HAPPY NEW YEAR

"You know, if I were to die right now, in some sort of fiery explosion due to the carelessness of a friend...well, that would just be ok."

- Spongebob Squarepants

NEW MUD LUSCIOUS IS LIVE

NEW ISSUE OF MUD LUSCIOUS IS LIVE

Bad ass new work from lots of great writers, including:

brandi wells
rain

jamie lin
simply just together

jared ward
closer

charles lennox
a record of wrongs

laura hirneisen
street

lauren becker
erase

tim jones-yelvington
american kids

m.d. kempis
anything

ryan dilbert
opening a panther

howie good
after a phrase by rimbaud

kyle hemmings
pigeons

drew kalbach
the girl in my vent: the beginning

NOO 9 IS LIVE

NOO 9 IS LIVE

Lots of great work in this issue, including pieces from:

KYLE HEMMINGS
http://www.noojournal.com/view.php?mode=1&issue=nine&id=177

JIMMY CHEN
http://www.noojournal.com/view.php?mode=1&issue=nine&id=178

NICK ANTOSCA
http://www.noojournal.com/view.php?mode=1&issue=nine&id=180

and a review of SAM PINK's
YUM YUM I CAN'T WAIT TO DIE
by BRADLEY SANDS
http://www.noojournal.com/view.php?mode=1&issue=nine&id=173

NEW THINGS TO READ

I've been finding great stuff everywhere. Check some of it out:

STEPHANIE JOHNSON
A CASE STUDY IN ACCIDENTS
CONTRARY
http://www.contrarymagazine.com/Contrary/Accidents.html

DECOMP
JANUARY ISSUE
http://www.decompmagazine.com/

LYDIA COPELAND
TWO FICTIONS
KEYHOLE
http://www.keyholemagazine.com/lydia-copeland/two-fictions

CLAUDIA SMITH
COLORS
KEYHOLE
http://www.keyholemagazine.com/claudia-smith/colors

CHRISTOPHER KENNEDY
WINTER CANDOR
WILLOWS WEPT REVIEW
http://willowsweptreview.blogspot.com/2008/12/winter-candor.html

CHRISTOPHER KENNEDY
WHEN I WAS LESS HUMAN
WILLOWS WEPT REVIEW
http://willowsweptreview.blogspot.com/2008/12/when-i-was-less-human.html

CHRISTOPHER KENNEDY
COW HILL, BULL HILL
WILLOWS WEPT REVIEW
http://willowsweptreview.blogspot.com/2008/12/cow-hill-bull-hill.html

ZACHARY C. BUSH
WHEN THE GREY MIST BROKE, YOU TOOK OFF, RUNNING FOR THE SEE
WILLOWS WEPT REVIEW
http://willowsweptreview.blogspot.com/2008/12/when-grey-mist-broke_29.html

DAWN CORRIGAN
NO ONE EVER GIVES ME WHAT I WANT
MONKEYBICYCLE
http://www.monkeybicycle.net/archive/Corrigan/noone.html

HOBIE ANTHONY
TORTOISE
WIGLEAF
http://wigleaf.com/200812tortoise.htm

MARY MILLER
AESTHETE
WIGLEAF
http://wigleaf.com/200812aesthete.htm

MARIE ANDERSON
CHILDREY MERRY
ROBOT MELON
http://www.robotmelon.com/issuefive/manderson.html

PETER SCHWARTZ
A.D.
ROBOT MELON
http://www.robotmelon.com/issuefive/pschwartz2.html

PETER SCHWARTZ
CALL ME RADIO
ROBOT MELON
http://www.robotmelon.com/issuefive/pschwartz1.html

LISA LADEHOFF
A POEM
ROBOT MELON
http://www.robotmelon.com/issuefive/lisa1.html

DREW KALBACH
SLAM
ROBOT MELON
http://www.robotmelon.com/issuefive/dkalbach.html

CURTIS SMITH
GOODNIGHT NOBODY
PEQUIN
http://pequin.org/archives/2008/curtissmith/goodnightnobody.php

MIKE YOUNG
CROCK
PEQUIN
http://pequin.org/archives/2008/mikeyoung/crock.php

TYLER ENFIELD
BACK TO NATURE
PEQUIN
http://pequin.org/archives/2008/tylerenfield/backtonature.php

MEG POKRASS
DESERT AIR
TULIP
http://tulipweekly.wordpress.com/2008/12/18/desert-air/

J.A. TYLER
IN BEAUTY, SNOW, BEGINNING NORMAL
ABJECTIVE
http://www.abjective.net/

DAVE ERLEWINE
THINGS ABOUT LIFE
DRUNK AND LONELY MEN
http://www.pearnoir.com/drunkandlonely.htm

KRISTINE ONG MUSLIM
BIGHEADS
SIX LITTLE THINGS
http://www.sixbrickspress.com/issue_13/page04.html

FREE BOOKS. I AM GOING TO CLONE MYSELF THEN KILL THE CLONE AND EAT IT

OFFER IS GOOD NOW through JANUARY 1, 2009

PRE-ORDER - SAM PINK - i am going to clone myself then kill the clone and eat it

Receive for FREE:

All 4 ACHILLES CHAPBOOKS currently in print:

DREW KALBACH - the zen of chainsaws and enormous clippers

HOWIE GOOD - tomorrowland

J.A. TYLER - everyone in this is either dying or will die or is thinking of death

BARRY GRAHAM - not a speck of light is showing


ORDER CLONE HERE:

http://paperheropress.blogspot.com/2008/08/i-am-going-to-clone-myself-then-kill.html

If you don't do PAYPAL, email me bgraham@dogzplot.com and we can work something out.


