April 2nd, 2010 / 12:15 pm
Author Spotlight
Sean Lovelace
Author Spotlight
5 paper antlers of god
1. Sixteen drinks named for authors (with recipes)
2.Harry Smith sort of rambling a bit, sort of blowing a few joints. Cat’s cooler than buckets of toad.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdfCx13S5aI
3. Holy shit Sonora Review flash fiction contest will give you a sweet grand! That’s like 90 ecstasy tablets or 13 Poking Boxes. Joe Wenderoth will judge.
4. You edit an anthology. Do you include your own work?
5. Happy Easter!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIl9rO9sURE
Tags: flash fiction, Harry Smith, Hemingway, Joe Wenderoth, Sam Taylor-Wood, sonora review
4. Depends on the antho. I did in mine but in my particular genre, that’s pretty standard.
Seems like including own work in anthology is a little more normalized or less stigmatized than other things seen as self-publishing.
4. Depends on the antho. I did in mine but in my particular genre, that’s pretty standard.
Seems like including own work in anthology is a little more normalized or less stigmatized than other things seen as self-publishing.
I think it’s okay to write an intro for the anthology you’re editing but it seems a little weird to include your own story. Just my opinion.
I think it’s okay to write an intro for the anthology you’re editing but it seems a little weird to include your own story. Just my opinion.
I think it really depends on genre. In erotica, if you’re a “big name” you’re kind of expected to include your own work in the anthology to move copies.
I think it really depends on genre. In erotica, if you’re a “big name” you’re kind of expected to include your own work in the anthology to move copies.
I was thinking about this the other day with an anthology I’m pondering. I think it is kind of tacky to include yourself, and probably would not want to do it unless it would be weirder not to (say, you are a big writer who has a famous story that fits the anthology concept)
I was thinking about this the other day with an anthology I’m pondering. I think it is kind of tacky to include yourself, and probably would not want to do it unless it would be weirder not to (say, you are a big writer who has a famous story that fits the anthology concept)
i agree that it seems somewhat more common than you would think though
It’s interesting you replied b/c one of the examples I was thinking abt was Achy included her own story in Akashic’s Havana Noir. Assuming that means you did not do the same for Portland?
i agree that it seems somewhat more common than you would think though
It’s interesting you replied b/c one of the examples I was thinking abt was Achy included her own story in Akashic’s Havana Noir. Assuming that means you did not do the same for Portland?
That was sort-of my thought — seems like the phenomenon of people buying anthologies edited by people whose writing they dig or they’re fans of is not confined to genre.
I bought that Havana Noir anthology before I knew anything about anything or that Akashic and their noir series were awesome because I’d been a student of Achy’s.
That was sort-of my thought — seems like the phenomenon of people buying anthologies edited by people whose writing they dig or they’re fans of is not confined to genre.
I bought that Havana Noir anthology before I knew anything about anything or that Akashic and their noir series were awesome because I’d been a student of Achy’s.
Definitely. I turned in the mss without my own work in it and my editor called me up and demanded I include a story so I did.
Definitely. I turned in the mss without my own work in it and my editor called me up and demanded I include a story so I did.
Frey’s drink sounds delicious.
Frey’s drink sounds delicious.
I want to read some of your genre work. Is it published under another name?
I want to read some of your genre work. Is it published under another name?
It is indeed published under another name. I’ll e-mail you.
It is indeed published under another name. I’ll e-mail you.
I used to think no. But then: Why not? If you’ve got a story that can slug it out with the good stories you’ve chosen, go ahead. You’re the one going to all the effort to make the anthology, it’s got your name on the cover, and, ultimately, it’s an opportunity to introduce your story to people who are inclined to like the kind of stories you like.
Exception #1: A best-of-the-year award anthology, such as the Best American or O. Henry Series.
Exception #2: A best-of regional or national anthology, unless you really are a star. (For example, it didn’t bug me
Exception Corollary #1: You don’t get to include your wife or relatives in anything covered by Exceptions #1 or #2.
