AWP Reader’s List
AWP Chicago edition has posted on their website a list of featured readers for the event which will be held in early February.
It’s a solid list. I wish there were more young up-and-coming type writers but still I hope to engage in a wild party with Nick Flynn and Valzhyna Mort (pictured) while Marilynne Robinson makes disgusted faces.
AWP will be a big scene for online writers who will no doubt stare at each other awkwardly after meeting in person. Then realize we are all best friends. Get tickets soon. Last year in NYC it sold out.
Smokelong 22
There’s a new issue of Smokelong Quarterly now live.
Issue Twenty-Two (October 2, 2008): Innocence, Briefly by Jenny Arnold «» Tapioca O’s by Natalie DeClerck «» How Anything Got Done by Paul Elwork «» Tenderoni by Kathy Fish «» Breathing Oysters by Stefanie Freele «» The Mime’s Dog by Steven Douglas Gullion «» Two Minute Silence by Sarah Hilary «» Constructing Birds by Jo Horsman «» Crazy Sun by Lauren Huckstadt «» One Night Out by Ashley Kaufman «» Asian Girl by W.P. Kinsella «» Fatback by Jeff Landon «» Bounty by Tricia Louvar «» Beautiful by Antonios Maltezos «» Private Room by M.E. Parker «» True Identity by Kevin Sampsell «» Campfire by Donna D. Vitucci «» Interviews: Jenny Arnold «» Paul Elwork «» Kathy Fish «» Stefanie Freele «» Steven Douglas Gullion «» Sarah Hilary «» Jo Horsman «» Ashley Kaufman «» Jeff Landon «» Tricia Louvar «» Antonios Maltezos «» M.E. Parker «» Kevin Sampsell «» Donna D. Vitucci «» Cover Art “November Leaves” by Marty D. Ison «» Letter From the Editor
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October 3rd, 2008 / 1:33 am
October 3rd, 2008 / 1:33 am
barry graham has grouped women together and will be selling their work for american dollar bills
barry graham of paperhero press has grouped together
SUZANNE BURNS
ELIZABETH ELLEN
ANDREA KNEELAND
& CHELSEA MARTIN
in a chapbook collective and will be trading american dollars for their writing at a future point.
according to me, “barry graham looks like kerry king from slayer.”
the book will have words in it.
and careful, because sources say “if you put this book in a fireplace, it will burn up and be gone”. word is, most of the writing was done on a computer.
says chelsea martin, “you made up this quote.”
i will probably try to fool barry into giving me a copy for free.
i will say, “barry, baby, i work for the motherfucking internet giant now. i own your ass.”
Duotrope is neat
Duotrope.com does a great service to writers, and for free. I don’t use the submission tracker they have as much as I used to, because it was too easy to obsess over, but I still at least a few times a week go to the ‘What’s New?’ tab on the front page and check out what markets have opened or reopened, as well as new journals that have been added to the digest. It’s a good way to figure out, among the gamut of journals out there, who is currently reading and who isn’t.
Here’s the list from today, with some new places to pay attention to:
Markets that have Opened/Re-Opened to submissions (last 7 days):
1. American Letters & Commentary: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
2. American Literary Review: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
3. Antigonish Review, The: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
4. Boulevard Magazine: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
5. CALYX: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
6. CutBank Literary Magazine: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
7. Glimmer Train Stories: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
8. Global City Review: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
9. Heroin Love Songs: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
10. Interfictions II: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
11. KNOCK: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
12. Ledge, The: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
13. Massachusetts Review: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
14. Metromania Magazine: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
15. Necrotic Tissue: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
16. Nemonymous: Re-opened to submissions.
17. New Letters: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
18. Normal School, The: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
19. Parlor: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
20. Red Mountain Review: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
21. Rose & Thorn, The: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
22. Salamander: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
23. Seattle Review: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
24. Superficial Flesh: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
25. Swill Magazine: Re-opened to submissions.
26. TriQuarterly: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
27. Vignette Press / Mini Shots: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
28. Warwick Review, The: Re-opened to short fiction submissions.
That’s a lot of stuff. What is ‘Superficial Flesh’? What is ‘Nemonymous’? I feel scared. Internet.
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October 2nd, 2008 / 8:08 pm
October 2nd, 2008 / 8:08 pm
Tao Lin Rates a 9.4-9.8 on the Push-Down Worthiness Scale
In a suprising announcement today, casual blog commenter and fan of Tao Lin ‘when.parents.flee.the.country’ awarded Tao Lin a 9.4-9.8 on the Push-Down Worthiness Scale at 5:44am this morning after two hours of steady deliberation in front of a blank computer screen. In his/her comment, which can be read attached to Tao Lin’s post ‘victory in japan,’ he/she congratulates Tao on eee‘s recently being published in Japan, calls Tao Lin’s second novel Richard Yates, which has not yet been released, a “masterpiece,” and then types the word “really” a lot. I mean, really, probably more than necessary. When.parents.flee.the.country then announces Tao Lin’s Push-Down Worthiness rating, saying:
“and for the mother of all coincidences, i saw you on the l-train monday night. you’re very short, probably 5’6″ or so; i would describe your gait as existentially slackerish; and, given how you carry yourself, on a scale of 1-10 i would rate your push-down worthiness a 9.4-9.8.”
