Tag Archives: richard thomas

The Pushcarts, Luna Park Review and Online Publishing

When I first read the article by Travis Kurowksi at Luna Park Review, I thought to myself, well, that’s not going to change any time soon. Then I realized that I had a story nominated by Metazen (an online publication) for my story “Twenty Reasons to Stay and One to Leave,” and suddenly I was outraged. Typical, yeah? The more I sat with the information the more I wondered why the Pushcarts, an organization that I thought was at the cutting edge of publishing, founded by many edgy, ahead of their time authors, would turn away from writing that was online? Why does the means of delivery lessen the quality of the writing? (HINT: It doesn’t). I hope that the Pushcarts are paying attention and don’t limit their nominations to those that are at established print journals, even though they are small. There are plenty of small websites and online journals that have talented authors gracing their pages.

Storyville Column Five is Now Up at Lit Reactor: Ideas

And, now my fifth column is live up at Lit Reactor. It’s all about how to get ideas when you’re blocked, and where I’ve gotten some of my ideas in the past. Really it comes down to your process and what interests you. If you like to plot, then it may be a much more complicated process, but if you just like to chase an emotion, a setting, or a character in a particular circumstance, how you get from a glimmer of an idea to a full developed story (or novel) may be a very different process. Hope it helps!

My review of Ampersand, Mass by William Walsh is live at The Nervous Breakdown.


In this collection of stories, William Walsh has put together a unique collage of perspectives set in Ampersand, Mass (Keyhole Press). These tales run the gamut from fantastical and bizarre to sweet and touching to heartbreaking and morose. It’s a wild ride, so buckle up.

My review of Damascus by Joshua Mohr is live at The Nervous Breakdown

If you’re a fan of Charles Bukowski (and who isn’t) then you’ll probably like this seedy, depressing and ultimately touching and redeeming novel, Damascus (Two Dollar Radio), by Joshua Mohr. I had the pleasure of reading with Josh a few months ago in Chicago as part of The Nervous Breakdown reading series run by Gina Frangello. In addition to Josh and myself, we were lucky to have Kate Zambreno (Green Girl) as well. Josh is almost the exact opposite of his writing—kind, soft spoken, and generous, even when tatted up and reading dark passages from his novel. He has several other titles with TDR as well, so be sure to check out his other work too.

Punchnel’s Hard Boiled-Down Noir Fiction Contest – I’m a winner!

Steven Woods, for “Billy.”

Nik Korpon for “Gold Teeth.”

Alex Mattingly for “Marbles.”

Mimi Brooks for “Out Like A Lion.”

Richard Thomas for “Jimmy Five Ways.”

My story “Jimmy Five Ways” was one of the winners at Punchnel’s fiction contest. My good friend Nik Korpon was also a winner! All five of the stories and winners will have their work up live next week. So keep an eye out.

My review of Karl Taro Greenfeld’s NowTrends is live at The Nervous Breakdown.


My review of Karl Taro Greenfeld’s NowTrends is now up at The Nervous Breakdown. Great stuff. He’s known as a non-fiction author, but he writes fiction too, very well published—The Paris Review, The Missouri Review, BASS, O. Henry, etc. And KTG is one hell of a nice guy, too. I ran across his work in a few copies of TMR and TPR and posted up something at HTMLGiant one day about something, can’t remember what, but he dropped me an email to say that he agreed with my POV and we started chatting. Loved these stories.

Also, I’m a big fan of Hobart‘s Short Flight / Long Drive books. I’ve read many of them, and they’ve all been great.

Storyville Column Four is now up at Lit Reactor: Duotrope

And, now my fourth column is live up at Lit Reactor. It’s all about how to navigate Duotrope.com, one of the best sites going for doing research on magazines, journals, websites and publishers, for tracking your submissions, and for staying on top of all of your literary pursuits. I could not do what I do without these guys. And if you can, when you get a few extra bucks in your Paypal account, send it on over to these guys to help them out. If you write short stories, especially, and don’t use these guys, you could really get a lot out of this column. And, heck, even if you already use Duotrope, maybe I’ll point out something new.

Third Storyville Column at Lit Reactor: The Journey of “Rudy Jenkins”

My third column went up at Lit Reactor last month (December 2011) and I totally forgot to come back here and post up about it. This column talks about the journey of one of my problem children, “Rudy Jenkins Buries His Fears” and shows you what you have to go through sometimes in order to get published. Don’t worry, the story ends well.

