Fiona Maazel Madness

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March is over, and soon no one will care about your NCAA bracket (chances are no one did anyway). Fortunately, it is now officially the season of Fiona Maazel and she’s pretty much taken over Electric Literature on all fronts this week.

Over at Recommended Reading, Fiona guest edits and introduces “Pu-239” by Ken Kalfus. Here’s a highlight from her introduction: “Just a few weeks ago, I saw Obama on 60 Minutes say that when he took office, the first thing Bob Gates told him was to remember that at this moment, somewhere, somehow, someone in the federal government was screwing up. Which reminder asserted two things: One, that the president will always have someone else to blame, in essence: that deniability is king, and two, that incompetence is the currency most responsible for the buying and selling of our future. Want to know more? Read “Pu-239.””

Here on The Outlet, Judson Merrill reviews Fiona’s new novel Woke Up Lonely, which he calls “a grotesque full of emotional hunchbacks and crippled hearts” (in a good way, of course).

And tonight IRL, we’re co-sponsoring Fiona’s book launch at powerHouse. There will be a short movie, a short reading, food, drink, and Fiona. What more do you need?

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 — Benjamin Samuel is the co-editor of Electric Literature and a disciple of Fiona Maazel. You can find him preaching her gospel here.

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