Keep doing what you're doing and God bless.

PRICK OF THE SPINDLE 2.4

New issue of PRICK OF THE SPINDLE 2.4, brought to us by the super silly, sexy, smart CYNTHIA REESER, editor extrordinaire.

This is crammed full of amazing things; fiction, poetry, art, reviews from the small presses, a novella, a graphic short, an interview with CLAUDIA SMITH.

Here are a few links:

SHELLIE ZACHARIA
ONE BED, TWO STORIES
http://www.prickofthespindle.com/fiction/2.4/zacharia/one_bed_two_stories.htm

HOWIE GOOD
VARIATIONS ON AN ENIGMA
http://www.prickofthespindle.com/poetry/2.4/good/variations_on_an_enigma.htm

review of DREW KALBACH
THE ZEN OF CHAINSAWS AND ENORMOUS CLIPPERS
http://www.prickofthespindle.com/reviews/2.4/small%20presses/achilles%20chapbook%20series/kalbach/the_zen_of_chainsaws.htm


Two of my poems are also included in this issue:

BIRDSONG
http://www.prickofthespindle.com/poetry/2.4/graham/birdsong.htm

A HALF GRAVE OF RETREAT
http://www.prickofthespindle.com/poetry/2.4/graham/a_half_grave_of_retreat.htm


I am extremely envious of this journal.

NEW FICTION EDITOR at DOGZPLOT

DAVE ERLEWINE has agreed to join the editorial team at DOGZPLOT and help handle the fiction submissions. Dave is an extremely talented writer with a sharp eye for erratic, playful, gritty contemporary fiction. He will be a great edition to the journal.

Thank you very much Dave.

Contact:
derlewine@dogzplot.com

IS THAT A NEWPORT

CONTEST IS OVER

WINNER:

DARBY LARSON

In addition to J.A. TYLER's chapbook EVERYONE IN THIS IS EITHER DYING OR WILL DIE OR IS THINKING OF DEATH, he will receive a complimentary issue of KEYHOLE 5.

Thanks for ordering.

I'M GIVING AWAY A FREE COPY OF KEYHOLE 5...

To the first person who orders one of the ACHILLES CHAPBOOKS

DREW KALBACH

HOWIE GOOD

BARRY GRAHAM

J.A. TYLER

Link is here. Do it now.

http://achilleschapbook.blogspot.com/


I'll tell you when there's a first...

ABJECTIVE. WIGLEAF. JEFF CROUCH. RANDALL BROWN

Came across this from JEFF CROUCH. Holy shit.

JEFF CROUCH
DRIFTER
ABJECTIVE
http://www.abjective.net/


And this from RANDALL BROWN.


RANDALL BROWN
THE UNION FOREVER
WIGLEAF
http://wigleaf.com/200812union.htm

NEW ISSUE. PINDELDYBOZ

New issue of PINDELDYBOZ is live. Including great things from a few DOGZPLOT contributors:

MICE
TAI DONG HUAI
http://www.pindeldyboz.com/tdhmice.htm


WE TALK IN A ROUNDABOUT WAY
LYDIA COPELAND
http://www.pindeldyboz.com/lcroundabout.htm

CHRISTMAS PROMO at TULIP. PETER CAVANAUGH

Team Tulip from hunter kennedy on Vimeo.

SPD. 75% OFF. END OF CAPITALISM SALE

Exact Change
Potes & Poets
FC2
Dalkey Archive
Green Candy

Headpress
QUA Books
Sheep Meadow Press
North Carolina Wesleyan
Wings Press

Duration Press Chapbooks
New Mouth from the Dirty South
William Burroughs/Expanded Media
Assorted Poetry & Magazines
Assorted Nonfiction

Get in on this now.

MEG POKRASS. NIGHT TRAIN. TULIP

A few new things up from MEG POKRASS:

LAST OPEN
NIGHT TRAIN
http://www.nighttrainmagazine.com/contents/pokrass_fb.php

DESERT AIR
TULIP
http://tulipweekly.wordpress.com/2008/12/18/desert-air/

NEW ISSUE. WORD RIOT

New issue of WORD RIOT is live. Lots of bad ass work, including:

PLEASE READ BEFORE DELETING
JAIS BROHINSKY
http://wordriot.org/template_2.php?ID=1736

TELL MOM THERE'S GOING TO BE SOME BIG CHANGES
GREG GERKE
http://wordriot.org/template_2.php?ID=1738

INVENTING A FROWN
BRAD GREEN
http://wordriot.org/template_2.php?ID=1728

SAND #1
J.A. TYLER
http://wordriot.org/template_2.php?ID=1732

TWO POEMS
MATTHEW SAVOCA
http://wordriot.org/template_2.php?ID=1743

and a review of RANDALL BROWN's MAD TO LIVE
(reviewed by HEATHER BERGSTROM)
http://wordriot.org/template_2.php?ID=1753

WIGLEAF. LAUREN BECKER

Just read this over at WIGLEAF. Great stuff:

LAUREN BECKER
LAUGHTER
WIGLEAF
http://wigleaf.com/200812laughter.htm

Also, while you're there. check out her postcard. DEAR WIGLEAF.

