Blu

There's a nice article in The Hook (New valley pub launches) about the recent birth of Blu Magazine. Blu, a monthly arts and culture magazine distributed free throughout the area, is produced by Jason Grogan and Jack Morgan with the help of a lot of area photographers and writers (including me). Issue Number 3 is due out momentarily . . .

The New Yorker: "The Valetudinarian" by Joshua Ferris

Ferris has a novel coming out in January (The Unnamed) but this story doesn’t seem to be an excerpt from that, for which I’m grateful. It does suggest that Ferris is preoccupied with illness, however, since that is apparently what the novel is about, and that—based on the title of the story, if nothing else—is what this piece is about. While I enjoyed the read—the dialogue was especially funny—I don’t think that this story will be quite as popular as Ferris’s “The Dinner Party,” which won our Best New Yorker Story of the Year contest for 2008.

Still, it’s a good one. Arty Groys is retired and moves to Florida, and the next day his wife gets hit by a car. (Okay, that’s a little far-fetched, but self-consciously so; Ferris is telling us something.) He’s got various illnesses (see the title) and is understandably lonely in this unfamiliar landscape. He’s had something of a falling out with his one friend, Jimmy Denton (in a notable parallel with Arty’s neighbor Mrs. Zegerman, who has had a falling out with her friend), but still expects Jimmy to at least call on his birthday.

Jimmy doesn’t call, but he does send a . . . gift (a prostitute, equipped with condoms and Viagra), which seems to be just what Arty needs to be drawn out of his depression. The problem is, Viagra and heart conditions don’t mix, and so there are complications.

The reader sees the opportunity for a relationship between Arty and his neighbor, and indeed they do become friendly. Since I’ve just read Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer, I was reminded of old Garnett Walker and his neighbor Nanny Rowley in that book. But while their relationship is developing as Arty recovers, it might be too late.

August 3, 2009: “The Valetudinarian” by Joshua Ferris

New Acquisitions

I've picked up a few new books lately. One that I'm excited to read is Endpoint, John Updike's poetry that he wrote as he approached death. The New Yorker printed an excerpt recently, which I discussed here.

Man Booker Prize Long List

The long list of 13 has been announced for the 2009 Man Booker Prize:









Byatt, AS: The Children's Book Random House - Chatto and Windus

Coetzee, J M: Summertime Random House - Harvill Secker

Foulds, Adam: The Quickening Maze Random House - Jonathan Cape

Hall, Sarah: How to paint a dead man Faber and Faber

Harvey, Samantha: The Wilderness Random House - Jonathan Cape

Lever, James: Me Cheeta HarperCollins - Fourth Estate

Mantel, Hilary: Wolf Hall HarperCollins - Fourth Estate

Mawer, Simon: The Glass Room Little, Brown

O'Loughlin, Ed: Not Untrue & Not Unkind Penguin - Ireland

Scudamore, James: Heliopolis Random House - Harvill Secker

Toibin, Colm: Brooklyn Penguin - Viking

Trevor, William: Love and Summer Penguin - Viking

Waters, Sarah: The Little Stranger Little, Brown - Virago

The New Yorker: "The Five Wounds" by Kirstin Valdez Quade

Although I don’t have any real complaints about this story, and it kept me engaged right to the last sentence, I can’t say I loved this story. I don’t know why. Maybe it was because of the stereotypes—the shiftless Hispanic man, the clueless, pregnant teen—but these characters are set against a backdrop that is anything but stereotypical, so I’m not sure that’s really the problem.

Anyway, the story is that Amadeo is 33 and he has been selected this year, thanks to his uncle, to play the role of Jesus in the town’s Passion Play, which the town takes very seriously. He seems to understand that he has been wasting his life, and he wants to prove something to himself and the town, and he also wants to feel. As it turns out, Amadeo has a fifteen-year-old daughter, Angel, who is pregnant. Angel has been living with her mother, whom Amadeo never married (in part because he hit her once and was afraid he might do it again), but now, right before the Play, she comes to stay with her father.

Angel has made a mistake, but she’s interested in doing the right thing for her baby, even though she is awfully young and doesn’t really understand the consequences of what has happened. Still, she tries to help her father and is horrified by the pain he endures in his role as Jesus. Amadeo, on the other hand, realizes, despite his expectations, that he is not the son of God—he feels pain and fear, and although for a moment he had thought he was enduring the suffering to save his daughter and her baby, now he knows he can’t. The cycle that produced him and Angel, will continue. The people, on the other hand, are, as usual, blind.

