The Brooklyn Rail

Happiness is a Short-Short

By Justin Courter

“Short-shorts” seems to be the common term used for works of the length of those that appear in Helen Phillips’s debut collection. Each piece in And Yet They Were Happy is about half the length of this review.

In Conversation

JOHNNY TEMPLE with Justin Courter

In 1996, with money from his band’s record deal with a major label, Johnny Temple founded Akashic Books and published The Fuck Up, a novel by Arthur Nersesian. It’s been almost a decade since then, but don’t think for a second Akashic has mellowed into a more genteel version of its gutsy original incarnation—or forgotten the F-word.

Just Try Quitting Hollywood

By Justin Courter

What’s eating Ardennes Thrush? An award-winning actress, she’s worked relentlessly to get where she is in Hollywood—and then she quits. Right when the world becomes her oyster, Ardennes clams up. She spends her time ruminating in a hotel room while her husband, a famous director, is out on location struggling to keep his most recent project on track.