TOBI'S DESK

Marcos Bontempo’s exhibition “ Light and Dark ” is at Ricco Maresca Gallery in New York through November 26. Bontempo lives and works in Andalucía; he paints on the floor using ink and salt on paper, which he prefers to canvas. “ The shapes express the poor reality, the mutilation of an ill body that does not want to be forgotten by God ,” he’s said of his abstracted human forms, often depicted in extremis. “I do not let them alone in their ordeal … I think I am a schizophrenic.” Marcos Bontempo, Untitled , 2016, ink and salt on paper, 25.5" x 19.5"   Untitled , 2016, ink and salt on paper, 48" x 32" Untitled , 2015, ink and salt on paper, 48" x 32" Untitled , 2016, ink and salt on paper, 25.5" x 19.5" Untitled , 2016, ink and salt on paper, 16.5" x !2" Untitled , 2016, ink and salt on paper, 12" x 8.5" The post Light and Dark appeared first on The Paris Review . from The Paris Review http://ift.tt/2f2c

To celebrate Halloween, we’re publishing a selection of excerpts from David J. Skal’s Something in the Blood , a biography of Bram Stoker , out  this month with Liveright. Today: letters between Stoker and Walt Whitman, published in full for the first time in  Something in the Blood. Stoker, moved by  Leaves of Grass , was an ardent fan of Whitman—he and his Trinity College peers called themselves “Walt Whitmanites.” He kept his first letter to the poet, a meandering and adoring document, in his desk for four years before gathering the courage to send it.   Bram Stoker at age twenty-five. DUBLIN, IRELAND, FEB 18, 1872 If you are the man I take you to be you will like to get this letter. If you are not I don’t care whether you like it or not and only ask that you put it into the fire without reading any farther. But I believe you will like it. I don’t think there is a man living, even you who are above the prejudices of the class of small-minded men, who wouldn’t like to get a let

Who has baby fever? Belle Boggs does. Or rather, she did before she had her daughter. An attempt to understand this self-described “child-longing” during her trials with infertility treatments and her inability to conceive was one of the driving forces behind writing her book The Art of Waiting . As Boggs writes, in Scandanavia this phenomena is known as “baby fever,” and has been studied by sociologist Anna Rotkirch , who believes this desire is not a social construction but rather the expression of an instinctual longing. Rotkirch conducted a study where she placed an ad in a paper that asked people to write in with their baby fever experiences. She was flooded with letters recounting dreams of babies every night, of the need to touch onesies, of the desire borne of holding a child, of the agony of not having one. Not everyone has baby fever, thank goodness. I don’t have baby fever but I am prone to obsessive thinking and my curiosity about this specific obsession and the ways th

Every month, the  Daily features a puzzle by Dylan Hicks.   The first list of correct answers  wins a year’s subscription to  The Paris Review. (In the event that no one can get every answer, the list with the most correct responses will win.)   Send an e-mail with your answers to contests@theparisreview.org.  The deadline is  Friday, November 4,  when we’ll post the answers. Good luck!   This month the puzzle makes one of its intermittent returns to the semipopular rhyming game hink pink. As was previously explained in nearly identical language, hink pink is a word game in which synonyms, circumlocution, and micronarratives provide clues for rhyming phrases. In the standard explanatory example, an “overweight feline” is a “fat cat.” Hink Pinks on that babyish level aspire to lend vocabulary building an air of fun, but more sophisticated puzzles are sometimes mulled over on road trips, in trenches, and in other settings where boredom and tension might be mellowed, to paraphrase Dryde

“I just think it’ll have such a positive effect on the geek community, the black girl community, the black geek girl community… just opening the doors of your mind to what you can achieve.” The newest character to wear Iron Man’s suit? A 15-year-old girl named Riri Williams, reports NPR . As for your own inner geek, might they be interested in  an unauthorized corporate history of Marvel Comics? The post Meet Ironheart appeared first on The Millions . from The Millions http://ift.tt/2eU96ei

“There is so much low self-esteem in girls, and so much self-hate that I keep reading about. My first idea for a book was something that would help to lift girls out of that place of negativity.” Actor  Gillian Anderson and journalist Jennifer Nadel are writing a 300-plus page guide entitled  We: A Manifesto for Women Everywhere , slated for release in March 2017. The post Agent Scully, Author appeared first on The Millions . from The Millions http://ift.tt/2fwNM22

So sorry, writer! Image via Open Culture/Slate; full list available via link below.  If you opened a bookstore with a section devoted to climate-change fiction, you’d have a pretty shitty shelf on your hands. (You’d also run the risk of attracting those who believe that climate change itself is the ultimate fiction.) Amitav Ghosh wonders why so many “serious” novelists consider the subject beyond their grasp: “ Fiction that deals with climate change is almost by definition not of the kind that is taken seriously: the mere mention of the subject is often enough to relegate a novel or a short story to the genre of science fiction . It is as though in the literary imagination climate change were somehow akin to extraterrestrials or interplanetary travel … this discrepancy is not the result of personal predilections: it arises out of the peculiar forms of resistance that climate change presents to what is now regarded as serious fiction … the calculus of probability that is deployed wi

With Halloween upon us, now is the perfect time to curl up with a good, scary book. But if you’ve already read such standbys as Dracula , Frankenstein , and The Shining , you might be in need of a suggestion. With that in mind, here are five absolute chillers that will have you turning pages deep into the night — and are guaranteed to have your teeth a-chattering as you pray for the sun to rise! Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom The elderly, disease-wracked Morrie is dying — immobile and helpless in what is soon to be his deathbed. Outside his New England home, the pained echoes of atrocities past — witch burnings, the slaughter of native peoples — can still be faintly heard. Once each week, as regular as the doomsday clock, he is visited by a much younger man — a man known, terrifyingly, as “Mitch” — who has arrived from the murder-pocked wastelands of Detroit. Mitch hovers above Morrie’s bed, extracting stories, memories, and anecdotes from the elder as if withdrawing his very

