Any time you can get your hands on a novel that’s set in your old hometown, hey, it’s all right by me. A paean to the concrete jungles and restless people of Los Angeles, The Book of Want by Daniel Olivas will have you salivating for carne asada tacos at Grand Central Market on South Broadway, scampering across campus at UCLA, cutting through thick traffic on the 405, even visiting witches in Jalisco, Mexico. Beyond setting, though, I love Want for being a novel that takes risks with form, point-of-view, and characterization. I love that the character Moises levitates and that his co-character Conchita gets turned on by it. I love that Manuel and Carmen prefer Sam Adams beer. Carefully crafted and provocative, The Book of Want is nothing less than a celebration of human desire in all its forms.

Daniel Olivas was kind enough to answer a few questions about writing his first novel, his influences, and his experimentations with form. So sit back, relax, get to know him. And like the novel suggests when dating a flying Mexican: “Do not forget to breathe.”

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After a brief hiatus the Dark Sky Podcast has returned! This time, your humble hosts are interviewing Robert Yune, editor of The Fourth River, about his story “Dear Katie” forthcoming from The Wascana Review. For added flavor, we make Robert answer all of his questions while playing Bit.Trip Runner, a notoriously difficult Wii game.

We also highlight Amber Sparks’ wonderful story “Until Your Carcass Hits the Canvas” published right here at DSM along with Nick Spencer and Christian Ward’s brand new comic book Infinite Vacation. There’s a lot of drunken gushing over Amber. And many unnecessary explanations of how we got into comics (or didn’t).

And of course, there’s a running commentary track for Weekend at Bernie’s II starting with Part 2 of the podcast. Just fire up this cinema classic on Netflix Instant Watch and sync it up. Mostly, it’s people yelling, “Bernie! Fucking Bernie!”

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“You’ve got to know your limitations. I don’t know what your limitations are. I found out what mine were when I was twelve. I found out that there weren’t too many limitations, if I did it my way.”

Bad to the Bone, baby. All of these.

From all of us at DSM: Happy (belated) B-Day, George.

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Ebooks aren’t romantic. Hell, they’re downright intimidating. Romance is a touch of finely sliced paper. It’s that touch of the tongue to the fingertip, sticking the page for the turn. Valentine’s Day was ten days ago. That’s why I’m directing all of my love toward a nice paperback. Some days, when I look at the streets, littered with used tea bags, I crawl into bed and flip on my bedside light — the original electronic. But shit, these days,  I don’t even have to read The Great Gatsby in order to stay in the game. Naturally my lament is partially associated with the symbolism of the downfall of Borders. Publishers are certainly saddened by this loss of revenue and the increased bargaining power of Barnes & Noble, Amazon, et. al. The Washington Post took things a step further when they introduced the flashiest of flash fiction – three sentence novels describing the bookseller’s demise. Three sentences? That’s too much reading; I think they mean 140 characters: blogs are getting replaced by Twitter. Don’t like reviews, Tweeted or otherwise? Now you can sue. Unfortunately, Sarah Palin won’t grasp the irony when she sues her former aide for his tell-all on her. Usage dictionaries are irrelevant, but somehow they’re holding on. Damn you, information age.