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.
Tag Archives: xTx
Complete list of book reviews by Richard Thomas

This is a list of all of my current, live book reviews. It is in reverse
chronological order by web site. Last updated 2/06/12.
The Nervous Breakdown
Ampersand, Mass by William Walsh
Damascus by Joshua Mohr
NowTrends by Karl Taro Greenfeld
The Necessity of Certain Behaviors by Shannon Cain
Crimes in Southern Indiana by Frank Bill
Short Bus by Brian Allen Carr
The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock
Follow Me Down by Kio Stark
Zazen by Vanessa Veselka
Drinking Closer to Home by Jessica Anya Blau
Cowboy Maloney’s Electric City by Michael Bible
The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch
Volt by Alan Heathcock
Normally Special by xTx
You Don’t Look Like Anyone I Know by Heather Sellers
Sarah Court by Craig Davidson
The Ones That Got Away by Stephen Graham Jones
In The Mean Time by Paul Tremblay
Cut Through The Bone by Ethel Rohan
The Wilding by Benjamin Percy
Daddy’s by Lindsay Hunter
The Avian Gospels by Adam Novy
It Came From Del Rio by Stephen Graham Jones
The Physics of Imaginary Objects by Tina May Hall
Lit Reactor
Outsider Writers Collective
Wild Life by Kathy Fish
Hiram Grange and the Chosen One by Kevin Lucia
Emerging Writers Network
Black Tickets by Jane Anne Phillips
Bookslut
The Cult
Cape Cod Noir edited by David L. Ulin
Forecast by Shya Scanlon
Slut Lullabies by Gina Frangello
My guest post about Black Tickets by Jayne Anne Phillips is now live at the Emerging Writers Network for Short Story Month.
I was recently introduced to Black Tickets by Jayne Anne Phillips by my professor, Dale Ray Phillips (no relation) at Murray State University. I’m getting my MFA down there and he thought the story “Home” might help me with one of my stories for my thesis. I wasn’t expecting this work to resonate with me the way it did. It blew me away. She reminds me a lot of Mary Gaitskill, as well as more contemporary voices like Lindsay Hunter, xTx, Ethel Rohan, Tina May Hall, and Jac Jemc. And that’s a good thing.
Head on over to the Emerging Writers Network to read my thoughts on this collection that was published in 1979 and has fallen off the radar a bit in recent years. Put it back on, people, this is some stunning work.
Review of Normally Special by xTx is now live up at The Nervous Breakdown
My review of Normally Special by xTx is now live at The Nervous Breakdown.
This is the debut collection from Tiny Hardcore Press and Roxane Gay. INTENSE stuff. How intense? Well, I lead off the review with this quote:
“It is difficult to masturbate about your father, but not impossible, as it turns out.”
This collection, wow, it does not pull any punches. I really loved it, and have been meaning to read more work by the elusive xTx, and this collection certainly has me down as a lifetime fan now. Whatever she’s dishing out, I’ll take a serving, second helping even. Come prepared, do not flinch, and do not look away. xTx is in that community of powerful female voices that I now keep an eye out for, and continue to devour, alongside Amelia Gray, Lindsay Hunter, Mary Miller, Holly Goddard Jones, Tina May Hall, Amber Sparks, and many others. Hop to it.