Tinuke felt droplets of warm sweats drop on her bare back, as she continued to move erratically beneath the source, the liquid slid down to her arrested rumps but Tinuke didn’t stop moving. She could feel it – she would soon get to that point where she wouldn’t feel distracted again – that point of … Continue reading My Girlfriend’s Crush → from NaijaStories.com http://ift.tt/2dUw0W3

  I write on a leafy note with an ink that prints out my thoughts incompletely.   My words of love, spread affectionately in colorful fonts expressing my unmatched desire to pitch the best spot on your heart   I write my words, thinking neither right nor left but with beaming smiles and eyes seeing … Continue reading Unending Love Note. → from NaijaStories.com http://ift.tt/2f4i5tL

Wasiu laid in wait patiently by the bush path, early in the morning, for his prey, Aduke. He had been embarrassed too many times. On two occasions, he had been slapped by the stubborn but fascinating beauty, and had been mocked and laughed at by his friends. Wasiu smiled a devilish smile as he recalled … Continue reading Bad Day: Conquered By Shit → from NaijaStories.com http://ift.tt/2fvr8qT

You may be on the rough side of life; you may be walking down the street of disappointment; your entire life may be filled with fear and great uncertainties; life may have made mistrust cloud your judgments and have built a large curtain of blind thoughts which takes you adrift of the real things that … Continue reading Count your blessings → from NaijaStories.com http://ift.tt/2edoSTl

As I walk past the crowd, with the police men shielding me from angry onlookers, I overhear my mother talking to the press; “No comment please. I am not her mother!” she hissed. I smile. Mum can be such a drama queen! An old whore whose philandering ways not only killed papa but also made […] from Brittle Paper http://ift.tt/2e3jq1R

Today, as I get closer to the end of my celebration of Nigerian women writers, it's all about Nike Campbell-Fatoki. Photo via Pulse.ng Writer of the historical-romance fiction,  Thread of Gold Beads  - which was published in 2012 - Campbell-Fatoki worked for years in International Development, and now currently works for Municipal government in the Washington DC area.  In her own words,  Thread of Gold Beads : ... chronicles the fictional character Amelia, daughter of the last independent King of Danhome, King Ghebanzin ... [who] searches for her place within the palace amidst conspirators and traitors to the Kingdom. Just when Amelia begins to feel at home in her role as a Princess, a well-kept secret shatters the perfect life she knows ... A struggle between good and evil ensues causing Amelia to leave all that she knows and loves. She must flee Danhome with her brother, to south-western Nigeria. In a faraway land, she finds the love of a new family and God. The wel

“I wanted to be able to approach the subject from many different angles, not just the one most people think of when they think of war: an infantryman with a rifle killing the enemy. What does one make of one’s moral responsibility for killing when you’re part of a crew-fired-weapon whose rounds strike miles away, when you’re not even sure if you have killed people or how many? What about when you’re a chaplain trying to influence policy, or a psychological operations soldier trying to help shape the battlefield?” Phil Klay , author of the National Book Award-winning collection  Redeployment , on modes of storytelling and on the psychological difference between citizens and veterans. The post The Starting Place appeared first on The Millions . from The Millions http://ift.tt/2e1nlwh

You cannot see me; But, I can see you! I scorch you with my stare during the day Boil you to steam at night. You run out into the dark to carry out your ominous act Hidden from mortal glare In a dark silhouette before the dull moonlight. What you don’t know is that- – … Continue reading Under the Sun → from NaijaStories.com http://ift.tt/2eazJ0a

  BITRUS Life and death are two accomplices. The one yearned for while the other is dreaded. Bitrus’ eyes began to feel heavy in their sockets after reading for a couple of hours as he was wont of.  He placed the pencil in the dent between the pages, stretched his hands above his head such … Continue reading Bitrus → from NaijaStories.com http://ift.tt/2f5bk9Z

Her smile is brighter than a supernova, Her smile’s the only thing that can calm my anger, The way her lips spread into a crescent, Makes me oblivious to my environment. Her smile is a photographer’s delight, It always lights up my night, ‘Cause it radiates happiness nd fullness of life, It hides so much … Continue reading Her Smile → from NaijaStories.com http://ift.tt/2eaxydg

My thoughts on a calm Friday morning. When people stop living life,stop chasing their dreams and they say it’s because they want to ‘make heaven’ it kind of baffles me. What baffles me even more is when people go ahead living their lives without letting God be a part of it and they boldly say-‘I … Continue reading God’s Gifts(My thoughts on paper) → from NaijaStories.com http://ift.tt/2f5a72C

I couldn’t believe my ears. I was speechless, staring at the DPO. John’s girlfriend? Who could that be? John has another girlfriend? I met the man’s eyes. “Are you saying John was shot by his girlfriend? But…” “Don’t play smart on me young woman.” He said and pulled himself up from his chair. “John told … Continue reading If Only I Knew – Episode 6 → from NaijaStories.com http://ift.tt/2fhYCtw

Thursday, 13 October 2016 5 POPULAR MYTHS ABOUT THE NYSC CAMP (you probably thought were true) You’ve probably read a lot of thrills and feels about the NYSC orientation camp online- Except, of course, you exclusively subscribe to just whatsapp data plans, because I doubt if any publisher will devote a paperback to those sort … Continue reading 5 Popular Myths about the NYSC Camp…you probably thought were true → from NaijaStories.com http://ift.tt/2f0Oth0