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30 Under 30: An Anthology of Innovative Fiction by Younger Writers
30 Under 30 is an anthology of thirty top young writers publishing fiction today. Editors Blake Butler and Lily Hoang have compiled a collection of thirty stories from these thirty writers—all creating work on the more innovative side of things; a great opportunity for a reader to dip into their various styles and see which authors to look for more from.
Includes work from authors such as Shane Jones (Light Boxes), Matt Bell (How They Were Found), Joshua Cohen (Witz), and Kathleen Rooney (Live Nude Girl) and twenty-six others breaking ground, many publishing with smaller publishers.
Includes work from authors such as Shane Jones (Light Boxes), Matt Bell (How They Were Found), Joshua Cohen (Witz), and Kathleen Rooney (Live Nude Girl) and twenty-six others breaking ground, many publishing with smaller publishers.
210 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2011
3 people are currently reading
209 people want to read
About the author
Blake Butler
73 books454 followersBlake Butler is the author of EVER, Scorch Atlas, and two books forthcoming in 2011 and 2012 from Harper Perennial. He edits 'the internet literature magazine blog of the future' HTML Giant. His other writing have appeared in The Believer, Unsaid, Fence, Dzanc's Best of the Web 2009. He lives in Atlanta.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
July 17, 2011
There are so many awesome authors in here! Am I saying that just because I'm in this book? No. But I am in here, too.
April 7, 2016
I drew some picture/words on/in this.
June 30, 2011
30 Under 30…
is a conglomeration of what makes those under 30 unique to their particular moment in time. These stories use as their inspiration everything from Super Mario Bros and Donkey Kong from the NES system released in 1985 to compu-speak, “languages that no one else knows or pretends to know.” When the under 30 generation opened itself to technology, there had to be error, and one story synthesizes faith with machine: “I am not the god you wanted but you already clicked send without double checking the address and these mistakes happen.” There’s something very present about references to reality. I once listened to an interview with Steve Tomasula where he commented that although it’s the 21st century, writes still have their characters twirling phone cords around their fingers and mailing letters. 30 Under 30 uses the technology it grew up with to propel storytelling into the present.
30 Under 30…
is a mysterious land that leaps into the absurd without testing the waters to confirm that they are safe. It’s not safe. Babies are definitely not safe. After a mother of 13 gives birth, a man (is it safe to call him a man?) climbs in through the window: “He shoves the lump of umbilical cord through his skinny lips and chews ponderously. Inside his mouth, his tongue curls rapturously over the morsel, relishing the coppery taste.” Okay, so who cares about an umbilical cord, right? But when one teenager at an amusement park takes multiple birth control pills each day, babies beware: “She walked by the teacups and, using only the supreme gravity of a uterus pumped with too many synthetic hormones, tore a six month-old boy from his umbrella stroller, snapping he plastic buckles from around his waist, sucking him toward her poisonous chamber.”
30 Under 30…
makes you fall in love with suspicion. One narrative folds inside, disorients, makes us question if we are driving in a car or falling down the rabbit hole: “You’re bleeding, shit, here, he says, dabbing at the gash in her head. I’m going to call an ambulance. After the thirtieth or fortieth ring, the ring tone becomes not a sound but a series of pauses between affirmations that he is, in fact, alive. During those pauses weeks might go by, months, a year, his skin becoming flakier, his arms fleshier, his bathroom moldy, his dishes congealed, bruises he can’t explain appearing on his body, then fading to greenish, then fading to flesh, then flaking off, accumulating in corners, his bodily flesh renewing itself despite his inner disintegration.” When the narrator cannot be trusted, we are left with nowhere to move but forward, led through a brief but amazing world. In a satire of colonialism, we learn that characters confuse purpose and loyalty while the narrator mixes up the details of the story: “And just like the heat that came gushing from room 311, agitated on by an enormous noisy floor fan, the former inhabitants of 311 rushed into 312 full tilt, which means really fast because (if one is so inclined) things set to their highest tilt settings are…fast? No, that’s not right. Things tilted forward move rapidly, much as if they were going down hill. Yeah, something like that. Only not that exactly. I think. Maybe…”
30 Under 30…
is a beautiful language that surprises. It doesn’t matter if the content is familiar—a high school boy doesn’t want to graduate as a virgin—because the way it is written begs to be read aloud: “That summer my parents hadn’t yet journeyed into the saw-toothed arena of their divorce; instead they tiptoed around it for some time, lingering hazily in the vague countryside beyond, the divided landscape of their relationship. Such was their loveless cohabitation: had they but noticed me, their young son, they might have prevented my stumbling into a similarly underwhelming failure. My then-girlfriend, a weak facsimile of a woman, liked her boyfriends weather-beaten and tired.” Even when I read the story of a sweet blond girl who enters the world of pornography, one that stretched my mouth into expressions of disgust and surprise, I couldn’t deny the elegant craftsmanship of the sentences: “Incurable rash that isn’t a rash. Red spots surface, spread over her ass in a constellation of sores. She is not the only one. She is the only one who retires. Every other year she retires, runs home. Hides. Sequestered. Quarantined, until she fills her prescription. Every other year, our beauty returns to the hills, the unforgettable hills to shoot and film and smile while strangers, en masse, take turns masturbating onto her face.”
