Category Archives: reading

Ryan Werner is for real

So, check it: my good friend/archnemesis, frequent referent in my blog posts, Captain Caveman lookalike, Midwest rock star, and kick-ass writer, Ryan Werner, has launched himself a website. And it fairly rules. Really clever concept and structure, gang, with links to all his shenanigans. If you like good fiction, sleazy rock-n-roll, and/or really hairy dudes,Continue reading “Ryan Werner is for real”

Kick your shoes off and make yourselves at home

So, thanks for WordPress “Freshly Pressing” me yesterday, I have an absolute gaggle of new visitors to the site. And that is fantastic! Thank you all so much for visiting, for perusing the website, for commenting on posts and pages . . . . I’m overwhelmed, but in the best possible way. I wish IContinue reading “Kick your shoes off and make yourselves at home”

I am both fresh and pressed. Like I have a job interview.

Seriously. I’ve been keeping an eye on stats today because I knew some friends were looking at my post about Maurice Sendak, and sometime between commercials on The Voice, my numnbers jumped by almost 100 views. Which NEVER happens. So I checked. And saw this: I’ve been hoping for a long time that sooner orContinue reading “I am both fresh and pressed. Like I have a job interview.”

“We’ll eat you up — we love you so!”

When I was a child, I knew where the wild things were. I was one of them. When I read Maurice Sendak’s classic book — again and again — as a child, that was one of the most important things I took away from the text. I was a wild terror of a boy, afterContinue reading ““We’ll eat you up — we love you so!””

Jersey Devil Press is full of superheros…

Or animals. Because for some reason, our Avengers-inspired assembly of Jersey Devil All-Stars didn’t wind up writing about superheros, but about animals. Every story. Which is awesome, because we’re talking about stories from Kimberly Lojewski,  Ryan Werner, y.t. sumner, and Hilary Gan. Hobos and alligators, lost dogs and too many pudding cups, talking birds and suicide,Continue reading “Jersey Devil Press is full of superheros…”

The Jersey Devil puts on its reading glasses

The April 2012 issue of Jersey Devil Press is online, and this month, we’re getting all cultured. And stuff. Many of the stories deal with writers, literary references, rejection — the grist of the everyday writing mill. And a couple of the stories deal with Art. Capital A. But don’t worry, we’re not looking down ourContinue reading “The Jersey Devil puts on its reading glasses”

Final words: students reflecting on 10 weeks of writing

A lot of my colleagues don’t bother with final exams in a writing class. The essays are the important thing, they argue, and the idea of a “test” seems out of place — there isn’t any knowledge a student can gain in a writing class that they haven’t already demonstrated in their essays, so thereContinue reading “Final words: students reflecting on 10 weeks of writing”

Happy Irish Writers Day!

A couple of years ago, I posted a list of great Irish writers — or, at least, ones I’ve read and liked — in celebration of St. Patrick’s day. This year, I have a new favorite Irish writer, and she’s going to get the post all to herself: the fabulous Ethel Rohan. So far, I’ve onlyContinue reading “Happy Irish Writers Day!”

But if Darth Vader got his hands on the Elder Wand AND the Ring of Power….

You can always tell it’s March Madness time when everyone starts breaking out tournament brackets for everything imaginable. And we hopelessly nonathletic nerds will not be left out of the fun! So Half-Price Books is running an online “Tournament of Villains,” a bracket of evil that includes baddies from film, literature, and comic books, mostlyContinue reading “But if Darth Vader got his hands on the Elder Wand AND the Ring of Power….”