Wednesday, October 8, 2008

JP Gritton ancillary

While we have the archives opened up...

If you enjoy today's JP Gritton story, which seems to have a little bit of that early Spencer Dew city-sex in it, here's a link to an older story of his we ran in November 07, which has a completely different feel to it:

One Time an English Man Drunk in Mexico.

If the topic of Anglo artists fleeing to Mexico is close to your heart like it is mine, this story should hold your interest.

Gritton strikes me as a writer to watch. It's not often we get to publish writers with journalism credentials, likely because they're used to being paid for their writing, but I like working with them. Their style tends to be tighter, their narratives more coherent, they're more open to being edited, and maybe because they're escaping the confines of their day job, they seem to be having more fun.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

There's no doubt that Gritton was having fun in this piece. Well I don't know if you would call it fun or just real life in the light, which always turns out into irony, humor, and truth. I'm definitely going to have to check out the Anglo in Mexico. The story of my day to day life. I'm looking forward to hearing more from this kid and his takes on curiousity killing the cat.

Unknown said...

I don't know how a writer can simultaneously be as painfully blunt and beautifully descriptive as JP Gritton, but somehow he does it, and in a refreshingly original voice. I would love to see more of Gritton's work- he makes the awkward realities of human existence and interaction somehow endearing. And, fortunately for his readers, extremely entertaining.

Anonymous said...

wow, these chicks are very articulate in their appreciation for Gritton's stuff. A little too articulate..?
Anyhoo, damn fine writing from this guy.

Anonymous said...

Gritton's paranoid hyperreality, relayed through the lens of a playful narration, exposes the reader to a vivid and insurmountable chaos evident in the changing of the seasons and fruitlessness of the absurd. I prefer this story to his first, and am looking forward to his next.

Jed said...

I always feel returned to my ground, to my roots after I read one of his stories, I feel like my world is moving forward, but with respect to the past. What I'm saying is that I feel like he recognizes and respects a certain sub-cannon of Americana, and pushes on the characters of that genre to create something new. especially the Drunk in Mexico piece, or anything of his that deals with expatriotism.

Anonymous said...

Is this is a joke? The first two comments I could believe but then these last two?

"paranoid hyperreality"?

"a certain sub-cannon of Americana"?

Is this a competition to see who can write the most pretentious comment on a story?

Anonymous said...

Gritton is truly the poet of apprehension. His prose reveals the dark underbelly of American society. This story manages to combine the light hearted tone and asinine humor of "House Party 4" with the suffering and depravity of "Weekend At Bernie's 2".

Anonymous said...

Reading this story made me feel like I totally just got served.

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