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Plus lots of links to other good stuff that didn’t (yet)Too much? Not enough? Let me know what you think.

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TODAY IS PERSONAL ANTHOLOGY DAY!

Faithful readers will remember that Jonathan Gibbs’ Personal Anthology project lets riff-raff like me submit. I found out yesterday that my list is going out today (usually noonish Toronto time, you do the math). I have a companion post on my site about it that would have certainly been rejected, but it’s fun too. Check it out here. And check out the Personal Anthology website!

I’ll be sharing the link on Bluesky the second it’s out. I worked really hard on it, and it was a lot of fun.  

It’s been a long long week this week, and a couple more to come. Lots of travel, lots of work, but it’s doing stuff I’ve never done before, so it’s exciting. I might have more to share in a couple weeks about it.

I also expect to have an update on the original short stories next week too. Maybe a big update, but I don’t want to overcommit here. So keep your eyes open.

Onto the good stuff.

Writing

I’m reading Emily St. James’ book Woodworking right now, and in Lit Hub she writes about trans characters and identifying with them. I’ll have a lot more to write on this next week, but I have been thinking about this piece all day.

This story of Peter Wolf was pretty good and made me order his book. Who is Peter Wolf? I didn’t know either — he was the head of J. Geils band (“Freeze Frame”, don’t click that link). Don’t know any more of his music than that, but the book sounds great.

Horse racing sucks

It’s unpopular, violent and archaic. So why is it still around? This article in the NYT lays it out. It’s ridiculous.

Revenge Served Bold

This agency did something awesome when their building was spraypainted — they turned it into a font that you can download and use for free. (that headline is a classic)

How are the books in The White Lotus chosen?

Jury’s still out on season 3 of this show, but this interview with the guy who picks the books for the show is a good read.

Reading:

I don’t understand what everyone sees in this Dream State book: I hated the characters and the way the story was structured seemed to remove all possible tension. Maybe it’s me. (It’s not me.)

Volume 1 (of three!) of the Bill Gates autobiography was both dull and fantastic. Should have been 100 pages shorter, but he’s clearly got the money here, he can tell the story how he wants, I guess.

The worst book I’ve read this year is The Trading Game by Gary Stevenson. Not only was the book a dumb story, turns out it’s probably not even true. If I cared more I’d feel cheated. Again: he’s got the money, he can write the bad book.

Short stories, on the other hand, we got in spades. Nonfiction that will haunt you from blog pal Kevin Light Roth (whose fiction Zen is the most read thing on the website by a wide margin).

Fiction? Yes: 11 in total in this week’s Shortlist, and you should start with this horror story by Caleb Bethea. It’s absolutely wild.

Listening:

Some great music this week.

If you haven’t read the piece about R. Missing, please please do. I loved researching it, and Sharon seems like a kindred spirit (massive introvert). The interviews that she gives are great, and it’s hilarious to read the interviewers’ reactions to her directness. Plus the music is killer.

Adore is a garage-punk band I’ve been wanting to write about for months. They’re furiously talented and sound like a punk rock drag race.

The Orchestra (For Now) is the new Arcade Fire, I promise. Whether the world is interested in a new Arcade Fire remains to be seen, but I sure am.

Lastly, hometown fave Roach has taken a step down from the pop-punk of their last record, and the results took a while to grow on me. But it’s good stuff and you should give it a chance.

The Setlist features standout tracks from the Garbage-esque Dear Tash, Indie sleazer Agora Sci-Fi and Toronto hyperpop artist Jackie and her brother. There’s some unusual stuff on the playlist today, you should check it out.

Hit the red button below to dig in. It’s 21 songs, 72 minutes. Apple Music or Spotify

Get the playlists

Oh man, who knows. I’m barely keeping it above water these days as it is. Probably the Shiv and the Carvers EP, plus that Emily St. James book, and maybe Scaachi Koul’s divorce memoir.

Thanks for being here.

-hugh

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