How Cranky is Our Little Editor?

A Fearsome Cannibal

When not banging his head on his computer keyboard while wrestling HTML errors or trying to recover the site from Ru**ian hackers (can’t be too careful), Brevity founder and editor Dinty W. Moore writes essays, and his true love is to write humorous essays. His new book has been out and about three weeks now and it seems a few people have liked it, including:

The British Broadcasting Corporation: “[Moore’s] witty and disarming new book is framed as an advice column for accomplished writers. . . He is fun to read. And he sneaks in answers so we are left with a touch of wisdom as well as laughter.”

Library Journal: “… a guide to writing essays that is both brilliantly instructive and wonderfully entertaining…”

And the A. V. Club: “… the book as a whole will leave you feeling educated, amused, and perhaps even inspired.”

Every month or so Moore threatens to shut down Brevity because “it is too much damn work and none of us is paid,” so we are trying to soften him up a bit by promoting his new book Dear Mister Essay Writer Guy here on the blog.  So we can keep our unpaid jobs!?  Sheeesh, the literary world sucks some days.

In any case, here’s an excerpt: How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman

And here’s our cranky Editor and Founder talking with MONKEYBICYCLE about what his book resembles:

If Dear Mister Essay Writer Guy were a literary journal, it would have a hip name like Sexual Hysterics Quarterly, and a post office box that was only checked every six months. The editor would take all submissions back to his Brooklyn apartment and use them to raise his futon off of the floor.

And if you want to pretend to buy the book, click on this:

And if you don’t want to issue marriage licenses, don’t run for county clerk.