John Reed’s Tales of Woe offers a parade of captivating, affronting stories that challenge and delight—er, disturb—the reader. BOMBlog’s Ben Mirov wades through the tears.
Tag Archives: Ben Mirov
“Sometimes People Suffer For No Reason”: John Reed
Ben Mirov

Who was chasing me through the brush? He’s staring at neon graffiti and doesn’t look away. He looks like a rich kid on acid. He turns into a duffle bag. The man I have sex with is me. I don’t dream about you. I find your feelings’ cloud. In episode 10 of Phoned In, BOMB Magazine’s poetry reading by phone podcast, Ben Mirov reads from his book Ghost Machine. Click through for a Q&A where he and Luke Degnan discuss boredom, depression, Lego poetry, and Haruki Murakami’s novel The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.
Small Press Spotlight: Birds, LLC
Small Press Spotlight: Fence Books
Jillian Weise: Cyborg Dreams
New Lives: An Interview with Justin Taylor

Justin Taylor’s collection Everything Here is the Best Thing Ever is jagged-edged, darklywrought debut made of broken beer bottles and sidereal light. Stories in the collection range from densely packed flash narratives to longer pieces that draw out their impact in a lengthier, but no less potent, manner. Perhaps the most articulate aspect of the collection is its unforgiving portrayal of its characters. The young men and women in Taylor’s stories gain their vividness and our sympathy via the same qualities that make them distasteful outsiders.
Mark Bibbins: “We the Reader”

Although The Dance of No Hard Feelings is Mark Bibbins’ second book of poetry, nothing about this recently released collection feels sophomoric. Its bulk (just under 100 pages), its effortless political and didactic flourishes, its lapidary formal qualities and charismatic cadences give an impression of rare expertise.



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