The Way of It

by Richard Weems

Originally published on January 1, 2011

For fifteen years, I have trained to kill the old man. I am good with a knife and can ooze my way through a dark room, but there is a ritual to uphold, the ritual the old man learned from his teacher.

Sitting Danny Rolling

by Richard Weems

Originally published on January 4, 2002

I hung in the folds,
too new to the area to chance grazing the fields alone. This was home of the Grand Poobah of
the nation’s largest chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. This was gator country.

Nothing Personal

reviewed by Richard Weems

Originally published on April 1, 2001

There is promise for Jason Starr, but this book doesn’t quite get in touch with it yet. In what is supposedly a noir-thriller setting, one encounters David Sussman, a successful advertising agent with (of course) a less-than-successful personal life. He never sees his daughter, his trophy wife is in the binges of an eating disorder, [...]

Michael

reviewed by Richard Weems

Originally published on January 1, 2001

Stephen is a dreary character who mainly stares at the wall and thinks, a pastime that even Andy Warhol would quickly find tedious.

Rules of Torture

by Richard Weems

Originally published on November 1, 2000

Writing is serious play, but it is most certainly play. Dare yourself to do something in your work that you’ve never done before.

Dangerous Theater

by Richard Weems

Originally published on July 1, 1999

Richard Weems explores the unconventional art that challenges our very assumptions of performance and our part in it – even as spectator.

I’m Available to Edit the New Yorker

by Richard Weems

Originally published on May 1, 1999

Now that Tina Brown’s out of the picture, Richard K. Weems finally gets his chance to edit one of America’s oldest literary magazines.

In the Moment of These Living Texts

by Richard Weems

Originally published on May 1, 1999

Are Keats and Pulp Fiction connected? You might be surprised by what Richard Weems has discovered.

Mercy

by Richard Weems

Originally published on May 1, 1999

I alight. My baseball cap placed on the seat cushion, though not before a brisk shake to avoid as much as humanly possible a rim-wide ring of wet where I am to eventually deposit myself into sitting position and face her once again. Here she is, she is here waiting, waiting she is, and to [...]

Violence

by Richard Weems

Originally published on April 1, 1999

Get ready to rumble, as Richard Weems tackles professional wrestling and the allure of violence as a spectator sport.