Instant replay

SOL cover 2013

Oops! I was so excited earlier this week about my the excerpt from my Civil War novel appearing in SOL: English Writing in Mexico that I accidentally prematurely posted about it! What I linked to was actually my author preview page — the issue officially went live today!

So if you haven’t checked it out, today’s a good day to do so.

And let me tell you something, gang, this issue is amazing! Now that it’s officially out, I’ve been perusing it, and you know who else is in this issue? Natalie Goldberg!

As in, Writing Down the Bones. As in, the woman whose words about the importance of writing with a “beginner’s mind” gave my blog its name!

And now I’m in the same issue as one of her poems!

And in case that wasn’t cool enough, I’m also in the same issue as a Kirpal Gordon story! I met Kirpal roughly 18 years ago, back when I was an undergrad English major at a little Hill Country college in Texas. He was visiting one of Dr. Kathleen Hudson’s lit classes and talking to us about the short story. He read one of his stories to us from a chapbook he’d published. Later, he became something of a fixture around the Hill Country writing scene, and I saw him give several readings and picked up a few of his books. They’re all autographed.

And now I’m in the same issue with him, just one story down from his in the Table of Contents.

That is too trippy for words!

So, once again, gang, go check out my story, and then, seriously, read the rest of this issue. Read all the issues. Click the little button to subscribe. And thanks, again, to editor Eva Hunter for being so cool.

Eunoia Review has been one of my favorite online lit magazines since long before I got published there, so I’m thrilled the magazine is getting some long-deserved exposure through WordPress’s “Freshly Pressed” feature. And this story is a doozy, and very much deserves to be the one that breaks Eunoia into a wider audience! Go check it out, and then start reading the rest of the magazine — you’ll thank me. 🙂

perfectsublimemasters's avatarEunoia Review

A long time ago, during our many summers on Grundvik Island, I would wake up early every Thursday and run down to wait for Jonas Ström and the mail.

I’d listen for his hoot in the pale light of morning, with the cool promise of a warm summer day climbing a horizon that surrounded me.

He approached, just a blue and red dot from where I stood, barefooted, worrying that Helena or Toma would find me and tease.

Then with a mighty honk he would pull up to the pier. Loud like Thor, tall and bright with a wide grin, he’d cast me in his shadow as he leaned down to hand me the newspapers and letters. He would say “Flicka lilla“, little girl, “du vaknar med fåglarna“, you rise with the birds, then, just as I’d prepare to open my mouth and say something, Helena…

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New publication

SOL cover 2013Is it still March? Oh. That must mean I have a new story out.

Yes, in some bizarre coincidence of editorial schedules, March seems to be The Month of Sam — or at least The Month of Sam’s Fiction. So far I’ve had two stories published, and today I add a third, in the seriously cool SOL: English Writing in Mexico. It’s my second time in this exceptional magazine (last year they published my story “It Was the Only Way”), but this one’s a bit different: it’s an excerpt from my Civil War novel, Hagridden.

This publication feels special to me for a whole bunch of reasons. For one thing, it’s the second excerpt of this novel but the first you can read online. It’s not like people have been hammering at the gates trying to get at my novel (yet), but I do have a cabal of close friends and readers who’ve been hankering for this thing, so it’s nice to be able to share it. (I still encourage you all to buy a copy of Sententia #3, where the first excerpt appeared.)

Also, this excerpt is the beginning of the novel, so you know how things start out. It’s as good an introduction to the book as I can imagine, so settle in and hang on!

For another thing, this is the novel that helped earn me an Oregon Literary Fellowship — and in about a week or so, I’ll be heading down to the Louisiana bayou to visit the area where this book takes place, courtesy of those fellowships funds. (Huge thanks, again, to Literary Arts and the fellowship judges!)

And finally, SOL‘s editor, Eva Hunter, has been an enthusiastic supporter of this project, and I am just thrilled to be able to work with her again. She’s a wonderful human being, and whenever we finally get to meet in real life, I owe her a bottle of wine or something.

Anyway. One of these days Hagridden will be a novel, with pages made of ink and paper and some kind of cover. You’ll be able to smell the binding glue and wood pulp. You’ll know how it ends and everything. But in the meantime, here’s how it begins, with this pretty badass excerpt in this very badass magazine, and I hope you enjoy it.

March on, gang!

 

Jersey Devil Press is legendary

ImageWe’ve got unicorns smoking cigarettes and pooping rainbows. We’ve got serial killers interviewing for jobs in hell. We’ve got pickpockets facing down their own legend. We’ve got witches brewing love potions in graveyards. We’ve got freaking Dionysian orgies.

With amazing Conrad-inspired cover art by Matt Kish, Issue 40 of Jersey Devil Press is the stuff of myth, folks!

Enjoy. 🙂

Where everybody knows your name

Screen shot 2013-03-04 at 8.51.58 AMIt’s that time of year again: all the cool people are headed to the annual conference of the Association of Writers & Writing Programs — my beloved AWP. This year it’s in Boston, another of my favorite conference cities, and once again I’m bummed I can’t make it.

