Interview Roundup: Here in the Hall of Heads

• As recently noted, the new Bret Easton Ellis novel, Lunar Park, is all about Bret Easton Ellis, but don't ask him if it's real. "I just don't want to answer any of those questions," he tells Edward Wyatt (NYT). "I don't like demystifying the text." As he continues to muddy the waters, he also utters a line that he surely knows (perhaps even expects?) will come back to haunt him someday: "No matter how often you reinvent yourself, you're writing the same book."

• Rachel Donadio composes a lengthy profile of V. S. Naipaul for NYTBR, noting that his observations of the Islamic world make him "a prophet of our world-historical moment." And one who's brimming with confidence, at that, declaring himself "much, much better than Conrad" and suggesting that if you think he was influenced by Conrad, well, that's just because you don't know Naipaul as well as Naipaul does. Then again, keep in mind that this is a guy who's been declaring the novel dead for about a decade, most recently last fall.

• Newsday catches up with Lydia Millet, who's been on a roll this year, publishing both Everyone's Pretty and Oh Pure and Radiant Heart with Soft Skull Press. I've seen her read from both novels at events here in New York in recent months, and her stuff is definitely worth checking out.

• "Moorish Girl" Laila Lalami meets up with fellow author-blogger Damian McNicholl for an email chat about her upcoming short story collection:

  "I've been told that my book is political, which sort of surprised me, as this wasn't my goal at all when I wrote it. I was mostly interested in the characters. But I suppose we live in an age when class is so rarely addressed seriously than when it is, it becomes a political statement. Anyway, I have no illusions about changing anyone's mind about anything. I just hope that people get to see the world through my characters' eyes, for a little while."

• Dan Glaister of The Guardian drops by the offices of graphic novelist (or should we say "narraglyphic picto-assemblist"?) Dan Clowes to learn more about Ice Haven, his followup to Ghost World.