praise
“Blackstone puts a slightly unsettling spin on the chick lit dating yarn, taking the reader inside the mind of aspiring writer and self proclaimed intellectual Hunter Flanagan.” —The Big Issue
“The book is definitely an interesting and worthwhile read . . . The Week You Weren’t Here has a lot to say about the human condition, and it says it well.”—Sidereality
“Charles Blackstone’s writing reminds me of the Kerouac I love and helps me forget the Kerouac I don’t. A story about a young writer smack-dab in the middle of that stage where a person moves from developing several crushes a day to developing several genuine romantic interests each day. Unlike most first novels about struggling writers as lovers,The Week You Weren’t Here is a novel about a struggling lover who writes . . . Blackstone’s exploration of a questioning mind not only provides you with an understanding of what makes a creative person tick, but also with a well-crafted and enjoyable read. This book reminds me of why I read fiction in the first place.” —Consumatron.com
about the author
Charles Blackstone is the co-editor of The Art of Friction: Where (Non) Fictions Come Together, an anthology of genre-defying short fiction and creative nonfiction, featuring the work of Thomas Beller, Junot Díaz, Jonathan Safran Foer, Kaylie Jones, Achy Obejas, and many more, published in 2008 by the University of Texas Press. His short work has appeared in Esquire, Evergreen Review, The Wall Street Journal, Modern Luxury, and elsewhere. Currently he is the managing editor of Bookslut and lives in Chicago.