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The main characters of Mad Men lined up behind a desk with one man seated at the desk

Episodia 2.4: Lessons in Creativity from “Mad Men”

Tonight the seventh and final season of “Mad Men” premieres on AMC. I’ve loved this show and the slow, magnetic swirl of 1960s Manhattan ever since the episode “Babylon” aired in 2007. The entire series might be considered in terms of the opening credits we’ve all grown familiar with: a man in a suit-silhouette of…

Get Real! Or Maybe Don’t Get Real? A Conversation with Lincoln Michel (Part 2)

Get Real! Or Maybe Don’t Get Real? A Conversation with Lincoln Michel (Part 2)

Recently, on social media, Gigantic magazine editor Lincoln Michel questioned the label of “realism.” I write “realism,” and I’m branching into other genres, so I introduced myself and asked a few more questions. Our conversation, conducted over e-mail, spanned several days, topics, and now two blog entries for Ploughshares. Lincoln Michel’s fiction appears in Tin House, Electric Literature, Unstuck, NOON,…

Get Real! Or Maybe Don’t Get Real? A Conversation with Lincoln Michel (Part 1)

Get Real! Or Maybe Don’t Get Real? A Conversation with Lincoln Michel (Part 1)

Recently, on social media, Gigantic magazine editor Lincoln Michel questioned the label of “realism.” I write “realism,” and I’m branching into other genres, so I introduced myself and asked a few more questions. Our conversation, conducted over e-mail, spanned several days, topics, and (starting today) will also span two blog entries here at Ploughshares. Lincoln Michel’s fiction appears…

The Ploughshares Round-Down: Ditch the Publishing Gods

The Ploughshares Round-Down: Ditch the Publishing Gods

In mid-March, Time published the first ever in-depth interview with Jonathan “Jony” Ive, the Senior Vice President of Design at Apple. In it, Ive described the experience of working toward an excellent—and aesthetically pleasing—product: Steve and I spent months and months working on a part of a product that, often, nobody would ever see… We did it…

The Best Story I Read in a Lit Mag This Week: “Come to Bratislava!” by Benjamin Reed

The Best Story I Read in a Lit Mag This Week: “Come to Bratislava!” by Benjamin Reed

I knew I was into Benjamin Reed’s story “Come to Bratislava!” in Big Fiction when the main character, a forty-three year old man named Edgar, makes an observation about the phrase “You are my rock.” I’ve never liked this way of articulating someone’s importance and essentiality—hearing it uttered usually prompts an eye roll from me….