30 Under 30…
is wireless…is off the hook…is sporting flannel…is talent—this anthology isn’t a collection of friends publishing friends, but a group already established as published writers, magazine editors, college professors, students in competitive writing programs, bloggers, and multi-media artists. I can only image how this collection would have inspired confidence and a sense of community, had it been available in my own creative writing courses. Hell, it still inspires, and rips like a Band-Aid, too.
is a conglomeration of what makes those under 30 unique to their particular moment in time. These stories use as their inspiration everything from Super Mario Bros and Donkey Kong from the NES system released in 1985 to compu-speak, “languages that no one else knows or pretends to know.” When the under 30 generation opened itself to technology, there had to be error, and one story synthesizes faith with machine: “I am not the god you wanted but you already clicked send without double checking the address and these mistakes happen.” There’s something very present about references to reality. I once listened to an interview with Steve Tomasula where he commented that although it’s the 21st century, writes still have their characters twirling phone cords around their fingers and mailing letters. 30 Under 30 uses the technology it grew up with to propel storytelling into the present.
30 Under 30…
is a mysterious land that leaps into the absurd without testing the waters to confirm that they are safe. It’s not safe. Babies are definitely not safe. After a mother of 13 gives birth, a man (is it safe to call him a man?) climbs in through the window: “He shoves the lump of umbilical cord through his skinny lips and chews ponderously. Inside his mouth, his tongue curls rapturously over the morsel, relishing the coppery taste.” Okay, so who cares about an umbilical cord, right? But when one teenager at an amusement park takes multiple birth control pills each day, babies beware: “She walked by the teacups and, using only the supreme gravity of a uterus pumped with too many synthetic hormones, tore a six month-old boy from his umbrella stroller, snapping he plastic buckles from around his waist, sucking him toward her poisonous chamber.”
