The Official Catalog of the Library of Potential Literature

by Ben Segal (Editor), Erinrose Mager (Editor)

This book is a catalog of textual desire, of wished-for and ideal books as described by a diverse collection of writers, critics, and text-makers. The maligned blurb form herein becomes, time and again, the entryway into unreadable books and the anticipation that comes before opening them.

"A tour de force of dust-jacket discourse! A torrid farce of rocking back-cover back-patting! . . . Or so I imagine, not yet having ventured into this flurry of blurbs for non-existent masterpieces, a fierce tear through conceptual imagination, an idea vibrating with enviable potential energy."
-Troy Patterson, book critic for NPR and The New York Times Book Review

CONTRIBUTORS:
Stephanie Barber, Ken Baumann, Matt Bell, Aimee Bender, Blake Butler, Teresa Carmody, Brian Allen Carr, Alexandra Chasin, Irene Ruiz Dacal, Susan Daitch, Jeremy M. Davies, Craig Dworkin, Brian Evenson, Camellia Freeman, Adam Golaski, Elizabeth Graver, Amelia Gray, Evelyn Hampton, Sean Higgins, Christopher Higgs, Lily Hoang, David Hollander, Gregory Howard, Laird Hunt, Greg Hunter, Shelley Jackson, Harold Jaffe, Jac Jemc, Shane Jones, Bhanu Kapil, Lee Klein, Evan Lavender-Smith, Todd Lerew, Samuel Ligon, Robert Lopez, Sean Lovelace, John Madera, Jess Malmed, Peter Markus, Michael Martone, Stephen Matanle, Ben Mirov, Warren Motte, David Ohle, Lance Olsen, Derek Pell, Tom Phillips, Vanessa Place, Brian Reed, Mallory Rice, Tom Roberge, Adam Robinson, Kevin Sampsell, Davis Schneiderman, Brittani Sonnenberg, Lynne Tillman, J. A. Tyler, Jane Unrue, Diane Williams, Tristram Q. Wing, Joseph Young, Mike Young

Genres: Literary Fiction

88 pages, Paperback

First published January 29, 2011

Reviews

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really fun mix of fake blurbs for fake books by fake writers. Actually, no--the writers are real and quite good. There's a nice range of playful, meta, goofball, zonkers, straight-faced, and stanky wacktitude. My faves are by Lee Klein, Derek Pell, Ben Mirov, Mallory Rice, Robert Lopez, Sean Lovelace, Jac Jemc, Jesse Malmed, and Mike Young. I wrote one too. I'm surprised Jesus Christ didn't write one. He'd probably be good at it.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was perfect for its motivation. I started it, and then kept it by my bedside and read a little of it some nights. I finished it this afternoon because I am between books. It's good for that-- like I would treat a book of essays or a book of poetry, as a "side book" to read some here and some there. This book is full of a special kind of imagination.

[Lee Klein · Rating 5 out of 5]

I contributed something about two old friends who get together each year to eat each other. In today's oft-untrustworthy blurby book world, a book of blurbs of books that only potentially exist is a great idea. This book's also worth it for the Michael Martone bio, plus 20+ pages of contributor notes . . .