Jack Black was a late 19th-century writer and self-proclaimed hobo and professional burglar who lived in the final days of the Wild West. He was dishonest, conniving, but also a guy with a lot of heart. It’s funny to say, but he had the best intentions when it came down to it, even when he was stealing from people.
Black ultimately gained fame through his friendship with William S. Burroughs. And though he didn’t write any other novels, Black’s influence echos throughout the beats’ writing and serves as a basis for some of their strongest “live-free” philosophies. If you love the beats, his writing is definitely worth checking out.
Read MoreAs the story goes, author Carrie Rosten went to sleep one night and had a dream. And it must’ve been some dream! When she woke up the next day, she wrote her latest tale, Soma So Strange, in its entirety!
Soma So Strange is a children’s book about a creative girl who discovers herself despite the “Meanies,” a group of peers that misunderstand and mistreat her in every way. Her whole life changes when she puts her imagination, and maybe a little bit of magic, to good use. Empowered with newfound abilities, she finds she can overcome almost anything.
Read MoreEveryone loves a good book. Or at least I hope they do. These five are guaranteed to make you awesome-er in every way. Get ready…
Read MoreWild animal/human narratives can be triumphant (Gorillas in the Mist) or tragic (Grizzly Man), but they are always fascinating. We share this crazy planet with so many other species we’ll never truly understand. And they’ll never truly understand us. It’s just nature doing its thing. Ah, the mystery of it all.
Read MoreNudie men photos directed at women is perhaps a curious notion to some. I’ve heard stupid things like, aren’t women averse to porn? As if the entire female population were all Tipper Gores and Anita Bryants. Idiots. The answer is hell no they aren’t. Why would they be? Women of the 70s saw Playboy make it’s way in the sun, boobs and buttocks and all. It was a reputable, even high-brow magazine at times (journalistically speaking, of course). Women, and let’s face it, gay men, wanted something for themselves. Playgirl was born.
Perhaps due to its name (though actually having no relation to Playboy at all) or its brazen content, Playgirl quickly gained an immense pop culture presence when it was introduced in 1973. Over time, it lost its way and found it again, and has had a generally tumultuous life throughout. It was disregarded, loved, hated, reviled, and finally the novelty of it all was embraced, and then dismissed. But during its first final years of print,* a small group of women in their 20s (with the occasional assistance of a certain tall man) brought it back to a place where not only people talked about it, but where news outlets legitimately covered its content. People actually wanted to buy it again!
Read MoreAfter an author has been dead for 70 years, their written works (typically) go into public domain. At this point, these important works belong to us, collectively. But that doesn’t mean we’ve always treated them responsibly. The brilliant content of their aged pages can often go unread, unloved, and even forgotten. Like immortal vampires entering yet another decade of existence, these classic pieces of literature are always in need of a new life.
A joint project by the Creative Action Network, DailyLit, and Harvard Bookstore called Recovering the Classics is hoping to to give these classics just that. Their mission is to crowdsource the talents of designers and illustrators, tasking them to re-imagine cover art for the first 50 greatest literary works in public domain history. Imagine, your design gracing the cover of “The Metamorphosis” or “Madame Bovary.”
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