Dirk Stratton’s Last Will and Testament I, “Dirk,” being of sound mind (the body being in dispute, given my status as a fiction) in anticipation of that event that comes to us all, now set forth my last will and testament. If I die there will be little doubt that the responsible parties will include…

Unfathomably, We Won a Shit Load of Awards When the Anthology won the National Book Award, it was no big deal for us really. The Whitney did give us a certain satisfaction, admittedly. Of course, the Lannan was great, not that we needed the money, but it felt good. When the MacArthur people finally came…

How We Trashed the Hotel Room I remember this night. It was the crescendo of our spiral of self-destructive behavior. I don’t remember anything for weeks before, and the period afterward is a confused blur. Dirk had taken too much acid in too short a time, and required almost half a sheet to get off.…

Paris Miller Paris is exactly as Henry Miller described it. By the time we get to Paris I’m burning with passion and fire in my soul and turgidity in my loins and Frank is here he’s handling everything he’s handling my appearances he’s handling my publicity he’s even handling the women fate would throw my…

Public Health Transportation S: Are there trains that run from Chicago to Champaign? W: Ah, yeah. S: Are there any that run straight to your door? W: Ah, no. S: Why not? W: Because a whole lot of savvy businessmen have misplaced resources and put a lot of our resources go into developing cars. S:…

During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low, the Unknown had been passing together, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country in Maryland, and at length found themselves, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of…

Typing Test for Unknown Employment (Please complete in 5 minutes or when the person giving you the test returns.) When you are ready to look for your first job with the Unknown, you will realize that you need job leads with the Unknown and must know what is expected of you in the Unknown corporate…

Hypertext of the Unknown Everybody gets told to write about what they know. The trouble with many of us is that at the earlier stages of life we think we know everything—or to put it more usefully, we are often unaware of the scope and structure of our ignorance. Ignorance is not just a blank…

Billy Haskins is a mute boy who is loved very much by his parents. They care very much for him and they wish very deeply that no further harm should come to him. Billy’s parents know how little boys can be cruel, how they would make fun of the scars on Billy’s throat and his…

I’m looking forward to this month on Necessary Fiction, and I’m grateful to Steve Himmer for offering me the opportunity to be here. I have no idea what I’ll do with it. The title of the journal alone is deeply intimidating. I’m not sure I’ve written a necessary fiction in my life. Most of what…

This month we’ve prepared for bloat and prowlers and organ misplacement; we’ve looked at things lonesome and infamous and hallucinatory. I want to thank everyone for attending this all-you-can-read-and-see-and-listen with me, especially the writers and artists and teachers who shared their thoughts and words: Meghan Austin, Jac Jemc, Andrew Wickliffe, John Tanner, Mary Hamilton, Nate…

“We live in a world ruled by fictions of every kind—mass merchandising, advertising, politics conducted as a branch of advertising, the instant translation of science and technology into popular imagery, the increasing blurring and intermingling of identities within the realm of consumer goods, the preempting of any free or original imaginative response to experience by…