Robert Boswell

A brief review appeared in Ploughshares:

Robert Boswell, The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards, stories: These stories display Boswell’s extraordinary range, from the end of two women’s marriages, to a young man’s obsession with his fortune, to another man’s self-discovery on a mountaintop. (Graywolf)

Here's a sample of the interview I did with TrendHunter.com:

Q: How significant are the topics of cool hunting and trend spotting in the world of writing?

A: They reveal the culture. A writer is often trying, by means of his engagement with his characters, to embody something of the larger culture and reveal the underlying tick-tock. Trends suggest where to look.

For example, a big segment of the population would way rather text than talk or write; given that the language of texting is compressed, symbolized, and rat-a-tat-tat, what does this trend suggest about the culture?

Maybe it suggests that we’re eager to substitute frequency for substance. We don’t expect people to drop everything to send a text, which is why you see people texting while watching a movie, eating a meal, or driving a car. This seems to imply that texting is more about checking in than trying to get at something true, real, or powerful. After all, the medium encourages limited and generic expression with shortcuts, emoticons, and screens the size of soupspoons.

Ultimately, text messages are so quick and clipped, it’s hard to hold the sender responsible for very much—but we do expect our text buddies to reply. Acknowledgment matters more than grace, wit, style, or humor. Texting is a legit form of communication, but when quantity is more important than quality, the writer is less answerable for what she texts than for how often.

Imagine William Shakespeare and former President Bush attempting to woo the same woman with their command of language. If the medium permits profound expression, methinks Willie has the edge. But if texting is the medium, Shakespeare’s complex verbiage makes him OTL.

Texting, we swim in complicated social waters without making any dives into the deep pools. Could a narrative investigation of the implications of this trend lead to a story? You betcha.

The stories in THE HEYDAY OF THE INSENSITIVE BASTARDS appeared in the following magazines;

“No River Wide” appeared in the Southern Review.

“Smoke,” “A Walk in Winter,” and “Miss Famous” appeared in the Colorado Review.

“Smoke” also appeared in Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex.

“A Walk in Winter” also appeared in The Story Behind the Story.

“Miss Famous” also appeared in Pushcart Prize Stories.

“A Sketch of Highway on the Nap of a Mountain” appeared in Ink Pot.

“Supreme Beings” and “Lacunae” appeared in Epoch.

“Long Words” appeared in Night Train.

“In a Foreign Land” appeared in the Harvard Review.

“City Bus” and “Guests” appeared in Ploughshares.

“Almost Not Beautiful” appeared in Hayden’s Ferry Review.

“Skin Deep” appeared in the Vestal Review, Best American Flash Fiction, Best American Flash Fiction of the 21st Century, You Have Time for This: Contemporary American Short-Short Stories, and the Vestal Review Fifth Anniversary Issue.

“The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards” appeared in Fugue.

Links to the websites of the literary magazines are below.