Exception to Exception Corollary #1: If your wife is Alice Elliott Dark, and she wrote “In the Gloaming,” then you would be a crazy fool not to include the story, even if it means you have to give up editing the series you edit, because that is one of the best stories anybody ever wrote, and by excluding it you would be depriving readers of a true pleasure and a necessary undoing.
I used to think no. But then: Why not? If you’ve got a story that can slug it out with the good stories you’ve chosen, go ahead. You’re the one going to all the effort to make the anthology, it’s got your name on the cover, and, ultimately, it’s an opportunity to introduce your story to people who are inclined to like the kind of stories you like.
Exception #1: A best-of-the-year award anthology, such as the Best American or O. Henry Series.
Exception #2: A best-of regional or national anthology, unless you really are a star. (For example, it didn’t bug me
Exception Corollary #1: You don’t get to include your wife or relatives in anything covered by Exceptions #1 or #2.
Exception to Exception Corollary #1: If your wife is Alice Elliott Dark, and she wrote “In the Gloaming,” then you would be a crazy fool not to include the story, even if it means you have to give up editing the series you edit, because that is one of the best stories anybody ever wrote, and by excluding it you would be depriving readers of a true pleasure and a necessary undoing.
(forgot to finish one of those sentences, in which I was going to say that it didn’t bug me that John Updike included his story in Best American Short Stories of the Century, although it did bug me that he picked a relatively obscure story, “Gesturing,” instead of “A & P.”)
(forgot to finish one of those sentences, in which I was going to say that it didn’t bug me that John Updike included his story in Best American Short Stories of the Century, although it did bug me that he picked a relatively obscure story, “Gesturing,” instead of “A & P.”)
Roxane, is it too late to have my story in the antho published under the name “Walter Sobchak”?
Roxane, is it too late to have my story in the antho published under the name “Walter Sobchak”?
OH man, I read that antho about nine years ago and that STILL bugs me. A&P is one of the most powerful stories I’ve ever read. I worked for a grocery store for years before reading it, though, so I always think maybe it spoke to me that much more because of my experiences. So glad to hear you, Kyle, loved it too.
OH man, I read that antho about nine years ago and that STILL bugs me. A&P is one of the most powerful stories I’ve ever read. I worked for a grocery store for years before reading it, though, so I always think maybe it spoke to me that much more because of my experiences. So glad to hear you, Kyle, loved it too.
David, yes, indeed. I believe the book has gone to the printer.
David, yes, indeed. I believe the book has gone to the printer.
How does this relate to publishing your own work in a magazine you edit?
How does this relate to publishing your own work in a magazine you edit?
i may be the world’s most egregious case of self-publishing, well soon i will be, but then i guess it’s up to the readers whether it’s justified or not. plus “you only live once”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT68FS3YbQ4
i may be the world’s most egregious case of self-publishing, well soon i will be, but then i guess it’s up to the readers whether it’s justified or not. plus “you only live once”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT68FS3YbQ4
btw i’m emailing a PDF/Doc to every htmlgiant commenter whose email i can track down. print copies will be “limited.”
btw i’m emailing a PDF/Doc to every htmlgiant commenter whose email i can track down. print copies will be “limited.”
ha ha, I was kidding, but thanks for responding to me, Roxane. I don’t feel like Stephen right now.
ha ha, I was kidding, but thanks for responding to me, Roxane. I don’t feel like Stephen right now.
there was a good discussion here about a year ago b/w dave clapper and the folks at the legendary about that very thing
i’m trying to convince jen michalski for jmww to publish a number of my shorts about a jewish boy who wants to marry his dog named Yenta. she just tells me to get off my ass and start reading subs again.
there was a good discussion here about a year ago b/w dave clapper and the folks at the legendary about that very thing
i’m trying to convince jen michalski for jmww to publish a number of my shorts about a jewish boy who wants to marry his dog named Yenta. she just tells me to get off my ass and start reading subs again.
off your ass, erlewhiner
off your ass, erlewhiner
i love that ashbery published himself in best american poetry 1988. i think that’s rad. and what i like about it most is that a lot of people hate it.
i love that ashbery published himself in best american poetry 1988. i think that’s rad. and what i like about it most is that a lot of people hate it.
oh shit, i haven’t seen erlewhiner in writing since high school. dude, you’re killing me today here and on zoetrope (rightfully so on both fronts but still)
oh shit, i haven’t seen erlewhiner in writing since high school. dude, you’re killing me today here and on zoetrope (rightfully so on both fronts but still)
Dave I do know you were kidding haha.
