DECOMP. APRIL 2009

New issue of DECOMP is live. Includes writing from:

DAVID AICHENBAUM
LAUREN BECKER
STEFAN KIESBYE
AUDRI SOUSA
XTX
CAROL LYNN GRELLAS
ALICIA HOFFMAN
JUSTIN HYDE
and others

http://www.decompmagazine.com/

Check it out now. The issue will self-destruct in...5...4...3...2...

MORE STUFF TO READ

NIGHT TRAIN

STEVEN J. MCDERMOTT
APOLOGY
http://www.nighttrainmagazine.com/contents/mcdermott_fb.php

DARBY LARSON
ON AN EVENING OF RAIN
http://www.nighttrainmagazine.com/contents/larson_fb.php


WIGLEAF

KENDRA GRANT MALONE
WE LOVE YOU VERY MUCH

JENNIFER PIERONI
NOTHING SPECIAL

EDWARD MULLANY
HONEYMOON

http://www.wigleaf.com/


ABJECTIVE

BRANDI WELLS
PUZZLE
http://www.abjective.net/010.html

SEAN LOVELACE
ARGUMENT 11
http://www.abjective.net/014.html

BLAKE BUTLER
WITNESS ON PG 56
http://www.abjective.net/

SOMETIMES MY BRAIN WORKS LIKE THIS

MUDLUSCIOUS. APRIL 09. RIP ME APART

New issue of MUDLUSCIOUS is live. Contributors include:

PETER BERGHOEF
SEAN RUANE
JENNIFER PIERONI
SARA REIHANI
P.H. MADORE
C.L. BLEDSOE
NATHANIEL TOWER
MOLLY GAUDRY
RYAN W. BRADLEY
RAVI MANGLA
SHOME DASGUPTA
SEAN LOVELACE
DAVE ERLEWINE
ZACHARY C. BUSH
LYDIA COPELAND
CONOR ROBIN MADIGAN
LIZ HALL
PETER SCHWARTZ
BARRY GRAHAM

And a few outstandng reviews of recent fiction collections.

Also included in this issue is another one of my collage pieces. This time around it's derived from RANDALL BROWN's collection MAD TO LIVE. The collage is called RIP ME APART. Check it out.

And check out ML PRESS's chapbook series. They are only $2 individually, or you can subscribe, which I recommend because they go fast. Also check out their first full length title. MOLLY GAUDRY's WE TAKE ME APART.

It's all here:

http://www.aboutjatyler.com/index_files/Page350.html

READ THIS. CHUCK RICHARDSON. SMOKE. BLAZEVOX

SMOKE

CHUCK RICHARDSON

BLAZEVOX

236 PGS.

ALL INFO IS HERE:

http://www.blazevox.org/bk-cr.htm

STORYGLOSSIA 33. 5 STAR LITERARY STORIES

New issue of STORYGLOSSIA went live today. Read new fiction from BENJAMIN BUCHHOLZ and DONNA D. VITUCCI.

Go read:

http://www.storyglossia.com/

Also, I know I'm late on this, but COLIN BASSETT, editor of BEARCREEKFEED, nominated JAC JEMC's story THE TACKINESS OF SOULS for review at 5 STAR LITERARY STORIES. The story was reviewed by MYRA SHERMAN.

5 STAR review here:

http://fivestarliterarystories.blogspot.com/2009/03/bearcreekfeedjac-jemcmyra-sherman.html

THE TACKINESS OF SOULS here:

http://www.bearcreekfeed.com/2009/01/tackiness-of-souls.html

MOTIVATIONAL NAIVETE. NOO JOURNAL.

MIKE YOUNG over at NOO JOURNAL is doing a little fundraiser. NOO is a great publication well worth supporting so I gave a few coins. In exchange he wrote a little poem for me. I know he called it RAD POETRY this time around as opposed to BAD POETRY, but I don't know. He tried I guess.

I'm just fucking with ya Mike. Here it is:

MOTIVATIONAL NAIVETE

There's nothing wrong with being quietly astonished. Feta baked right into the bread, the woman who steals chalk with her thumb, cute girls in wheelchairs and librarians at the disco. Barry, you're an emperor of cheese and a Mickey D's apologist, which is great, like my roommate bought these jeans off EBay, but they didn't fit her, so she gave them to me. Little cares whether you do, but it's hard to shrug authentically, the world moving in bengal tigers and hyperthyroids, like one person will demand you shave and someone else will break a shot glass in your sink. But weather is the opposite of history. And/or March is great for seeing people you met in a barfight and thinking: Wait, I sort of punched that guy, they look nice, I wonder where they got that sweater, isn't it too hot for sweaters, what terrific wind, maybe I will say hello and we can reach into graffiti exclamation marks and emoticons over our memories. Maybe this will be the day I finally like metal music because it's so nice out and I can't think of the reasons why it's so tricky to just like everything. There must be some. I think I ate them.