RED TOENAILS or WHAT SHE REALLY THINKS OF MISOGYNY

ACHILLES CHAPBOOK SERIES. J.A. TYLER. HOWIE GOOD

Quick update for everyone who pre-ordered J.A. TYLER's, EVERYONE IN THIS IS EITHER DYING OR WILL DIE OR IS THINKING OF DEATH.

J.A. has decided to sign all of the chapbooks before they are sent out, so if you ordered one already, please hang on a few extra days, they are on their way to J.A. to sign and then they will be sent to you. Thanks for your patience.

Also, here's the good word on EITIEDOWDOITOD from STEVEN GILLIS:

“J.A. Tyler has a wizard's eye. In Everyone In This Is Either Dying Or Will Die Or Is Thinking of Death, Tyler spins tales so close to the bone we can feel the pulse of his magic. His stories are gothic, are spiritual and haunting. Most of all they are human and cut to the core.”

Steven Gillis, author of Temporary People

ADDITIONAL INFO, INCLUDING HOW TO ORDER, IS HERE:

http://achilleschapbook.blogspot.com/2008/12/ja-tyler-everyone-in-this-is-either.html

Also, HOWIE GOOD's chapbook, TOMORROWLAND is being reviewed at NEON. Here's an excerpt:

HOWIE

"There are many extremely striking pieces among the twenty-five. "Six Predictions About The Future" is one particulalry cool and unflinching example. So as not to dampen the impact, I will not reproduce it here, but suffice to say it is stunning. It displays the precision and honesty characteristic of the works in Tomorrowland, and of Good's work in general. A handful of these short pieces alone would be worth the price of the chapbook."

GOOD

FULL REVIEW HERE:

http://www.neonmagazine.co.uk/tomorrowland.htm

HOWIE

TOMORROWLAND is also being reviewed by MARC SHUSTER at the SMALL PRESS REVIEW. Here's an excerpt:

HOWIE

"Throughout the chapbook, Good envisions a chaotic world of lost jackets, pyromaniacs, insomniacs, secret police, and search dogs, but this isn't just a post-modern exercise in "weird for the sake of weird" (apologies to Moe Syzlak). Good seems to be grasping at something throughout this collection, feeling around in the maddening crush of texts, images, myths, legends, and other mysteries that make up our world to get at some larger truth about the human condition. One of his biggest concerns, it would seem, is the issue of identity."

HOWIE

Read the entire review here:

http://smallpressreviews.blogspot.com/2008/12/tomorrowland.html

HOWIE

CHAPBOOK INFO HERE:

http://achilleschapbook.blogspot.com/2008/11/howie-good-tomorrowland.html

NEW ISSUE. SMOKELONG QUARTERLY 23

New issue of SMOKELONG QUARTERLY. Authors include:

LYDIA COPELAND
KYLE HEMMINGS
STEFANIE FREELE
TANIA HERSHMAN
TAI DONG HUAI
BARRY GRAHAM

...and many others. Included in this issue is my story CAVED IN. Read it here:

http://smokelong.com/flash/barrygraham23.asp

And if you've read along this far, you might as well check out my interview. Here's an excerpt:

This story is a first-rate example of how every word is chosen purposefully: the resurrection of the cigarettes, the weaving of a small scourge, the coagulation of the blood. How do you choose these images – the weeping willows, cigarette butts, a cedar pew, the big white bus? And in the end, Karly draws pine trees. Why pine trees?

I chose words that held some sort of religious connotation; blood, pew, weeping, church, white, resurrect, and of course the small scourge, which for me invokes Jesus’ overly violent reaction against the Jewish tradesmen in the synagogue. I grew up in Sunday school, as did many of the children in my neighborhood. And I guess as an adult I am interested in the idea of so much violence and abuse happening to children who devoted so much faith and hope to memorizing Bible verses and singing Jesus Loves Me, and I wanted to bring that conflict into a collection of small fictions.

Read the rest here:

http://smokelong.com/interview/barrygraham23.asp

NEW ISSUE. LAMINATION COLONY

Check out the latest issue of LAMINATION COLONY. Authors include:

MATTHEW SAVOCA
ELIZABETH ELLEN
RYAN CALL
BRANDI WELLS
PETER DAVIS
GENA MOHWISH
ZACHARY BUSH
RYAN MANNING
DIDI MENENDEZ

...and many others. Check it out here:

http://www.laminationcolony.com/

THE ZEN OF CHAINSAWS AND ENORMOUS CLIPPERS. REVIEWED on ORANGE ALERT

Check out this review of DREW KALBACH's prose poem collection, THE ZEN OF CHAINSAWS AND ENORMOUS CIPPERS, from WHAT NOT TO WEAR DURING AN ORNAGE ALERT.

Here is an excerpt from the review:

"Life is basically nonsense. We attempt to organize and plan and make some sense of everything. Yet, most moments feel random and uncontrolled, but as wee dig, explore, and evaluate we may discover a fleeting purpose. It is this odd sense of random logic that Drew Kalbach throws on to paper. Words and phrases seem to collide without focus and purpose, but suddenly there is a brief flash of subtle but substantial intention and clarity."