Oh I think publishing your work in a magazine you edit is hugely problematic. That’s inconsistent, I realize.
Dave I do know you were kidding haha.
Oh I think publishing your work in a magazine you edit is hugely problematic. That’s inconsistent, I realize.
No. I just wrote the intro. There are so many good writers in Portland, didn’t want to take one of the 16 spots for myself. Same thing for The Insomniac Reader anthology and that issue of Spork I guest-edited. Just did the intros.
No. I just wrote the intro. There are so many good writers in Portland, didn’t want to take one of the 16 spots for myself. Same thing for The Insomniac Reader anthology and that issue of Spork I guest-edited. Just did the intros.
I think part of being an editor is to serve other writers and to be generous, not to jump in the spotlight yourself and show off. How douchey would it sound if you said, “Yeah, I was published in the Best American Short Stories 2010…the one I edited.”
I think part of being an editor is to serve other writers and to be generous, not to jump in the spotlight yourself and show off. How douchey would it sound if you said, “Yeah, I was published in the Best American Short Stories 2010…the one I edited.”
I’m tired of the A/P story. Shoot it.
I’m tired of the A/P story. Shoot it.
Yeah, but what about the first time you read it?
Yeah, but what about the first time you read it?
I agree with your BASS 2010 talk (best of; awards anthology; annual bigshot prestige volume, etc.), but what if you’re editing a volume of love stories or stories about paramedics or superheroes or people from Portland? I respect the choice you made, but, to give a recent example, the inaugural Surreal South was better because Pinckney Benedict included his “Pig Helmet” story.
It seems like the “rules” are different for different kinds of anthologies just as they’re different for different kinds of magazines. It’s improprietous, for example, for the editor of the Kenyon Review to include one of his stories (although not one of his editor’s note essays or a book review), and people grouse that he does it, but nobody’s bugged when David Remnick contributes a piece of reporting to the New Yorker or Lewis Lapham contributed a memoir to Harper’s, etc. The tradition at those magazines is that there’s a stable of editors and staff writers who contribute to the magazine’s core content, whereas the tradition at literary journals (but not all of them) is that they don’t. (As usual, though, exceptions abound. People buy Noon because it reliably offers good fictions by Diane Williams and Christine Schutt, its editors.)
To a certain point (BASS, again — the awards thing, which isn’t dissimilar to the idea that you wouldn’t reputably sit on the committee that awards you the Pulitzer Prize) these things seem reasonable, but beyond a certain point they seem arbitrary. Why get pissed off at the editor of the Kenyon Review but not the editor of Noon?
I agree with your BASS 2010 talk (best of; awards anthology; annual bigshot prestige volume, etc.), but what if you’re editing a volume of love stories or stories about paramedics or superheroes or people from Portland? I respect the choice you made, but, to give a recent example, the inaugural Surreal South was better because Pinckney Benedict included his “Pig Helmet” story.
It seems like the “rules” are different for different kinds of anthologies just as they’re different for different kinds of magazines. It’s improprietous, for example, for the editor of the Kenyon Review to include one of his stories (although not one of his editor’s note essays or a book review), and people grouse that he does it, but nobody’s bugged when David Remnick contributes a piece of reporting to the New Yorker or Lewis Lapham contributed a memoir to Harper’s, etc. The tradition at those magazines is that there’s a stable of editors and staff writers who contribute to the magazine’s core content, whereas the tradition at literary journals (but not all of them) is that they don’t. (As usual, though, exceptions abound. People buy Noon because it reliably offers good fictions by Diane Williams and Christine Schutt, its editors.)
