Introducing "A Sharp Knife Is Safer"
A new writing project. Also, an audio version of "Zeno's Library"
“Zeno’s Library” adapted to audio
In November, my short story “Zeno’s Library,” about the unpopular acquisitions director of an infinite library, was adapted for audio by Ross Sutherland on the podcast Imaginary Advice. Ross’s voice was in my head when I wrote the story, and he’s added impeccable ambience, music, and effects. I consider this adaptation the story’s canonical form.
A new project
I read about 60 books last year, and one of my favorites was Exercises in Style, by Oulipo member Raymond Queneau. He tells the same unremarkable one-page story over a hundred times: backwards, in rhyming slang, highly opinionated, etc. Many versions are amusingly tedious, but much of the book serves as a set of paint swatches, or Brian Eno’s oblique strategies: a gallery of tricks and techniques you might apply to your own writing. Well, I’m applying the whole thing and writing my own exercises. I’m calling it “A Sharp Knife Is Safer.”
This year, for my own edification, I plan to write at least a hundred versions and spinoffs of the same tiny story. I’ll publish one per week in this newsletter. Here is the first.
A Sharp Knife Is Safer: minimum viable product
In the summer between high school and college, I sold kitchen knives from a catalog. I couldn't convince people to buy much, but I did convince myself these were the best knives at any price. I did get my mom to order a jackknife for my dad's birthday. It came in the mail; the package was in the car as my mom drove me to the airport for a church missions trip. In the passenger seat I opened up the knife to demonstrate the safety mechanism, and in the attempt I sliced open my palm. Next summer I sold donuts from behind a counter.
See you next week.