Dmitri Nabokov, opera singer, race car driver, and son of Vladimir Nabokov, has died at age 77. Dmitri, who acted as his father’s literary executor, made headlines a few years back when he agreed to publish Nabokov’s final and unfinished novel, The Original of Laura, against his father’s wishes. The elder Nabokov had ordered the manuscript… [Read more…]
February 26, 2012
I didn’t watch the Oscars (I haven’t watched in years), but it sounds like Sacha Baron Cohen’s “accidental” spill of Kim Jong Il’s “ashes” was one of the more amusing moments of the broadcast. Inquiring minds want to know: what was really in that jar? Wood ash? Sand? A lifetime supply of Khloe Kardashian’s grey eyeshadow?… [Read more…]
February 20, 2012
This Presidents Day, spare a thought for George Washington’s bones mouldering away in Mount Vernon. The nation’s first president rests in the tomb where he wanted to spend eternity, but that was not always the case. In fact, it took an attempted grave robbery to fulfill his last washes. Among all the events connected to… [Read more…]
February 12, 2012
Saturday, April 28th, 2012 is Obscura Day, devoted to off-kilter explorations and wonder-inducing wanderings. I’m one of the hosts for Seattle, and would love to know where you want to go this year! What strange urban space or suburban ruin have you always wanted to visit? Let’s make it happen! For more on Atlas Obscura… [Read more…]
October 30, 2011
Today I discovered Elena Rzhevskaya, a Russian writer who worked as a translator with the Soviet team that found and identified Hitler’s body in 1945. Because she was a woman (and therefore more responsible, it was thought) she was entrusted with Hitler’s teeth during the search for a dentist who could identify them, and thus prove… [Read more…]
October 7, 2011
Last night, I had the good fortune of giving a private reading about Edgar Allan Poe to a group of folks more or less connected to Seattle’s Awesome Foundation. Thanks to a noise-adverse neighbor, the reading ended up taking place in the bedroom of Dean of Awesome Nathaniel James. It was great — I felt like I… [Read more…]
September 19, 2011
Welcome to Afterlives! (If you’re on the main page, click the headline to open this post.) This blog is on hiatus while I finish the book it’s become. If you’d like to know a little more of the background behind the project, click here. In the meantime, feel free to look around, visit me on Twitter,… [Read more…]
May 4, 2011
Though I welcome speculation in the comments, and in general, I have too anemic a character to engage in it myself. But though I assume that Osama Bin Laden is dead, that doesn’t mean I’m buying all of the administration’s PR. For one thing, it seems pretty clear that the hasty disposal of OBL’s body at… [Read more…]
May 2, 2011
Update 3:45: The similarities between the disposal of bin Laden’s body and Eichmann’s ashes (by Israel) and the Nuremberg defendants (by Germany) are obvious. See this article from Ha’aretz: No ‘holy tomb’ The prime minister brought up an additional issue: the question of Eichmann’s body. What should be done with it? Ben-Gurion’s position was decisive:… [Read more…]
March 26, 2011
I am thrilled to be able to report that many of the strange tales in these virtual pages are to be written in actual ink and bound together for non-virtual publication by Simon and Schuster! Yes, it’s true. At some point soon, you will be able to hold in your hands a book entitled Shelley’s… [Read more…]
March 1, 2012
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