is the name of my story in the stunning debut issue of Corium Magazine. This is one of the stories from my gothic leaning collection, Curio, so to all you moneybags publishers out there--I got more like that.
Greg Gerke and Lauren Becker really worked with me on this one, but they did take away my exclamation point. I'm almost over that, especially seeing who I'm in there with--cripes!:
Stephen Elliott
Donna D. Vitucci
Sean Lovelace
Alec Niedenthal
Adam Moorad
Kim Chinquee
Scott Garson
Andrea Kneeland
Kathy Fish
Sheldon Compton
Julie Babcock
Ryan Ridge
Beth Thomas
Laura Ellen Scott
Christina Murphy
Eric Beeny
Shaindel Beers
Corey Mesler
Sam Rasnake
Rusty Barnes
Cami Park
Haven't started on the thing yet, but WOW.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Everyday Genius, March 22-26--oh wow
so there will be a lot of new things out this week, but EG will be on fire every day:
Monday
They teeter. They totter. They fall, knees pressed together, into crumpled heaps.
—from Roxane Gay’s “Boys in Drag”
Tuesday
He looks about to cry. His shoe comes at my face before I can close my eyes.
—from David Erlewine’s “Buried”
Wednesday
They told her that she was an orphan, a feral child. To repay her rescuers, she became a prisoner of science.
—from G. Walker’s “An Experiment”
Thursday
Under the dog’s old quilt they listened to the voices inside the butter-light windows, Aunt Louie’s laugh rising over the murmur, an unidentified man cough.
—from Jen Michalski’s “The Turn of Things”
Friday
My old buddy Asidri burned to death on a lava cavern tour and was chewed on by a goblin. Post-mortem.
—from Erin Fitzgerald’s “At Grayfield Keep”
the day after Dzanc Workshop Day/DC
I have no idea if it went well, but we filled up the time and made people write. There were about a dozen participants, most of whom could have run the workshop themselves--I was especially pleased to meet Rae Bryant of Moon Milk Review, and poet Kate Wyer, whose living book project And, Afterward is really fascinating.
It was a gorgeous day, so of course we convened in the windowless upstairs of the Wonderland Ballroom bar. The Barrelhouse lads like bar food and bar drink, but I did not see anyone taking up the waitress on her offer of free waffles. Apparently they used to have bacon days.
Mike Ingram started things off with a discussion of point of view, I did my flash thing, and Reb wrapped up with a guided tour through "Moves through Contemporary Poetry," an essay by Elisa Gabbert & Mike Young that appeared on HTMLGIANT.
For my segment I tried to talk about how tension occurs in vsf, and I shared Katrina Denza's "Soap," Scott Garson's "Captions," Joseph Young's "10 Point" & "Lethe," and Matt Bell's "How To Watch Paint Dry." After a quick browse of the readings I had the attendees write in response to one of the following exercises, all of which I adapted from Behn & Twichell's Practice of Poetry--my rationale being that the compositional mood for writing very short fiction is more akin to that of writing poetry than it is to writing conventional fiction:
A
Write one or two complete sentences in response to each of these steps.
The “You” in these prompts is the narrator, who is part of the scene.
1. Think of a person you know, or invent a person. Describe the person’s hands.
2. Describe something he or she is doing with the hands.
3. Use a metaphor to describe an exotic place.
4. Mention what you would want to ask this person in context of numbers 2 and 3.
5. The person notices you and gives a response that indicates a misunderstanding of your question.
B
Build or dismantle, piece by piece, an object, being, or phenomena that we don’t naturally think of as being constructed.
C
1. Write a paragraph to describe an intriguing event or object—avoid using comparisons, stick with the image.
2. Do the same to describe a powerful character.
3. Combine the paragraphs into one, alternating between the object and the person. Use transitional language to make the paragraph sound right, even if it doesn’t seem to make sense. Make the flow take priority over reason. (new reason will create itself)
It was a gorgeous day, so of course we convened in the windowless upstairs of the Wonderland Ballroom bar. The Barrelhouse lads like bar food and bar drink, but I did not see anyone taking up the waitress on her offer of free waffles. Apparently they used to have bacon days.