Read it here in its entirety:

http://wearduringorangealert.blogspot.com/2008/12/orange-spotlight_14.html

Order TZOCAEC here:

http://achilleschapbook.blogspot.com/2008/08/zen-of-chainsaws-and-enormous-clippers.html

NEW STORIES. WIGLEAF. ELIMAE

New stuff up at:

WIGLEAF

http://www.wigleaf.com/

MATT BELL
HOW THEY WERE FOUND AND WHO THEY WERE THAT FOUND THEM

JENNIFER PIERONI
NOW, RIGHT NOW

STEFANIE FREELE
BECAUSE CONDOMS SEEM SO DESPERATE, SHE ALSO BUYS FERNS


ELIMAE

http://www.elimae.com/new.html

AARON BURCH
KIM CHINQUEE
DREW KALBACH
HOWIE GOOD
MEG POKRASS
LAURA ELLEN SCOTT
TAI DONG HUAI
BONNIE ZOBELL
RANDALL BROWN
ZACHARY C. BUSH
MATTHEW SAVOCA
BRANDI WELLS
DAVID ERLEWINE

MISS WORLD PAGEANT 2008 REVIEW

YANKEE POT ROAST. ONE LINE LISTICLES

(this is what happened when I yahoo imaged 'listicles')


JIMMY CHEN served as guest editor for YANKEE POT ROAST. This is what happened:

ONE-LINE LISTICLES

http://www.yankeepotroast.org/archives/2008/12/oneline.html

NOT TOUCHING THE BRAKES. TULIP. PETER CAVANAUGH

Another of the flash fiction / prose poem collages I've been working on has been published in TULIP.

Check it out here:

NOT TOUCHING THE BRAKES
BARRY GRAHAM
TULIP
http://tulipweekly.wordpress.com/2008/12/12/not-touching-the-brakes/

PETER CAVANAUGH, the editor has got some really bad ass work posted over there, including pieces from:

DANIEL BAILEY
PETER DAVIS
DREW KALBACH
MOLLY GAUDRY
SAM PINK
J.A. TYLER

and many other fine folks. Good shit Peter.

HOLIDAY GUIDE 2008. ORANGE ALERT

from WHAT TO WEAR DURING AN ORNAGE ALERT:

Welcome to the first annual Orange Alert Holiday Guide. This guide is an attempt to shed a little light on a few of the artists, writers, musicians, and unique items that have been featured on What to Wear During an Orange Alert over the last year. We hope you enjoy the guide and the holiday season, but the most all we hope you continue to support the independent arts.

orange

This guide includes our top 25 albums, top 10 books, five emerging writers, all of the randomnes you've come to love and lists contributed by the likes of Neal Pollack, Zach Dodson, Joey Potts, Yea Big, and many many more. The download also includes mp3's from the top ten albums of the year.

Please download the guide, tell everyone you know, and have a wonderful Holiday Season!

alert

I'm downloading it now, so I don't know for sure, but I hear SAM PINK is featured.

what

UPDATE:

to

Indeed, the rumor is true. SAM PINK was listed in the FIVE NEW FACES IN LIT

where

They also mentioned PAPER HERO PRESS. Thank you. And a few other folks that I am glad to see mentioned; KEVIN SAMPSELL and CURTIS SMITH.

during

Congrats to everyone involved and thanks again ORANGE ALERT.

BEST NERVE ESSAYS of 2008. MIKE YOUNG

from NERVE:

Dear Reader —

What were your favorite Nerve essays of 2008? We picked our own top twenty-five. Take a minute to look back through (c'mon, you're not really working!) then vote for as many as you like. Starting on December 22nd, we'll count down the ten most beloved essays of the year, and give their authors a little longer in the spotlight — the least they deserve for exposing their greatest turn-ons, embarrassments, neuroses and dreams to the harsh gaze of the internet...Clearly, your votes have important ramifications for the future of online literate smut. So get votin'!

XXX

My vote goes to:

XXX

IT AIN'T ME, BABE

MIKE YOUNG

XXX

http://nerve.com/dispatches/nerveeditors/Vote-For-The-Best-Nerve-Features-Of-2008/

JOHN BRUCE. PERFECTLY ORDINARY. DIDDLEDOG

Just came across this. Great story:

JOHN BRUCE
PERFECTLY ORDINARY
DIDDLEDOG
http://www.diddledog.com/0804bruce.html

HOBART announces PUSHCART NOMINATIONS

(this is what happened when I yahoo imaged 'pushcart')


HOBART just announced their PUSHCART nominess for 2008. It looks like I made the cut. Thank you AARON BURCH and ELIZABETH ELLEN, and congratulations to all six of these fine folks.

Mike Alber
“Magic: The Essay”

Matt Bell
“Ken Sent Me”

Bryan Furuness
“Ballgrabber”

Barry Graham
“Bad Beat”

Stefan Kiesbye
“Among Her Faces"

Mary Miller
“Pearl”

ABJECTIVE. MOLLY GAUDRY

DARBY LARSON has been posting some pretty bad ass stories every Saturday over at ABJECTIVE. This week's installment is no exception:

MOLLY GAUDRY

THE SKY AS JOHN SAW IT THE NIGHT KATE SPARKLED

http://www.abjective.net/

I think this is an excerpt from a much longer piece she is working on. I would be honored if one of those excerpts found their way onto DOGZPLOT.

