Within the story, Jack’s problem, which becomes the reader’s, and must have been to some extent the writer’s, too, is that Roy has a theory, and the theory is just too much.
For the Redux newsletter of the Paris Review, I ask whether the demons of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks universe were inspired by a 1982 short story by Norman Rush. Click here to read! And click here to sign up for the Paris Review’s Redux newsletter!
“Lifer,” a new poem of mine, is published in the 17 October 2024 issue of the New York Review of Books. Please check it out!
In other news, I’ll soon be leaving the derelict building where I’ve rented a writing studio for the past dozen years. The new owners plan to turn it into apartments. If you happen to have read Melville’s novel Pierre, you will have an idea what kind of building this was—an archaic structure that the lords of real estate for a time weren’t able to figure out what to do with, and where deserters from capitalism were therefore able, for a while, to find shelter for their arty, inefficient pursuits.
I’ve found a new place, which I hope will be even better, but I wrote one and a half novels here (counting only those that have seen the light of day), and more than a dozen short stories and poems, and I’ll miss it!
“Unit One,” a new short story of mine, is published in issue 249 (fall 2024) of The Paris Review, with eerie illustrations by Cathleen Clarke. Please check it out!
“Clay,” a new short story of mine, is in this week’s issue of The New Yorker (the one dated 12 August 2024), with a lovely illustration by Daniele Castellano that’s reminiscent of de Chirico. The magazine recorded me reading the story aloud, and there’s also a short Q&A with me about it. Please check it out!
In other news, both my novels recently got unexpected shout-outs. In its list of the 100 best books of the 21st century, the New York Times Book Review added this note at the end of the entry for Alan Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty: “Liked it? Try ‘Necessary Errors,’ by Caleb Crain.”
And in a July 13 round-up of “great political novels,” Sophia Nguyen of the Washington Post called my novel Overthrow“the best American political novel of the 21st century,” which was pretty nice!
“Recognition,” a new short story of mine, is in issue 72 of McSweeney’s, available (in print only) either from an independent bookstore near you or directly from their website.
