There’s nothing but time here

This afternoon I heard the familiar knock and rattle of our mailbox and stepped onto the porch to collect the mail. We had a flier from The Container Store and a tightly bundled parcel of coffee beans from an old friend down in Austin. But what caught my attention was the quiet rain shower mistingContinue reading “There’s nothing but time here”

Meanwhile, the Jersey Devil got drunk with General Grant

That’s an odd title for a post, but let me explain: The first story in the September issue of Jersey Devil Press is about a woman from the set of a vanity zombie flick having a love affair with General Robert E. Lee. And I know you’re not surprised by that sentence, because it’s JerseyContinue reading “Meanwhile, the Jersey Devil got drunk with General Grant”

I’ve been nominated for the storySouth Million Writers Award!

Folks, this is just too amazing not to share: The editors at Bartleby Snopes have nominated my story “Lightning My Pilot” for the 2013 storySouth Million Writers Award! It’s a hell of an honor, and I’m inexpressibly proud to be listed alongside Joseph Lambach’s “Cutting Hair for My Sister” and Brian Kayser’s “Underwear and Leftovers.” Thanks, SO MUCH,Continue reading “I’ve been nominated for the storySouth Million Writers Award!”

Ryan Werner on small presses, road trips, and rock-n-roll

About a month ago, I posted about the big Unshod Quills One-Hit Wonders reading here in Portland, with a lot of attention to literary rock star (literally) Ryan Werner. But there’s a hell of a lot more to his side of that story, and today, in Passages North, he tells it: We do all ofContinue reading “Ryan Werner on small presses, road trips, and rock-n-roll”

The Jersey Devil never rhymes . . .

. . . But this month, for the first time in a full issue, we have poetry. That’s right, folks: your friendly neighborhood Jersey Devil Press, home to all your favorite short fiction — sci-fi, horror, comedy, sci-hor-medy, deep literary musings, and not-so-deep literary musings — has gone all bard-y and started breaking lines andContinue reading “The Jersey Devil never rhymes . . .”

Todd McNamee releases “Drifting”

“I’m a bastard.” Could you ask for a better opening line? But the narrator in Todd McNamee’s debut novel, Drifting, isn’t speaking figuratively or self-depracatingly: he means this literally. “My name is Patrick Mulligan and I was raised an only child in Portland, Oregon, by a mother who loved me,” the narrator continues. “My father’sContinue reading “Todd McNamee releases “Drifting””

North Texas writers

I tout the books of friends and writers I admire here on the blog from time to time, but as good fortune would have it, lately I’ve been getting a lot of news about books from former classmates! I did my doctorate in English at the University of North Texas, where I had the tremendousContinue reading “North Texas writers”

Unshod Quills One-Hit Wonders and reading in Portland

I am so, so fortunate to be part of so many little circles of writing communities — authors, poets, editors, publishers, public readers, Portlanders…. And when two of those circles overlap in a kind if literary Venn diagram, the fun doesn’t get smaller, it gets more concentrated. So you can imagine the degree of AwesomeContinue reading “Unshod Quills One-Hit Wonders and reading in Portland”

Even the Jersey Devil worships the Great Old Ones

When I was in high school, I was a huge horror fan. I plowed through Stephen King, devoured Clive Barker, dabbled in Dean Koontz. When I discovered that Poe — which we were supposed to read for school and was therefore supposed to be boring — was actually a killer horror writer, I plunged intoContinue reading “Even the Jersey Devil worships the Great Old Ones”

How to order The Disordered

Sunnyoutside Press is doing book trailers now. Their first is for the poetry collection The Disordered, by Anhvu Buchanan. The book comes out next week, but you can get on the preorders here: http://sunnyoutside.com/releases/066/o.html Why share this with you? Two reasons: Sunnyoutside has a hell of a reputation with poetry, and they put out some of my favorite poetryContinue reading “How to order The Disordered”