HOBART. NEW ISSUE

The December issue of HOBART is live and it's another great one. Contributors inlcude:

EUGENE CROSS
MOLLY GAUDRY
KYLE MINOR
EDWARD MULLANY

and an interview with JOHN BRANDON (conducted by MATT BELL)

http://www.hobartpulp.com/

STORYGLOSSIA 32. MATT BELL. WILLOWS WEPT PRESS

Here's the lineup. It includes top notch writing from MATT BELL, J.A. TYLER, JARED WARD, C ROBIN MADIGAN, and others. Anyone who knows me or reads this blog knows how I feel about STORYGLOSSIA. I will say definitively that people will be hard-pressed to find a better online literary journal then this:

Matt Bell
Her Ennead

Sarah Sarai
The Amazon Mountains of Tibet

Dennis Mahagin
Casablanca Or Something Like It

C. Robin Madigan
I Wish He Were You

Cynthia Newberry Martin
Into the Woods

Alice K. Boatwright
Night Washing

Nicholas Ripatrazone
Found

Dianne Rees
Like a Monster

Jared Ward
Daily Grind

J. A. Tyler
Indians

Also. If you haven't heard already, MATT BELL's chapbook HOW THE BROKEN LEAD THE BLIND, published by WILLOWS WEPT PRESS, is now available for pre-order. It is being printed in a limited run of 100, minus the one I already ordered, so there are possibly 99 of them floating around. Grab them quick. This is MATT BELL. They aren't gonna last long.

ADDITIONAL INFO INCLUDING HOW TO ORDER IS HERE:

http://willowsweptpress.blogspot.com/2008/12/matt-bells-how-broken-lead-blind-is-now.html

GOOD READS

Here's some links to some great work I've been reading online:

TED POWERS
THE POSTMAN RINGS A THIRD TIME
ABJECTIVE
http://www.abjective.net/002.html


EVERYTHING ON WIGLEAF
http://www.wigleaf.com/


KYLE MINOR
TWO RUBBER BANDS
PINDELDYBOZ
http://www.pindeldyboz.com/kmbands.htm


SCOTT GARSON
A MAN OF THE STAGE
SIR
http://www.sir-magazine.org/scottgarson.html


PETER SCHWARTZ
4TH
SIR
http://www.sir-magazine.org/peterschwartz.html

ACTUALLY, THE ENTIRE ISSUE OF SIR IS BAD ASS. READ THEM ALL.


RAVI MANGLA
LET IT SNOW
DECOMP
http://www.decompmagazine.com/letitsnow.htm


CRISPIN BEST
OF OPALS. SILVERS
PEQUIN
http://pequin.org/archives/2008/crispinbest/ofopalssilvers.php

ML PRESS. ANNOUNCEMENT

2009 CATALOGUE

BE NICE TO EVERYONE by sam pink
MISERABLE FISH by colin bassett
DON'T GIVE UP & DIE by james chapman
A HEAVEN GONE by jac jemc
LIKE IT WAS HER PLACE by kim chinquee
SOME OF THE LETTERS THAT WERE CUT by michael kimball
IN ENVY OF GLACIERS& THE UNIVERSE OF THE BODY by norman lock
THREE ACTS WITH VINCENT by kim parko
WHAT I SAW by randall brown
THEY by brian evenson
BLUEBEARD by michael stewart
(forthcoming) by peter markus
ISN'T THIS WHAT YOU WERE LOOKING FOR? by ken sparling
THOSE BONES by david ohle
MOLTING by aaron burch
DA VINCI DIED BEFORE CIGARETTES by p. h. madore
ALTRUISM by matthew savoca
(forthcoming) by johannes göransson

six-month subscriptions are available now.
$36 / 18 volumes, beginning with the dec. 08 trio.

want to order?
go here.

TODAY WAS A GOOD DAY. NEW PAGES REVIEW

Today was a good day.

"Drunk as hell but no throwing up, half way home and my pager's still blowing up. Today I didn't even have to use my AK. I gotta say it was a good day."

Two reviews within an hour. Very cool. Thanks a million to ORANGE ALERT and NEW PAGES.

ORANGE ALERT link is in the post below.

This is a little bit of what RYAN CALL said about not a speck of light is showing at NEW PAGES:

"Graham has a good feel for how seemingly incongruous sentences, when placed together, can really ring out in a reader’s mind. And what is nice about this, is that Graham also knows that such a move needs only rarely to occur so as to have a greater effect."

I like what he said about my sentence structures a lot. Thanks a million Ryan.

Read the entire review here:

http://www.newpages.com/bookreviews/2008_12/december2008_book_reviews.htm#not_a_speck

NEW PAGES also reviewed DREW KALBACH's the zen of chainsaws and enormous clippers.

Read the review here:

http://www.newpages.com/bookreviews/2008_12/december2008_book_reviews.htm#zen


Additional info, including ordering info, is on the right somewhere and in the post below this one.

Thanks again to ORANGE ALERT and NEW PAGES.

NOT A SPECK OF LIGHT IS SHOWING. REVIEWED on ORANGE ALERT

My chapbook not a speck of light is showing was reviewed on WHAT TO WEAR DURING AN ORANGE ALERT.

