"Dmitri" up at Smokelong

"The Life and Times of Dmitri Kulikov" is the Smokelong story of the week. The image is by Bill Ripley, of Another New Calligraphy.

"p.a. chic" is up at Apex

"p.a. chic" is live at Apex Magazine, "Where Science Fiction and Horror Collide." It's my first publication that qualifies for membership in SFWA. Sweet.

Time Out

There's an article in Time Out's book section about Another New Calligraphy. And my book (and of course, the other projects they've done, but I'm going to go ahead and be selfish).

An Implausibility of Gnus from ANC

!!!

My collection of stories is officially for sale from Another New Calligraphy.

And it looks amazing...

My Very First Interview

Interview, with me, by Orange Alert Press.

June Readings

I'm doing 4 readings in June:

1) Tuesday June 2, 9pm, held at Ronny’s, 2101 N California Ave. (see poster below)

2) Tuesday June 9, 7pm, at Quickies!, held at the Innertown Pub, 1935 W Thomas

3) Friday June 26, 7pm, held at Quimby’s, 1854 W North Ave

4) Sunday June 28, 5pm, What to Wear During an Orange Alert, held at The Whister, 2421 N Milwaukee Avenue

Bum Steer

Good title!

Up at Pure Francis right now. I like this story, if I do say so myself.

Dorothy Parker Makes My Heart Sing

As you probably know, I like Dorothy Parker. I even named my cat after her.

But you may or may not know that I hate "On the Road." I think it's an awful book, with awful writing, that it's about absolutely nothing, and that it doesn't deserve 1/100th the respect it gets. And I think the other "great works" of that movement are no better.

Well, recently a brilliant friend found some Studs Terkel interviews on CD, one of which was with Mrs. Parker, from 1959. She had this to say:

Studs Terkel: Chicago was invaded last week by three Beat Generation poets—

Dorothy Parker: Ah yes.

ST: —and would you mind, since you read a great many books, this is part of your job for Esquire, your feeling about seemingly outspoken poets, writers, who represent this.

DP: I don’t know what they’re speaking out about. I know they’re speaking, they’re speaking all the time, as we sit here, at least they’re putting something down on paper—it isn’t writing—but it’s something they’re doing. But I don’t know what they’re so brave about. You read their books, and the description of their lives, it’s so monotonous, the things they do. And I don’t know why they’re so revolutionary, that was all done a long time ago.

ST: So you feel there’s nothing new really that they’re saying.

DP: Nothing at all. The Beat Boys I don’t think are saying anything on Earth except “look at us, aren’t we great.” I don’t think the Beat Generation is worth much worrying about. I should say, oh very soon, in the very near future, they’ll be as forgotten as Mahjong.

If only she'd been right about their being forgotten!

Praise for Fiction at Work

I was very happy to find this little post.

Reading Series

Both The Parlor and Quickies! were listed by New City Chicago on their Top 5 New Recurring Reading Series, and Quickies! was named Best Reading Series by Time Out Chicago.

Why does this make so happy? Because I'm the mascot for Quickies!, and I work for the Green Lantern, which hosts The Parlor. Duh.

Pretty cool, right?

Marmal is the Sometimes

It's been a rather long time since I've posted anything, and this is a good one.

My Mini-Book is out! Download it! Then print it! Then read it! Hurray! The ketchup is amazing!

This Publicity Will Change Your Life

My story is up at This Zine Will Change Your Life, (yeah!) and Mr. Tanzer gave it some nice praise in the email he sent announcing the new issue. It's nice when people say nice things (well, duh). Thanks Ben (and crew)!

Then I saw an ad for a book, in the current New Yorker. I tried to find an image of it online, but I couldn't, and I don't have a scanner. The ad said,

Imagine The Sopranos... with Snakes!

Now, I guess it would be nice to have a book out with a company big enough to do advertising in the New Yorker, but, well, not if I had to have my book described like that.

Worst Email Checking Ever

I just checked my email, and it was the worst batch of emails I've had in a long time.

I had one from work saying they'd hired someone full time, so they didn't need me, which was a bummer because I figured I had at least nailed down 2 days of work. Oh well.

I also had an email from Rumble rejecting my story. Quite a bummer.

What a shitty bunch of emails.

Not Quite the Same Thing

So, I checked the mail today hoping the Fiction at Work stickers arrived, as it's been a week since they printed, and that's how long the company says they should take to arrive.

The stickers did not arrive.

Instead, I found a rejection from the The Sun Magazine. Stickers, on the one hand, rejection letter on the other. Stickers, rejection, stickers, rejection. Not quite the same thing, not quite the same feeling. Stupid mail.

Some Teeny Tiny Classes and Their Big Big Effects

So, I'd just like to say that as far as life changing things go, and it's not the sort of grandiose, romantic statement I like to make, but as far as life changing things go, I'd have to say that Flash I, Flash II, and Miniature were fairly important classes in my development as a writer. Yeah, ok. That's enough mushy stuff.

This Post Will Change Your Life

Hurray! This Zine Will Change Your Life took "Man-2." It will run in August or September. It's a great journal, you should take a look.

Pyramid

The Pyramid story is now up at elimae

My Name Was Dropped! Yeah!

Mary and Lindsay dropped my name in their interview, in response to the question "who are some of your favorite readers at Quickies?"

Yeah, they did.

And I'm very happy to brag about it.

You can also go here, right to source.

elimae

eilmae took Pyramid. Posting June 15th, or 16th.

And I went on my longest run so far this summer, and the Paper & Carriage release is tonight, and the Lost finale is tonight.

It's a rather good day, isn't it?

What a Lark!

Oooo, lookie, my audio is out there. Burning.

Little Boy