About the Blog
Clifford Thompson here — call me Cliff. I am an essayist, fiction writer, and painter, interested in sharing my work. I also want to share my thoughts on, and expand my knowledge of, books, film, jazz, and visual art.
That’s where you come in. Below, I say a little more about myself, but since I’ve always been a better listener than talker, I solicit your suggestions for new things to check out. (”New” can include the old — as the saying goes, anything’s new if you’ve never heard of it.) Seen a movie or read a novel recently that you thought was amazing? Tell us! Find yourself thinking from time to time about something you saw/read/heard years ago? Share the intellectual wealth! And please share thoughts on my posts.
ALSO, I invite your comments on my essays, novel excerpt, and paintings — see Pages to the right. My writing has appeared in The Threepenny Review, The Iowa Review, Film Quarterly, Cineaste, Commonweal, Black Issues Book Review, and The Best American Movie Writing, among other places.
More coming!
Cliff! I love this - I’ve posted about it on my blog: http://www.ljndawson.com/authorweb/a-great-example-of-an-author-blog. I also gave you a Twitter shout-out - hope that leads to lots of traffic!!!
what up, Cliff! so glad to see you have resurfaced with a blog. i will be checking for it regularly.
Wow! What can I say?
Incredible, touching writing . . . lovely, vibrant paintings.
A wonderful evening’s worth of reading . . . Thank you! (Now that you’ve started don’t be one of those bloggers who forget to post for months at a time.)
Oh–I should tell you something, right? Ummm . . . we saw Monsters v. Aliens yesterday. It wasn’t exactly The Godfather, but it did include a funny nod to Dr. Strangelove.
As far as what I’m reading now–it’s an old mass-market Charlaine Harris mystery. Sorry to not have anything more uplifting to recommend = )
Thanks, Cliff. Now you’ve given me another site to follow on the Web.
I’ve had a stretch of really good reads lately: Keith Maillard’ Running, John Casey’s Spartina, and J. M. Coetzee’s Foe. Perhaps I should just stick to novels with one-word titles!
Hey Cliff, thanks so much for putting together this great blog. I dove into it today because I am feeling a need to experience some serious creativity. I definitely came to the right place. I just finished reading “No One Was Chasing Daniel Boone” and was struck by the way you weave race, culture, and historical references to inform your personal experiences as a launch pad for self-examination. I’m working on my Ph.D. in Urban Education, so I haven’t had a lot of time to read essays, reviews, novels and such. This is a much welcomed respite. Your paintings are excellent! I didn’t know you painted, too. I will definitely be reading your novel this summer.
Hello,Cliff.
I am from Ukraine. On the english lesson, from the book(which we are studying) we have read the story “Judgment”. I just interested, by whom the story was written.
And found this blog.Want to say the story is interesting))). Is this from your own life?)
Dear Anna,
I am stunned that you found me. The story “Judgment” is not true in every detail, but it was inspired by my experiences at Oberlin College. I am glad you found it interesting. Thank you for writing to me.