#dan kois

Barry Alfonso told me that despite everything, he ended up feeling forgiving toward Rod, because “it seemed like he didn’t harm anyone” with his “white lies.” And maybe he’s right. Maybe it’s harmless, even kind of charmingly brazen, to say you invented the phrase “make love, not war” or “midnight cowboy”—another one McKuen claimed was his. Or to write your own fan letters. But when you’re telling people you have illegitimate children, and meanwhile the man you love is standing next to you pretending to be your brother—you don’t seem so unharmed yourself. 

Hampton Heights: One Harrowing Night in the Most Haunted Neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

June 2018

As you can see from the pictures here, I read a ton of excellent books in June. You Think It, I’ll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld was an incredible short story collection. I’m sure I’ve said it here before, but I’m not a fan of short stories. I love to dive deep into the world of a novel; I want to really get to know the characters. But I’m either falling in love with short stories as a form or I’m just reading a ton of winning collections lately. Because I loved You Think It, I’ll Say It. (And I felt the same way about Lauren Groff’s Florida and Danielle Lazarin’s Back Talk.) Saga, Volume Eight and Pops were perfect follow up reads to Sittenfeld’s collection. I love re-immersing myself in the world of Saga each time a new trade comes out. And even though I’d already read nearly every essay in the collection, Michael Chabon’s Pops was wonderful. It made me want to get to know my own father better. It made me want to get to know more fathers in general. 

The Prince and the Dressmaker was perfect. This graphic novel is equal parts gorgeous storytelling and incredible illustrations. I wish I had a fairy tale like this one when I was in middle school. Sing, Unburied, Sing was everything I could ever ask for in a novel about the American South. I loved the ghosts that permeated every inch of the storytelling. 

The World Only Spins Forward is essential reading for playwrights writing political work, directors working in the new play sector, and anyone who has ever asked me “So playwriting -- what does that mean?” It’s gorgeous and inspiring and frustrating and I can’t imagine any other way or any other time to assemble an oral history of Angels in America.