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Obscured. Imperceptible. Hidden in plain sight.
The world is rife with extraordinary musicians and artists, tirelessly dedicated to their crafts, who are buried beneath the buzz. We have long since learned that the best and most innovative creators do not cater to the lowest common denominator; instead, they are unflinching in their artistic visions--and, as a result, often found only by audiences that are determined to discover.
In "ALARM 38," amid scores of such devoted individuals, we meet: A Japanese-American master of the "Tsugaru-shamisen," splicing thrash metal with a consummate command of an ancient instrumentAn Australian tango-tinged lounge ensemble whose seamless amalgamations call upon spy music, Italian Western motifs, and Gypsy marchesA hard-hitting synth-rock trio that has survived in spite of--and likely due to--an intercontinental divideA group of New Yorkers who hold exhibitions in unsold condos, challenging the notion of what makes a proper art spaceA string trio beholden to the traditions of Americana and early African-American folk--but unafraid to transform a pop hit that perched atop the Billboard Top 100A grade-school language-arts teacher who makes hip hop for people who "know their Basquiat as well as their basketball." Beyond the echo-chamber blogosphere, these visionaries toil in relative obscurity, content to please themselves and anyone fortunate enough to cross their paths. ALARM is dedicated, more than ever, to presenting as many of these artisans as possible in each robust installment. If you're constantly in search of what you might be missing, let this be your guide.
A BRILLIANT NEW COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES FROM THE CONSPICUOUSLY TALENTED (TIME) RIVKA GALCHEN
Winner of the Danuta Gleed Literary AwardA New York Times Book Review Notable Book
Chosen as one of fifteen remarkable books by women that are shaping the way we read and write in the 21st century by the book critics of The New York Times In one of the intensely imaginative stories in Rivka Galchen's American Innovations, a young woman's furniture walks out on her. In another, the narrator feels compelled to promise to deliver a takeout order that has incorrectly been phoned in to her. In a third, the petty details of a property transaction illuminate the complicated pains and loves of a family.
The tales in this groundbreaking collection are secretly in conversation with canonical stories, reimagined from the perspective of female characters. Just as Wallace Stevens's Anecdote of the Jar responds to John Keats's Ode on a Grecian Urn, Galchen's The Lost Order covertly recapitulates James Thurber's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, while The Region of Unlikeness is a smoky and playful mirror to Jorge Luis Borges's The Aleph. The title story, American Innovations, revisits Nikolai Gogol's The Nose.
By turns realistic, fantastical, witty, and lyrical, these marvelously uneasy stories are deeply emotional and written in exuberant, pitch-perfect prose. Whether exploring the tensions in a mother-daughter relationship or the finer points of time travel, Galchen is a writer like none other today.