Mike Ingram started things off with a discussion of point of view, I did my flash thing, and Reb wrapped up with a guided tour through "Moves through Contemporary Poetry," an essay by Elisa Gabbert & Mike Young that appeared on HTMLGIANT.
For my segment I tried to talk about how tension occurs in vsf, and I shared Katrina Denza's "Soap," Scott Garson's "Captions," Joseph Young's "10 Point" & "Lethe," and Matt Bell's "How To Watch Paint Dry." After a quick browse of the readings I had the attendees write in response to one of the following exercises, all of which I adapted from Behn & Twichell's Practice of Poetry--my rationale being that the compositional mood for writing very short fiction is more akin to that of writing poetry than it is to writing conventional fiction:
A
Write one or two complete sentences in response to each of these steps.
The “You” in these prompts is the narrator, who is part of the scene.
1. Think of a person you know, or invent a person. Describe the person’s hands.
2. Describe something he or she is doing with the hands.
3. Use a metaphor to describe an exotic place.
4. Mention what you would want to ask this person in context of numbers 2 and 3.
5. The person notices you and gives a response that indicates a misunderstanding of your question.
B
Build or dismantle, piece by piece, an object, being, or phenomena that we don’t naturally think of as being constructed.
C
1. Write a paragraph to describe an intriguing event or object—avoid using comparisons, stick with the image.
2. Do the same to describe a powerful character.
3. Combine the paragraphs into one, alternating between the object and the person. Use transitional language to make the paragraph sound right, even if it doesn’t seem to make sense. Make the flow take priority over reason. (new reason will create itself)
Sunday, March 14, 2010
March 15-19 @ Everyday Genius
This week at Everyday Genius!
Monday
“What the hell,” the pickpocket lady said, peeking into the stroller while the boys shoved their sticky hands into her pockets, pulling various small toys, all made of plastic.
—from Michelle Reale’s “At the Fair”
Tuesday
He begins to play solitaire! Is this strange behavior? Should I shoot him now?
—from Dawn Corrigan’s “The Assignment”
Wednesday
That fucking spotted hyena working behind the counter—he was probably, at this very moment, laughing his anal pouch off.
—from Tamm Walters’ “The Hyena and the Gnus”
Thursday
It had a child it didn’t know; blessed that fruit with silver hands.
—from Joseph Young’s “Stories Around People” & “More from Stories Around People”
Friday
SHE LEFT HIM WITH THE TALLOW OF THEIR LOVE GONE FLABBY. It was the first line from her mystery novel-in-progress--Augurs Under My Bed
—from Kyle Hemmings’ “Amazing Animal Facts #4” & “Amazing Animal Facts #2”
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Chapbook done or close to it? & Prick of the Spindle & Dzanc Day
That's what it looks like. For several months now I've been worrying a dark theme to death in the very short form, and what with breakthroughs achieved in the past week, I think I've written all I care to on the subjects of death, eternity, or the lack thereof--for the time being. So what do I have?
A folder called "Curio" containing 26 short stories, 3 of which may get tossed. 7 have been/are scheduled to be published (the final 3 coming out this month, yikes). A few of the pieces are multi-part, so with each part sitting on its own page, I probably have about 50 pages. I know that's damn brief, but I think it's the right length for something like this. Plus I'm all WWSJD? I want people to read it like they might have read Weird Tales comics once upon a time.
Now what? I don't know. But it's a good thing I'm wrapping it up because beginning in April I should start reading submissions for my new gig as Fiction Editor at Prick of the Spindle. I'm stupid-happy-excited to join the PotS staff, and to work for Cynthia Reeser who strikes me as a very sharp, particularly forward thinking artist.
