Surprise! New Content!
August
28, 2007: In a fit of productivity that hasn't been seen
around these parts since before the Democrats took back
Congress, Me Three has compiled a small collection
of work from this publication's usual suspects, presented
here as a sort of mini-edition:
-First
up, the final chapter you thought you'd never see. Chapter
50 of Sugar Spun Sisters, by Darren
Kaminsky.
-Mark
Grueter on the uncanny connection between Wodehouse's comedy
and Larry David's, in The
Bastard Son of PG Wodehouse.
-A
short story by Steve Finbow, about an ant (but also, not)
and titled Ant.
-Sarah
Stodola on the unexpected history of TGI Friday's, in Friday's
in New York.
-A
short story by Tyler Gore, about meeting and parting, but
titled The
Ginko Tree.
Fiction
•
12/11/06
Sugar
Spun Sisters: Chapter 49
By Darren Kaminsky
Darren
Kaminsky's novel, Sugar Spun Sisters, appears in serialized
form every Monday right here on Me Three.
The story follows the lives of five twenty-somethings living
in Washington D.C. As far as the editors are currently
aware, none of these characters work in politics.
Look
below and you will see the final Pond Scum (ever!). But
before you do, I'd like to say a few words about the column,
Steve Finbow, and Me Three. First, the column:
It has been one of my favorite justifications for chucking
in so much would-be free time and money to this journal,
and I am proud and grateful that I was able to be the one
to publish it. Steve Finbow: the most infectiously enthusiastic
literary snob I've ever met, and a gifted writer who I hope
will soon find success far beyond Me Three. And
finally, about Me Three: It's all rather tidy that
Pond Scum ends with number 50 today, and in a couple of
weeks Darren Kaminsky's serialized novel, Sugar Spun
Sisters, will also conclude with chapter 50. Such things
don't happen very often, and even though I don't believe
in signs, I've taken it as one anyway, a sign that now is
the time to cease regular publication on the website. Mind
you, the odd review or ranting essay will still be thrown
up here, but from here on out don't expect anything daily
or even weekly (so not so different from a lot of recent
weeks, then, ahem). And also, we still have it in our heads
to get Issue #3 of the print journal out one day soon. More
on that later, though -- I don't want to upstage Finbow
on the day of his finale.
-Sarah
Stodola, Editor 9.28.06
A
Brit Dissects America • 9/28/06
Pond
Scum: From
Perfidious Albion to the Land of Wa
By Steve Finbow
"This
is it. This is the last ever Pond Scum. My brief was to
explore the similarities, differences, and relationships
between the UK and USA. Sometimes I did. Sometimes I didn’t.
I don’t think I’ve come up with any earth-shattering
conclusions. What has occurred to me while writing this
column is how much I have grown to dislike my own country.
I’ve even grown to dislike my home city. Even Primrose
Hill is getting annoying. So, after sixteen years back in
England, after thirteen-and-a-half years living in Primrose
Hill, after seven years living in my apartment, after two
years and fifty Pond Scums, I’m off...'"
A
Brit Dissects America • 9/14/06
Pond
Scum: The
Further Adventures of Lucinda Twittington-Smythe and Miss
Binky Buttburger
By Steve Finbow
"Creating
people in fictive worlds is a means of understanding human
nature. To imagine an ‘other’ is to explore
psyches, emotions, and morals that are alien or otherwise
unavailable to scrutiny. It doesn’t always work –
I’m thinking Tom Wolfe’s I
Am Charlotte Simmons or Jack Kerouac’s excruciating
Pic. But sometimes it does. I give you Leo Tolstoy’s
Anna Karenina...'"
Fiction
•
8/14/06
Sugar
Spun Sisters: Chapter 48
By Darren Kaminsky
Darren
Kaminsky's novel, Sugar Spun Sisters, appears in serialized
form every Monday right here on Me Three.
The story follows the lives of five twenty-somethings living
in Washington D.C. As far as the editors are currently
aware, none of these characters work in politics.
A
Brit Dissects America • 8/3/06
Pond
Scum: All
Alone in a Furnished Room with Pee Stains on My Underwear
By Steve Finbow
"Now,
I’m a big fan of writers considered inferior by the
literary cognoscenti – and please forgive the list
but these guys and gals do fall outside the “literature”
spectrum: Kathy Acker, Charles Bukowski, Neil Gaiman, Stewart
Home, Stephen King, Michael Moorcock, Derek Raymond, and
James Sallis..."
Fiction
•
7/10/06
Sugar
Spun Sisters: Chapter 47
By Darren Kaminsky
Darren
Kaminsky's novel, Sugar Spun Sisters, appears in serialized
form every Monday right here on Me Three.
The story follows the lives of five twenty-somethings living
in Washington D.C. As far as the editors are currently
aware, none of these characters work in politics.
A
Brit Dissects America • 7/6/06
Pond
Scum: In the Land of Xolotl
By Steve Finbow
"Semi-conscious
in my hospital bed three years ago, my body in toxic shock,
my life ebbing away, I somehow knew I wouldn’t die
– after all, the hospital was in Fitzrovia not Tijuana.
Stretched out on the operating table while surgeons fought
to prevent poisons from my pancreas stripping down my arterial
system, I knew it wasn’t the end because my doctor
was Doug Whitelaw and not Octavio Paz. I have a theory:
I will die in Mexico..."
Fiction
•
6/19/06
Sugar
Spun Sisters: Chapter 46
By Darren Kaminsky
Darren
Kaminsky's novel, Sugar Spun Sisters, appears in serialized
form every Monday right here on Me Three.
The story follows the lives of five twenty-somethings living
in Washington D.C. As far as the editors are currently
aware, none of these characters work in politics.
Memoir • 6/15/06
Her
Name Was Lola: Part 8
By Steve Finbow
Today
we present the eight and final chapter of a serialized story
by Steve Finbow, based in London and following a New Yorker
and a Brit who may or may not be more than friends. Please
be aware that this week, Part Five us standing in for Finbow's
regularly schedule "Pond Scum" column. "Pond
Scum" will return in a couple of weeks.
Fiction •
6/13/06
About
Bob
By Andrew Madigan
"Bob
was a forty-three year old restaurant manager living in
a cramped, dusty studio apartment. Suspiciously unread-looking
journals littered the windowsills and end-tables. He liked
to tell people it was a one-bedroom, trying to include the
little alcove outside the kitchenette..."
