Tuesday's Literary Briefing

Welcome to Vashon, Drew Geer!

Contributing editor Andrew Geer is visiting us on Vashon Island this week. He’s had a whirlwind trip. On Friday he left Charleston, SC, for Brooklyn. There, he slogged hours at Yankee stadium — obsequiously requesting security men to take his photo — and then chatted up DSM with his fellow New College alumni. Next day he took a red-eye to the great Northwest. We are happy to report that he’s safe and sound, now snoring on our futon. We welcome visitors here, as we do good reads. Speaking of which, we’ve lined up a starting rotation that’s sure to produce.  The Rumpus has the literary lowdown on book publishing PR. George Bush is chastised in — shocker! – The New York Review of Books. We know Plato was a learned man. But what does that mean for current gaming enthusiasts? Find out more in Ideas and Argument. A former policeman is the new hero in a book that scorns Hemingway, the line of American poverty is dusted over, and Dan Brown is like a kid on Christmas. Only now he’s about to rake in millions of dollars instead of a loose nugget of tinsel. Finally, Leonard Michaels, the great short story writer and master of Berkeley mischief, has released a book of essays. Will they hold up to his fiction? We’ll have to wait and see. Till then, it’s Vashon 1. Andrew 0. — Kevin Murphy

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