That's him reading it in the video post right underneath this.

READ NOO JOURNAL THEN DONATE HERE:

http://www.noojournal.com/

PRICK OF THE SPINDLE 3.1

PRICK OF THE SPINDLE 3.1 is live.

Check out writing from:

FICTION
LYDIA COPELAND
THOMAS KEARNES
MATT SALESSES
SARAH HILARY
and many more

POETRY
HOWIE GOOD
CHRISTY CALL
PETER SCHWARTZ
and many more

NONFICTION & REVIEWS
SCOTT BOWEN
ALEXIS SANTI
and many more

INTERVIEW
BARRY GRAHAM & HOWIE GOOD

Check out this interview if you get bored. I think CYNTHIA REESER did a really fine job with it. Here's an excerpt:

CR: So where do you want to end up as a reader? And this is a question for both of you, but is there something that you aspire to read but haven’t yet, or a point at which you hope to arrive as someone responding to another person’s writing? Howie, as a journalism professor, this question may have a unique spin for you.

BG: I want to read every book Dr. Seuss has ever written and write some sort of definitive reference encyclopedia guide for them. The owner of the copyright has those things on locks right now, but soon they should let up. I also want to read David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest. I just plowed through Silko’s Almanac of the Dead, so I feel pretty good. As far as responding to other people’s writing, I’ll leave that up to each individual responder, each reader, all I know is how I feel about things, my perception.

READ PRICK OF THE SPINDLE 3.1 HERE:

http://www.prickofthespindle.com/

ONE LAST THING BEFORE I GO. OK, TWO THINGS.

I am leaving for New York in a few minutes for the 2009 SMALL PRESS BOOK FAIR in Buffalo. If you are close by stop in and say what's up. Or bring me a ham and cheese sandwich. Or stay home bored and watch college hoops. So far I'm 13 for 16 in my bracket. I picked Minnesota and Mississippi State in the upsets and it didn't work out, and I had California over Maryland, but the Terps pulled it out. Who saw that coming?

My FINAL FOUR PICKS are:

MICHIGAN STATE upsetting Louisville in the Midwest. I gave them the edge because the tourney is going down in MoTown and they get to play "home games" which can give them and edge to pull off an upset.

I have MEMPHIS upsetting Connecticut in the West. But that's not really an upset.

My most ridiculous pick is OKLAHOMA STATE making it to the Final Four in the East after upsetting Pitt in the third round.

NORTH CAROLINA is solid pick in the South, which is why I have them winning the whole fucking mess.

End result:

North Carolina 71 - Michigan State 68.

You heard it here first.


Also, if you have submitted anything and I haven't responded yet, I will when I get back. Likewise, if you've ordered something and it hasn't came yet, I'll ship it Monday. I know, I know, I'm a slacka lacka lack.

And finally. thank you SAM PINK for interviewing me for ORANGE ALERT and thank you JASON BEHRENDS for posting it on your site. Here's a small piece from the interview:

SP: here is another line i like: "i rolled over and unzipped my pants and pissed off the side of the couch onto an old sports illustrated and fell back asleep for three more hours." i think i would read that as a short story itself and put my hand over my mouth and say, "dang a lang." what is your favorite videogame?

BG: There have been quite a few times that the piss came out before the zipper came down, so I spent a night or two, alone in the corner, with my sweatshirt pulled down over my knees, but fortunately that didn't happen here. There are really only two videogames I've been able to get into, Zelda and Castlevania. I've called into work during 40+ hour benders on both games and I'd stop and my eyes would feel like sandpaper and I could smell my boxers through my sweatpants. I still managed to get good writing done during this time. I read in some article that the kid who wrote Barak Obama's inauguration speech did so on a 48 hour bender before it was due on Obama's desk and that he stayed up both nights smashing Monsters and writing snippets of the speech between Guitar Hero riffs. There is a lesson to be had here so find it.

