A former professor of mine, poet Corey Marks, has just won the 2011 Green Rose Prize from New Issues Press. The award honors a new collection by a poet with at least one other book in print (Corey’s previous collection, Renunciation, remains on my shortlist of favorite poetry collections–it’s breathtaking work), and the winning manuscriptContinue reading “New poetry from Corey Marks”
Category Archives: reading
11-11: Memoir review (Elmer Kelton)
A short while ago I mentioned that I plan to read new types of books this year — eleven new categories of books, in fact — and so far, I’ve read a lot of graphic novels. Which isn’t really new for me, and which certainly isn’t on my list of eleven categories. But I just sneakedContinue reading “11-11: Memoir review (Elmer Kelton)”
Because the abyss can wait….
I love blogs that lead me to other blogs. Soon, I won’t have time for books! I was reading a post at Literary Rejections on Display about fantasy rejection letters from a fake literary journal (I had this idea way back when I worked at American Literary Review–why didn’t I get to work on thatContinue reading “Because the abyss can wait….”
New fiction by Lori Ann Bloomfield
Lori Ann Bloomfield, author of The Last River Child (which I’m dying to read) and the First Line blog (which I read all the time), has a new story in the latest issue of New Plains Review. If you can manage it, track down a copy of the story in print and help support theContinue reading “New fiction by Lori Ann Bloomfield”
The last man on Earth has wood.
A few of my favorite blogs went on hiatus last year, and they’re all making comebacks this month, much to my supreme delight. Today I was even more thrilled to discover that one of those blogs, Judge a Book by Its Cover, has decided to use one of my submissions, the probably intentionally “arousing” coverContinue reading “The last man on Earth has wood.”
Another post from How Not To Write
I’m in the midst of some frustrating revision right now–two stories giving me headaches and another taunting me from the shadows, though I did pull off a long but good revision of a novel excerpt last week–so this new post from Jamie Grove on revision hell is well timed. Wonder if Jamie actually saw myContinue reading “Another post from How Not To Write”
11-11 reading challenge
A friend of mine mentioned recently that he’d heard too late about the “10-10-10” challenge, in which readers committed to reading ten books a month for the first ten months of 2010. I heard about it too late, too — I heard about it through my friend, in fact — but I wouldn’t have participated.Continue reading “11-11 reading challenge”
Three principles of writing
I wish Jamie Grove posted at How Not to Write more regularly, because even when I disagree with some of his ideas about writing (which is very rare), he always gets me thinking about the craft and the process. Today’s post, “Charles Dickens – Three Principles of Writing,” is a great example and a wonderfulContinue reading “Three principles of writing”
A Writer’s Notebook: a reading meme
Okay, this is perhaps cheating slightly, because a meme is hardly a writing exercise, right? Except that it is. I’ll explain more below, but for now, let’s call this a review of my influences. I should also preëmptively explain that this meme is made rather tricky because I have to qualify my answers: When itContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: a reading meme”
The end is near: Darin’s Bradley’s “Noise”
My friend Darin Bradley has had a very, very good year. His debut novel, the apocalyptic Noise, has garnered a great deal of praise and recognition since its release early this fall, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down at all. Now, at the end of the year, Noise is starting to turn upContinue reading “The end is near: Darin’s Bradley’s “Noise””
Samuel Snoek-Brown 