I just have to one year left to wait, though: next year it’s in Seattle, just a quick train ride north, and I WILL BE THERE!

In the meantime, if you’re going to AWP in Boston this week, do yourself a favor and meet the people below. Meet everyone, of course, but these are some folks I love. Stop by tables in the bookfair, hit some panels, attend those epic off-site readings. But of course, start in the bookfair, hit these tables and booths, and buy a book or subscribe to a magazine while you’re there:

American Literary Review

I used to work as production editor for these guys. That was way back in 2005 to 2006, but I keep in touch.

Ampersand Books / Cobalt Review

I love Ampersand, and I had the good fortune to read at the Ampersand West Coast Invasion here in Portland last year. Look for Jason Cook and ask him about the “Sam Says Hi!” t-shirt. Cobalt is a new favorite, and I’m looking forward to getting to know them better.

Bill and Dave’s Cocktail Hour

Bill Roorbach is one of my favorite human beings, and I love his blog. How awesome that he and Dave Gessner have a table at the bookfair! If you get a chance to see Bill, seriously, give him a hug. Or buy him a beer. Or both.

Curbside Splendor Publishing

I’m a fan. These guys all rule, and they publish great stuff. If you bump into Ben Tanzer, particularly, say howdy.

Gigantic Sequins

I’m new to these guys, but they’re really cool so far. I can’t tell you who to look for, but let them all know they have a new reader.

Iron Horse Literary Review

Keep an eye out for Jill Patterson and Lee Martin.

One Story

Hannah Tinti is one of the coolest people out there, and I always try to wave to her at some point during AWP. The One Story readings rule, too.

[PANK] Magazine

This is one of the hottest lit mags out there, and I’m lucky to know a lot of people they’ve published. And if you see Roxane Gay, tell her how much I love her blog. (If you don’t spot her at the bookfair table, look for Roxane at her book signing, Friday at 3:00 p.m.)

SmokeLong Quarterly

Another of the hottest magazines out there, and another one that has published folks I know. Please say hi to Ashley Inguanta and Gay Degani if you see them.

Sundog Lit / Bartleby Snopes

Huge, HUGE fans of both these publications! How lucky you are that you’ll get to find them both at the same table! Look for Justin Lawrence Daugherty, who is one of the coolest dudes in contemporary literature, and high-five the man. Also try to find Nathaniel Tower of Bartleby Snopes and thank him for publishing so many awesome people (and me) in one of my favorite magazines on the internet.

Sunnyoutside

Trust me on this: go to this table in the bookfair and find David McNamara and shake his hand. On my behalf. Tell him I owe him a drink and I will definitely see him in Seattle next year.

When you hit the panels and booksignings and readings, also try to shake hands with these excellent writers (some of these link to their websites, others link to their announcements about AWP; either way, check the conference schedule for their appearances):

For the full list of bookfair booths and tables, go here.

There are also some terrific off-site events (these are traditionally EPIC), book signings, and some huge public events (Don DeLillo, people! Richard Russo! Portland’s own Cheryl Strayed!).

Anyone I left out? Feel like promoting your magazine, press, reading, party, or other event? Or just telling everyone that you’re going so they’ll stop by and say hi? Feel free to leave a comment!

New publications

I woke up early this morning to finish grading some student essays. Instead, I discovered not one but TWO of my stories went live today!

Quickly coverFirst up was a surprise: I learned that the cool young lit mag Quickly had accepted my flash fiction piece “You Always” almost in the same moment I learned it was published. That’s some great news, folks! The story is brief, but it’s sort of an adult version of the Goldilocks story, and already this morning I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback on it, so hey, thanks a million, Quickly!

And definitely check out the rest of the issue — everything there is, well, quick, and I’m loving the stuff the editors are putting out there, including more than one cat story(!) and the vicious little “O“. Have fun, gang!

deimos-march-2013-coverThen, just a couple of hours later, the new issue of the brilliant Deimos eZine went live, and it leads(!) with my story “This Small, Other Life,” about a xenophobic shut-in who dreams she can fly and then wakes up to discover it’s true. (I seem to be in fable mode lately.) The issue is killer, full of awesome fiction and an interview with Jersey Devil Press‘s very excellent associate editor Laura Garrison (and I swear, even though I work for JDP, I had no idea this interview was running in the same issue as my story!).

And this is just the beginning, happy readers. I still have four other stories in the pipe, all of which should be coming out in the next month or so! Plus the new issue of Jersey Devil Press later this week! And AWP starts this week, too! And later this month, I’ll be taking my research trip to Louisiana, funded by my Oregon Literary Fellowship. And then there’s my chapbook (more details are still coming on that), and my literary agent (more details coming on that, too), and so on, and so on…….

The good times just keep on rolling!

“The bruises were always small”

Image
Photo by Matthew Rolston, from his book “Talking Heads: The Vent Haven Portraits,” via CBSNews.com.