No word yet as to how useful such a scale will be, nor has when.parents.flee.the.country revealed what factors affect his/her calculations when he/she manipulates the scale (this blogger, however, believes height to have some importance).
Oh, also, uh, congrats to Tao on his book thing, I guess. That’s cool and stuff.
i randomly selected a journal off of blake butler’s sidebar because he is cooler than me and then i edited the journal’s “about” page
well, as i explained in the title of this post, i selected a journal at random from blake butler’s sidebar. it was “caketrain”. i went to their website and edited some of the text on their “about” page.
here it is:
Caketrain is edited by A CHRISTMAS TREE and A HAMMER, who cofounded the project in 2003. In short, we (A CHRISTMAS TREE and A HAMMER) found ourselves realizing that this “crazy” passion-for-the-arts thing, which had long been fostered in all of us, was not going to be muffled by EVIL WHITE PEOPLE, or logic, or PRAYERLESS ASSASSINS SLEEPING IN TREES. Yes, the drive was here to stay, and we had HERPES; fortunately, we shared these HERPES with one another, and together, turned them into a journal and press (AND ITCHY GAPING SORES ON OUR LIPS AND GENITALS). Many have taken this route before, and we are proud to be accepted into their number. All of us—readers, writers, editors, and PEOPLE WITH HERPES alike—are engaged together in the struggle to stand our ground in a larger landscape in which literary daring is marginalized, ghettoized on small, out-of-the-way shelves where it sits unnoticed, unread, and ultimately forgotten (BECAUSE IT HAD WICKED HERPES AND STUFF).
i am being honest
I recently read Matthew Savoca’s, i am being honest, over at bearcreekfeed. I’ve been enamoured with this site since its first story by Kim Chinquee. Editor Colin Bassett has yet to leave me feeling anything but happily morose and disheartened.
i am being honest has this tender sensibility about domestic life, but it’s still very dour and a little sad. It reminded me of small pale humans, by daniel spinks. They both have this way of displaying the repetitive quality of relationships that is comforting but ultimately depressing as hell. I would like to marry either of these writers, but after reading their lovely work, it suddenly seems like a bad idea.
Here is Matthew reading the last (and my favorite) poem of the book. He talks in a funny voice, and I like it.
A JPEG PAINTS 1000 WORDS
The photos which accompany Pequin’s stories are always stunning, and as much as I advocate the breadth of words, I think they augment the stories.
Steven Coy (editor) has explicitly cited Lee Klein’s eyeshot for the image per text inspiration, the latter whom understandably didn’t cite New Yorker for having always done the same. In the New Yorker, the pairing of image and story seems conceptually unconscious. (I’m sure the politics of publishing both story and image takes precedence over any editorial ideology, if any, concerning the pairing.)
Eyeshot’s photos are quirky and playful, but they are somewhat detached from the story itself, and celebrated more for their inherent attributes. Coy is onto something different here. The photos at Pequin act as a kind of surrogate or residual ‘scene’ for/from the story; either that, or as a clever visual pun.
For example: Dream Date, about a not-so-great boyfriend and his girlfriend’s unmet needs, is accompanied by a scene looking down a pink stairwell into a dark hallway, a composition which shares the orientation of a woman’s spread legs. There’s even a light bulb (anatomically consistent) which supposes a clitoris.
In Animal Parade, a story about the mishaps of taking a wrong exit on the freeway, the image is of freeway periphery (cinderblock walls, telephone polls, fastfood signs, etc.). The photo has a way of snapping into POV function, embodying the view of characters in the story.
Per Pequin’s writer’s guidelines, stories are to be under 1000 words (ideally exactly 1000 words). Coy seems hell-bent on toying with the whole ‘picture paints a thousand words’ thing. Good for him, and good for us.
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October 2nd, 2008 / 3:40 pm
October 2nd, 2008 / 3:40 pm
Featherproof Mini-Books
Featherproof Books has been in fantastic habit of releasing free mini books for quite a while, featuring a line up of fully downloadable and print-friendly short PDF-based chapbook like things from people such as Amelia Gray, Paul Fattaruso, Kevin Sampsell, and tons of excellent others. There have them archived on the site there for free along with their regular print books, including the brand new and very excellent design-masterpiece BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING by Zach Plague, which in itself is a thing to stare at and behold.
As of this week there are two brand new minibooks: THE STORK by John Griswold and MAGIC by Malread Case, which are both queued up in my printer. It’s a great e-lit companion to their print press.. so if you haven’t done so already, drop by and check some out, and when their submission window opens again, send them something.