Here's an excerpt:

"What drew me to pick up this chap and begin to read was its plain cover. A yellow piece of paper with seven words typed in black. "not a speck of light is showing." There was nothing to allude to the contents, and nothing to draw the focus away from the text.

I'm glad somebody gets it.

Read the rest of the review here:

http://wearduringorangealert.blogspot.com/2008/12/orange-spotlight.html

For additional info on not a speck of light is showing, including ordering info and info about other chapbooks from ACHILLES, click here:

http://achilleschapbook.blogspot.com/2008/08/blog-post.html

Thank you for the write-up ORANGE ALERT.

ROBIN'S BOOKSTORE CLOSING AFTER 73 YEARS

The oldest independent bookstore in Philly is calling it quits after 73 years. Too bad. This is from their site:

"DEAR FRIENDS:

DEATH

After 73 years ROBIN'S BOOK STORE, Philadelphia's oldest independent book seller, is about to: expire, perish, pass away, be taken, resign our being, end our days, breathe our last, depart this life, be no more, pop off, give up the ghost, pay our debt to nature, shuffle off this mortal coil, go the way of all flesh, hand in our chips, come to dust, cross the Stygian ferry, go to Davy Jones' locker, go out like the snuff of a candle, come to an untimely end, catch our death, go off the hooks, kick the bucket, buy the farm, hop the twig, turn up our toes. Operating a book store was always a better hobby than a way to make a living, but now it is impossible. Blame it on the Economy. Blame it on the Chain Stores. Blame it on the Internet. Blame it on Reading Habits.

In the meantime, on November 24 all new books and calendars in stock will go on sale at 20% off, and the sale discount will increase 5% each week until January 5 when it will reach 50%. The discount will remain at 50% until we close on January 31, 2009."

ADDITIONAL INFO HERE

DANIEL CHACON. UNENDING ROOMS

I've been reading and reading and rereading and rereading the stories from DANIEL CHACON's newest collection, UNENDING ROOMS, available from BLACK LAWRENCE PRESS. Chacon keeps tugging me in different directions, everytime I think I know where I'm being taken I'm wrong. This book is a place where Mexican gangstas, gorgeous red heads that disappear and may or may not have actually existed, retards, gay policemen, gringo tourists, holes in the sides of mountains, beggars, and street vendors, all peacefully coexist; symphonies get orchestrated, people get decapitated by moving objects, insinuations get made, conspiracies theorized. Read this shit now. Here's what other people have said:

“Unending Rooms is a visit to the hidden recesses of the mind, a place where Jorge Luis Borges and Stephen King sit down for coffee while a cello plays a bittersweet melody you can almost remember. Once you enter, you will emerge a different person.”
— Kathleen Alcalá

“Daniel Chacón’s distinctive storytelling, with its defiance to linearity and closure, with its leanings toward metafiction, gestures south to the Latin American greats like Borges, Cortázar and Paz, but his sensibility is puro Chicano—the hero and anti-hero of the twenty-first century who sinks and swims through libraries and barrios, politics and passions, tradition and innovation. “Unending Rooms” is a testament of identity as experienced, not on the margins, but at the center of the beautiful and terrifying cycles.”
— Rigoberto González

Additional info is HERE

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

HAPPY THANKSGIVING folks. Here's a little creative non-fiction piece from award winning humor columnist and stand-up comedian BILL BARR. Enjoy.

EXPECT RESISTANCE FROM YOUR TURKEY THIS YEAR

LESS SHINY. MARY MILLER. MAGIC HELICOPTER PRESS

MARY MILLER's new collection, LESS SHINY, is now available from MAGIC HELICOPTER PRESS.

Additional info HERE
MARY

Mary also has a little something something coming soon from Hobart's mini-book division, BIG WORLD.

MILLER

Info is HERE.

MC BREED. GOD BLESS

MC Breed, died Saturday at a friend's home in Ypsilanti, about 30 miles southwest of Detroit, a Washtenaw County medical examiner's spokesman said Monday.

Toxicology reports were pending, but no foul play was suspected in the 37-year-old's death. Breed had suffered from kidney failure, according to The Detroit News and The Flint Journal. "More than just an artist, we mourn the loss of a beloved father, son, brother, and friend," his family said in a statement. "We are thankful and blessed to have been in his presence and want him to be remembered for his creative, caring, talented, and hardworking spirit."

Breed released 13 albums from 1991 to 2004, and collaborated with artists such as Tupac Shakur and Too Short.

HOW MANY STORIES...

12

That's right, the debut issue of 12 STORIES is ready to be devoured. Here's the lineup:

Steve Almond
J.R. Angelella
Rusty Barnes
Matt Bell
Jimmy Chen
Timothy Gager
Richard Garcia
Kathryn Good-Schiff
Jim Hanas
Jeff Landon
Jennifer Levin
Dan Moreau


http://www.readtwelvestories.com/

HOWIE GOOD. TOMORROWLAND. ORDER NOW

"Howie Good's newest collection, Tomorrowland, offers the essential element of prose poetry: tight, moving language, and amazing imagery. From a firing squad who listens to the ball game on the radio to the heart's museum of stained glass and a wooden boardwalk, Good gives entire scenes in a matter of a few words. They are scenes of both starkness and beauty, or - to quote the poet, himself - "the birdsong, as sometimes happens, full of primitive grief."With both the mastery of storytelling and the dance of poetry,

Tomorrowland is a writer's envy and a reader's delight."

