Clay McLeod Chapman is the author of the novels Whisper Down the Lane, The Remaking, and miss corpus, short story collections nothing untoward, commencement and rest area, as well as The Tribe middlegrade series: Homeroom Headhunters, Camp Cannibal and Academic Assassins.
His new novel is Ghost Eaters.
Recently I asked the author about what he was reading. Chapman's reply:
Right now I'm reading Josh Malerman's Pearl and I'm absolutely gobsmacked by its deceptive design. This is my third Malerman book and I have yet to read a book by him that doesn't blow my mind. I almost didn't pick up Pearl because for some asinine reason I thought it was too slight of aVisit Clay McLeod Chapman's website.concept to rock my world, but I was wrong. I'm admitting this, in public, because I feel like my shame should be addressed. Here's a book about a telepathic pig. How weird is that? What could possibly be so earth-shattering with that simplistic premise? But this is Malerman's Cujo. It's the simplicity of the premise that allows Malerman to tackle grander topics and bowl you over. There are no small stories, only small minds, and I'll cop to my own shortcomings and happily say Malerman proved me wrong. This book is epic.
The writing in Pearl is so clean. It flows. I wish I could write with Malerman's elegance. To say so much but say it economically... Every line feels necessary. There's no fat here, only poetry, and the poem being told is absolutely terrifying.
My Book, The Movie: The Remaking.
The Page 69 Test: The Remaking.
My Book, The Movie: Whisper Down the Lane.
Q&A with Clay McLeod Chapman.
The Page 69 Test: Whisper Down the Lane.
--Marshal Zeringue
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