Synopses & Reviews
"James Greer is one of the nimblest and most multilayered American fiction writers."Dennis Cooper, author of Ugly Man
"James Greer writes within the grand tradition of American postmodern, pessimistic, philosophic geniuses. . . . He unites sly humor, erudition, and a certain classical cast of mind, as aware of Heraclitus as he is of Teenage Fanclub. These stories are remarkable. They're also a total freaking blast."Mathew Specktor, author of American Dream Machine, senior editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books
Everything Flows is the first collection of short fiction by novelist, screenwriter, and musician James Greer. Greer mixes anachronistic pseudo-history and unserious/serious digressions into pop culture, pop physics, pop philosophy, and pop music, to arrive at something both universal in scope and intensely personal, twisting language into sometimes-strange shapes to devise new ways of looking at familiar things.
Everything Flows also features color collages by Guided by Voices frontman Robert Pollard. Besides being known as one of underground music's most prolific songwriters, Pollard's irrepressible creativity has been an off-the-charts voice for a love-struck generation.
James Greer is the author of the novels Artificial Light (Little House on the Bowery/Akashic Books, 2006) and The Failure (Akashic Books, 2010), and the nonfiction book Guided By Voices: A Brief History (Grove Press, 2005). He's written or co-written movies for Lindsay Lohan, Jackie Chan, Benicio Del Toro, and Steven Soderbergh. He plays guitar and sings in a new band called Détective after the Jean-Luc Godard film of that name.
Review
"James Greer is one of the nimblest and most multilayered American fiction writers."
Dennis Cooper, author of Ugly Man
"Every word matters, even the wildest stories scarcely seeming as though they could be otherwise. Usually this sort of free-associative reverie is called 'strange' or 'playful,' but Greer's lyrical erudition is both serious work and seriously fun. Halfway between the mind of God and a vivid dream, Everything Flows is proof that there remain new places to go, both on paper and in the known universe."
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"James Greer writes within the grand tradition of American postmodern, pessimistic, philosophic geniuses. Like William Gass or Guy Davenport, he unites sly humor, erudition, and a certain classical cast of mind, as aware of Heraclitus as he is of Teenage Fanclub. These stories are remarkable. Theyre also a total freaking blast."
Mathew Specktor, author, American Dream Machine, senior editor, Los Angeles Review of Books
"Dazzling, swirling, ridiculous and disconcerting. James Greer doesn't follow paths, he's a thing of the air."
Ben Loory, author of Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day
Synopsis
Experimental stories by novelist and musician James Greer accompanied by the surreal art of Guided by Voices frontman Robert Pollard.
Synopsis
Everything Flows is the first collection of short fiction by novelist and screenwriter James Greer. The eighteen stories range from short and surreal to long and surreal, but all share a consistency of intent: to fracture traditional narrative tropes and reassemble the shards into coherent, if occasionally undulant and meandering forms (see: the title).
Synopsis
Everything Flows is the first collection of short fiction by novelist and screenwriter James Greer. The nineteen stories range from short and surreal to long and surreal, but all share a consistency of intent: to fracture traditional narrative tropes and reassemble the shards into coherent, if occasionally undulant and meandering forms (see: the title). Greer mixes anachronistic pseudo-history and unserious/serious digressions into pop culture, pop physics, pop philosophy and pop music (see: the title), to arrive at something both universal in scope and intensely personal, twisting language(s) into sometimes-strange shapes to devise new ways of looking at familiar things.
Everything Flows also features the art of Guided by Voices front man Robert Pollard. Besides being known as one of today's most prolific song-writers, Mr. Pollard's irrespressible creativity has been an inspiration to many. His stunning color collages make a fantastic compliment to Greer's writing.
About the Author
James Greer is the author of the novels Artificial Light(LHotB/Akashic 2006) and The Failure (Akashic 2010), and the non-fiction book Guided By Voices: A Brief History (Grove Press), a biography of a band for which he played bass guitar. Hes written or co-written movies for Lindsay Lohan, Jackie Chan, and Steven Soderbergh, among others. He is a Contributing Editor for the Los Angeles Review of Books, and plays guitar and sings in a new band called Détective after the Godard film of that name.