Also want to remind everyone out there that Next Saturday is DZANC DAY, and along with Reb Livingston and the lads from Barrelhouse, I'll be helping conduct workshops as part of DC's "Dzanc National Workshop Day," a fundraising event to support the DZANC's "charitable programs which, in part, bring creative writing programs to students who could not otherwise afford the opportunity." Should be a hoot. I'm doing the flash workshop.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Everyday Genius Line-Up, March 8-12 2010
Gonna be a weird week at http://www.everyday-genius.com/
Monday
You are less attractive than I am. If panties are to be wetted for this, then I will be the master of the waterworks
—from Ben White's "Milestones"
Tuesday
an unending landscape of glue and glue and glue
—from Tara Laskowski's "Day 72"
Wednesday
Those were some muscles he had and Sally Potawatomi wanted to eat them
—from Gabriel Orgease's "For Three Days They Were Not Able to Identify a Body That Had No Arm"
Thursday
They measure her body for the sake of the artists, then they build a barge and sail her corpse east
—from Danny Collier's "Ouch" & "His fortune gone . . ."
Friday
You may find her grunting on the floor, in the manner of a goat, to find what she let fall and roll under the table
—from Donna D. Vitucci's "The Woman"
Friday, March 5, 2010
March has ADHD
We will all need personal assistants to keep March organized.
Very pleased that Short Story Reader has noticed "Rot." Thank for the heads up, E.
The vsf blog has been quiet for a while, but today Tara L. Masih, editor of The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction and author of Where the Dog Star Never Glows: Stories, talks about formal variety within collections with the great Jayne Anne Phillips (Black Tickets changed your life, didn't it?) and Press 53 publisher, Kevin Watson.
Oh and one other thing--Barry Graham rocks Everyday Genius with "!3 Ways of Looking at a Roadtrip"
Very pleased that Short Story Reader has noticed "Rot." Thank for the heads up, E.
The vsf blog has been quiet for a while, but today Tara L. Masih, editor of The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction and author of Where the Dog Star Never Glows: Stories, talks about formal variety within collections with the great Jayne Anne Phillips (Black Tickets changed your life, didn't it?) and Press 53 publisher, Kevin Watson.
Oh and one other thing--Barry Graham rocks Everyday Genius with "!3 Ways of Looking at a Roadtrip"
Thursday, March 4, 2010
New "story"????? up at The Northville Review
My "Annotation of 'Who Killed Lord Darnley'" is up at the March issue of The Northville Review, as guest edited by the inspired/inspiring Lauren Becker.
I don't know what to tell you about this piece, and seeing it on-line I'm not sure what I could have been thinking.
I think the piece I have coming out in the next Double Shiny comes from the same strange mood.
I don't know what to tell you about this piece, and seeing it on-line I'm not sure what I could have been thinking.
I think the piece I have coming out in the next Double Shiny comes from the same strange mood.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
March 1-5 Everyday Genius line-up
Monday through Friday at Everyday Genius
Monday
I watched Thomas Pynchon lather himself with cologne samples from magazine ads
from Ravi Mangla’s “Visiting Writers”
Tuesday
Attention now count the damns/ Of remonstration the damn
from David Kaufmann’s “You’ll Poke Your Eye Out”
Wednesday
She developed a dappled scarlet rash and used it as a passport
from Kathryn Scanlan’s “Victorian Wedding Portrait”
Thursday
a book you will never write can only be read by people fluent in the English language
from Jimmy Chen’s “Potential Prologue”
Friday
I thought about stalking her children. Finding her daughter and learning of her dreams
from Barry Graham’s “13 Ways of Looking at a Road Trip”
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Get out of that slushpile, what are you crazy?!?!?
Sure, these tips are gold, but they don't cover everything.
I give you
My 21 tips (apologies if I stole any)
1. Have you considered writing a sex scene or giving your protagonist large breasts?
2. Try adding Literary Ambiguity to your short story. If you are successful, your reader will always come away from your fiction with the ability to compare it to a film they once rented.