I’ve become a bit of a fan of io9.com. They’re not always brilliant or thorough, but they often post some fascinating things — usually links to other fascinating things. Today, it was this article on sad, retired ventriloquist dummies. (The article, in turn, links to a series of portraits on the CBS News website.) It caught my attention because it reminded me immediately of my story “The Voice You Throw, the Blow You Catch,” in Fiction Circus (and soon to appear in my first-ever chapbook). The story is about a woman and her troubled relationship with her ventriloquist dummy. Exactly who is abusing whom is open to interpretation, but in the end, the woman abandons the dummy and all the other men who’d made a pass at her rally round him in solidarity:

That first night, the bartender brought him in and everyone gathered around him, a wide circle like they’d found a wounded dog and no one was sure what he’d do. Everyone spoke in whispers. They stood like that for who knows how long. The dummy lay in a pile on the floor, limbs twisted, his face a mess. A couple of the older jilted men finally stepped into the circle, bent like pallbearers, and lifted him to the bar. Carlo set him on the highest shelf, put a bottle in his hand.

It’s one of my favorite stories — and a favorite among readers, too — and the portraits of these decaying old dummies are a perfect fit for the story.

Oh yeah. Jersey Devil went there.

ImageThe new issue of Jersey Devil Press is live. And you’re going to want to see this one.

We’ve got guys masturbating to ducks, a killer relationship in Death Valley, emails from Nietzsche, Gig Young’s Oscar statue, an infinite break-up in an art gallery, a cheerleader obsessed with Jane Austen, sex in the burning ashes of a post-apocalyptic world, Godzilla as a roommate, and, on the cover, Edgar Allan Poe ripped limb from limb.

You could not possibly want anything more.

A whole string of announcements

I know, gang. I’ve been awful about updating the blog lately. Call me busy — with editing, with teaching, with tutoring, with a slew of other projects.

But I’m not alone. Some friends of mine have been quite busy lately, too!

Screen shot 2013-02-05 at 10.09.36 PMMatthew Burnside, whose fiction I have become a huge fan of, has a new chapbook out from Red Bird. Or, he will have — it’s not shipping yet, but you can order your copy of Escapologies now anyway.

Screen shot 2013-02-05 at 10.15.59 PMAlso, I just found out today that my old grad school colleague Natalie Giarratano has won the 2013 Liam Rector First Book Prize for Poetry! Not that I’m surprised — I always was a fan of her poetry — but now that she has the award and a book coming out from Briery Creek Press, the rest of you can fall in love with her verse, too. Keep an eye out for it in May.

butterfly-lady-front-cover-no-bleedAlso new today is my grad school friend Danny Hoey‘s new website, which he’s launched in advance of his forthcoming novel, The Butterfly Lady. The book is getting some good buzz, and pre-orders are open now at Flaming Giblet Press, so get in line, folks!

andstillAnd then there’s Hosho McCreesh. Have I mentioned lately how huge a fan I am of Hosho McCreesh? I’m sure it’s been a few weeks, anyway. Hosho has a new book coming out, too, a very cool poetry and painting duet, with poems and watercolors by Hosho and his compadre Christopher Cunningham. The official release is in April, but you can order your copy of And Turns Still the Sun at Dusk Blood-red… from Bottle of Smoke Press now. (And keep an eye open for more — word is, Hosho’s got another book coming out later, too!)

And finally, there’s me.

That’s right. Me.

I have a chapbook coming out, soon, too.

Unfortunately, I have to be a tease and leave it at that, because the publisher and I are still ironing out the details. Title, release date, all that fun stuff. But keep an eye on the blog, gang, because I hope to have news about my forthcoming chapbook soon!

New publication

My story, "Curl Up and Burn," in Eunoia Review, 3 February 2013.
My story, “Curl Up and Burn,” in Eunoia Review, 3 February 2013.

I have a new story online today! And people, this one feels special.

The story, “Curl Up and Burn,” is another from my collection, Strangers Die Every Day. When my story “Have Love, Will Hurt” shows up later at The Rusty Nail, all the short stories (but not the novella) will have been published somewhere, at some point.

“Curl Up and Burn” is also the longest story in Strangers Die Every Day, more than 10,000 words, and it’s a bit of an experiment on my part: patterned after a magazine feature à la The New Yorker, with a journalist as the narrator; rooted in the (mostly) true history of my hometown, Boerne, Texas, including a handful of real people as characters; and drawing on actual research, complete with quoted sources. The story itself — a football hero becomes a town pariah after allegations of rape — is pure fiction, but this is the truest fiction I’ve ever written.

Some of you might also remember that the collection this comes from is a story cycle, full of recurring characters and locations. Because the story is so long and so far-reaching, it touches on a lot of the other stories. For those playing along at home, keep an eye out for characters from “Counting Telephone Poles,” “Kamikaze,” “A Few May Remember,” and “Summerplace” (another Eunoia story!). If you check out my Publications page, you can look up the other stories and see if you can find the connections between the stories.

But you certainly don’t need to read any of the other stories to figure out this one. So enjoy! And, as always, huge thanks to Ian Chung and the rest of the Eunoia gang for this second opportunity to appear in this awesome lit review.