Best Web Writing

February 18, 2004 6:43 AM

What blogs (and specific postings) belong in our upcoming Best of Web Writing book?

For the past couple of years, I've been running an indie film production company, and I'm now launching a sister book publishing arm. The first thing we'll be putting out (as sort of a warm-up lap) is a Best of Web Writing print anthology, patterned after Houghton Mifflin's great Best American Short Stories (or Best American Magazine Writing, etc.) series.

The bias for the volume will be towards personal narrative non-fiction: people writing about their lives, rather than politics, web design, technology, or whatever else. We currently have the first ten or so bloggers in mind, but are ideally looking for fifteen or so more, and I'd to love hear MeFites' suggestions for both entire blogs or (more ideally) a couple of good postings from any given blog, showcasing their ability to use language.

posted by thomascrown to computers & internet (26 comments total)

Without hesitation I can nominate Robert Brady (Pure Land Mountain) as the person whose writing most often delights me. There are some links to popular posts down the left side a bit. The man is beset by monkeys.
posted by planetkyoto at 7:32 AM on February 18, 2004

I can honestly say that among the best of the best blog posts I've ever seen is the Donger vs. the roll of plastic baggies at the fruit aisle. Still brings tears to my eyes.
posted by Ufez Jones at 7:47 AM on February 18, 2004

jesse fuch's number two pencil is consistently good.
posted by Peter H at 8:19 AM on February 18, 2004

Can you give us the list of people selected so far, so that we can tell where you're trending towards?

I've always liked Daniel Radosh, from his days at New York Press.
posted by haqspan at 8:36 AM on February 18, 2004

Ftrain, Fireland, Uber, The Morning News
posted by misterioso at 8:48 AM on February 18, 2004

Letters From a Strip of Dirt
posted by keli at 9:17 AM on February 18, 2004

Girls are pretty is one fucked-up demented bit of writing. Probably a bit too out there for a book, though...
posted by Pericles at 9:47 AM on February 18, 2004

I like dooce and izzle pfaff for consistently high quality writing. Both are personal and funny.
posted by jragon at 10:06 AM on February 18, 2004

No question about it. James Lileks.
posted by baltimore at 10:31 AM on February 18, 2004

I second the nomination for dooce.com; this may be the best weblog entry I've ever read.

And while it may not be an example of the "best of web writing," the West Virginia Surf Report is certainly among the best of...something or other.
posted by arco at 11:33 AM on February 18, 2004

Per haqspan's request, people I'm already harassing speaking with about the book :

(For the record, some of these people classify their work as "web writing'" rather than "blogging")

Bazima
Brokentype
Bryan Adams Blog
Constellate
Dooce
Easily Smitten
F Train
Geese Aplenty
Little Yellow Different
Oblivio
Open All Night
Le Petit Hiboux
Que Sera Sera
Sour Bob
Tequila Mockingbird
Why God Why

Thanks for the suggestions thus far; I'll be giving them all a careful read and passing the best to our editorial panel.
posted by thomascrown at 11:34 AM on February 18, 2004

John Sealander's Book of Bitterness is excellent, though as it's a compilation of the best alt.bitterness posts I'm not sure whether you'd call it "web writing" per se.
posted by IshmaelGraves at 12:17 PM on February 18, 2004

EjectEjectEject. Very good stuff, both subject and writing.
posted by davidmsc at 12:23 PM on February 18, 2004

the velvet cerebellum is very human and one of my favorites (ant farm requiem)
posted by Peter H at 12:32 PM on February 18, 2004

Semi-self link, but you might want to wander through the archives of the Diarist Awards, which focus on "web writing" (journaling and later including blogging). It's a small corner of the escribitionist community, but there are definitely many gems picked by peers and voted as favorites.
posted by pzarquon at 1:55 PM on February 18, 2004

I would strongly recommend stavrosthewonderchicken's stuff, especially the Rick Gleason story arc.
posted by jpoulos at 1:59 PM on February 18, 2004

I second the dong resin mention, but my favorite is the Interview with the USA-PATRIOT Act.
posted by jpoulos at 2:01 PM on February 18, 2004

Idle Words and Izzlepfaff.
posted by waxpancake at 2:06 PM on February 18, 2004

Yes, I am most certainly the Greatest Writer on The Net, if not on the planet, without question. I can destroy entire publishing companies with my eyelashes. The 'best' of my undeniably stellar output is here, but you'd best just cast aside the idea of including anyone else's stuff in your book at all before you click that link.

Well, except maybe the donger. He's pretty darn OK too.

Thanks, jpoulos, for the mention. The rest of you can suck it.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:03 PM on February 18, 2004

(...but I really do love you all, you know, and those other folks are indeed superb writers.)
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:33 PM on February 18, 2004

Tony Pierce is outstanding.
posted by ajr at 6:46 PM on February 18, 2004

Oops. Link here.
posted by ajr at 6:46 PM on February 18, 2004

I'd highly recommend the talented writing of Craig Mitchell, with an emphasis on She Hates My Futon. An excellent read, and worthy of being published.
posted by woil at 8:28 PM on February 19, 2004

and the harpold 500 which is full of good fiction, hello.
posted by leslie at 12:19 AM on February 22, 2004

"A food based retrospective on the Cold War" - An unplanned and quite spontaneous collaborative whimsical trilogy, by three Metafilter authors, on the Cold War era use of frozen foods to block "psychic spying".
posted by troutfishing at 10:57 PM on February 25, 2004

Oh yeah.... toot toot !
posted by troutfishing at 10:58 PM on February 25, 2004