Tag Archives: short stories

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.

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 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.

Second Storyville column is up at Lit Reactor

My second column is now up at Litreactor.com, and it talks about how to write a cover letter, your bio, and the ways that you can stand out when you submit your stories to editors at magazines and journals around the world. Hope it helps you out a little bit. More columns and review to come.

My review of Shannon Cain’s The Necessity of Certain Behaviors is live at The Nervous Breakdown

My review of Shannon Cain’s collection of dark, sexy, humorous stories is live up at The Nervous Breakdown. This book was the winner of the 2011 Drue Heinz prize, which yielded us the fantastic The Physics of Imaginary Objects by Tina May Hall last year. Shannon really put together a compelling book, one that should definitely be on your list of titles “to-read.”

My review of Crimes in Southern Indiana by Frank Bill is now live up at The Nervous Breakdown.

Maybe you’ve never heard of Frank Bill. Well, open them damn ears, son. I just went to the release party for Crimes in Southern Indiana down in Corydon, Indiana. Yes, I dragged Chris Deal, Livius Nedin and Robb Olson with me. Yes, there was a fifty foot sign that said HELL IS REAL about halfway down. YES, it was pouring rain as we entered Corydon, not a cloud in the sky, exploded dear parts on the side of the road. I can’t say I was shocked. Frank is a great guy, and one hell of an author. This is a visceral collection of gritty stories. And anybody that can pull Donald Ray Pollock, Matthew McBride, Scott Phillips, Jedediah Ayers and Kyle Minor to his reading, well, he must be doing something right. Read my review over at TNB for all of the details.

My review of Short Bus by Brian Allen Carr is live at The Nervous Breakdown.

My review of the short story collection, Short Bus by Brian Allen Carr is now live at The Nervous Breakdown. This is a wild bunch of stories set along the Texas and Mexico border. Carr takes the essence of wanderlust mixes it with the desert heat and tosses in a bit of failure with just a pinch of heartbreak to create a compelling volume of work. Head over to The Nervous Breakdown for the full review. Good stuff.