The Insomniac Reader: Stories of the Night

by Kevin Sampsell (Editor), Jonathan Ames, Aimee Bender

Explore the dark side—literally and figuratively—of evening time with short fiction by Jonathan Ames, Todd Pruzan, Rick Moody, Richard Rushfield, Elizabeth Ellen, Davy Rothbart, Jonathan Lethem, T. Cooper, Monica Drake, Aimee Bender, Jeff Johnson, James Tate, Thorn Kief Hillsbery, Heidi Julavits, Michelle Tea, Dan Kennedy, Stacey Richter, Marshall Moore, and Dave Eggers (writing under the pen name “Lucy Thomas”).

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Contemporary

257 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

I am the publisher of Future Tense Books in Portland, Oregon. I work at Powell's Books and also make collage art. I have written reviews and articles for various papers and mags. I have a few books out. My memoir, A Common Pornography, was published by Harper Perennial and my novel, This Is Between Us, was published by Tin House Books. I also edited Portland Noir, a book of crime fiction published by Akashic Books. My book of collage art and poetry, I Made an Accident, came out in 2022 from Clash Books.

Here's a few links to some stuff:
My essay on the loss of a friend, the loss of a book, and depression
My Tumblr of collage!
Flash Fiction on X-R-A-Y
My essay on Prince nostalgia and going to see The Revolution
My essay about coronavirus closing down Powell's
Short story at Hobart
The sad history of my football fandom
Flash Fiction on Wigleaf
My Paper Trumpets collage column at The Rumpus
Excerpts from This Is Between Us
My Longreads essay about my mom's Alzheimer's.
My Salon essay about suicide.
Short story on Joyland
Short fiction at The Rupture
Memoir excerpt on Smith Magazine.
I Know Who You Raped Last Summer.
My essay on bookselling and winning a Patterson bonus
On my first three kisses
Poems on Ink Node
Flash memoirs at 3am Magazine
Bookslut Interview
Flash Memoir pieces on McSweeney's
Fiction piece ("Options") on Identity Theory

Interview on The Rumpus

Reviews

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really happy with how this collection turned out. I was able to get some of my favorite writers in this and even some favorites that I didn't think I'd get (almost all the stories are previously unpublished). A year later, I edited an issue of Spork Magazine that I think is also really strong. Right now, I'm getting ready to edit Portland Noir (Akashic Books, 2009) and I'm hoping that will be the best one yet.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Kevin Sampsell masterpiece. This is a great collection of stories.

[ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great compilation altogether, even if the "insomniac" connection is a bit tenuous between the individual pieces and the content covers a broad range, starting with Ames' Gonzo-inspired non-fiction piece about the famous Lennox/Tyson fight in Memphis (the rest are fiction). Some of the stories are dark and depressing, some are light-hearted and funny, but they all involve a certain type of person who maybe doesn't quite fit into mainstream culture the way they seem on the surface. Good short stories can drop you into a fully realized world without wasting a lot of time setting it up, and they leave you wanting more. Most of the stories here are successful in both aspects, but none more that *It's Not Black; It's Always Darker Than That* by "Lucy Thomas" (apparently this is a nom de plume for a famous author from San Francisco, according to the end notes), which really asks more questions than it answers in it's brief page(s).

Monica Drake's *Gymkhana* in particular stood out for me, and actually had some lines that were so good I had to put the book down to ruminate over them for a while before continuing. I recently read her *Clown Girl* and she has suddenly become one of my favorite contemporary writers. *Gymkhana* is strong enough I could see an entire coming-of-age-amidst-drugs-and-sex-at-a-upscale-university film germinating from those brief pages, better than any of Brett Easton Ellis best attempts.


Marshall Moore's *The Right Way To Eat A Bagel* was another that had a cinematic appeal to me, and I think it would be a great single-act play or short film. One scene, one setting, two characters (plus a waitress), one common thing shared between them. It's no *My Dinner With Andre*, but it makes a conversation over drinks at a diner into a interesting philosophical discourse.

*Stalker's Paradise* by Richard Rushfield reveals a vivid and interesting "underworld" culture that reminded me of Project Mayhem (*Fight Club*) or the Party Crashers (*Rant*) from Chuck Palahniuk in the way he opens up a door onto a massive underground culture or shared interests that do not line up with what is considered proper society or law & order.

Aimee Bender's *Night Trilogy* is a bizarre snapshot that is almost as much free-verse poem as short story.

Michelle Tea's *Fourteenth Street* was another interesting snapshot, but this time of butch lesbians trying to find a balance between fighting gentrification and experimenting with drugs and love across age boundaries.


Dan Kennedy's *Tonight The Muse Is In a Popular Suburban Steakhouse Franchise* was a really funny take on a writer's hubris and quest for inspiration. I can't help but wonder just exactly how self-aware Kennedy is in this tale of delusions of grandeur.


There was really only one story I did not like, Heidi Julavits' *The MacMillan Hair*, and it was the only one I didn't finish, which was a bit of an abstract and confusing mess.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm more of a 4.5 here. This is one of the first anthologies I ever read, and it's really solid.
The story by Monica Drake is fantastic. Other favorites: Elizabeth Ellen, Davy Rothbart, Jeff Johnson, and Jonathan Ames.
You should buy this.

[Ryan Dilbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

aimee bender, stacey richter (one of her best), a very funny story by Johnathan Lethem, a Rick Moody. lots to enjoy here.

[Alvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A top notch collection that - alas- won't put you to sleep.

[Erin Tuzuner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible, dark, short, little pinpricks of talent.

[Brad]

I checked this out just for the two-page Lucy Thomas (aka Dave Eggers) story, "It's Not Black; It's Always Darker Than That." The piece isn't humorous like the other Lucy Thomas stuff. It's a dark tale about anticipating the worst.