Susan Culver

"A fascinating series of vignettes, flashes, stories, each one incredibly focused, incredibly powerful, and surprising to the point of being scary."

Krishan Coupland

HOWIE GOOD

TOMORROWLAND

FLASH FICTION

24 PGS.

12 - 1 - 2008

$4.00

excerpt from TOMORROWLAND:

THE PARABLE OF SUNLIGHT

It’s a rare sunny day, but the streets are strangely empty, as if arrests are about to be made, or already have been. Head down, heart revving, I start across the square. The fountain is dry, stained with dead leaves. An old man, with the drab, diligent face of a lifelong student of numbers, scatters bread crumbs for the pigeons. I pretend not to notice – it’s safer – and in seconds, reach the far side, where bodies in the early stages of decay hang like gray rags from the trees. I glance back at the old man. He’s watching me, and I wonder why and whether tomorrow is supposed to be just as nice as today.

ORDER HERE

ALL ACHILLES CHAPBOOKS ARE BUY ONE GET ONE FREE

DOGZPLOT REVIEWED at NEWPAGES

Very cool. I didn't even know this was going down.

This from MICAH ZEVIN:

"Dogzplot is an amalgam of eclectic and varying styles of literary excellence publishing fiction, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, artwork, opinion pieces, poetry and even photos (which are requested to be works that are not necessarily “good” or polished as polished can be, but works that will “blow our fucking minds”). When you read this journal, you will quickly realize that it is an energetic environment where the humorous and the serious artwork, writing and photography can coexist with the ironic, sardonic and satirical pieces that dominate this daring journal. And you may not know where the bones are buried in this unique universe, but rest assured you are one happy dog."

They also made mention of:

Stephanie Johnson - Dirty Laundromat
John Biando - Twenty-five Ways of Looking at Jeff Parker's Balls
Sam Pink - Advice Column

Very cool. Thanks a lot folks. Read the review in it's entirety here:

http://www.newpages.com/magazinestand/litmags/default.htm#dogplotz

MIRIAM WINTER. TRAINS

I just finished reading MIRIAM WINTER's memoir TRAINS. It is a devastating look into the life of a Holocaust survivor. I heard her read from it Thursday night and I was blown away.

"Trains: A Memoir of a Hidden Childhood during and after World War II, is a collection of Miriam Winter's fragmented memories of hiding. Winter recorded her memories in short vignettes that are heavy with sorrow, misfortune and anger. Her reactions are well-founded: in a desperate attempt to save her life, without explanation, the eight-year-old was given to her cousin, who then passed her to a complete stranger on a train. In exchange for a place to hide, Miriam was treated like a slave..."
- Tobin Belzer

ADDITIONAL INFO HERE

WIGLEAF. KEYHOLE. ABJECTIVE

Here are a few pieces I read recently that I like a lot:

CHARLES LENNOX
THOSE WHO LOSE THINGS
WIGLEAF
http://wigleaf.com/200811those.htm

CHARLES LENNOX
COMMANDMENTS
KEYHOLE
http://www.keyholemagazine.com/charles-lennox/commandments

MOLLY GAUDRY
COME SEE THE MONKEY
WIGLEAF
http://wigleaf.com/200811monkey.htm

TED POWERS
THE POSTMAN RINGS A THIRD TIME
ABJECTIVE
http://www.abjective.net/

DOGZPLOT READING. EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY

DOGZPLOT hosted a flash fiction reading at Eastern Michigan University on November 21. We kicked a lot of ass. Thanks a lot to everyone who came out and read and listened and showed their support. DOGZPLOT contributors who attended and/or read include:

BILL BARR
MATT BELL
ALYSSA DAVIS (who represented her sister ANGELA DAVIS who could not be in attendance)
BARRY GRAHAM
JAMIE JONES
BRANDON POTTER
ANDREW POWERS
HANNAH SMART (who was going to read, but I read her piece before she had a chance, sorry Hannah)

Also, I read a few of my favorite pieces from the 2008 anthology even though the authors were unable to make it. Those contributors include:

CL BLEDSOE
AARON BURCH
ROBERT A. DOLLESIN
ELIZABETH ELLEN
JOSEPH GRAHAM
JR PEARSON


Thanks again to everyone for showing up and reading and listening and hanging out and blah blah blah. I love ya'll.

HOWIE GOOD. PUSHCART PRIZE NOMINATION. TOMORROWLAND

Congrats to HOWIE GOOD. His piece, TINY FUGUE FOR TOMORROWLAND, which will be included in his forthcoming chapbook, TOMORROWLAND, from our chapbook series, was recently nominated for a PUSHCART.

excerpt from TINY FUGUE:


THE PARABLE OF SUNLIGHT

It’s a rare sunny day, but the streets are strangely empty, as if arrests are about to be made, or already have been. Head down, heart revving, I start across the square. The fountain is dry, stained with dead leaves. An old man, with the drab, diligent face of a lifelong student of numbers, scatters bread crumbs for the pigeons. I pretend not to notice – it’s safer – and in seconds, reach the far side, where bodies in the early stages of decay hang like gray rags from the trees. I glance back at the old man. He’s watching me, and I wonder why and whether tomorrow is supposed to be just as nice as today.