July 27, 2009: “The Five Wounds” by Kirstin Valdez Quade

The Atlantic Summer Fiction Issue

The Atlantic's Summer Fiction Issue is out, and it looks pretty good to me. Included in the issue is this essay by Tim O'Brien that I heard him deliver at Sewanee last summer: Telling Tails.

Ru Freeman's A Disobedient Girl

Today is Publication Day for Ru Freeman's book A Disobedient Girl. Read Ru's reflections on the event: On Publication. From what I hear, the book is really, really good. I can't wait to read it.

Best of the Web 2009

I'm pleased to join the internet invasion by Best of the Web 2009 from Dzanc Books by presenting this guest post from Marcela Fuentes, whose flash "An Ugly Man" originally appeared in The Vestal Review and is included in BOTW2009.





Marcela Fuentes:

I’m honored that my story, “An Ugly Man” is included in Dzanc Books’ Best of the Web 2009. This is the first flash fiction piece I’ve ever written—including the title just 424 words.

Writing an “An Ugly Man” was the occasion I had been looking for to use “high-spanic,” a word I first heard from my cousin, Leo Lopez. It was his way of simultaneously mocking the term Hispanic (that government-invented ethnic catch-all) and his own upward mobility. The ideological conflict between the narrator and Luis is, in essence, part of the social and cultural turmoil that produces self-deprecating jokes like “high-spanic.”

To be honest, I never expected this much response to such a little story. I attribute it to the fact that it was published online. A story published on the web stays. Even when a new web issue is released, the archive remains easily accessible to the public no matter how much time passes (unlike a print journal that gets filed or discarded when a new issue comes out). Also, there’s a level of active interest from the online community that I haven’t experienced as much with print magazine readers. The Vestal Review published my story in July 2008. In September a writer/blogger, Jon Morgan Davies, wrote a review of my story at Short Story Reader. In December, out of the blue, I got an email from an English professor at Lake Forest College who said he’d shown my story to his creative writing students and they loved it. It’s refreshing (and amazing!) to see people taking time out of their busy lives to engage with a story—just because they want to.

LitMag Reviews

Check out a whole bunch of new literary magazine reviews at NewPages.com.

Sunflowers

In an Uncharted Country available for pre-order

My linked short story collection IN AN UNCHARTED COUNTRY is now available for pre-order from the publisher Press 53. Links to the publisher are also available at CliffordGarstang.com. (If you prefer to order from Amazon, B&N, Powell's, IndieBound, or other online sellers, it may take a few more days for the book to appear there.)

ASC: Titus Andronicus

Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus is not often performed, which explains why I had never experienced the play until I went to the American Shakespeare Center's Blackfriars Playhouse last night to see the third entry in the company's Summer 2009 rotating repertoire. I suspect that one reason the play isn't often performed (apart from all the blood and gore, which can be a problem) is that the character Aaron, the lover of the Goth Queen, is evil. Really bad. Nasty. Incorrigible. And it hardly matters that he gets caught and is set to be tortured to death in the end. It doesn't seem enough.

The play is a revenge tragedy set in Rome. Titus Andronicus has returned victorious from the Goth wars and the people want to proclaim him emperor, which, in hindsight, he should have gone along with. Instead, though, he throws his support behind Saturninus and also agrees to let him marry his daughter Lavinia. But when the new emperor sees the Goth Queen, he forgets about Lavinia, who anyway is betrothed to Bassianus, the emperor's brother and rival. The Goths bring nothing but trouble to the court and set the wheels of death in motion.

It's bloody, but hypnotic. James Keegan as Titus is wonderfully intense. He is a loving father, filled with grief at what has befallen his family, but is also a convincing plotter of revenge. As the evil Aaron, Rene Thornton Jr. is impressive, especially when he begins to recount his evil deeds and notes that if he did one good thing in his life, that would be his sole regret. John Harrell is Saturninus, and as always he is terrific. As emperor, he is enthralled by the Goth Queen, but his own imperial ego shines through as well. Sarah Fallon, Queen of the Goths, projects evil pretty effectively, too. Fallon has a commanding presence on stage and the audience will feel it here. One moment she is lying to her husband the emperor, and the next we are privy to her inner, evil thoughts. Another excellent performance. As Lucius, eldest son of Titus, Luke Eddy is perfect. He's heroic, but not without emotion. I was especially moved by Victoria Reinsel as Lavinia, particularly after she has been abused by the sons of the Goth Queen (devilishly played by Chris Johnston and Daniel Rigney). Her wordless performance is stunning.

