Ben Marcus and "Notes from the Fog"

Ben Marcus is described as a dystopian writer, but he's far from apocalyptic when it comes to the bad news that lies ahead. Rather, Marcus sees the world as a stagnant pool with little to recommend it.

Death is a welcome development, readers learn in "Notes From the Fog," a short story published in the summer 2018 issue of "The Paris Review."  It is also the title of a new book of Marcus short stories scheduled for release next month. Among others, the book includes "Cold Little Bird" and "The Grow-Light Blues" about which I have previously written.

Cold Little Bird, Inept Big Birds

Ben Marcus had a good idea for his story, “Cold Little Bird,” that appeared in the Oct. 19, 2015 edition of The New Yorker: the power a child can come to have over his or her parents, perhaps earlier in life than expected.

Rather than the more typical teenage rebel, Marcus paints a picture of a 10-year old boy who recoils from the need his parents, but particularly his father, feel for frequent physical contact.

Where to Start When Writing a Novel?

One often hears that good stories have a beginning, a middle and an end. So it might seem logical that someone wishing to write one would start where the tale begins and march forward to the conclusion. But that’s not always the way it works.

The New York-based Center for Fiction recently interviewed Matthew Thomas, author of We Are Not Ourselves, which won the Center’s 2014 Flaherty-Dunnan prize for a first novel.

Among other things, Thomas was asked to identify the “entry point” – where he began writing – because the novel took over 10 years to complete and because it covers a great deal of ground.

“The very first thing I wrote in the novel was an in medias res [in the middle of things] moment -- a version of the section in the book where Eileen gives Ed a surprise party for his birthday. I had an idea of the sweep of the life of this character and this family, but I wanted to start somewhere in the middle. There's something useful about getting into the middle of something and looking around to see where you are,” Thomas explained.

Then he wrote Eileen’s back story before continuing forward.

Is The Food Industry Next in Line for "Disruption?"

The business section of the July 31, 2015, San Francisco Chronicle featured a story entitled “Food Industry Ripe for Disruption,” which brought to mind a short story in the June 22 New Yorker by Ben Marcus entitled “The Grow Light Blues.”

The story is about a rather sad individual named Carl who becomes badly disfigured after he agrees to be a guinea pig for a start-up named Mayflower, the maniacal CEO of which believes grow lights could be used to deliver nutrients to humans in place of conventional food -- while people are involved in other activities, such as using a computer.