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ABOUTBlack Lamb was created to offer the discerning reader a stimulating selection of excellent original writing. Published monthly. (more) SUBMISSIONSBlack Lamb welcomes submissions from new writers. Email us. FREE SAMPLE COPYEmail us. There is absolutely no obligation. SUBSCRIBESupport this independently published
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August 2013 in Black LambVolume 11, Number 8 — August 2013August 1st, 2013 In our August issue, Lorentz Lossius describes buying a harpsichord in The hunt for Dorian. In Sex & other misdemeanors, Ed Goldberg waxes lyrical on Puritanism in the twenty-first century. John M. Daniel recalls his first trip to Europe in My own chariot. Toby Tompkins laments the loss of a cherished medium in On the radio. In No thanks for the memories, Lane Browning extols the virtue of forgetting. Susan Bennett describes three beloved animals in Interspecies Three Musketeers. And in The movie method, Terry Ross looks at the novels of Pete Dexter. Two figures from the world of literature — English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson and French short story pioneer Guy de Maupassant — take their places in our pantheon of Honorary Black Lambs and The Ultimate Literary Calendar. Our bridge writer Trixie Barkis tells how to make slam bids in Beginning & end. Our monthly lamb recipe, from a Black Lamb reader, is for a Mediterranean Lamb Loaf. Advice columnist Millicent Marshall again answers readers’ questions. And Professor Avram Khan gives us another challenging Black Lamb Word Puzzle.
Posted by: The Editors The hunt for DorianAugust 1st, 2013 BY LORENTZ LOSSIUS I'm up at six, an hour before dawn on a grey Melbourne day, cold and dark and not yet winter. I make a strong coffee, then roll a thin cigarette and huddle on the balcony, puffing a dismal little cloud over the city. I get up, go to the kitchen, and play a bit of Bach and Rameau on Dorian. I’m clumsy and sausage-fingered after so many years away from the keys. Who, or what, is Dorian, might you ask? Let me gather myself and pull together some recent notes about the reasons why, the search, and how I found him.
Posted by: The Editors No thanks for the memoriesAugust 1st, 2013 BY LANE BROWNING I was thinking about forgetting. No, not forgetting like “Dammit, I know I left my keys here” or “What? I thought that was next Thursday!” and no, not like the henpecked husband who comes back from the store without the pasta sauce or cat litter. No. I mean pragmatic forgetting. Selective forgetting. Survival forgetting. There are classes and books and support groups for helping people learn to forgive, but we really need PhDs in forgetting. It baffles me that each year on the 11th day of September in most parts of the United States we are expected to “remember” the events of that day in 2001. Why? Whom does it serve? What does it prevent or abet? Is reliving catastrophe obligatory? Why do bereaved parents acknowledge, every year, the deaths of their children? What kind of catharsis is there in this? It doesn’t aid the deceased in any way; like humans who lived three centuries ago, they are gone, they are lost but to memory or pages in a book or pixels on a website. There is the notion of “honoring their memories,” but I’ve never understood that. Is there something wrong with me?
Posted by: The Editors July 2013 in Black LambVolume 11, Number 7 — July 2013July 1st, 2013 The Black Lamb Review of Books X In our 10th annual Black Lamb Review of Books, Terry Ross begins with a question: Poetry is dead, played out. Nobody reads it. True or false? And if true, why? In Richard Russo’s hometown John M. Daniel explores this novelist’s depiction of the place he grew up. Andi Diehn remembers a youth of insatiable reading in Book-colored glasses. In Finally, the truth, Toby Tompkins reviews Nicholson Baker’s 2008 book Human Smoke. M.A. Orthofer comments on a Proust book in Help is on the way. In eZ reading, Rod Ferrandino relates how he made peace with his Kindle. Doug Bruns reviews Jim Harrison’s The Great Leader in A rare voice. In Publish & be damned, Ed Goldberg offers tips on self-publishing. In Out of season, Andi Diehn reviews Barry Estabrook’s cautionary book Tomatoland. Brad Bigelow reflects on poet Helen Bevington’s third volume of memoirs in Not quiet and not really calm. In Mad jealous Jessica Ferri reviews a funny-girl memoir she wishes she’d written. Lee Polevoi recalls a Denis Johnson novel in Neglected masterpiece. In Leading critic, M.A. Orthofer reviews a book of Cynthia Ozick’s essays. Dan Peterson chooses his favorite sports books in The five best. Three more figures from the world of literature — English novelist Hilary Mantel, American novelist Richard Russo, and English novelist William Makepeace Thackeray — are ushered into our pantheon of Honorary Black Lambs and The Ultimate Literary Calendar. Our monthly lamb recipe, from Greece, is for Atlas Mountain Soup. In Mea culpa, advice columnist Millicent Marshall apologizes for having criticized a fellow graduate student for loving Anthony Trollope. And Professor Avram Khan gives us another challenging Black Lamb Word Puzzle.
Posted by: The Editors Book-colored glassesJuly 1st, 2013 BY ANDI DIEHN I envy the way my oldest son reads, stretched out on the living room couch, all of a sudden this year taking up most of three cushions. Watch his face: his lips move, his eyebrows raise and lower in drastic measures, he smiles, winces, gapes, and falls still all in a mere breath. He practices the cliché – he devours books. But, even better, the books devour him.
“Want to go swimming?” she would ask. “Want to ride bikes? Want to watch TV?” No. I was reading. I was busy becoming an Austin.