The play is probably not a good choice for the squeamish, especially because of the decision to use fake blood. But for everyone else, I recommend this powerful production.

The New Yorker: "Rat Beach" by William Styron

This story, which will be included in a collection to be published this year, is among the year’s best in The New Yorker. The narrator is a young Marine in WWII who has just missed “Iwo Jima’s bloodbath” and is now in Saipan preparing for the assault on the Japanese homeland. He is frightened, and being on Saipan, thinking, watching the steady stream of ambulances with the wounded from Okinawa, only makes him more frightened. The story is a beautiful description of the island and the mess that the war had made of it.

Now it is late July and they are being prepared for the assault, but can’t be told when it will occur. Word has spread that Japanese civilians will fight them fiercely when they arrive, that the “civilian population had gone berserk” instead of being demoralized by the defeat at Okinawa. Then they are called to a special briefing by a Navy Admiral, and they march down “Rat Beach” to attend. Although the narrator’s Marine commander says the Admiral is a fool, they all know that the time has come, and while they all display the same bravado, the narrator is more frightened than ever.

And he can’t stand it. So he sleeps with his gun (as well as the “Pocket Book of Verse” that is also his constant companion) and makes plans to “destroy” his fear. It’s a powerful moment when the reader realizes what he intends to do, especially because we know—but the narrator does not—that the assault isn’t going to happen. In a matter of days, an atomic bomb will be dropped on Hiroshima and then another on Nagasaki, and the war will be over. But the story ends before that happens, and so we only know what the narrator is thinking of doing.

July 20, 2009: “Rat Beach” by William Styron

Literary Fiction Defined

Here's a nice essay by Andrew Nicoll, author of The Good Mayor: A miss, then a hit. The main point of the article is that his agent insisted that he pretend to be a woman while she was trying to sell his book. He did, but she failed. And then he got a deal after she dropped him and the book has done very well.

It was a learning process for him.

I found out that all serious literary fiction MUST be written in the continuous historic present. Throughout the whole story, nothing must happen – in fact there must be no story at all – and the whole thing must be written in a tone of unremitting gloom. My book isn't like that. It's got a beginning, a middle and an end and everything.

Sewanee Writers' Conference 2009

The wonderful Sewanee Writers' Conference kicks into gear today (check in and opening ceremonies were yesterday), and I'm not there. I wish I were. As always, it's a great lineup of faculty and guests, and I've got a number of friends attending as participants, scholars, and fellows. I'll be on the lookout for folks who are blogging from the conference, and will post links here. (If you're blogging the conference and happen to see this post, leave comment and a link here, please!)

The main sessions of the conference are held on campus at the Women's Center, and usually there is a display of art for the duration of the conference. This year's featured work is IndiaWorld by Preston Merchant.

E.C. Osondu Wins Caine Prize

E.C. Osondu has won the Caine Prize (the "African Booker") for his story "Waiting," which appeared in Guernica. See the Poets & Writers announcement: Osondu Wins Caine Prize. I reviewed this moving short story here in Five Star Literary Stories.

A Home with a Hideout

This is a great article in the New York Times about novelist Roxanna Robinson: For a Writer, a Home with a Hideout. Robinson has a study, but she depends on the former maid's quarters to get her work done:

“I did everything but write in that room,” Ms. Robinson said. “I paid bills. I printed things out. I sent faxes. I was connected to the Internet.

“The assumption is that writers can write wherever they can sit down,” she added. “But the main thing you need as a writer is a sense of certainty that you won’t be interrupted.”

Distance from the Internet is part of the issue, but so is having a space that offers minimal distraction. For a writer living in New York, distraction can be the unwelcome flip side of inspiration.

Maybe that's what I've been doing wrong. My study isn't as nice as Robinson's, but it's loaded with distraction. I need a hideout.

