Brilliant book. Funny and savvy and tech-smart, and against now prevailing winds I love that it embeds a resounding rejection of stoicism. If you haven't read it, *please* opt for the print version; the immersive charm of the footnotes just doesn't work in a digital format.

Sure, we might expect the American sniffer of EU penis to react with homicidal rage, but notice how the old "I dislike the smell of this man's penis and must kill him" trope is here complicated (subverted?) by the assailant's tearful sobbing. The future of political cartooning.

Just read "The Fun Stuff," James Wood's essay about Keith Moon's genius. I've never had more than a rudimentary appreciation for music, but everything Wood says meshes with my adolescent appreciation. The text is worth reading (or revisiting), please. See: newyorker.com/magazine/2010/…

Hear! Hear! The academic pricing model that may have been somewhat justifiable for scaled traditional print runs makes no sense with current printing tech (and not just PoD). It's a sham that only keeps books from being read.

Current book rotation. Gardner's book is one that I've long been aware of and it's fun to read the 1952 edition from a "future man" armchair.

I read this in an earlier edition. It's good.

Here's a working cover tease for Meg McCarville's outrageous, hilarious, and disarmingly poignant memoir about her wild and wily father. Some of you are going to love this book as much as I do, pretty sure. It'll be released by 9BB in June.

Now that I'm mostly on the mend, I thought I'd share this lovely image of my recent foot injury. Once it's fully healed, I am resolved to get a proper pedicure.

There is no afterlife.

This novel, INCEL, I think it's good. In some ways, it's very much what I was expecting; then, at turns, it twists against expectation, and I'm usually impressed. There's humor and tristesse and stark interiority and tightrope daring, and it's worth reading. If you like reading.

If you have difficulty sleeping (as I have throughout my life), a trick I recommend is to vividly imagine a series of people (friends, celebrities, family, etc.) calmly and sequentially expressing variants of "you need some rest." Similar to counting sheep, but more effective.

Time to look up "nepenthe"...

Meg McCarville's madly entertaining memoir DADDY STORIES will be formally released on Father's Day and is now available for pre-order through 9BB. Some of you are going to love this one. I do. ninebandedbooks.com/shop/future-re…

Want to know more about Meg McCarville? Read today's blog.

Meg McCarville's DADDY STORIES will be released by 9BB on June 16 and I'm pretty sure some of you are going to love it. For a taste, check out this free chapter-story on the Amphetamine Sulphate Substack: amphetaminesulphate.substack.com/p/sir-timothys…

All will be revealed, tomorrow. #HollowSquare

New Arrival❗ In this darkly comic memoir, Meg McCarville grapples with her “daddy issues” while celebrating the life and legend of the man who taught her everything worth knowing. ———⬇——— underworldamusements.com/products/daddy…

Chip Smith of Nine-Banded Books reviews 𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝑺𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒅: 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒏 𝑹𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒑 by Th. Metzger. #HollowSquare #SacredHarp #BookReviews

My apologies to anyone who's been trying to reach me. I've been dealing with a cluster of home maintenance issues. The good news is that the power's back on, and most orders are either in transit or scheduled for shipment. Your patience is appreciated.

Brutal. The irony is that this is a lapidary example of the kind of "scathing" criticism that bad readers lazily imagine to have been Oyler's métier. bookforum.com/print/3004/lau…