth incarnations materialize and battle over a malicious sprite, but why?
Also in this issue, Stuart Moore and Phil Winslade present their own version of the Adams/O'Neil "relevant comics" of the 1970s with "Union City Blues." Fitting neatly into the Sunshine Comics era of the Escapist series, our blue-suited hero appears in this story of Nixon, unions, and a thinly disguised gonzo journalist.
Don't miss this notable ninth installment of the award-winning quarterly anthology!
Pub. Date: Jan 11, 2006
HARPERCOLLINS REVEALS YIDDISH POLICEMEN'S UNION THEMES
Buzz Girl has posted snippets from HarperCollins' spring 2006 catalog, which includes a description of Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen’s Union.
According to blog's catalog quotes, the new book, a "monumental work of imagination," has roots in 1940s noir and tells a "bittersweet fable of identity, home and faith."
CHABON STORY MAY FEATURE CHANDLER
In response to an e-mail question, Chabon said, "I told them it might be Raymond Chandler but I actually have no idea. It might be Chandler."
Chandler, a crime novelist, authored Farewell, My Lovely and The Long Goodbye, among others. All of his novels starred Philip Marlowe, an Los Angeles-based private eye. Numerous film adapations of Marlowe stories exist, including 1946's The Big Sleep, starring Humphrey Bogart.
Chabon most recently took a crack at detective tales in The Final Solution, starring Sherlock Holmes. His next book, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, is a murder mystery set in an alternative history universe where Alaska became a Jewish state after World War II. His wife, Ayelet Waldman, has authored several mystery novels.
Chabon mentioned Chandler's "The King in Yellow" in the introduction to McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories, comparing it to a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Genre fiction has specific rules, Chabon says.
"Even among experienced, professional writers who have long since internalized or intuited the rules, and thus learned to ignore them, there are, at the very least, particular conventions—the shuttling of the private eye from high society to the lower depths, the function of a literary ghost as punishment for some act of hubris or evil—that are unique to and help to define their respective genres," Chabon writes.
The story is scheduled to see print in the summer 2006 issue of Virgina Quarterly Review. The issue, based on an idea of Chabon's, will feature a collection of short stories starring real-life writers as the main characters.
CHABON TO WRITE STORY STARRING FAVORITE WRITER
Michael Chabon will likely contribute a story to an up-coming issue of the Virginia Quarterly Review, according to an editor.
Kevin Morrissey, managing editor at the publication, confirmed rumblings that the publication was planning an issue based on an idea of Chabon's. The publication had not yet received Chabon's story, which would run with a collection of short stories starring real-life writers as their central characters, he said.
Contrary to the details laid out in an e-mail making its way around the blogosphere, Morrisey told this site via e-mail that the stories may only be a section of the issue, depending on how many stories they receive.
According to an e-mail posted on the blog EarthGoat, the stories will feature each author's "favorite writers as a central character."
"It may be a straightforward biographical narrative, such as Robert Walser's 'Kleist in Thon,' which recounts an actual journey of Heinreich von Kleist; an imagined (or even fantastic) approach, such as Allan Gurganus's 'Reassurance,' in which one of Walt Whitman's soldier friends writes from heaven; or a humorous take, such as Ian Frazier's 'LGA/ORD,' in which Frazier riffs on Samuel Beckett's claim that, had he not become a writer, he would have been an airline pilot," the e-mail said.
Who Chabon will feature in his story is unknown. Some of his favorite authors include Vladimir Nabokov, John Cheever, Robert Stone, and Edith Wharton, to name a few.
The literary journal, based out of the University of Virgina, has set the tentative date for the collection as July 2006, "but that also depends on the work coming in on time," Morrissey said.
VQR BUILDING ISSUE BASED ON CHABON IDEA
"We are asking writers to contribute stories that take one of their favorite writers as a central character," the e-mail continues. "It may be a straightforward biographical narrative, such as Robert Walser's 'Kleist in Thon,' which recounts an actual journey of Heinreich von Kleist; an imagined (or even fantastic) approach, such as Allan Gurganus's 'Reassurance,' in which one of Walt Whitman's soldier friends writes from heaven; or a humorous take, such as Ian Frazier's 'LGA/ORD,' in which Frazier riffs on Samuel Beckett's claim that, had he not become a writer, he would have been an airline pilot."
The e-mail adds: "The length is also completely open."
No word yet if Chabon is actually participating in this newest issue. Chabon's work last appeared in the Virginia Quarterly Review in spring 2004, when the publication printed "Breakfast at the Wreck," a cut chapter from Kavalier & Clay, as well as the Escapist's origin story from The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist #1.
The deadline for stories is March 1, 2006, according to the blog.
To read the blog's post in its entirety, click here.
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Sunday, October 16, 2005, 1:45 PM ET
Source: Associated Press via Poughkeepsie Journal
[Gaiman] forged an amalgam of mythologies, both European and Asian, in the "Sandman" series and employs classic forms of storytelling, says friend and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon ("The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay").
To read the full article, click here.
Saturday, October 15, 2005, 10:10 AM ET
Source: Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse has released their January comic book solicitations, and included in that bag is a little comic known only as Michael Chabon Presents: The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist #9.
Artist: Jason Alexander, Jed Dougherty, Phil Winslade
Cover Artist: Brian Bolland
Saturday, October 15, 2005, 10:10 AM ET
Source: Buzz Girl
Sunday, October 9, 2005, 9:30 AM ET
Source: Exclusive
A story Michael Chabon is writing for the Virginia Quarterly Review could feature author Raymond Chandler as the main character.
Friday, October 7, 2005, 11:00 PM ET
Source: Exclusive
Tuesday, October 4, 2005, 7:00 PM ET
Source: EarthGoat
The Virginia Quarterly Review is soliciting stories for a special 2006 issue "based on an idea given to us by Michael Chabon," according to an e-mail posted on the blog EarthGoat.