The Trouble with Book Signings

I've been thinking about bookstore appearances lately, and have started to schedule them for the publication of my book. It's hard, though, especially with a book published by a small press. I suppose I've been looking for excuses NOT to do signings and readings at stores, but then I saw this post by mystery writer Austin Camacho. Good advice, I think.

Check out Book Signings -- More Harm than Good?. (The blog appears have other good tips as well, so look around.)

New Issue: Carve, Summer 2009

Check out the Summer 2009 issue of Carve.

The Widow's Season by Laura Brodie

The Widow’s Season
Laura Brodie
Berkley Books ($14.00)

Sarah McConnell’s husband is dead. Or is he? That’s his ghost she keeps seeing, isn’t it? No, it’s him, lying low because he wants a fresh start. Or is it?
Through a masterful balancing act, debut novelist Laura Brodie manages to keep readers in suspense until the final pages. It is literally a book you might not be able to put down.

David McConnell, a doctor, is lost in a kayaking accident on a raging river, presumed dead. His wife, Sarah, must finally give up hope that he’ll be found alive, and she moves on. She considers what to do with the house and David’s clothes, until she sees her husband in the grocery store a few weeks after the accident. As she tries to deal with this mystery, we discover that Sarah and David’s marriage had been rocky, thus complicating the grief she feels at his loss. He was controlling and she felt unfulfilled. If he had lived, it isn’t clear that their marriage would have survived. Further complicating her grief is David’s brother, Nate, a handsome stockbroker with whom Sarah has shared a mutual attraction for years. With David gone, is there any reason to ignore the feelings they have for each other?

While Sarah had been having doubts about her marriage, David also wondered where things went wrong. A dedicated physician, he was also passionate about painting, and the couple’s cabin in the woods, where they frequently meet, had become his refuge and studio. His accident changes him, and the experience has prepared him to leave his medical practice behind and pursue his passion. But Sarah isn’t sure she’s willing to follow where he wants to take her.

This is a finely crafted romantic ghost story that reminded me of Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife. While not as detailed or as intricately choreographed as that book, The Widow’s Season does neatly blend a star-crossed love story with a suggestion of the supernatural. And as with Niffenegger’s novel, the prose here is often lyrical. Especially appealing are the descriptions of the couple’s cabin and surrounding woods.

“Above them, dozens of starlings rose en masse from a sycamore. They moved like a cloud of locusts, zigzagging south from tree to tree. She watched their swerving progress until they disappeared from view, then turned her eyes to the water, where a beaver’s nose twitched just above the surface. He circled and submerged, reminding her of the last divers she had seen in this river. Another minute passed and the beaver reemerged and slid onto a rock, poised erect and glistening.”

The reader may or may not be surprised by the book’s ending, but that’s not really the point. The nagging uncertainty provides satisfying tension, but the real pleasure in reading this book is in experiencing with Sarah the complex emotions that accompany real loss. She’s a multidimensional character with whom it is hard not to empathize. That's what drew me in.

Minimal Human Intervention

Except for the writer. Presumably.

Hot Serial

Tor Books (primarily a science fiction and fantasy publisher) has launched a serialization of a new science fiction novel by Cory Doctorow that is set to be published in November. A new installment will be posted every Monday, for 81 parts in all. For the first dose, visit: Makers, Part 1. Even though I'm not a scifi fan, I'm intrigued by this experiment and may try to stick with it.

Bookstore Balkanization

The bookstore I spend most of my time in, a niche Indie called Sacred Circle (its focus is religion and spirituality, but it also carries a number of literary titles if the subject is sufficiently spiritual). It is organized primarily by religion--the Buddhist books in once section, the Christian in another, the Wiccan in another--but the literature is all together in one place. No further separation of literary titles is necessary.

But I also go to the Green Valley Book Fair, just because it's fun to browse among so many books, and like the standard Barnes & Noble or Borders its literature section is organized into genres. This is perfectly reasonable. I'm not a mystery or suspense fan, so I can avoid all those books. And I'm not interested in Christian fiction, so I'm happy that I don't have to wade through those to find what I'm looking for. I'm interested in general literature.

But that's where the Balkanization comes in, and i'ts something that has alwas bothered me. There is a sizable section of African American Literature, for example. (What do my friends at White Readers Meet Black Authors think about this, I wonder?) If you are looking for a book by a black author, maybe it's useful that there is this section where you can go and find it. But if you're just browsing mindlessly in the general lit section, you're not going to stumble on Percival Everett's new book and impulsively buy it, which is a real shame. Is this a rational marketing ploy, or is it literary segregation?

Of course, it isn't only African American authors who suffer this fate. There's a GLBT section. Sometimes an Asian American section. And at the book fair there's an International Literature section that's also troubling in part because the store will sometimes shelve in that section any book by someone with an "international" sounding name. As if we don't all have "international" names. (Actually, I like the international section, but I think most browsers stay away from it.)

Does anyone else care about these things?

American Shakespeare Center: Much Ado About Nothing

Once again, the American Shakespeare Center’s resident troupe turns in terrific performances, this time in a rollicking production of Much Ado about Nothing. A performance that was sold out, I might add. For the first time in my memory there was a sign on the door announcing that only standing room was available. This is a very good sign, I think.

And this show is likely to continue playing to packed houses because it is so well done.

You know the story: Leanato of Messina agrees to marry his daughter, Hero, to Claudio. Meanwhile, Benedick and Beatrice, Leanato’s niece, engage in fierce, but flirtatious, bickering. But Don John, the bastard brother Pedro, Prince of Aragon, is jealous of the favors Pedro bestows upon Claudio, and so he plans to stop the wedding by ruining Hero’s reputation. And Benedick and Beatrice progress toward love with the help of their friends and family, who convince each that the other loves him/her.
While everyone in this cast shines, the highlight of this production is the chemistry between René Thornton Jr. as Benedict and Sarah Fallon as Beatrice. It’s a real pleasure to listen to their banter, and then watch them fall in love. Claudio and Hero, played by Tobias Shaw and Victoria Reinsel, are also terrific. And one of the finest moments in the play is the wedding scene when Leanato (James Keegan) hears Claudio’s allegations against Hero. As he is railing against his daughter I couldn’t help but think of Keegan’s King Lear.

Another great show at ASC.

"Savage Source" in Ashé Journal

My story "Savage Source" is in the new issue of Ashé Journal.

Declaration of Independents

And the winner is . . .

Visitor number 100,000 stopped by this evening at 10:51pm from Lakeland, Florida. There's no prize but my deepest gratitude.

CliffordGarstang.com

As if this blog weren't enough of a web presence for me . . .

Please visit my new website, CliffordGarstang.com to learn more about my forthcoming book, In an Uncharted Country. It will be published in September and is not yet ready for pre-order, but I'll let everyone know when it is. Believe me.

New Issue: The Short Review

There is a new issue of The Short Review, which includes a review of Mary Akers's Women Up on Blocks and an interview with Daniyal Mueenuddin.

American Shakespeare Center: Merry Wives of Windsor

The Merry Wives of Windsor is one of the easiest of Shakespeare’s comedies to understand. There’s deception, of course, and one character dons a disguise, but otherwise it’s all pretty straightforward. Sir John Falstaff makes advances on two married women, Mistresses Ford and Page. The women, disgusted by the fat knight, cook up a plot to humiliate him. When Frank Ford, Mistress Ford’s husband, misinterprets his wife’s attentions toward Falstaff, he becomes jealous, eventually undertaking his own scheme by donning the disguise of Mr. Brook. Meanwhile three men seek the hand of Anne Page, and she and her parents all disagree as to whom she should marry. At the height of the plot against Falstaff, Anne manages to evade both the men chosen by her parents in order to run off with her own choice.

It’s all good fun that isn’t much more complicated (or meaningful) than a TV sitcom (as the Director’s Notes tell us, but is far more entertaining. In this American Shakespeare Center production, that’s due to the flawless performances by the ASC resident company. First, there’s James Keegan as Falstaff. The fat suit helps, but Keegan is a dominant force when he’s on stage, and he makes the “roguish knight” larger than life, as he should be. And yet, when Falstaff is humiliated, he seems to shrink and fade. As he should. Then there are the Merry Wives, Sarah Fallon as Mistress Ford and Denice Burbach as Mistress Page. Fallon is well known to the Blackfriars faithful, and this is another fine, fine performance. She is cunning and playful, a great foil for Falstaff. Burbach is a welcome newcomer to the company and makes a delightful Mistress Page.