To a certain point (BASS, again — the awards thing, which isn’t dissimilar to the idea that you wouldn’t reputably sit on the committee that awards you the Pulitzer Prize) these things seem reasonable, but beyond a certain point they seem arbitrary. Why get pissed off at the editor of the Kenyon Review but not the editor of Noon?
“Gesturing” over “A&P” absolutely stunned me when this came out. I wish he would’ve included some type of reasoning for the choice. I tutor a few classes that use this book and it always aggravates the hell out of me when I want to talk about how many babies Stokley’s got chalked up on his fuselage and can’t.
“Gesturing” over “A&P” absolutely stunned me when this came out. I wish he would’ve included some type of reasoning for the choice. I tutor a few classes that use this book and it always aggravates the hell out of me when I want to talk about how many babies Stokley’s got chalked up on his fuselage and can’t.
Well that is an argument against. I read it maybe age 15. Wow. It rocked me. I could “relate” (tao lin quotes).
I’m going to need a lot more arguments for, because the default for that story being a top in the century is way against.
Top 100 breads of the century!
I like Pop Tarts.
that thing.
my 2.4 cents
Well that is an argument against. I read it maybe age 15. Wow. It rocked me. I could “relate” (tao lin quotes).
I’m going to need a lot more arguments for, because the default for that story being a top in the century is way against.
Top 100 breads of the century!
I like Pop Tarts.
that thing.
my 2.4 cents
Also I included question # 4 because I am biased.
Have class.
Leave yourself out of your own damn anthology,
Also I included question # 4 because I am biased.
Have class.
Leave yourself out of your own damn anthology,
When I put together my anthology, I was very adamant about not including a story of my own. I too feel it’s rather tacky, unless you’re a big enough writer and it’s more or less written in the contract that you need to include a story because it will help sales (like Neil Gaiman in his upcoming anthology he co-edited). In certain genres, it does seem widely acceptable though. In fact, one writer told me I’d be an idiot not to include my own work; that as the editor I needed to make sure my story was the very best and would stand out from everyone else’s. I simply nodded and said I’d think about it but of course never did. The intro was more than enough for me.
When I put together my anthology, I was very adamant about not including a story of my own. I too feel it’s rather tacky, unless you’re a big enough writer and it’s more or less written in the contract that you need to include a story because it will help sales (like Neil Gaiman in his upcoming anthology he co-edited). In certain genres, it does seem widely acceptable though. In fact, one writer told me I’d be an idiot not to include my own work; that as the editor I needed to make sure my story was the very best and would stand out from everyone else’s. I simply nodded and said I’d think about it but of course never did. The intro was more than enough for me.
robert,
I am often rash and dumb. I get the gaiman angle. good point. the big name leading others to the issue. I get that. But i see that as exception.
I don’t but indie lit/whatever cult/group/sensibility writers including themselves.
For example, Flash is still a backwater, I feel. A flash anthology should not include the editor, IMO.
And I hope later in my life to do a flash anthology. Jesus Christ we need some new ones to represent what is actually happening in flash!
But to include myself?
Oh man. Slap.
robert,
I am often rash and dumb. I get the gaiman angle. good point. the big name leading others to the issue. I get that. But i see that as exception.
I don’t but indie lit/whatever cult/group/sensibility writers including themselves.
For example, Flash is still a backwater, I feel. A flash anthology should not include the editor, IMO.
And I hope later in my life to do a flash anthology. Jesus Christ we need some new ones to represent what is actually happening in flash!
But to include myself?
Oh man. Slap.
I’m not wild about the idea, but if so, the editor should always have lots of people read it and judge its quality based on their feedback. Rather than publishing the story cold.
I’m not wild about the idea, but if so, the editor should always have lots of people read it and judge its quality based on their feedback. Rather than publishing the story cold.
Sean,
You SHOULD do a flash anthology. And soon.
Sean,
You SHOULD do a flash anthology. And soon.
I think a lot of times when people do this, they are publishing greatest hits anyway, things that have already been externally vetted.
I think a lot of times when people do this, they are publishing greatest hits anyway, things that have already been externally vetted.
Actually now I’m thinking I’m only really down with it if it will help sales due to the editor’s fame as a writer.