3. If your plot is too exciting or moving too fast, enhance realism by making your characters stop for a meal at an ethnic restaurant. Describe each course and allow your characters to re-cap the plot so far.
4. A well built character is one who refuses to change, regardless of the trauma he or she endures. Think: Rifleman or Mannix.
5. Do not write a single word unless you know how your story will end. You are the dungeon master.
6. Apply Epiphany directly to the forehead.
7. Trust your workshop peers. They aren’t in competition with you or anything, nor are they attempting to hijack your story to make it their own. Use all of their advice. Also, keep work-shopping a recalcitrant story for years.
8. Rashomon an insignificant event.
9. Heighten the emotional impact by making sure a kitten/puppy/baby is injured or killed by a Very Bad Person.
10. Leave it open-ended as to whether your point of view character is Insane.
11. Perhaps your story could use an erotic dimension involving a character with a very large penis.
12. Writing successful fiction is all about reinforcing separation between the classes: Definitely think in terms of Main Plot and Subplots. Organization is the key.
13. Write what you know, especially you white people out there.
14. Very Bad People are inherently interesting.
15. Last line=punch line. Seal that sucker off. Lock that story down.
16. Subtext means writing in code. Readers love to work hard at detecting what you really meant to say.
17. Italics, italics, italics. Especially for flashbacks.
18. Depression hurts everyone, so a story that is completely non-stop depressing—say a faithful chronicle of a terminal patient’s decline and death—is emotionally successful.
19. Children lead interesting lives and make wonderful point of view characters, mainly because they don’t know anything!
20. Make sure your readers know if your characters aren’t white.
21. Try writing a story from the point of view of an impossible object, like Dick Cheney’s hospital gown.
I give you
My 21 tips (apologies if I stole any)
1. Have you considered writing a sex scene or giving your protagonist large breasts?
2. Try adding Literary Ambiguity to your short story. If you are successful, your reader will always come away from your fiction with the ability to compare it to a film they once rented.
3. If your plot is too exciting or moving too fast, enhance realism by making your characters stop for a meal at an ethnic restaurant. Describe each course and allow your characters to re-cap the plot so far.
4. A well built character is one who refuses to change, regardless of the trauma he or she endures. Think: Rifleman or Mannix.
5. Do not write a single word unless you know how your story will end. You are the dungeon master.
6. Apply Epiphany directly to the forehead.
7. Trust your workshop peers. They aren’t in competition with you or anything, nor are they attempting to hijack your story to make it their own. Use all of their advice. Also, keep work-shopping a recalcitrant story for years.
8. Rashomon an insignificant event.
9. Heighten the emotional impact by making sure a kitten/puppy/baby is injured or killed by a Very Bad Person.
10. Leave it open-ended as to whether your point of view character is Insane.
11. Perhaps your story could use an erotic dimension involving a character with a very large penis.
12. Writing successful fiction is all about reinforcing separation between the classes: Definitely think in terms of Main Plot and Subplots. Organization is the key.
13. Write what you know, especially you white people out there.
14. Very Bad People are inherently interesting.
15. Last line=punch line. Seal that sucker off. Lock that story down.
16. Subtext means writing in code. Readers love to work hard at detecting what you really meant to say.
17. Italics, italics, italics. Especially for flashbacks.
18. Depression hurts everyone, so a story that is completely non-stop depressing—say a faithful chronicle of a terminal patient’s decline and death—is emotionally successful.
19. Children lead interesting lives and make wonderful point of view characters, mainly because they don’t know anything!
