Books by Thomas Beller
How to Be a Man: Scenes from a Protracted Boyhood
From strip clubs to the Academy Awards to the basketball court―a ride through the landscape of guyhood. Acclaimed fiction writer Thomas Beller digs deep into his own history in this humorous and insightful collection about the state of masculinity. With sharp and engaging eloquence he discourses on T-shirts; being your mother's date at the Academy Awards; life at a bagel factory; the irrational pleasures of old American cars―and the mysterious disappearance of the author's own particular vehicle from a street in downtown Manhattan; love, sex, and breakups in an office environment; the social ecology of street basketball―including the sudden peril befalling a particular court in Manhattan and the heartwarming efforts of previously disparate community members to save it; coaches; the death of a parent; getting over J. D. Salinger; and an attempt to build a complicated piece of furniture for a beloved. Through stints as a bike messenger, a drummer, a boyfriend and―possibly, potentially, finally―a husband, Beller writes about the life-changing effects of love and marriage―past, present, and future.
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Lost and Found: Stories from New York (Mr. Beller's Neighborhood)
True stories from the Naked City―a tour of the subterranean psyche of New York. Acclaimed fiction writer Thomas Beller culls a new volume of essays, vignettes, and tales of the city from the literary Web site Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, one of the premier venues for the urban sketch on the Internet.
Lost and Found, Volume II of the series, is a mosaic of voices, drawing on the diverse experiences of such New Yorkers as a frequent patron of Manhattan sex clubs, a diamond dealer on 47th Street, and a doorman on the Upper East Side. The book features many exciting new voices (Said Sayrafiezadeh, Rachel Sherman, Bryan Charles) alongside work by well-known writers, including Phillip Lopate, Jonathan Ames, Alicia Erian, Madison Smartt Bell, and Edmund White.
Taken together, the essays, reportage, and vignettes in Lost and Found are a testament to the vitality, diversity, and complexity of New York City, a reflection of the churning thoughts, wishes, and fantasies of the myriad faces on the city’s streets.
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With Love and Squalor: 13 Writers Respond to the Work of J.D. Salinger
Reading The Catcher in the Rye has become a rite of passage for young Americans, landing the book on bestseller lists (and banned book lists) each year, even though it was published a half century ago. What is it about J. D. Salinger and his body of work that has left such a lasting mark on American fiction? And who better to answer that question than the current generation of writers?
Here are fourteen of the most vital voices in the contemporary American fiction scene pulling no punches in response to a writer who continues to beguile, charm, fascinate, and frustrate generations of readers. Contributors Walter Kirn, Ren? Steinke, Charles D’Ambrosio, Emma Forrest, Aleksander Hemon, Lucinda Rosenfeld, Amy Sohn, John McNally, Karen E. Bender, Thomas Beller, Benjamin Anastas, Aimee Bender, Joel Stein, and Jane Mendelsohn turn themselves inside out as they discuss their personal reactions to reading Salinger classics–not only The Catcher in the Rye but also Franny and Zooey, Raise High the Roofbeams, Carpenters, and the short stories–and explore, with begrudging gratitude, how Salinger helped to form the deepest reaches of their literary imaginations.
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Open City Magazine, Vol. 29
With a bold, risk-taking spirit and an uncanny knack for finding vibrant, original voices, Open City features today’s best new fiction, poetry, and essays from emerging and established talents. Past issues have featured Mary Gaitskill, David Foster Wallace, Rick Moody, Denis Johnson, Irvine Welsh, and David Berman. Known for launching the careers of a dynamic range of new writers, the magazine presents a fascinating portrait of a literary generation in the making: Sam Lipsyte, Lara Vapnyar, Martha McPhee, and Rachel Sherman all began their careers with publications in Open City. By hosting many readings and events in New York City and nationwide, Open City is true to its name—an open and growing community of writers and readers. Contributions to Open City frequently appear in The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Poetry, The Best Creative Nonfiction, and Best Nonrequired Reading. Open City #29 includes new fiction from Sam Lipsyte, Christopher Sorrentino, Thorpe Moeckel, and Michael McGrath, as well as poetry by James Schuyler and Derek Walcott.
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Open City #12: Equivocal Landscape
by Ford Madox Ford, Daniel Pinchbeck, Daphne Beal, Thomas Beller, Hunter Kennedy, Joanna Yas, Lewis Cole, Paula Bomer, Mungo Thomson, Rachel Wetzsteon, Miranda Lichtenstein
The most important new literary journal to emerge since Granta, Open City has published some of the best work by major writers and artists such as Mary Gaitskill, Denis Johnson, Jeff Koons, David Foster Wallace, Irvine Welsh, Terry Southern, Patrick McCabe, Sam Lipsyte, and David Berman. Edited by the writers Thomas Beller and Daniel Pinchbeck, and originally published by the late Robert Bingham, writing from Open City has been included in many prestigious anthologies, including Best American Short Stories and The Pushcart Prize. Known for launching the careers of today's best new writers, the editors are also committed to printing important unpublished work by writers from past eras, such as Richard Yates, Delmore Schwartz, Jim Thompson, Cyril Connolly, Edvard Munch, and Gregor von Rezzori. With its innovative and daring mix of the old and the new, Open City combines undiscovered writing by classic authors with a fascinating portrait of a literary generation in the making. Open City #12 includes "After the Wall," a special section on Berlin's new generation of fiction writers; a story by Lewis Cole on the end of radicalism; and debut fiction by Sam Brumbaugh and Heather Lorimer. This issue features a previously unpublished story by Ford Maddox Ford.
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They're at It Again: An Open City Reader
This anthology features the best stories from the first twenty years of Open City magazine, including works by an array of debut and established writers. Featured pieces are: "Uncertain Times," the beginning of an unfinished work by Richard Yates, a fictional account of his time as a speech writer for Robert Kennedy; "The Egg Man" by Scott Smith (author of A Simple Plan); "High Wire" by Robert Stone"; "Eurotrash" by Irvine Welsh, which was his debut publication in the US and has since not appeared in any other publication; "17 Quai Voltaire," an essay by Paul Bowles that has also not appeared elsewhere. Other featured writers whose stories marked their debut publications are: Sam Lipsyte, Vestal McIntyre, Lara Vapnyar, and Martha McPhee. Other highlights: stories by Mary Gaitskill, A. M. Homes, Bruce Jay Friedman, Jonathan Ames, and Christopher Sorrentino.
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