Read the entire interview here:

http://www.orangealert.net/pinkgraham

MORE STUFF TO READ. I KNOW I'M LATE ON ALL OF THIS

New things up at:

SMOKELONG QUARTERLY
24
http://smokelong.com/home.asp

ELIMAE
MARCH ISSUE
http://www.elimae.com/new.html

WORD RIOT
MARCH ISSUE
http://www.wordriot.org/

WIGLEAF
BRANDI WELLS
http://wigleaf.com/200903up.htm

FIFTY-TWO STORIES
BLAKE BUTLER
http://www.fiftytwostories.com/?p=240

FIVE CHAPTERS
STEVE AMICK
http://www.fivechapters.com/hilarious_in_iceland/part_one_129.php

PINDELDYBOZ
MARCH ISSUE
http://www.pindeldyboz.com/

PEQUIN
MARCH ISSUE
http://pequin.org/archives.php

KEYHOLE
ISSUE 6 BONUS FEATURES
http://www.keyholemagazine.com/

HOLD ON TO YOUR VACUUM. MATT BELL. KEYHOLE.

Listen to an audio recording of MATT BELL reading his story HOLD ON TO YOUR VACUUM at KEYHOLE.

Link is here:

http://www.keyholemagazine.com/

NOTHING BUT A SMILE. STEVE AMICK

STEVE AMICK's latest, NOTHING BUT A SMILE, is now available for pre-order. All info, including how to order is here:

http://www.steve-amick.com/

Praise for NOTHING BUT A SMILE:

“A remarkable portrait of postwar America . . . Captivating in its detail, and bold in scope . . . [A] divine love story.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“For readers who’ve been lamenting that there aren’t enough good, smart love stories being written these days, Steve Amick’s new novel is a quirky, touching, and at times refreshingly masculine valentine. As he immerses us richly and authentically in an era essential to the formation of our national identity, he offers us something just as rare: a tale that serves as a reminder, when we need it most, of why America remains a country with a vast potential for greatness.”
—Julia Glass

Clarissa's mom reads Sam Pink from david swider on Vimeo.

MORE SELFISH SELF PROMOTING

CLARISSA'S MOM reads from SAM PINK's CLONE at the KITTY SNACKS 1 RELEASE PARTY. That's the video above.

http://kittysnacks.blogspot.com/2009/03/clarissas-mom-reads-sam-pinks-harm.html

Thanks for the reading Michael and Clarissa and Clarissa's lovely mother.


MARC SCHUSTER reviewed THE NATIONAL VIRGINITY PLEDGE over at THE SMALL PRESS REVIEW.

Here's a small excerpt:

"Graham moves the reader through a series of short stories and vignettes that, through a process of accretion, begins to chip away at comfortable notions like individuality and identity. The hit-and-run driver we saw in the first story may or may not be the online gambler who watches from inside a closet while his girlfriend has sex with a stranger. In turn, the gambler also may or may not be worn-down father who loses and later contemplates killing his children’s hamster. Throughout the collection, Graham provides enough details to suggest that, yes, these are all probably different characters, but the unifying theme of desperation that runs through their lives–and the uncannily identical forms that this desperation takes–hints that they may all be one and the same. Of course, this may well be the point of the collection..."

Thank you very much for the excellent review Marc. I think you understand this collection very well. Thanks for the close read. (I'm gonna have to make it a 12 pack)

Read the rest of the review here:

http://smallpressreviews.wordpress.com/2009/03/14/the-national-virginity-pledge/

And while you're there check out Marc's latest, THE SINGULAR EXPLOITS OF WONDER MOM AND PARTY GIRL.

SCOTT GARSON DECLARES 2009 THE YEAR OF THE MICRO

That's the word. Get it from the man Mr. G himself right here:

http://garsonscott.blogspot.com/

SMALL PRESS BOOK FAIR 2009

We're gonna be setting up shop at the 2009 SMALL PRESS BOOK FAIR in Buffalo, NY on Saturday, March 21. If you'll be in town swing by and say what's up. All info on the book fair is here:

http://www.buffalosmallpress.org/

NEW THINGS TO READ

971 MENU

TAI DONG HUAI
TREACHEROUS
http://www.971menu.com/2009/03/huai_tai_dong_treacherous.html

DAVE ERLEWINE
HIS FACE
http://www.971menu.com/2009/03/erlewine_dave_his_face.html

LYDIA COPELAND
IN YOUR DIRECTION
http://www.971menu.com/2009/03/copeland_lydia_your_direction.html


WIGLEAF

LYDIA COPELAND
EVERYTHING WAS BLOWING IN THE WIND
http://wigleaf.com/200903wind.htm


KEYHOLE

BLAKE BUTLER
LIST 13 OR 50
http://keyholemagazine.com/blake-butler/list-13-of-50

JOSH MADAY
PARALLELOGICAL CIRCUIT
http://keyholemagazine.com/josh-maday/parallelogical-circuit


BULL

JIMMY CHEN
THE DEER, THE DAD, ETC...
http://www.bullmensfiction.com/STORIES/Story2.html

XTX
GOD'S EYES
http://www.bullmensfiction.com/STORIES/Story1.html

DIRTY. EMERGING WRITERS NETWORK

(sorry kelly, i know you hate this pic. you still love me, yes?)

