Alexander Sorondo

Revolution Man On Mark Z. Danielewski, His Unfinished Novel, and His Father's Ghost(s)

The Metropolitan Review just published my 15,000-word investigative piece about #houseofleaves author @markzdanielewski.bsky.social, his 27-volume novel THE FAMILIAR, and offers the first profile of his father, the cult filmmaker, Tad Danielewski
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Bummer he's gotta point out that latter part as a feature but I appreciate the sentiment.

Michael! Of course I remember you! I've been a die hard Franzen fan for 15 years and you're still the last person I discussed him with lol

Thank you for the kind words! What are you up to these days?

Thanks for saying so, and for sharing the piece!

Thanks for saying so! And kudos to you for taking an hour or so to read a lengthy piece about an author you weren't familiar with--we should all be so open minded

Just glad I kept you reading, Matthew. Thanks for sharing the article!

"Fantastica" means good

Thank you so much!

Phrases like "staggeringly good" are disarming because (1) I've never written anything that gained a big readership, (2) this article pitch was rejected at least 30 times

Thank you so much for the kind words! I appreciate you reading and sharing my article!

Agreed--but there's a triumphant note, I think, in the fact that he's ultimately getting the book released the way he wants it to be.
Thanks for reading and sharing my piece!

Truly a gift to all.

Thanks for reposting my article, glad you're happy to hear the news!

The Last Contract William T. Vollmann's Battle to Publish an American Epic

For the past couple months I've been working on a story of William T. Vollmann's 3,000 page novel, TABLE FOR FORTUNE, and the tragic saga surrounding its publication.

It's long, but it's published, and I've never had a more rewarding experience as a writer.
open.substack.com/pub/metropol...

Musk Wastes Millions of Dollars on "Joke" Elon Musk, tasked with identifying wasteful/fraudulent government spending, burned untold millions of taxpayer dollars on a weekend stunt.

Elon Musk, enemy of wasteful government spending, created a multi-million dollar government crisis this weekend when he demanded every government employee send him an email explaining what they did last week.

On Monday he said it was a joke.
bigreaderbadgrades.substack.com/p/musk-waste...

The new iconic photo that i predicted ultimately destroys the relationship:

2-disc greatest hits album of Supertramp is one of the first i ever bought. I was 15. Loving one track and then getting tense when it switched to the next one. Started questioning my understanding of music if this was really a "greatest hit"...

I'd just finished reading the piece when I hopped on here and saw this. @foreignaffairs.com has been one of the most valuable/incisive sources of commentary on Trump's reign since inauguration day.

This piece gives a harrowing/feasible forecast of where we're headed.

I can’t believe the Supreme Court said the president was above the law and now the president is acting like he’s above the law.

Party of Law & Order: "Actually judges kinda suck?lol"

Kinda regretting those "Canadian Scientists & Venemous Lizards 4 Harris" signs...

The New Big Lies In a week of strong political coverage and commentary it seems the winner was Ezra Klein, podcaster and columnist at The New York Times, who published an essay-slash-monologue called “Don’t Believe Hi...

bigreaderbadgrades.substack.com/p/ezra-klein...

“[I]f cutting the federal government is what this is all about, then Trump and Musk wouldn't bother with U.S.A.I.D., whose budget of $40 billion is less than 1% of the government’s. The point is not a policy fight; it’s an execution. They are killing 1 agency to terrify 1,000 others.”—Susan Glasser

What ideas for Gatsby did he steal from Zelda?

There it is

Remarkable how many Democrats in these focus groups can easily imagine Oprah Winfrey ordering a drone strike.

My heart sang when I'd been writing daily political pieces on Substack for three or four months without a single Like or Comment--and suddenly, I got a notification.

Someone's reading!

Someone's responding!

Open it up and it's a commenter with a MAGA hat thumbnail: "Go fuck yourself"

Trump’s Orders Are Already Crumbling A first-week blitz of Project 2025's long-planned maneuvers gave the administration a false air of competence.

Commentary this week from Heather Cox Richardson and Yuval Levin shows that Donald Trump, in his third week of office isn't just succumbing to a White House cycle--he's showing how he's actually gotten worse at this job.
bigreaderbadgrades.substack.com/p/trumps-ord...

Did it strike you as a masterpiece or just kinda meh?