Check it out in its entirety HERE

and if you like what you read, please order the chapbook HERE.

BARRY GRAHAM. INTERVIEW

I was interviewed by SCOT YOUNG on his MIDWEST POETRY blog. We talked about a bunch of different shit: the future of online journals, my chapbook and story collection, Monica Lewinsky, etc. Here's a small piece of the interview:

Scot:

What do you see online publications developing in the future?

Barry:

I may be wrong on this, but I think 2009 is gonna be a big year for returning to print. I think people want to hold books / objects in their hands and look at them, smell them, touch them. I think print on demand technologies are affordable and the quality is much improved, chapbooks are cheap to make. I see a big return to those types of printing. DOGZPLOT has branched out and started a small chapbook series: ACHILLES. Great things are on the way from lots of places: ML Press, Future Tense, Keyhole, Calamari, Hobart’s mini-book division – Short Flight / Long Drive. Misti Rainwater-Lites has some sexy publications I like a lot, the Instant Pussy series. All that to say I think the future is a grassroots return to cheap but aesthetically pleasing print.


Take a peek at the rest here:

http://midwestpoet.wordpress.com/2008/11/18/interview-with-barry-graham-at-dogzplotcom/

BLACK TICKETS. JAYNE ANNE PHILLIPS

Holy fucking shit. I just reread Jayne Anne Phillip's BLACK TICKETS and I was blown away all over again. I have no idea why she isn't in more discussions of contemporary flash fiction. This flash collection, written in the 1970's, is unreal. I don't have the words to do this book justice.

"An exquisite and terrible insight in the hands of one who fakes nothing - the best short story writer since Eudora Welty."
- Nadine Gordimer

"These stories of America's disenfranchised are unlike any in our literature. She's an original, and this book of hers is a crooked beauty."
- Raymond Carver

I met Jayne Anne Phillips at the Rutgers-Newark (she is the director of their MFA program) reception last year at AWP. She is amazing. I really wish I was at Rutgers but I'm much too big of a slacker. But for anyone looking for an MFA program on the east coast, there are big, amazing things going on there. Put in your apps early.

Read this tiny flash from BLACK TICKETS, then if you don't click this LINK and order the book there is something wrong with your goddam brain:

UNDER THE BOARDWALK

Her name is Joyce Casto and she rides our school bus. The Castos all look alike. Skinny, freckled, straw haired. Joyce's is the color of broom sage, dried out by some heat in her head. She walks the halls of the junior high with a clipboard of ruffled papers, transistor radio beating in her hand.

Daddy is a fire-and-brimstone preacher at a church out the dirt road. Music is the work of the devil that licks at her legs. She stands, radio pressed to her face, lips working. Undah the boardwalk, down by the see ee ee ye eh eh, Ona blanket with my baybeh's where I'll be.

She walks into class fumbling to turn it off. Stays close to the wall and watches the cement floor. She never talks to the country kids. The town kids never talk to her. The gym teacher finds out she is pregnant. Yes, she confesses, It was my brother. He's went off to the mills.

She disappears from school but comes back a month later, having had it in a bloody way. She rolled up a horse blanket and walked to the field. Daddy thundering I won't lay eyes on your sin and big brother in Youngstown, holding a thing that burns orange fire. She rolls, yelping, dogs come close and sniff. They circle. The sky circles. Points of light up there that sting. Finally she sees they are stars. Washing herself in the creek she remembers the scythe against the grass, its whispering rip.

Next morning she sits in the house alone while the others shout and sweat at the the revival in Clinger's Field. The dogs come in with pieces in their mouths. She stands in the kitchen shaking while the Drifters do some easy moanin.

SARAH JO PENDER. AMERICA'S MOST WANTED. # 15

SARAH JO PENDER

From the America's Most Wanted site:

"Since her expertly-executed prison escape on August 4, 2008, officials have been hot on the trail of Sarah Pender. Now, after a few short months on the lam, U.S. Marshals Service officials have turned up the heat on Pender, and made her the newest addition to their notorious 15 Most Wanted Fugitives List."

I have no idea why I'm posting this. She's the most wanted woman in America. She escaped from prison and they can't find her. Good for her. Dirty ass punk ass bitch ass police.

Plus, she's a red head.

REVIEW of THE ZEN OF CHAINSAWS AND ENORMOUS CLIPPERS

There is a very good review of

DREW KALBACH's

THE ZEN OF CHAINSAWS AND ENORMOUS CLIPPERS

"His work seems to be based mostly on randomized fantasies and very dreamed-up, coked-up melodies; things he may have said out loud that sounded good, and so were written down late at night, perhaps while hallucinating. This is how it comes off, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. Things that most writers only manage to harness every now and then, when truly on top of their game, Kalbach seems to take very much for granted, as if they were as simple as writing grocery lists for him. After reading this, I am two things: addicted to his style, influenced heavily, wanting to tell the world about this chapbook, jealous, and enamored."

Read full review HERE

Also. Order CHAINSAWS anytime between now and Thanksgiving and receive a free ACHILLES chapbook of your choice:

BARRY GRAHAM - not a speck of light is showing

JA TYLER - everyone in this is either dying or will die or is thinking about death

HOWIE GOOD - tomorrowland


Thanks.