Richmond’s Style Weekly has a very nice profile of VQR and me in their new issue. Amy Biegelsen is kind to me, mostly—though she couldn’t resist making fun of my wearing socks and sandals. Luckily, Michael Schaub over at Bookslut notes that, despite the sandals, “Genoways is a tough-looking dude who looks like he could kick your ass.” Now that’s the kind of press coverage I’m looking for. Schaub suggests that I should go around picking fights with people like Louis Menand. But after what Tom Bissell writes in our new issue, I’m more worried about being ambushed by Robert D. Kaplan—who looks reasonably tough himself. That fight looks way too fair for my tastes. I prefer the sound of Michael Schaub: “doughy and pasty, like an undercooked croissant with glasses.” Now that’s a cage match I can win.

Ernie Schenck interviews James Othmer about his new novel The Futurist and his time in the advertising industry, at Schenck’s blog “Ernie Schenck Calls This Advertising?”.

Q: I’m Malcolm Gladwell. I’ve just read The Futurist. Should I be offended?

A: If he only skims it and makes a “Blink” judgement he may well be pissed. If he reads the whole thing and sees that this isn’t some hatchet job on an incredibly valuable and interesting profession/industry, but a SATIRE that takes on a hell of a lot more than futurists, I think he’d be cool with it.

The Futurist began its life as a short story in the Fall 2004 issue of VQR and was later named a finalist for a National Magazine Award in Fiction.