Posted by: The Editors June 2013 in Black LambVolume 11, Number 6 — June 2013June 1st, 2013 In the cover article of our June issue, Small is beautiful, Terry Ross describes an excellent classical music radio station, KWAX in Eugene, Ore. Renardo Barden gives us a vignette from autumn in New York City in E train, early November. In People in your neighborhood, John M. Daniel finds his closest neighbor busted for marijuana cultivation. Ed Goldberg remembers a lifetime of occasionally refusing to use certain products in Boycotts. In Casting couch, Toby Tompkins relates an anecdote from his young adulthood as a comely stage actor. Dan Peterson describes how summer affects the ladies of Italy in On the beach. In Animal pleasures, Karla Kruggel Powell argues for the superiority of brute beasts over human beings. Andi Diehn reviews Ernest Hebert’s latest novel, Never Back Down, in When bad things happen. In Shrink rapping, John Michael Senger reviews Will Self’s new novel about a psychiatrist, Umbrella. Owen Alexander, in an article called Playing catch-up, discusses four books written between 1938 and 2010 by George Orwell, James Salter, Nick Laird, and César Aira. Two more figures from the world of literature — English travel writer Jonathan Raban and French pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry — are ushered into our pantheon of Honorary Black Lambs and The Ultimate Literary Calendar. In Losing to win, bridge writer Trixie Barkis illustrates a sometimes useful technique. This month’s delicious lamb recipe is for Armenian Lamb Pizza. In Cure ’em! advice columnist Millicent Marshall prescribes tough love for obese people. And Professor Avram Khan gives us another challenging Black Lamb Word Puzzle.
Posted by: The Editors E train, early NovemberThe joys of autumn subway travelJune 1st, 2013 BY RENARDO BARDEN
The car is fullish, seats all occupied and passengers standing in clusters, their backs to the vomit, crowded in other doorways. The robovoice warns of the closing doors and we’re off with a lurch. Now, in the enclosed humid car there’s the sourness of the barf — yet one more thing to contend with.
Posted by: The Editors May 2013 in Black LambVolume 11, Number 5 — May 2013May 1st, 2013 The All Children Issue In our May All-Children Issue, Terry Ross argues that protecting children’s rights should be our chief concern. Elizabeth Fournier finds that her daughter sees and hears things that she can’t in In touch. In The catcher in the night, John M. Daniel remembers an incident when his son was a baby. Toby Tompkins exults in his childless state in Precious darlings. In Youthful appetites, Owen Alexander examines school lunchrooms to see what kids eat. Ed Goldberg explains his lack of progeny in Kid stuff. In Still kids, J.Z. Ribby watches himself and his sisters when their mother dies. Brad Bigelow reviews Helen Bevington’s memoir Charley Smith’s Girl in Only one thing missing. And Lee Polevoi reviews James Kelman’s latest novel Mo said she was quirky. Two more distinguished figures from the world of literature — both of them English this month — are ushered into our pantheon of Honorary Black Lambs and The Ultimate Literary Calendar: novelist Graham Swift and travel writer Bruce Chatwin. Our latest Literary Sampler offers extracts from five authors mentioned in this issue. Bridge writer Trixie Barkis treats a matter of technique in Ace & low. This month’s delicious recipe is for Mediterranean Lamb Shanks. Advice columnist Millicent Marshall answers readers’ questions about kids. And Professor Avram Khan gives us his another challenging Black Lamb Word Puzzle. •
Posted by: The Editors In touchKids can see & hear things that we can't.May 1st, 2013 BY ELIZABETH FOURNIER
We moved into a house in the hills that had sat vacant for years. Vacant of taxpayers but not really vacant of ghouls, the former couple who died in the house. We were aware of this when we signed on the line for the place but we just weren’t phased. We figured we were generous enough to share the space with them — so long as they didn’t do things that would scare the hell out of us. Sofia sees them, we do not. But that doesn’t stop me from constantly talking aloud to them, explaining cheerfully that we acknowledge we are in their house, and while we are honored to be living in their house (and please notice we didn’t remodel anything in the house we heard they really liked) we would be very, very happy if they played nicely with our child.
Posted by: The Editors April 2013 in Black LambVolume 11, Number 4 — April 2013April 1st, 2013 In our April issue, John M. Daniel chooses music above books in Sound Track for a desert isle. In Not so prime minister, Jeanne-Marie Jackson reviews Anthony Cartwright’s How I Killed Margaret Thatcher. Ed Goldberg allows as how technical innovations are passing him by in Obsolete. In Death in the air, Elizabeth Fournier describes a Philippine practice of hanging coffins. Toby Tompkins fires off another salvo against gun fanatics in Firearm Follies. In Other women, Dan Peterson discusses the Italian phenomenon of keeping a mistress. Owen Alexander lets visitors do the talking about Christ the King National Park. In Stay indoors! Terry Ross elaborates four ways to get exercise without going outside. Two more figures from the world of literature — both of them Danish this month — are ushered into our pantheon of Honorary Black Lambs and The Ultimate Literary Calendar: fairy tale author Hans Christian Andersen and short story writer and memoirist Isak Dinesen. An elaborate and irresistible lamb recipe is for Five-Spice Crispy Lamb London-Style. Advice columnist Millicent Marshall once again answers readers’ questions. And Professor Avram Khan gives us his 64th challenging Black Lamb Word Puzzle.
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