Mike Young is the author of Sprezzatura (poems), Look! Look! Feathers (stories), and We Are All Good If They Try Hard Enough (poems). He designs and publishes NOÖ Journal and runs Magic Helicopter Press. Visit his blog at http://mikeayoung.tumblr.com. He lives in Santa Fe, NM.
I told Chelsea that she didn’t have to worry about posting new issues of online magazines because tennis bullhorns like me did that and she was the Tom Bombadil of HTMLGIANT.
In other words, there’s a new issue of Pindeldyboz out which you should read. Thoughts about Pindeldyboz’s aesthetic I wrote behind this here clicky-link, so I’m just going to list the stories and gently suggest you read them all, gentle as a tazer made of marshmallows:
There’s so much going on in the literary world right now like dude. To wit: I ate all of a hip young author’s string cheese, but I’m going to replace the stock before she’s back from vacation, so she’ll never know. Pretty soon I’m going to buy dish soap and headphones, so I can clean my plates of bacteria and listen to country music in hunkered intensity, which will up my chug-a-lug and keep me fit to perform services for you, the literary public, including but not limited to announcements of three new online magazine issues:
WRITE UP AFTER THE BREAK
READ MORE >
Holy monkey skank, the new DIAGRAM is good. Gawk this list of contributors, and then a splendid poem by Alice George after the break:
Jason Anthony
Geoffrey Babbitt
Sarah Bartlett
Heidi Bell
Scott Butterfield
Adam Clay
Nik De Dominic
Shira Dentz
Kristen Eliason
Adam Fell
Deborah Flanagan
Alice George
Matthew Glenwood
Ellie Horowitz
Daniel Hudon
Donna Hunt
Michael Jauchen
Krystal Languell
John Joynt
Tim Lantz
Amanda Maule
JoAnna Novak
Erick Piller
Anne Shaw
Peter Jay Shippy
Dolsy Smith
Laurie E. White
Alice Roosevelt, whose blue dresses defined the color Alice Blue, seen here wearing (nice job, internet) yellow.
One of my favorite online litmags is the rather low profile Alice Blue Review. They publish both fiction and poetry, and their aesthetic reminds one pleasingly of mint leaves, gangplanks, polar bears, and polar bears who hitchhike.
Sadly, their site has been down the last few weeks. I emailed their Poetry Editor Amber Nelson about this sadness and she emailed me back:
Mike
Thanks for your concern! alice blue is not dead! We know there is a problem and are working on it. It should be back up shortly.
thanks again!
amber
So there you are. Thanks Amber! Alice Blue fans: Worry about something else! It’s the Wild West and do you know where your magnolias are.
Every year since 2004, Jason Sanford of storySouth has curated the Million Writers Award, a contest designed to promote online fiction. Here’s how it works: editors and readers nominate their favorite online stories of 1000 words or more, then a team of judges whittle these nominations into a list of Notable Stories. Sanford then selects a Top 10, and people vote for the final overall winner, who this year will receive a $100 cash prize. Here are a couple paragraphs from Sanford explaining and advocating the award:
As the old saying should go: If you can’t join them, beat them. The storySouth Million Writers Award for best online fiction of the year will help all internet-based journals and magazines gain exposure and attention … The Million Writers Award takes its name from the idea that we in the online writing community have the power to promote the great stories we are creating. If only a few hundred writers took the time to tell fifteen of their friends about a great online short story–and if these friends then passed the word about this fiction to their friends (and so on and so on)–this one story would soon have a larger readership than all of the stories in Best American Short Stories.
Last year, HTMLGIANT friend Matt Bell won the award for his story “Alex Trebeck Never Eats Fried Chicken”, published in Storyglossia. Since Storyglossia is an excellent magazine, “Alex Trebeck” is a great story, and Matt is a terrific writer, something must be going right.
To be fair, the 1000 word rule is controversial. Some editors of online magazines believe the rule marginalizes sub-1000 word stories, which many proponents of online literature believe to be the form that the internet serves best. Wigleaf Top 50 Very Short Fictions award is a different and equally excellent showcase effort that helps somewhat alleviate this issue.
The important thing: celebrating online fiction. Which the Million Writers Award has done for 5 years now, so kudos. And remember: it’s up to you. Nominate your favorite stories, or Barack Obama’s going to win this thing too.
Rauan Klassink’s Ringing, a new e-book from Kitchen Press. Sam Pink just interviewed Rauan a few hours ago, which means it’s almost outdated. Mercy!
PAIRS DELICIOUSLY WITH:
Leonard Cohen’s Beautiful Losers. A novel that should be as indie-revered as any you can name by Yipzeeny, Kurdledonk, or Qqqqqqqq. But people never mention it? Is it because Thomas Pynchon liked it? Is it because it’s about a bisexual love triangle and a dead Native American Catholic saint? Is it because Montreal? It is because God of? You’re like, “Is that the Hallelujah guy? Didn’t he write that cute Suzanne song?” Is it because of Charles Atlas or a mystical dildo? Are you afraid? Cohen called Beautiful Losers more of a sunstroke than a novel. People turn into movie projectors. People cancel a statue of Queen Victoria. Hey, when you get a chance, you should buy your new favorite novel:
There will be plenty to eat, tear, and ram at AWP. But will there be a train to ride on which you can listen to people read/shout things, a train you can ride in a state of listening all the way to a reading at the Book Cellar?
Yes. Yes there will be.
Here’s how it works:
(1) On Friday, Feb 13, we meet at the Library Brown El Line Station (1 W Van Buren St), Northbound to Kimball Platform @ 8:45 pm. Look for the SIGN and the CROWD.
(2) We ride and read and ride to the Book Cellar (4736-38 North Lincoln Avenue), arriving around 9:30 PM, where we read and laugh and see and read and see and yes.
Come! Yes! Come! Spread the Word!
Featuring:
Craig Griffin, Mary Miller, Heather Christle, Blake Butler, Mike Young, Shane Jones, Sam Pink, Joseph Young, Elizabeth Ellen, Leigh Stein, Ryan Call, Daniel Bailey
“Make Things” – A Drum and An Open Window (mp3)
When I am run down and flocked around by the world, I go into iTunes and play this song by A Drum and An Open Window. I met them through my friend Jordaan, and they played a show in Oroville, CA with me the summer before I moved to Massachusetts. We skipped rocks and visited the Chinese Temple, stayed up in Ryan’s apartment keeping Whisper awake and singing with both Ryans, including the backhoe driver. Dustin was driving and making all his money through poker, mostly online. Andrew wanted to go to Europe, and Ashley had a radio show.
when it’s dark i’ll write some new songs
This song is really twee, to which I’m like, well: either life really is holy with meaning and that’s coming up, your scuffle with that, or life is just a place to keep your bones for a while, which you’re going to handle by moving them a little and then moving them some more.