Actually now I’m thinking I’m only really down with it if it will help sales due to the editor’s fame as a writer.
This would probably require a follow-up post, rather than thread-making, but if you had to pick a Top 100 Stories of the 20th Century, which would be on it?
This would probably require a follow-up post, rather than thread-making, but if you had to pick a Top 100 Stories of the 20th Century, which would be on it?
Um yeah I have no idea what any of what anyone wrote above actually means because I’ve never been published much less been able to “edit” something…. :
but fuck, did anyone else watch that video?
the body completely decomposed and the peach didn’t even age?
am I the only one that cares?!?!
(p.s. yeah I’m this guy)
Um yeah I have no idea what any of what anyone wrote above actually means because I’ve never been published much less been able to “edit” something…. :
but fuck, did anyone else watch that video?
the body completely decomposed and the peach didn’t even age?
am I the only one that cares?!?!
(p.s. yeah I’m this guy)
hey salvatore, well said.
i recognized your name and confirmed it by checking your pubs. really enjoyed your blm story a few months ago. hard to write a scranton-set story w/o me thinking of “the office” but you did it well. congrats on your book.
hey salvatore, well said.
i recognized your name and confirmed it by checking your pubs. really enjoyed your blm story a few months ago. hard to write a scranton-set story w/o me thinking of “the office” but you did it well. congrats on your book.
I’ll go back and re-read A*P. I suspect it will hold water. I don’t want to shoot it. But sure I know sometimes I hold onto stories that hit me up right at key times in my life. I loved WCW’s “Use of Force” b/c I was in college and it spoke to me so much about what I thought of life. When I read it now, the ending still wows but yeah not in the same way.
I’ll go back and re-read A*P. I suspect it will hold water. I don’t want to shoot it. But sure I know sometimes I hold onto stories that hit me up right at key times in my life. I loved WCW’s “Use of Force” b/c I was in college and it spoke to me so much about what I thought of life. When I read it now, the ending still wows but yeah not in the same way.
Just for the record, Diane Williams has never published her own stories in NOON.
Just for the record, Diane Williams has never published her own stories in NOON.
I just pulled out my old issues, and you’re right, nameless commenter, and I was wrong. (There are, however, plenty of Christine Schutt stories, but I don’t know how long she’s been the senior editor. And I don’t care, frankly. I’m happy for any opportunity to read her stories in any magazine.)
I just pulled out my old issues, and you’re right, nameless commenter, and I was wrong. (There are, however, plenty of Christine Schutt stories, but I don’t know how long she’s been the senior editor. And I don’t care, frankly. I’m happy for any opportunity to read her stories in any magazine.)
Is it because the maggots don’t like peaches?
Is it because the maggots don’t like peaches?
ha ha, okay then, roxane – i used to say “just keeeeeding” after every joke. i’m quite subtle.
ha ha, okay then, roxane – i used to say “just keeeeeding” after every joke. i’m quite subtle.
It’s because the peach is basically water, fiber and sugar. The rabbit is mostly protein, which is made up of amino acids, “the building blocks of life”.
And yeah, maggots need protein especially (and lots of other things, including carbs) to develop.
Also, there are billions of metabolizing microbes on and in the body of an animal. (Not to mention a stray ant or fly egg (maggot source) in its coat.
So, it’s the protein.
Isn’t life fascinating?
It’s because the peach is basically water, fiber and sugar. The rabbit is mostly protein, which is made up of amino acids, “the building blocks of life”.
And yeah, maggots need protein especially (and lots of other things, including carbs) to develop.
Also, there are billions of metabolizing microbes on and in the body of an animal. (Not to mention a stray ant or fly egg (maggot source) in its coat.
So, it’s the protein.
Isn’t life fascinating?
*coat.)
*coat.)
It should’ve occurred to me I wasn’t being even remotely original. Apologies if I triggered any trauma.
It should’ve occurred to me I wasn’t being even remotely original. Apologies if I triggered any trauma.
damn mimi. Thanks.
damn mimi. Thanks.
being serious. thanks.
being serious. thanks.