30 Under 30…
makes you fall in love with suspicion. One narrative folds inside, disorients, makes us question if we are driving in a car or falling down the rabbit hole: “You’re bleeding, shit, here, he says, dabbing at the gash in her head. I’m going to call an ambulance. After the thirtieth or fortieth ring, the ring tone becomes not a sound but a series of pauses between affirmations that he is, in fact, alive. During those pauses weeks might go by, months, a year, his skin becoming flakier, his arms fleshier, his bathroom moldy, his dishes congealed, bruises he can’t explain appearing on his body, then fading to greenish, then fading to flesh, then flaking off, accumulating in corners, his bodily flesh renewing itself despite his inner disintegration.” When the narrator cannot be trusted, we are left with nowhere to move but forward, led through a brief but amazing world. In a satire of colonialism, we learn that characters confuse purpose and loyalty while the narrator mixes up the details of the story: “And just like the heat that came gushing from room 311, agitated on by an enormous noisy floor fan, the former inhabitants of 311 rushed into 312 full tilt, which means really fast because (if one is so inclined) things set to their highest tilt settings are…fast? No, that’s not right. Things tilted forward move rapidly, much as if they were going down hill. Yeah, something like that. Only not that exactly. I think. Maybe…”
30 Under 30…
is a beautiful language that surprises. It doesn’t matter if the content is familiar—a high school boy doesn’t want to graduate as a virgin—because the way it is written begs to be read aloud: “That summer my parents hadn’t yet journeyed into the saw-toothed arena of their divorce; instead they tiptoed around it for some time, lingering hazily in the vague countryside beyond, the divided landscape of their relationship. Such was their loveless cohabitation: had they but noticed me, their young son, they might have prevented my stumbling into a similarly underwhelming failure. My then-girlfriend, a weak facsimile of a woman, liked her boyfriends weather-beaten and tired.” Even when I read the story of a sweet blond girl who enters the world of pornography, one that stretched my mouth into expressions of disgust and surprise, I couldn’t deny the elegant craftsmanship of the sentences: “Incurable rash that isn’t a rash. Red spots surface, spread over her ass in a constellation of sores. She is not the only one. She is the only one who retires. Every other year she retires, runs home. Hides. Sequestered. Quarantined, until she fills her prescription. Every other year, our beauty returns to the hills, the unforgettable hills to shoot and film and smile while strangers, en masse, take turns masturbating onto her face.”
30 Under 30…
is wireless…is off the hook…is sporting flannel…is talent—this anthology isn’t a collection of friends publishing friends, but a group already established as published writers, magazine editors, college professors, students in competitive writing programs, bloggers, and multi-media artists. I can only image how this collection would have inspired confidence and a sense of community, had it been available in my own creative writing courses. Hell, it still inspires, and rips like a Band-Aid, too.
December 20, 2011
The title alone tells me that I may be too old for this by about a decade, but I jumped into it eagerly. And discovered I'm a lot dumber and decidedly less hip than I had hoped.
Edited by Blake Butler and Lily Hoang
The key is "innovative" and it really delivers on that end...the short stories that make up this collection bend all the rules, if not shattering them entirely. Metaphysical thought mixes with concrete metaphors, and the result feels inspired and youthful, even if it all doesn't make sense. Much of it went over my head, like hearing only the punch line of a joke and nodding amiably but cluelessly while everyone shrieks with laughter.
However, there is some dazzling writing here, and three I specifically want to mention, because they all lie outside the typical expectations about "good writing" may be. For one thing, the iconic story of Robin Hood and his Merry Men gets an experimental twist in "When Robin Hood Fell with An Arrow Through His Heart" by Todd Seabrook. The gang falls apart after Robin's death, not able to even kill themselves with their own arrows, despite trying. "The form starts to go when it hasn't been used," warns Seabrook. Having reached nearly the half-way point in the anthology, I couldn't help but think Seabrook was commenting on the very lack of variety and inventiveness in other forms of writing today, suggesting its "form" has already started to go from lack of innovation.
Joshua Cohen proves himself the master of killer lines in his part of the anthology, with seven short pieces all made visual and distinct with tight and compact wording. "On Location" delivers the line "It is a common problem in our cities today -- When you don't know you're in a movie that you're in." After the unknown director repeatedly coaches the good-natured resident, not an actor, on how he wants the scene played, he finally tells him "Just do what you did. You were so much better before." This idea of playing along with a different reality and having the simple images of role-playing and direction juxtaposed, Cohen has created an amazing sense of truth to an unreal scene in just a few sentences, and concludes with the image of "a woman so vain she wants to look good even for the surveillance cameras."
My favorite of the anthology isn't even narrative; it's a instructional/inspirational piece by Adam Good, entitled "Guided Walks". In this he describes what can be taken from meta-guided walks, and how the randomness of phrases and word blends can create a new direction or seed of thought. With supporting charts as documentation, he shows how reading, walking, or visiting with another person (or all combined) can create a new vocabulary that feels more real and vibrant than one expects. Something along the lines of what Amazon used to call "statistically improbable" phrases that become a signature of a work. Mixing and musing become an exercise in creativity, but giving a starting point for a potential writer rather than an empty prompt.
