The definitive critical study of twentieth-century pop culture icon Andy Warhol, the man who redrew the boundaries of art.Andy Warhol's work and personality changed American visual culture forever, making him an international superstar. In this must-read volume, heralded as "exemplary" by Artforum and "resoundingly brilliant" by Film Comment, Stephen Koch provides unprecedented detail on Warhol's life and work—his rise to global fame, his entanglem...

Though you may not know the man, you probably know his music. Arkansas-born Louis Jordan's songs like "Baby, It's Cold Outside," "Caldonia" and "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" can still be heard today, decades since Jordan ruled the charts. In his five-decade career, Jordan influenced American popular music, film and more and inspired the likes of James Brown, B.B. King, Chuck Berry and Ray Charles. Known as the "King of the Jukeboxes," he and his combo played a hybrid of jazz, swing, ...

“Make [your] characters want something right away—even if it’s only a glass of water. Characters paralyzed by the meaninglessness of modern life still have to drink water from time to time.” —Kurt Vonnegut“‘The cat sat on the mat’ is not the beginning of a story, but ‘the cat sat on the dog’s mat’ is.” —John Le CarréNothing is more inspiring for a beginning writer than listening to masters of the craft talk about the writing life. But if yo...

From Stephen Koch, former chair of Columbia University’s graduate creative writing program, comes essential and practical advice drawn from The Modern Library Writer’s Workshop.With nearly thirty years of teaching experience, Stephen Koch has earned a reputation as an astute and benevolent mentor; and with Advice to the Writer, his lucid observations and commonsense techniques have never been more accessible. Here Koch dispenses sound guidance for...

Talk is a hilariously irreverent and racy testament to dialogue: the gossip, questioning, analysis, arguments, and revelations that make up our closest friendships. It’s the summer of 1965 and Emily, Vincent, and Marsha are at the beach. All three are ambitious and artistic; all are hovering around thirty; and all are deeply and mercilessly invested in analyzing themselves and everyone around them. The friends discuss sex, shrinks, psychedelics, sculpture, and S and M in an ongoin...

Discover a little-known chapter in Holocaust literature with this “riveting tale” of the 17-year-old Jew who was the first to take up arms against the Nazi regime (Wall Street Journal).“Reads like a thriller.” —New York Journal of BooksAfter learning about Nazi persecution of his family, Herschel Grynszpan (pronounced Greenspan) bought a small handgun and on November 7, 1938, went to the German embassy and shot the first G...

After learning about Nazi persecution of his family, Herschel Grynszpan (pronounced "Greenspan"), an impoverished seventeen-year-old Jew living in Paris, bought a small handgun and on November 7, 1938, went to the German embassy and shot the first German diplomat he saw. When the man died two days later, Hitler and Goebbels made the shooting their pretext for the great state-sponsored wave of anti-Semitic terror known as Kristallnacht, still seen by many as an initiating event of ...

The essential guide to evoking emotional experiences in your readersWriters might disagree over showing versus telling or plotting versus pantsing, but none would argue this: If you want to write strong fiction, you must make your readers feel.Veteran literary agent and expert fiction instructor Donald Maass shows you how to use story to provoke a visceral and emotional experience in readers. You'll learn:• emotional modes of writing• beyond ...

A collection of personal writing exercises and commentary from some of today's best novelists, short story writers, and writing teachers, including Jill McCorkle, Amy Bloom, Robert Olen Butler, Steve Almond, Jayne Anne Phillips, Virgil Suarez, Margot Livesay, and more.What's the secret behind the successful and prolific careers of critically acclaimed novelists and short story writers Amy Bloom, Steve Almond, Jayne Anne Phillips, Alison Lurie, and others? Divine assistance? Otherwo...

First-time fiction writers often get stuck in the middle of writing a novel mainly because they do not have an outline they can stick to. Outlining a novel before writing is essential for carrying on with a story of 80,000 words or more.This book includes ten questions after answering which you will be have the entire outline of your novel in front of you. You will have built your protagonist, antagonist, major characters, setting, plot, theme, narrative POV and genre of your novel...

An Amazon-Kindle Bestseller: "ALL ARTISTIC ENDEAVORS ARE ACHIEVEMENTS UNTO THEMSELVES"Whether you're a published author experiencing writer's block, a first-time novelist grappling with a debut, or a lover of literature who wants to gain insight into what it takes to write a good book, this inspiring tutorial will help keep the juices flowing, and demystify the creative process at the same time.

For more than thirty years Natalie Goldberg has been challenging and cheering on writers with her books and workshops. In her groundbreaking first book, she brings together Zen meditation and writing in a new way. Writing practice, as she calls it, is no different from other forms of Zen practice—"it is backed by two thousand years of studying the mind."This thirtieth-anniversary edition includes new forewords by Julia Cameron and Bill Addison. It also includes a new preface in whi...