Black Clock
Encyclopedia
Black Clock is an American literary magazine. Edited by Steve Erickson
and published bi-annually by CalArts
in association with the MFA Writing Program, the magazine is "dedicated to fiction, poetry and creative essays that explore the frontier territory of constructive anarchy."
According to the magazine’s editorial statement, "Black Clock is audacious rather than safe, visceral rather than academic, intellectually engaging rather than antiseptically cerebral, and not above fun. Produced by writers for writers, Black Clock encourages risk and eschews editorial interference."
Since its inception in 2004, Black Clock has featured works by Don DeLillo
, David Foster Wallace
, Richard Powers
, Joanna Scott
, Miranda July
, Jonathan Lethem
, Rick Moody
, Samuel R. Delany
, Carlos Ruiz Zafón
, Aimee Bender
, Greil Marcus
, Darcey Steinke
, Susan Straight
, Heidi Julavits
, Maureen Howard
, Lynne Tillman
, Geoffrey O'Brien
, Robert Polito
, Brian Evenson
, Davis L. Ulin, Janet Fitch
, William T. Vollmann
, and Michael Ventura
, among others.
Works appearing in Black Clock have been anthologized in best-of-the-year collections, nominated for O. Henry and Pushcart
prizes, and two excerpted novels have gone on to win National Book Award
s. The short story that served as the basis for Samuel R. Delany's novel Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders
was first published in Black Clock 7.
Steve Erickson
Stephen Michael Erickson is an American novelist, essayist and film critic. He is the recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters's Award in Literature and a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation., and is considered an important representative of the Avantpop...
and published bi-annually by CalArts
California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, in Los Angeles County, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the...
in association with the MFA Writing Program, the magazine is "dedicated to fiction, poetry and creative essays that explore the frontier territory of constructive anarchy."
According to the magazine’s editorial statement, "Black Clock is audacious rather than safe, visceral rather than academic, intellectually engaging rather than antiseptically cerebral, and not above fun. Produced by writers for writers, Black Clock encourages risk and eschews editorial interference."
Since its inception in 2004, Black Clock has featured works by Don DeLillo
Don DeLillo
Don DeLillo is an American author, playwright, and occasional essayist whose work paints a detailed portrait of American life in the late 20th and early 21st centuries...
, David Foster Wallace
David Foster Wallace
David Foster Wallace was an American author of novels, essays, and short stories, and a professor at Pomona College in Claremont, California...
, Richard Powers
Richard Powers
Richard Powers is an American novelist whose works explore the effects of modern science and technology.- Life and work :...
, Joanna Scott
Joanna Scott
Joanna Scott is an American author and Roswell Smith Burrows Professor of English at the University of Rochester.Scott has received critical acclaim for her novels...
, Miranda July
Miranda July
Miranda July is a performing artist, writer, actress and film director. Born Miranda Jennifer Grossinger, she works under the surname of "July," which can be traced to a character from a "girlzine" Miranda created with high school friend Johanna Fateman, called Snarla.- Background :Miranda...
, Jonathan Lethem
Jonathan Lethem
Jonathan Allen Lethem is an American novelist, essayist and short story writer. His first novel, Gun, with Occasional Music, a genre work that mixed elements of science fiction and detective fiction, was published in 1994. It was followed by three more science fiction novels...
, Rick Moody
Rick Moody
Rick Moody is an American novelist and short story writer best known for the 1994 novel The Ice Storm, a chronicle of the dissolution of two suburban Connecticut families over Thanksgiving weekend in 1973, which brought widespread acclaim, became a bestseller, and was made into a feature film of...
, Samuel R. Delany
Samuel R. Delany
Samuel Ray Delany, Jr., also known as "Chip" is an American author, professor and literary critic. His work includes a number of novels, many in the science fiction genre, as well as memoir, criticism, and essays on sexuality and society.His science fiction novels include Babel-17, The Einstein...
, Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Carlos Ruiz Zafón is a Spanish novelist who has lived in Los Angeles since 1993, where he spent a few years writing scripts whilst developing his career as a writer....
, Aimee Bender
Aimee Bender
Aimee Bender is an American novelist and short story writer, known for her surreal plots and characters.-Biography:Bender received her undergraduate degree from the University of California at San Diego, and a Master of Fine Arts from the distinguished creative writing MFA program at University of...
, Greil Marcus
Greil Marcus
Greil Marcus is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. He is notable for producing scholarly and literary essays that place rock music in a much broader framework of culture and politics than is customary in pop music journalism.-Life and career:Marcus was born in San Francisco...
, Darcey Steinke
Darcey Steinke
Darcey Steinke is an American novelist and journalist. The daughter of a Lutheran minister, she was born on April 25, 1962. She is the author of four novels, Up Through the Water, Suicide Blonde, Jesus Saves, and Milk, and the memoir Easter Everywhere. She also co-edited the collection of essays...
, Susan Straight
Susan Straight
Susan Straight is an American author and National Book Award finalist.-Background:Susan Straight has published six novels, a novel for young readers and a children's book...
, Heidi Julavits
Heidi Julavits
Heidi Suzanne Julavits is an American author and co-editor of The Believer magazine. She has been published in The Best Creative Nonfiction Vol. 2, Esquire, Story, Zoetrope All-Story, and McSweeney’s Quarterly...
, Maureen Howard
Maureen Howard
Maureen Howard is an American writer, editor, and lecturer known for her award-winning autobiography Facts of Life.She was born Maureen Kearns in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Her father William L. Kearns worked for the State's Attorney's Office as a detective where he was assigned to the Harold Israel...
, Lynne Tillman
Lynne Tillman
Lynne Tillman is a novelist, short story writer, and cultural critic. She is currently Professor/Writer-in-Residence in the Department of English at the University at Albany and is the author of five novels, three collections of short stories, one collection of essays, and two other nonfiction...
, Geoffrey O'Brien
Geoffrey O'Brien
Geoffrey O'Brien is an American poet, editor, book and film critic, translator, and cultural historian. In 1992, he joined the staff of the Library of America as Executive Editor, becoming Editor-in-Chief in 1998.-Biography:...
, Robert Polito
Robert Polito
Robert Polito is an American academic, critic and poet. He has been Director of the Writing Program at The New School since 1992. He received the National Book Critics Circle Award and an Edgar Award for Savage Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson....
, Brian Evenson
Brian Evenson
Brian Evenson is an American academic and writer of both literary fiction and popular fiction. He has received degrees from Brigham Young University and the University of Washington . After leaving a teaching position at BYU, he held positions at Oklahoma State University, Syracuse University...
, Davis L. Ulin, Janet Fitch
Janet Fitch
Janet Fitch is most famously known as the author of the Oprah's Book Club novel White Oleander, which became a film in 2002. She is a graduate of Reed College, located in Portland, Oregon....
, William T. Vollmann
William T. Vollmann
William Tanner Vollmann is an American novelist, journalist, short story writer, essayist and winner of the National Book Award...
, and Michael Ventura
Michael Ventura
Michael Ventura is an American novelist, screenwriter, essayist, and cultural critic.-History:Michael Ventura commenced his career as a journalist at the Austin Sun, a counter-culture bi-weekly newspaper that published in the 1970s. Ventura is best known for his long-running column, "Letters at 3...
, among others.
Works appearing in Black Clock have been anthologized in best-of-the-year collections, nominated for O. Henry and Pushcart
Pushcart Prize
The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are invited to nominate up to 6 works they have featured....
prizes, and two excerpted novels have gone on to win National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
s. The short story that served as the basis for Samuel R. Delany's novel Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders
Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders
Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders is a forthcoming novel by Samuel R. Delany, wholly rewritten and expanded from "In the Valley of the Nest of Spiders", a short story that appeared in issue 7 of Black Clock magazine.-Plot summary:...
was first published in Black Clock 7.