DAN WICKETT said some very cool things about THE NATIONAL VIRGINITY PLEDGE over at the EMERGING WRITERS NETWORK. Here's a line or two:

"His characters beg to be watched, no matter how dirty you might feel when you occasionally realize that that's what you're doing, reading faster and faster to watch them."

He also says great things about other books in the same post:

LAST DAYS
BRIAN EVENSON

THE ANNOTATED NOSE
MARC ESTRIN

MADEWELL BROWN
COLLIGNON

ONCE THE SHORE
PAUL YOON

AMERICAN RUST
PHILLIP MEYER

FUGUE STATE
BRIAN EVENSON

DRIFT AND SWERVE
SAMUEL LIGON

BIG WORLD
MARY MILLER

THE MANUAL OF DETECTION
JEDEDIAH BERRY

ALL FALL DOWN
MARY CAPONEGRO

NOTES FROM NO MAN'S LAND
EULA BISS

Read Dan's entire post here:

http://emergingwriters.typepad.com/emerging_writers_network/2009/03/slacking-or-not.html


Order THE NATIONAL VIRGINITY PLEDGE here:

http://www.anothersky.org/in-print/the-national-virginity-pledge-barry-graham/


Thanks again for the mention Dan, much appreciated.

MORE REVIEWS. LYDIA COPELAND. J.A. TYLER. BARRY GRAHAM

MAZIE LOUISE MONTGOMERY said some very good things about LYDIA COPELAND's chapbook, HAIRCUT STORIES. Here's a word or two:

"My good friend Lydia Gwyn has published a book. It it is delicious. She is such a good writer. I knew that when we were at USM together, earning English degrees that would one day make us feel good about ourselves but earn us no money."

http://mazielouisemontgomery.blogspot.com/2009/03/lydia-copeland-gwyn.html


MARC SCHUSTER from SMALL PRESS REVIEWS wrote a nice review of J.A. TYLER's chapbook, EVERYONE IN THIS IS EITHER DYING OR WILL DIE OR IS THINKING OF DEATH.

Here's an excerpt from the review:

"The last moments, the reflection on last moments, the foreshadowings of last moments all serve as snapshots of the lives they represent and, as such, underscore the fragile nature of humanity. We are flesh and blood, this collection reminds us -- fragile, corruptible, and ultimately searching for something we're not likely to find."

Read review in its entirety here:

http://smallpressreviews.blogspot.com/2009/03/everyone-in-this-is-either-dying-or.html


LYDIA COPELAND said some very nice things about my collection, THE NATIONAL VIRGINITY PLEDGE. Read some of those things:

"the stories contained there are so well-crafted and really bring the reader into their worlds."

Read more things here:

http://copelandlydia.blogspot.com/2009/02/you-must-read-this.html


Thank you very much Mazie, Marc, and Lydia.


Order LYDIA COPELAND's chapbook here:

http://achilleschapbook.blogspot.com/2009/02/lydia-copeland-haircut-stories.html

Order THE NATIONAL VIRGINITY PLEDGE here:

http://www.anothersky.org/in-print/the-national-virginity-pledge-barry-graham/

Order J.A. TYLER's chapbook here:

http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9781161562699-0

STORYSOUTH MILLION WRITERS AWARD NOMINATIONS. MATT BELL. BARACK OBAMA

DOGZPLOT's 2009 nominees, for stories published in 2008, are:

ELIZABETH ELLEN
FISTFUL
http://www.dogzplot.com/ellen1.html

CAROLINE KEPNES
THE BIOPSY
http://www.dogzplot.com/kepnes1.html

SAM PINK
ADVICE
http://dogzplotfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/sam-pink.html

Best of luck to ya'll.

If you are an editor and/or reader, please visit the STORYSOUTH MILLION WRITERS AWARD page and nominate your favorite 1000 + word stories from your favorite journals.

