Several years ago, in the middle of my MFA program, I decided to experiment with form. I’d just seen the movie Rashomon by Akira Kurosawa, and thought to myself that you could write one hell of a good story if you told four perspectives on a lost evening out in the Indiana dunes. “Dyer” is the result. Special thanks for David Cranmer and Beat to a Pulp for taking this story. I’m honored to be up on the site and in such good company, alongside authors like David James Keaton, Frank Bill, Matthew C. Funk, Cameron Ashley, Hilary Davidson, Chris F. Holm, Dave Zeltserman, and John Hornor Jacobs.

My story “Kiss Off” is now live at Emprise Review.

How do these things happen, I often wonder. Maybe I was issued a challenge, maybe I was just listening to Pandora one day and an old Violent Femmes song came on and I thought “Damn, this is a good song.” As I nodded my head and started to recite the lyrics, these classic alternative indie lyrics from many years ago, I also thought, “This would make a good story.” Here are the original lyrics, in their entirety with the part that I stole from in bold:

I need someone a person to talk to
Someone who’d care to love
Could it be you could it be you
Situation gets rough then I start to panic
It’s not enough it’s just a habit
Hey kid you’re sick well darling this is it
You can all just kiss off into the air
Behind my back I can see them stare
They’ll hurt me bad but I won’t mind
They’ll hurt me bad they do it all the time
Yeah yeah they do it all the time
Yeah yeah they do it all the time
Yeah yeah they do it all the time
Yeah yeah they do it all the time
I hope you know this will go down
On your permanent record
Oh yeah well don’t get so distressed
Did I happen to mention that I’m impressed
I take one one one cause you left me and
Two two two for my family and
3 3 3 for my heartache and
4 4 4 for my headaches and
5 5 5 for my lonely and
6 6 6 for my sorrow and
7 7 for no tomorrow and
8 8 I forget what 8 was for and
9 9 9 for a lost god and
10 10 10 10 for everything everything everything everything
You can all just kiss off into the air
Behind my back I can see them stare
They’ll hurt me bad but I won’t mind
They’ll hurt me bad they do it all the time
Yeah yeah,yeah they do it all the time
Yeah yeah,yeah they do it all the time
Do it all the time
Do it all the time
Do it all the time time time
Yeah yeah they do it all the time

This whole song resonates with me, it always has. It’s a story of angst, of the world not being fair, of the bullshit and violence and randomness that not only shadows our youth, but the adult world as well. The opening lines of this song, they haunt me to this day. “I need someone, a person to talk to, someone who’d care to love. Could it be you?” Isn’t that what we all say, we all want? Sure it is.

So, I took the ten parts and tried to imagine a scene where a man who is falling apart, he says these things to himself, he is talking to himself. He’s talking to the world. He has talked himself into ending it all, but maybe, at the end of it, when the lights are fading and he feels that maybe there is something left to cling to, he tries to change his situation. He won’t be the victim yet once again. But, as it often is in life, maybe it’s too late. I hope you enjoy “Kiss Off.”

Thank you, Amber Sparks for always supporting my work and for taking this story at Emprise Review. If you didn’t know it, I’ll tell you now that not only is Amber a great editor, but one hell of an author as well. Also, thanks to Patrick McAllaster for his excellent editing too, he caught some things that got by me.

There is more excellent fiction in this issue by Amye Archer, Joe Kapitan, Jon Morgan Davies, Marko Fong, Steven R. Gowin, Todd McKie, Brian Mihok, Garrett Socol, and Angela Woodward. Check it out when you get a second.

My story “Twenty Reasons to Stay and One to Leave” is now LIVE at Metazen. I really like what these guys are doing. They publish one new story a day, and on Friday, August 5th, I was up. Great group of writers publishing here, honored to be a part of it. This story was a bit different than what I usually do, built on on idea, one phrase that starts off “Because…” which in my head, was the voice of the protagonist answering the accusations towards him: “Why do you stay with her?” or “Why don’t you leave?” or “Why is she so screwed up?” or “Why do you still help her?”

Included in this issue is:

• Richard Thomas
• Nik Korpon
• Craig Wallwork
• Brandon Tietz
• Pablo D’Stair

This is part of the Caleb J. Ross blog tour.
He edited this collection for Cannoli Pie.
Honored to be in here.

DIRECT PDF DOWNLOAD, CLICK HERE.

Crime Factory #7 is LIVE! New Fiction and Features by Todd Robinson, Sean Doolittle, Matthew C Funk, Nik Korpon, Jordan Harper, Frank Wheeler Jr., F. Paul Wilson, Chad Eagleton, Richard Thomas (with my story “Seeing Red” that I wrote in the Jack Ketchum intensive), Joelle Charbonneau, Edward Grainger, Peter Risley, Andrew Nette, David Whish-Wilson, Don Lafferty, James Peak, and many, many, many more!

Warmed and Bound is out. And for a LIMITED TIME, until 7/30 it is 38% off at Barnes and Noble ONLY. Amazon and eBooks will be out later. So it’s only $9.74 right now! Buy two or three!

