Aaron Gwyn
@americangwyn.bsky.social
2.3K followers 140 following 720 posts
Novelist & Professor. Author of ALL GOD’S CHILDREN, WYNNE’S WAR, DOG ON THE CROSS, THE CANNIBAL OWL
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americangwyn.bsky.social
My new short story, “Last of the Cowboys,” just went live at Panoptica. Very proud of this one. If you’re interested, you can read it for free by clicking below:
www.panoptica.ai/a/last-of-th...
Last of the Cowboys
A short story written by Aaron Gwyn exclusively for Panoptica and our upcoming Stories of America series.
www.panoptica.ai
americangwyn.bsky.social
Took a reread of MASON & DIXON for me to realize that the •narrator• of Pynchon’s novel is an anonymous sh*tposter.
Reposted by Aaron Gwyn
electricliterature.com
Joshua Wheeler's novel "The High Heaven" is in bookstores today! Read this excerpt from the novel, about a 1960s rancher and young child who escapes from a cult, in our Recommended Reading
Gentleness Is Outdated in This Alien World - Electric Literature
An excerpt from THE HIGH HEAVEN by Joshua Wheeler, recommended by Claire Vaye Watkins
buff.ly
americangwyn.bsky.social
I’m on an English department committee that voted to create a subcommittee, and that subcommittee is considering the creation of a sub-subcommittee, and now I understand why the Soviet Union collapsed.
Reposted by Aaron Gwyn
elfordalley.bsky.social
You can get free shipping as part of bookshop.org’s antiprime day sale! Pick up some indie horror and support indie bookstores!
Reposted by Aaron Gwyn
americangwyn.bsky.social
Monty, if i remember correctly.
americangwyn.bsky.social
You have a cute dog, MD. I’ve *always* said that.
americangwyn.bsky.social
Pffff. I could be bought for $2.50 and a cuppa coffee.
americangwyn.bsky.social
Look: sometimes you’re inspired and sometimes you aren’t. You sit down and work, regardless. You build skill this way; you develop and refine your technique.

Habit is more dependable than inspiration.
americangwyn.bsky.social
Maybe I’ll ask them in Writer Heaven some day?
americangwyn.bsky.social
Faulkner was the better novelist; Hemingway was the better short story writer.

Faulkner’s talent was for elaboration; Hemingway’s was for compression.
americangwyn.bsky.social
Getting ready to do a reread of MASON & DIXON—my favorite Thomas Pynchon novel. Was reading some background on the book and discovered Pynchon started working on it in 1975. Which means it took 21 years (!) to write (not surprising, I suppose, given the historical detail + 18th century prose).
americangwyn.bsky.social
🚨 CORMAC NEWS 🚨

Cormac McCarthy brother, Dennis, is giving 18,000 volumes from Cormac’s personal library to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. This collection will be available to scholars in the spring of 2026. (Photo of Cormac’s library below).
americangwyn.bsky.social
Brilliant and beautiful little book. I return to it again and again. You can read it in one sitting. You should.
americangwyn.bsky.social
Literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin was arrested by the Soviet secret police in ‘28 & sent to a labor camp for dissidents. Here, he wrote what many suspect was his greatest book. But Bakhtin was a fend for cigarettes, couldn’t find rolling papers, & gradually smoked the entire ms.
Reposted by Aaron Gwyn
curtisippolito.bsky.social
When @rhppress.bsky.social approached me early this year about guest editing a climate change-themed anthology, I almost said no. Why? Well, who am I to anchor such an important, timely project?
On Fire and Under Water