AWP Chicago 2012 – My Schedule
Posted on February 28, 2012 1 Comment
I know you all are just waiting for me to release my schedule for the exciting 2012 Chicago AWP. So, here you go. Tentative, of course.
Wednesday, 2/29
8:00 pm Kick-Off Party @ The Empty Bottle (1035 N. Western Ave.)
Readings by xTx, Jesus Angel Garcia, Ben Tanzer , Mary Miller, Lindsay Hunter, Sam Pink, Amber Sparks. Live music from Guided by Voices vocalist Robert Pollard.
Thursday, 3/1
8:00 pm The Wrong Kind of Reading @ The Galway Arms (2442 N. Clark St.)
Plots with Guns. Readings by Anthony Neal Smith, Kyle Minor, Seth Harwood, etc.
Friday, 3/2
7:00 pm Beautiful, Words @ Beauty Bar (1444 W. Chicago)
Sponsored by The Nervous Breakdown, Bookslut, Dzanc Books, Curbside Splendor et. al. Live music by Rob Roberge.
Saturday, 3/3
9 am Hilton S104. Midwest Gothic: Dark Fiction of the Heartland (Dan Chaon)
10:30 am Palmer S143. Vampire by Vampire: Genre Writing and the Creative Writing Workshop (Alissa Nutting)
12-3 Lunch and bookfair
3 pm Palmer S215. Men from Venus, Women from Mars: Writing from the Perspective of the Opposite Sex (Kyle Minor)
3 pm Hilton S195. An MFA, huh? What Are You Going to Do With That?
4:30 pm Hilton S233. The Art of the Short Story Collection. (Richard Bausch, Laura van den Berg)
6:00 pm Ear Eater #13: The Impossible, The Extraordinary @ Beef & Brandy (127 S. State St.)
Readings by Amelia Gray, Kevin Sampsell et. al.
SEE YOU THERE!
Slices of Flesh (Dark Moon Books) out soon, at World Horror Convention
Posted on February 28, 2012 Leave a Comment
OUT SOON! At the World Horror Convention on March 29th. Very excited.
My story “Rudy Jenkins Buries His Fears” is in here.
Linda Addison
Janice Gable Bashman
Erin Bender
Laura Benedict
Max Booth III
Chantal Boudreau
Gary Braunbeck
Kevin James Breaux J
ason V. Brock
Reesa Brown
Jennifer Brozek
Ramsey Campbell
Tom Cardamone
Stewart Carrick
Sierra Christman
Simon Clark
Sandy DeLuca
Christopher DiLeo
James Dorr
David Dunwoody
Ed Erdelac
J G Faherty
Charlie Fish
Fran Friel
Sephera Giron
Charles Gramlich
Amy Grech
Eric J. Guignard
Bryan Hall
Rick Hautala
David Hayes
Brad Hodson
Nancy Holder
Del Howison
Robert Jackson
Lee F Jordan
Paul Kane
Brian Keene
Nate Kenyon
Jack Ketchum
Nancy Kilpatrick
C. W. LaSart
Tim Lebbon
Adrian Ludens
Graham Masterton
Araminta Star Matthews
Kevin McClintock
Joe McKinney
Michelle Mellon
Lori Michelle
William F Nolan
Marie O’Regan
Michael O’Neal
Monica O’Rourke
J F Palma
Susan Palwick
J R Parks
R. B. Payne
Anne Petty
Aaron Polson
Lon Prater
Timothy Remp
Roy Robbins
Jacob Ruby
Lawrence Santoro
J W Schnarr
M R Sellars
Lorelei Shannon
Jeremy C. Shipp
Lance Shoeman
Wayne Simmons
Marge Simon
Douglas Smith
D L Snell
Simon Strantzas
Stan Swanson
David Tallerman
Richard Thomas
Peter Timony
Shelley Towne
Stephen Volk
Jeremy Wagner
Matthew Warner
Kaaron Warren
Lawrence Watt-Evans
Fred Wiehe Connie Wilson
Jennifer Word
RIP William Gay [1943-2012]
Posted on February 25, 2012 Leave a Comment
“The Paperhanger” is one of my favorite stories ever. If you haven’t read his work, do so now. We’ve lost a good one today. I’m very sad. My friend Heather Foster just went to a reading and signing he did, and he had a little stroke, but was okay. He signed a few of my books. I was hoping to meet him some day. Sigh.
The Pushcarts, Luna Park Review and Online Publishing
Posted on February 23, 2012 2 Comments
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
Posted on February 17, 2012 Leave a Comment
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.
Posted on February 14, 2012 Leave a Comment
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
Posted on February 14, 2012 Leave a Comment
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!
Posted on February 4, 2012 Leave a Comment
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.
Posted on February 1, 2012 Leave a Comment
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
Posted on January 19, 2012 Leave a Comment
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.
- Richard Thomas - 