The entire collection is quirky and bold, but it's in no way childish or immature. From it's elementary-school picture day cover to the variety of ways text is manipulated, the collection offers a valid and respectable perspective of creative writing that is likely hidden from mainstream writing venues. Margins, backgrounds, formatting: all are subject to experimentation, with one entry by Zach Dobson actually looking exactly like a Mead Composition book that he filled in during homeroom. While I admit much of it was outside my realm of imagination, I loved the concept of changing or questioning the status quo of what can be considered creative writing, and making something solid and real that can endure as well something more traditional and mainstream.
Edited by Blake Butler and Lily Hoang
The key is "innovative" and it really delivers on that end...the short stories that make up this collection bend all the rules, if not shattering them entirely. Metaphysical thought mixes with concrete metaphors, and the result feels inspired and youthful, even if it all doesn't make sense. Much of it went over my head, like hearing only the punch line of a joke and nodding amiably but cluelessly while everyone shrieks with laughter.
However, there is some dazzling writing here, and three I specifically want to mention, because they all lie outside the typical expectations about "good writing" may be. For one thing, the iconic story of Robin Hood and his Merry Men gets an experimental twist in "When Robin Hood Fell with An Arrow Through His Heart" by Todd Seabrook. The gang falls apart after Robin's death, not able to even kill themselves with their own arrows, despite trying. "The form starts to go when it hasn't been used," warns Seabrook. Having reached nearly the half-way point in the anthology, I couldn't help but think Seabrook was commenting on the very lack of variety and inventiveness in other forms of writing today, suggesting its "form" has already started to go from lack of innovation.
Joshua Cohen proves himself the master of killer lines in his part of the anthology, with seven short pieces all made visual and distinct with tight and compact wording. "On Location" delivers the line "It is a common problem in our cities today -- When you don't know you're in a movie that you're in." After the unknown director repeatedly coaches the good-natured resident, not an actor, on how he wants the scene played, he finally tells him "Just do what you did. You were so much better before." This idea of playing along with a different reality and having the simple images of role-playing and direction juxtaposed, Cohen has created an amazing sense of truth to an unreal scene in just a few sentences, and concludes with the image of "a woman so vain she wants to look good even for the surveillance cameras."
My favorite of the anthology isn't even narrative; it's a instructional/inspirational piece by Adam Good, entitled "Guided Walks". In this he describes what can be taken from meta-guided walks, and how the randomness of phrases and word blends can create a new direction or seed of thought. With supporting charts as documentation, he shows how reading, walking, or visiting with another person (or all combined) can create a new vocabulary that feels more real and vibrant than one expects. Something along the lines of what Amazon used to call "statistically improbable" phrases that become a signature of a work. Mixing and musing become an exercise in creativity, but giving a starting point for a potential writer rather than an empty prompt.
The entire collection is quirky and bold, but it's in no way childish or immature. From it's elementary-school picture day cover to the variety of ways text is manipulated, the collection offers a valid and respectable perspective of creative writing that is likely hidden from mainstream writing venues. Margins, backgrounds, formatting: all are subject to experimentation, with one entry by Zach Dobson actually looking exactly like a Mead Composition book that he filled in during homeroom. While I admit much of it was outside my realm of imagination, I loved the concept of changing or questioning the status quo of what can be considered creative writing, and making something solid and real that can endure as well something more traditional and mainstream.
October 3, 2011
okay notes I wrote in the book next to the contributor names to remember who I liked.
Danielle adair: alright not great, a fine story
angi becker stevens: interesting would be good as a novelist I think
matt bell: Fucking fantastic. WANT. geeked out story about jumpman!!!
kristina born: very good. buy about how we interface with the world, like Tao lin.
ryan call: interesting everyone but me vibe, a fun story.
joshua cohen: very cool, pretty writing, interesting ideas, about hidden magic.
beth couture: very cool sideshow/nobody/why can't I fit in ambivalence.
ian davisson: he isn't credited for having written any of the stories in the collection I don't know why his bio is in the book.
zach dodson: I didn't know he launched featherproof. But I like it this is not a surprise. (boring, boring, boring guy)
ryan downey: interesting amelia grey everyday life shorts
jaclyn dwyer: palahniukesque, proud of sleeze. an inside, but a happy moment.
andrew farkas: reminds me of work about conflict and misunderstanding lack of identity.
