The Rumpus talks to Danzy Senna about 1990s Brooklyn, Jonestown, and why she gave up on another novel in favor of writing her latest book, New People. “There was something in it that wasn’t moving forward. I think I couldn’t quite find the story. Sometimes a character’s problem starts to bleed into the novel itself, the writing, and my character in the other novel didn’t want anything,” she said. “I also, on a practical level, had two children and they were young, demanding, and more interesting to me than my novel at the time.”
At Mother Jones, Shane Bauer explains what journalists got wrong by focusing on Antifa violence at protests in Berkeley last weekend. “By focusing on scattered violence, reporters glossed over the bigger story,” he writes. “The Bay Area has become the latest target of fascist and other far-right groups promoting disruptive rallies across America, often in cities where they know they are not welcome.”
Fantasy novelist Terry Pratchett’s unfinished works have been destroyed by a steamroller, per the late writer’s wishes. The Guardian reports that “Pratchett’s hard drive was crushed by a vintage John Fowler & Co steamroller named Lord Jericho at the Great Dorset Steam Fair, ahead of the opening of a new exhibition about the author’s life and work.”
Medium founder Ev Williams explains the site’s new subscription policy and claps system to Nieman Lab. With no advertising of any kind, the site will be driven by revenue from subscriptions, which will be paid to publishers who have signed up for Medium’s partnership program based on the number of “claps” each article receives from readers. But not all of Medium’s content will earn money for its writers. “We have a ton of writers on Medium, and the majority of them aren’t really our target for our partner program,” Williams said. “We don’t want to suggest that everybody who writes should get paid or try to get paid.”
In order to “get to know some of Trump’s satellites, both new and old, a little better,” Wired has gone through the Amazon wishlists of Anthony Scaramucci, Sebastian Gorka, and Felix Sater. Items desired by these men include velour sweatpants, Against the State: An Anarcho-Capitalist Manifesto, and Cesar Milan’s Be the Pack Leader: Use Cesar’s Way to Transform Your Dog . . . and Your Life. When reached for comment, the men refused to take ownership of the lists. “Are you are kidding me,” Sater asked. “Is Alan Funt from candid camera going to jump out of the bushes now?”
