Tim Thornton's portrait of a pop culture obsession is so convincing that one can't help wishing that his fictional alt rock band actually existed, or suspecting that they did. The Alternative Hero is a weirdly compelling portrait of fanatic fandom which reads like High Fidelity at high volume.

A creative writing program is only as good as its teachers, and I was fortunate in having two great writers as mentors.

Your presence here is is only a matter of conducting an experiment in limits, reminding yourself of what you aren’t.

There is a type of writer that can happily bury themselves in the country and dig very deep, but I'm not like that.

Great minds sink alike, right?

I envy those writers who outline their novels, who know where they're going. But I find writing is a process of discovery.

You keep thinking that with practice you will eventually get the knack of enjoying superficial encounters, that you will stop looking for the universal solvent, stop grieving. You will learn to compound happiness out of small increments of mindless pleasure.