Elisa gabbert: see Rooney
rachel glaser: interesting reads like pretty basic gay fiction. nice but not special
adam good: postmodern poetry. I don't get it.
devin gribbons: very good meta about how to write a story and the meaning of the author.
evelyn hamptom: very cool sort of blake butler like in fact very very similar to there is no year
shane jones: duh fantastic. nice magical realism.
sean kilpatrick: poetic random, good in an amelia format
andrea kneeland: very good I like it interesting character holes
christina kloess: reminds me of shane jones interesting bizarro tint.
rebecca jean kraft: good kind of like bucket of tongues of suburban pornography, literary, smart.
michael j lee: very very good. emotional but distanced. BUY
conor robin madigan: interesting ideas nothing sticks out as special but worth looking at.
megan milks: nice. good. bizarro vibe. about family, life, has a moral
brian oliu: very much of the life vs. technology vein and how we separate them would read more
kathleen rooney: with gabbert. very cool, joycesque, poetic word play like it very much
joanna ruocco: alright has the "look at me" aspect of palahniuk's writing would be better with less focus on shock factor and more on character.
todd seabrook: very cool, strange formating, cool story of disconnection and confusion.
michael stewart: very nice good distance/perspective, interesting ideas.
james yeh: writing moments a fit more detailed than amelia gray. true to life.
mike young: really good palahniukesque writing grimy but relational
didn-t-couldn-t-or-wouldn-t-finish
July 31, 2011top 10 words from first paragraphs:
1. "crock-pot" by ryan downey
2. "glopping" by rebecca jean kraft
3. "disbiotic" by kathleen rooney and elisa gabbert
4. "tarpaulin" by mike young
5. "pretzel" by sean kilpatrick
6. "genetically" by rachel b. glaser
7. "clouds" by shane jones
8. "fuzzy" by christina kloess
9. "esconced" by andrew farkas
10. "affix" by joshua cohen
1. "crock-pot" by ryan downey
2. "glopping" by rebecca jean kraft
3. "disbiotic" by kathleen rooney and elisa gabbert
4. "tarpaulin" by mike young
5. "pretzel" by sean kilpatrick
6. "genetically" by rachel b. glaser
7. "clouds" by shane jones
8. "fuzzy" by christina kloess
9. "esconced" by andrew farkas
10. "affix" by joshua cohen
February 20, 2013
This was a pretty interesting collection of short stories. Some were only a few pages long, others (and really, my least favorites) went on for what seemed forever. A lot of fun, playful pieces that stretched the story form out and remolded it nicely. While I liked many of the pieces, I wasn't "blown away" by any one in particular, which was a little disappointing.
January 15, 2015
I wanted to like this book, I really did. wanted to discover young talent, wanted to appreciate the avant garden, wanted to applaud innovation......but I just couldn't. Guess I'm too old for this. OUt of the 30 stories in this book, I REALLY liked about 4 of them and thought another 3 were okay, and at least admired the experimentation with maybe another 2 or 3. the rest were just WEIRD.
March 5, 2012
Lots and lots and lots of bad writing, proving mostly that you probably shouldn't publish under 30. Two notable exceptions: Rachel Glaser's "Infections" and the "City Walk" prose-poems by Kathleen Rooney and Elisa Gabbert.
June 10, 2011
Review on Hey Small Press!
October 25, 2011
i'm in this! along with 29 other rad writer folks.
March 17, 2012
2 out 5 on here translates to "It was OK."
June 10, 2012
There are a couple of gems in here, but for the most part, "Innovative" seems to be a synonym for "nonsensical."
December 26, 2012
I extremely dislike narrative that follows the description + random vocabulary pattern to make utter nonsense, and this book had too much of that.
February 6, 2014
reading a lot of these stories felt like riding the Tower of Doom, and some of them even lasted longer
March 3, 2014
First story was crude and boring so I stopped reading it. If a collection of stories begins with that kind of tale, I'd rather not waste my time.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews