My first novel (~2001) was awful, but I didn’t know it so I sent queries and samples to a whole bunch of agents. Over 100, at least, in the end. Almost all of them requested the manuscript, and some of them — even, one evening, a Very Big Deal agent at William Morris! — called me at home to discuss it. None of them offered representation, of course, it being awful and all.

(via Hermitary.com)

@ Scary Ideas

Making lists of writers is the thing to do right now, so I made one, too. I give you…

20 Writers between 34 and 36 who are me

1. Me.
2. Me, too.
3. Me three.
4. Me again.
5. It’s me!
6. Who else but me?
7. You know it’s me.
8. Who do you think? Me!
9. Fuck yeah, it’s me.
10. Me FTW.
11. ¡MeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeMeMeMeMeMeeeeeeeee!
12. C’est moi.
13. Who’s got two thumbs and made the list? This guy!
14. Me.
15. Myself.
16. I.
17. Why me? Why not me!
18. Still me.
19. Matt Bell.

Damn it, that guy’s unstoppable.

Amber Sparks, whose story “The Chemistry of Objects” I recently published at Necessary Fiction, reveals in this interview at Storyglossia that she’s working on a series of stories based on tall tales and folk figures. Since I’m working on such a series myself, and Amber and I both have Paul Bunyan stories forthcoming, I think our Bunyans will have to battle.

Actually, I’m just excited to see the stories she’s working on — I’m always up for anything tall tales, especially when they work their way into contemporary fiction.

The news that Sweden is culling wild rabbits and burning them for biofuel doesn’t come as much surprise after reading Torgny Lindgren’s novel Light, about a town destroyed by rabbits — terrible, terrifying wild rabbits!

Sometimes I feel guilty that this blog never has personal content the way it used to. So here is some:

I am personally content that there are more interesting things to discover than my personal content.

For instance,

New DNA evidence reveals that coyotes have bred with wolves in the the northeastern United States, turning mice-eating coyotes into much larger animals with a hunger for big prey, such as deer.

The resulting coywolves may, however, benefit ecosystems, since they appear to be filling niches once occupied by wolves that were eradicated by humans.

I was a nature nerd twice-over this morning:

1. New Pages linked to “The 46 Essential Rock Reads”, and I clicked expecting an article about geology in literature.
2. Via The Rumpus, an account of “California’s first Cougar Convention” was not what I hoped for, either.

If I had to get by with just one book as a source for the rest of my writing life, it would be The Penguin Dictionary of American Folklore. The Penguin Dictionary of American Folklore and the paddle game and that’s all I need.

Somewhere between Jim Krusoe, Frederick Buechner, Michel Houellebecq, and Jean Echenoz is the novel I’m trying to finish this summer. Maybe if I invite all those guys over for barbecue they’ll finish it for me?

(I can’t decide what Michel Houellebecq would be like at a backyard barbecue — either the absolute worst or the best guest ever.)