TREAT!!

Just learned that Smokelong Quarterly has nominated my story, "Last Seen Leaving" for Dzanc Books' Best of the Web 2011 collection. Yes yes yes yes.

Sophie Hannah Interview

Thanks to Art Taylor for letting me throw a few questions at British crime fiction writer Sophie Hannah for his blog. This was fun.

If you don't know Hannah's work, but you like Tana French, give her a shot. Penguin has released a bunch of her Charlie Zailer/Simon Waterhouse books in lovely trade paper editions--all with different titles than the UK eds, so be careful. The US order is

Little Face
The Wrong Mother
The Truth-Teller's Lie
The Dead Lie down

That should tide you over.

Read silently to yourself, please

Oof. We held a reading yesterday, and though a ton of folks said they were coming, only two people who was not one of the coordinators, readers, or readers' companions showed. So we conducted the reading salon-style, and that would have been a treat if I could have quelled my embarrassment. And I swear this is true: one of two non-affiliated attendees took a wee nap during the third reading.

I don't think there's anything to blame except for the fact that we were competing with a gorgeous Sunday afternoon in a volatile season--

Making Vips on vsf more useful

I'm thinking updating the Vips on vsf blog in a few ways and then putting out a call for new contributions. One thing I need to do to make it more useful is create an easy and thorough index--for example, I gotta be able to find Cami's essay on titles, Joe & Kathy's collaborations, or Lauren's Granta pestering argument a lot more quickly. But also, I think there's room to expand the discussion to include notes on publishing experiences, interviews, etc. I even think the "vsf" focus no longer needs to be as central . . .

If you use it or want to, let me know what you or your students would like to see.

"The Brewsters" at Moon Milk Review

Rae Bryant gets me. I'm really thrilled to see my story in Moon Milk Review # 9, an especially creepy issue, with my new buddy John Minichilo and my old buddy Eddie Poe.

Dark Sky Interview!

I know, I know, Brad Green is supposed to have taken over the "Spotlight" author interview series over at the beautifully redesigned Dark Sky Magazine, but Ethel Rohan still has a few interviews in her back pocket, including this one with ME. Really happy about this because it's been a quiet season for me, and I really want to get back in the conversation.

Btw, Ethel's collection, Cut Through the Bone, is available for pre-order by Oct 15. Rexi says, "Buy on it!"

And a serious plea for assistance--where should I submit my little ghostie book? my email is in my profile.