And the husbands: Luke Eddy (most recently with the touring company) is a charming George Page, who is set on seeing his daughter Anne (Victoria Reinsel) married to the foppish (and rich) Master Slender, played hilariously by Chris Johnston. But Mistress Page has chosen Doctor Caius, a French physician, for Anne. Caius is played for major laughs by newcomer Daniel Rigney. (The accent sounds more French Canadian than French, I think, but no matter; Rigney does a terrific job in this very funny role.) The third suitor is Fenton, played by another unfamiliar face, Tobias Shaw, and he is clearly going to win the day. John Harrell plays the jealous Frank Ford who visits Falstaff in the disguise of Master Brook, and, as usual, nearly steals the show.

I should also mention a trio of ASC veterans who, with considerable comic skill, aid and abet the action. Alison Glenzer is Mistress Quickly, who for some reason is helping all three of the suitors; René Thornton Jr. is Shallow, the old (and lascivious) man who is promoting Slender’s case, Chris Seiler is Hugh Evans, a Welsh parson.

This terrific production is highly entertaining, and since it will be with us all summer and fall, I’m looking forward to seeing it again.

New Pages

I've often referred to NewPages.com on this blog because it is exceedingly useful to writers and readers. But I've just been browsing there and it seems after a recent facelift it is better than ever. It's clean and uncluttered, it's well-organized and easy to navigate, and I can't think of anything else I would want for it to include (unless it wanted to compete with the also indispensible Duotrope and include submission information and tracking systems). In any case, it's an excellent resource.

New Blu

Issue #2 of Blu Magazine, the Shenandoah Valley's Free Monthly, is popping up around the area. It looks great, and I'm not just saying that because there's an article by me on page 14 about the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. There's other great stuff, too.

Newsweek's Meta-list: The Top 100 Books

Lots of talk in literary circles this week about the current Newsweek issue. Here's one part of it: Newsweek's Top 100 Books.

How many have you read?

Forthcoming Books

The Millions highlights some highly anticipated books coming out in the second half of this year in Most Anticipated: Rounding Out 2009 -- An Epic Year for Books There are some very good looking titles here. I noticed they failed to mention my book, In an Uncharted Country, which will be published in September, but I'm sure that was just an oversight.

Andrew's Book Club -- July Picks

Andrew's Book Club has posted its July choices of short story collections: Misfits and Other Heroes by Suzanne Burns (Dzanc) and Do Not Deny Me by Jean Thompson (Simon and Schuster).

100,000

At some point in the next couple of days, this blog will have its 100,000th hit since . . . a few years ago. I began the blog on January 1, 2005, but didn't add the sitemeter hit counter until some time later. I don't remember when and don't know how to figure it out. But no matter. There weren't very many hits to count in those early days, anyway.

100,000 seems like a pretty big number to me.

The New Yorker: "Childcare" by Lorrie Moore

This fiction is almost certainly from Moore’s forthcoming novel, and in my opinion it does not work as a story. There’s a bit of tension, but nothing sustained, and no conflict that I can see. Tassie, a small town girl living in another small town where she’s in college, is looking for work as a babysitter. She’s smart enough, but socially backward. Still, she’s hired by a woman who is adopting a baby, and she wants Tassie to be present every step of the way. Well, that’s nice. Not much tension there. It’s not even very odd.

What is odd is that the woman’s husband isn’t gone, but he isn’t present in the story either, and Tassie’s father is somehow important, but he isn’t present either. He’s a hobbyist farmer and . . . well, that’s nice, too. So Tassie goes with Sarah to meet the mother whose baby will soon be adopted. The woman, a pretty girl with no teeth (a meth addict?) who is on probation for whatever it is she’s done, isn’t very happy with Sarah. At the end, it isn’t clear that the girl will give Sarah the baby after all.

The end.

Okay, this is nice writing, but it isn’t even interesting enough a set up to persuade me to buy the novel when it comes out. It looks like Sarah will get some kind of baby and Tassie will be provide childcare. And . . . what else? Please tell me there’s more to it than that!

July 6 & 13: “Childcare” by Lorrie Moore

New Issue: Hobart July '09

The new print Hobart (#10) is on its way, I'm told, and the new online issue is up: Hobart for your reading pleasure.