20. Make sure your readers know if your characters aren’t white.
21. Try writing a story from the point of view of an impossible object, like Dick Cheney’s hospital gown.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
How the reading went
Coming off the high of participating in the Cheryl's Gone reading series last Thursday at DC's Big Bear Cafe, I got a great start on three new stories this weekend. Thanks to Wade Fletcher and Joe Hall for inviting me, and special thanks to Adam, Mike, Tara, Emily, and Art for coming out. The place was packed, and I ready two pubbed pieces ("Dusty Bastards" and "Do you know what it means to miss") along with two in progress pieces from the ghost-y vsf collection I'm putting together. Very positive response to the the collection concept, which has got me juiced.
The Cafe is lovely, serving excellent hot chocolate which took the edge off of having to scale mini glaciers to get there.
I read with poets James Belflower, who runs the Potlach Poetry exchange project, and Maureen Thorson of the In Your Ear reading series. Maureen was a riot, and James (who traveled from Albany) is an amazing fit in the DC Poetry scene. His book is Commuter, from Instance Press.
The Cafe is lovely, serving excellent hot chocolate which took the edge off of having to scale mini glaciers to get there.
I read with poets James Belflower, who runs the Potlach Poetry exchange project, and Maureen Thorson of the In Your Ear reading series. Maureen was a riot, and James (who traveled from Albany) is an amazing fit in the DC Poetry scene. His book is Commuter, from Instance Press.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Retort Magazine
Brentley Frazer is a Fictionaut chum, and he's republished my story "Rot" at Retort Magazine, which I never really explored before even though it's been around since 2001.
But I gotta tell you this thing is a toy box of lit and art. Very few of the usual suspects here, I imagine owing to the fact that it's an Australian operation. Go there now.
"Rot" has had a fine run, and anyone reading my blog has probably already encountered it. It originally ran in Identity Theory, also a fine venue when you can get a reply.
But I gotta tell you this thing is a toy box of lit and art. Very few of the usual suspects here, I imagine owing to the fact that it's an Australian operation. Go there now.
"Rot" has had a fine run, and anyone reading my blog has probably already encountered it. It originally ran in Identity Theory, also a fine venue when you can get a reply.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Everyday Genius for March: My 23
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CRJLMATDMEANOLINHASRRTVFEMGNDGRBREOEEWYSWKEDIAV
GUHIATACWROHSMHKVAAAACTCMDEMRFIYRICERMNNEEINANN
NGTJYHELRCHLOSOBREALRUERBORINNEAIWTAAEAKEICKITT
WLEANINWOIAAIRNGRAAVYMWEGIENRADEMANHAEGPAHHKRAL
KNRWAIMONLOGEAJAZAEILRROSAYEIMLTA
CRJLMATDMEANOLINHASRRTVFEMGNDGRBREOEEWYSWKEDIAV
GUHIATACWROHSMHKVAAAACTCMDEMRFIYRICERMNNEEINANN
NGTJYHELRCHLOSOBREALRUERBORINNEAIWTAAEAKEICKITT
WLEANINWOIAAIRNGRAAVYMWEGIENRADEMANHAEGPAHHKRAL
KNRWAIMONLOGEAJAZAEILRROSAYEIMLTA
Monday, February 15, 2010
Not Catholic
I'm reading some fiction for the "Cheryl's Gone" series this Thursday at the Big Bear Cafe in DC. I'll be reading with poets Maureen Thorson and James Bellflower.(Some guilt about this, as I was asked back in October, but for various health and weather reasons I have yet to attend any of the other Cheryl's Gone events.)
Brentley Frazer has suggested reprinting my short little "Rot" in Retort, which is lovely.
Got an acceptance from a journal that I forgot about. Feel weird.
Going back to the WORKPLACE today, after having been snowed in (out?) for the past week. My guilt there is that the week of inactivity is probably not going to make a big difference in what I do and when I get it done.
Brentley Frazer has suggested reprinting my short little "Rot" in Retort, which is lovely.
Got an acceptance from a journal that I forgot about. Feel weird.
