Christopher Barzak

Category: Reading

  • The Gone Away Place

    The Gone Away Place

    It’s been forever and a few days since I last posted anything on my website, but I wanted to make sure to note that today my new novel, The Gone Away Place, releases from Knopf Books for Young Readers. I’m excited as always to have a new book go out into the world, where it will…

  • Invisible Men

    Just a short note to say my novelette, “Invisible Men,” has been published on Eclipse Online.  You can read it by clicking here.  And don’t forget to leave a comment at the end of the story’s page if you enjoyed it. It’s a retelling of The Invisible Man, by H. G. Wells. Thanks for reading!

  • Attack of the Killer Collections

    Every year around this season of gift giving, I see lots of posts by writers and readers and online stores, advising people what books would make great gifts.  Usually, these lists consist entirely of novels.  I’m a big fan of novels, but I might be an even bigger fan of short story collections.  But even…

  • Stonefield

    Another new story is up in the Interfictions online Annex.  This week, “Stonefield” by Mark Rich. Days at the drafting table had provided such neat mental constructions – perfect lines and angles within which he could situate himself, to feel measured and squared… he must have slipped away from sensing the roundness and fullness of…

  • Out of this furnace

    I’ve been reading a novel called “Out of this Furnace” for one of my summer courses.  It’s by Thomas Bell, an author from Braddock, Pennsylvania who grew up in a steel mill family.  The novel is semi-autobiographical, following three generations of a Slovak immigrant family from the turn of the century through the thirties.  The…

  • Why I love Dr. Seuss

    I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, And that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.   – Dr. Seuss

  • Gettin ready to rock

    Lately I have been in busy hell.  Forgive me if I owe you an email.  Right now, getting revved up to go to Wiscon at the end of this week.  Karaoke Party on Friday night.  Be there or be square, as they say in Paris, or in the 1950s.  Also this Wiscon Alan, Kristin and…

  • Just in case

    Been hard at work today on novel revisions, but also I finished reading my first Meg Rosoff book. This one was Just In Case, which I enjoyed thoroughly, except for a couple of things that posed problems for me as a reader. The book is about a boy named David Case, who changes his name…

  • More on Americans and reading

    Okay, one more entry before I head out for the weekend.  This one is a review by Laura Miller on a book called The Age of American Unreason, by Susan Jacoby.  It seems to be related to the ideas Ursula Le Guin addresses in her essay “Staying Awake” in the most current issue of Harpers. …