Table of Contents

Intro: Steve Erickson
Death Juggler by Axel Taiari
Click-Clack by Caleb J Ross
The World Was Clocks by Amanda Gowin
Mantodea by Matt Bell
All the Acid in the World by Gavin Pate
Crazy Love by Cameron Pierce
Chance the Dick by Paul G Tremblay
Soccer Moms and Pro Wrestler Dads by Bradley Sands
Take Arms Against a Sea by Mark Jaskowski
This Will All End Well by Nik Korpon
Midnight Souls by Christopher J Dwyer
The Tree of Life by Edward J Rathke
The Killer by Brian Evenson
Headshot by Gordon Highland
Inside Out by Sean Ferguson
Laws of Virulence by Jeremy Robert Johnson
Bruised Flesh by Craig Wallwork
Bad, Bad, Bad Bad Men by Craig Davidson
Three Theories on the Murder of John Wily by by J David Osborne
The Road Lester Took by Stephen Graham Jones
My German Daughter by Nic Young
What Was There Inside the Child by Blake Butler
Seed by Gayle Towell
They Take You by Kyle Minor
The Redemption of Garvey Flint by Vincent Louis Carrella
Blood Atonement by DeLeon DeMicoli
The Liberation of Edward Kellor by Anthony David Jacques
Act of Contrition by Craig Clevenger
Say Yes to Pleasure by Richard Thomas
The Weight of Consciousness by Tim Beverstock
If You Love Me by Doc O’Donnell
Touch by Pela Via
Love by JR Harlan
Practice by Bob Pastorella
Fading Glory by Brandon Tietz
Little Deaths by Gary Paul Libero
We Sing the Bawdy Electric by Rob Parker
In Exile by Chris Deal

So I’m always curious to see what total strangers have to say about my writing. Speedloader (Snubnose Press) is getting some love over at Amazon and Goodreads, so I thought I’d share the kind words that these readers had to say about my story “Herniated Roots.” So far mostly five stars, nothing worse than four, from what I’ve seen.

“…trust me–this is noir burned to a crisp. I’ve seen a lot of Richard Thomas lately (Shotgun Honey, Dirty Noir). He delivers here with the seriously depressing Herniated Roots. A recovering alcoholic finds a girl who proves to be his true love. Or the cause of his slow death. Something like that. The message that “You’re screwed!” comes through loud and clear and brilliant. The character’s meandering yet inevitable demise proves to be (somehow) very satisfying.”

“What a nicely balanced group of stories to debut from Snubnose Press. They are companionable yet each one has a different tone, setting, style. Of course, as if often the case, a writer will choose the story most like he/she would write, or hope to write, and in my case I would single out the story that leaked the least amount of testosterone: Herniated Roots by Richard Thomas. (Not meant to offend, Mr. Thomas) It was a story that was most about prose. The language was lovely, the story well told. Thanks for a great debut from a wonderful group of writers. Nary a miss in the collection.”

“Richard Thomas’ Transubstantiate (currently on promo at 71p ) has just landed on my Kindle based on how good his effort here was.”

NOT BAD, yeah?

Finally revealed, the cover and back of the Warmed and Bound (Velvet Press) anthology. Looks SO good. I’m honored to be in here. Great job, Pela. Also, just announced that Steve Erickson has written the foreword. WOW. Who ELSE is in here? Oh man, where to start?

• Amanda Gowin
• Anthony David Jacques
• Axel Taiari
• Blake Butler
• Bob Pastorella
• Bradley Sands
• Brandon Tietz
• Brian Evenson
• Caleb J. Ross
• Cameron Pierce
• Chris Deal
• Christopher J. Dwyer
• Craig Clevenger
• Craig Davidson
• Craig Wallwork
• DeLeon DeMicoli
• Doc O’Donnell
• Edward J. Rathke
• Gary Paul Libero
• Gavin Pate
• Gayle Towell
• Gordon Highland
• J. David Osborne
• Jeremy Robert Johnson
• JR Harlan
• Kyle Minor
• Mark Jaskowski
• Matt Bell
• Nic Young
• Nik Korpon
• Paul G. Tremblay
• Pela Via
• Richard Thomas
• Rob Parker
• Sean P. Ferguson
• Stephen Graham Jones
• Tim Beverstock
• Vincent Louis Carrella

My story “Descent” is now up live at We Are Vespertine. This is a new edgy lit website run by Brandon Tietz and Michael Sonbert. They’re both on the same label as me (Otherworld Publications) and are two exceptional writers as well. Vespertine is really starting to heat up, getting a lot of attention, and putting up some great stories. Stop by and give them a whirl.

My story “Daybreak” is up live at Stepaway Magazine.

Some very kind words from editor Darren Richard Carlaw: “Thomas skilfully disturbs our perceptions of the walk, transforming it into a devastating act of catharsis, a manner of slipping from the emotional trappings of the urban carapace.”