Going back to the WORKPLACE today, after having been snowed in (out?) for the past week. My guilt there is that the week of inactivity is probably not going to make a big difference in what I do and when I get it done.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Progress and a Blind Item
So my selections for the March "edition" of Everyday Genius are just about complete, and I'm especially excited by the fresh work--that is, the stuff people have offered me from brand new projects. There's going to be a lot of funny and/or brain-folding prose and a little poetry, punctuated by a few moments of loss and despair.
I'm really happy that everyone I asked to contribute coughed something up, or tried to--that is, everyone except
BLIND ITEM
--This writer who wrote the TWO best flashes of 2009.
--Both flashes appeared at premier venues that have rejected you multiple times (once on Christmas day!)
--This writer loves EG, appreciates being asked, but must decline. Because those two flashes were the only ones this writer has produced.
There's only one word for this: CRIPES-OH-JEEZ-YER-KILLING-ME
I'm really happy that everyone I asked to contribute coughed something up, or tried to--that is, everyone except
BLIND ITEM
--This writer who wrote the TWO best flashes of 2009.
--Both flashes appeared at premier venues that have rejected you multiple times (once on Christmas day!)
--This writer loves EG, appreciates being asked, but must decline. Because those two flashes were the only ones this writer has produced.
There's only one word for this: CRIPES-OH-JEEZ-YER-KILLING-ME
Monday, February 8, 2010
Adventures in editing
I'm in the process of making my selections for Everyday Genius--I'm the guest editor for March, and I've probably got around 1/2 of my picks. Keep 'em coming folks, but sooner than later--I want to be able to spend time on the arrangement before I hand over the files to Adam Robinson.
I haven't done this kind of thing before (well, we all experimented in college, right?), so I wanted to take a mo to make note of a few unexpected surprises.
1) my normally slacker friends, in their paranoia, are giving me super-awesome stuff.
2) I don't really "get" some of the submissions. And I'm not talking about understanding what they mean. I'm saying I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about them.
not so unexpected surprises:
1) My tastes in poetry are obscenely narrow
2) lotta snow imagery. Hey you guys, please ease up on the snow. I'm genuinely concerned about turning off readers who, by March, will have no more tolerance for or sense of humor about effing snow.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Warmest Congratulations and Thanks
Congratulations to all those marvelous writers whose writing was selected for Dzanc Books' Best of the Web 2010 production! And another congratulations to editors Kathy Fish and Matt Bell for being who they are. As far as I can tell from the chatter, the selections are magnificent. (Is there a master list yet?)
My sincere thanks to Adam Robinson and Cooper Renner for nominating my work (mind still blown by that)--the stories didn't make the cut for the anthology, but I'm still high from the recognition.
2009 was a sweet year for our kinda fiction, and I continue to be moved by the generosity of spirit that pervades the scene.
My sincere thanks to Adam Robinson and Cooper Renner for nominating my work (mind still blown by that)--the stories didn't make the cut for the anthology, but I'm still high from the recognition.
2009 was a sweet year for our kinda fiction, and I continue to be moved by the generosity of spirit that pervades the scene.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
I-viewed by Erlewine at the JMWW blog
Thank you David Erlewine and Jen Michalski for letting me go on like I do. Wow, am I needy. And DE is an excellent enabler.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Everyday Genius! I'm the March editor
I am blown away by the fact that Adam Robinson is going to let me select everyday genii for the March 2010 issue of Everyday Genius! Seriously, I'm over-excited.
You know my tastes in fiction--I like the weird common and the common weird, well under 500 words, but I'm a sucker for anything with a killer first line. As for poetry, I'm a fan of the DC poetry scene and Language poets in general, and not really into straight narrative poetry. I like poetry that forges new paths in my brain. But you never know.
Official guidelines here.
You know my tastes in fiction--I like the weird common and the common weird, well under 500 words, but I'm a sucker for anything with a killer first line. As for poetry, I'm a fan of the DC poetry scene and Language poets in general, and not really into straight narrative poetry. I like poetry that forges new paths in my brain. But you never know.
Official guidelines here.
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