Excerpts from the latest and greatest issue of Backwards City are now up at backwardscity.net. We're extremely, extremely proud of it, even if it does contain the most prominent printing error we've ever managed; we feel it's sort of fitting. (Really, it's not all that prominent, just in one of the contributors' notes—but it eats us up inside. We're perfectionists. It's the OCD that keeps us going.)

Subscribers' issues are going in the mail tomorrow and should be in your hot hands in a few days. While you're waiting, enjoy comics from T. Motley and xkcd, fiction from Fiction Award winner B.J. Hollars and Michael Shannon, and poetry from Mary Grimm, Tim Lockridge, David Shumate, and Charlie Clark.

And when it's time to get maudlin, begin to mourn with the original editors' farewell.

From today's New York Times Magazine interview with Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa:

NYTM: Did you ever meet President Reagan?
MVL: Once. I said to him, Mr. President, I admire many things that you do, but I cannot accept that for you the most important American writer is Louis L’Amour. How is this possible?

Uh... maybe because Reagan owned more horses than books.

Today's the last day to file a class-action claim against James Frey. If you bought A Million Little Pieces on or before January 26, 2006, you're entitled to some money. Go here to file before midnight and get some.

If you feel guilty, don't-- you can always use your cut to buy Frey's new novel, Bright Shiny Morning, for which he was reportedly paid one milllion dollars.

The score thus far:
James Frey: 1,000,000
Truth: 0

Update: The Smoking Gun (which originally broke the whole escapade) has the fiscal information here.

P.S. Avoid Frey's new novel and instead buy one of the J.T. Leroy-inspired raccoon penis bone necklaces. (Carefully cast out of silver to avoid any cruelty to raccoons. Now if only we could get some made as pewter charms.