“The Jenny Store” in the Thunderdome Press anthology In Search of a City: Los Angeles in 1,000 words is now out

So excited to be in here with my story “The Jenny Store.” This is a beautiful book. Inspired by photographs taken around the Los Angeles area, the book features short stories from 26 authors. Each author was asked to select a photograph from a collection taken by the editor and write a story of precisely 1,000 words inspired by what they saw – no more, no less. The result is quintessential Los Angeles: Dreams, Drugs, Hallucinations, Romance, Life and Death, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and Redemption. Like the city itself, the book is multifaceted, hard to label and even harder to put down.

CONTENTS

Ryan Wilson – “American Trash”
Stuart Gibbel – “Break on Through”
Craig Clevenger – “Obsolescence”
Nik Korpon – “South of Thirteen”
Dennis Cruz – “Smile Now, Cry Later”
Pela Via – “Bathhouse”
Stephen Conley – “Don’t Feed the Animals”
Grigori Black – “This Was Heaven”
Doc O’Donnell – “Your Personal Apocalypse”
Nikki Guerlain – “Sick Ticket”
Patrick Verhagen – “Swim”
Craig Wallwork – “El Bordello Alexandra”
Nicholas Merlin Karpuk – “Ahm’s Bay”
Nik Houser – “Subtitles for a Silent Film”
H.R. Tardiff – “Walls in the Sand”
Richard Thomas – “The Jenny Store”
Bob Pastorella – “Alexandra”
Simon West-Bulford – “Project Asmodeus”
Jay Slayton-Joslin – “The Fantasy of California vs. The Reality of London”
Amanda Gowin – “Gilded Bones”
Chris Deal – “Padre Nuestro”
Boden Steiner – “Here”
Gordon Highland – “Fry Girl”
edward j rathke – “All the Dreams You Dreamt Retold”
Michael Paul Gonzalez – “Tidal”
Victor Bengtsson – “Venice, Forever”

“Transmogrify” in Dark Moon Presents: Vampires

I’m thrilled to announce that my twist on the classic vampire tale, “Transmogrify” is now available in a new anthology from Dark Moon Books. They’ve done a few themed issues, such as ghosts and zombies, so of course, vampires is up next. They’re doing great things over at DMB, and I’ll have another story coming out with them in a really cool flash fiction collection called Slices of Flesh, which will have some big names in it, like Jack Ketchum, Ramsay Campbell, and many more.

Here’s more about this book, as well as a tables of contents. I’m familiar with C.W. LaSart and Kenneth W. Cain, who are really excellent dark fiction authors.

SYNOPSIS: It’s true that few of us would choose the life of a zombie, mindlessly consuming every moving thing in sight as we rot and shrivel with decay. It’s also true that few of us would choose to become a ghost, dolefully watching the comings and goings of the living, unable to touch, to breathe, to feel them in a physical way. But, if given the chance to become a vampire, I think most of us would bite. Vampires make our pulses quicken: whether they are the velveteen figures of Anne Rice or Bram Stoker, or the violent monsters of Stephen King, we don’t care. Not the hunters. Not the hopefuls. The real, blood-drinking, neck-biting fiends. Vampires are timeless because they are immortal. And the vampires in these pages may just come back to bite you in the end. These are stories you can really sink your teeth into. Promise.

TOC:

Voices Carry (TOM WORTMAN)
Fountain of Flesh (NICKY PEACOCK)
Dawn Hunter (EARL PARRISH)
Green Eyes and Chili Dogs (KEVIN DAVID ANDERSON)
Cosmina (CHRISTOPHER LEPPEK & EMANUEL ISLER)
Rite of Passage (LORI MICHELLE)
7 Hours (MAX BOOTH III)
Liquid Blue (DREW WILCOX)
Ordering Out (KENNETH W. CAIN)
To The Last Drop (ERIC GRAWE)
Sekhmet’s Daughters (C. W. LaSART)
Entangled (JENNIFER LEFSYK)
The Spy Who Bit Me (LORELEI BELL)
An Unusual Occurrence at Pointe Laurent (MARYKATHRYN GELISSE)
Tough Love (DAVID THOMAS)
The Taste of Love (RENEE PAWLISH)
State of Grace (TARA FOX HALL)
Transmogrify (RICHARD THOMAS)
The Key to Happiness (PENELOPE CROWE)