Here's the link:

http://www.jasonsanford.com/jason/2009/03/storysouth-million-writers-award-now-open.html

Also, congrats to last year's winner, MATT BELL, who is pictured above fighting BARACK OBAMA. Check out his latest offering, Matt's not Barack's, AN INDEX OF HOW OUR FAMILY WAS KILLED, in CONJUNCTIONS.

http://www.conjunctions.com/webconj.htm

DISCLAIMER:

Neither Matt nor Obama were harmed in the photoshopping of that image, which I stole from HTML GIANT.

Why is Barack the only president in history that we are on a first name basis with. Does anyone call him President Obama?

IT ALL RELATES TO HOBART. AARON BURCH. SAM PINK. HOWIE GOOD. I'LL MAKE THE CONNECTION IN 5 WORDS OR LESS...5...4...3...2...1

I think...

New issue of SIR, featuring words from:

AARON BURCH
COREY MESLER
JENNIFER PIERONI
REB LIVINGSTON
and others
http://www.sir-magazine.org/index.html


New interview up at HOBART. SAM PINK is interviewed by ELIZABETH ELLEN. Read an excerpt from the interview here:

Would you really beat a dead horse if you came across one? Or is that just a figure of speech?

i found a deer skeleton on the side of a lake two summers ago and i showed it to someone, and the someone kicked the spine and some bones fell off and we walked away. that is a true story elizabeth ellen. you know, elizabeth ellen, i think we're going to make it, you and me kid.

You know how in "Painful Gender Reassignment Staple Gun Steroid Injection Maternal Crucifixion" you say, "I will claim you as my own when everyone else disclaims you"? Is that true? Do you really mean that? Or are you just bullshitting me?

elizabeth ellen, you know it is true. elizabeth ellen, i will claim you as my own when everyone else disclaims you. why would i bullshit you elizabeth ellen. you know it is true. the writing you are referring to is an autobiographical account of my twenty second birthday which i spent in a garage alone, trying to reassign my own gender with tools and hormones. the hormones didn't work because they were just empty tylenol capsules filled with gasoline.

A lot of your pieces, though unquestionably comedic, also have a romantic feel to them. Do you consider yourself a romantic?

i am going to use an answer countdown for this question for no reason other than possible entertainment: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1--

i think everything that is said in the book is paralleled by something that says the opposite. so it says nothing. but it makes sense to me because i can't figure anything out. it makes sense to me to feel one way, then immediately feel the opposite.

Read the interview in its entirety here:

http://hobart.typepad.com/hobart/2009/03/sam-pink-is-the-dictator-an-interview-with-sam-pink.html


New march issue of HOBART. Read words from:

BENJAMIN BUCHHOLZ
JIMMY CHEN
NATHAN LESLIE
ROBERT SWARTWOOD
http://www.hobartpulp.com/website/march/leslie.html


There are two new reviews of HOWIE GOOD's TOMORROWLAND.

One of them is from RYAN CALL over at NEWPAGES. Here's a snippet:

"A vague, unnamable danger drives much of the language throughout Howie Good’s Tomorrowland. The narrator speaks of a land in which “bodies in the early stages of decay hang like gray rags from the trees” and authorized personnel instruct evacuees “to wait for the destroying angels to tire and the broken buildings to stop burning.” It seems that the characters of this world cannot escape no matter how carefully they plot: secret police and paid snitches abound, and the whirring ceiling cameras never cease."

Read the rest here:

http://www.newpages.com/bookreviews/default.htm#Tomorrowland

Also reviewed at ONE NIGHT STANZAS from CLAIRE ASKEW:

"Tomorrowland" is more like a collection of snapshots, all from the same source: an unsettling prediction of life somewhere in our own not-too-distant future.

Read the rest here:

http://www.readthismagazine.co.uk/onenightstanzas/

Thank you very much, Ryan and Claire, for the excellent reviews.

And if anyone would like a copy of HOWIE GOOD's TOMORROWLAND... Sorry suckas, we're SOLD OUT. Powell's might have a few left:

http://www.powells.com/s?header=Search+Form&kw=howie+good

SHOOTS AND VINES

Thank you very much to CRYSTAL FOLZ over at SHOOTS AND VINES for a very nice mention of DOGZPLOT. Here's what she had to say:

"DOGZPLOT is a fantastic read. Not only is Barry a great editor with an eye for interesting pieces, but he is very easy to work with."

Read the rest here:

http://www.shootsandvines.com/?p=580

Check out SHOOTS AND VINES here:

http://www.shootsandvines.com/