THUNK INTERVIEW. RYAN MANNING

Check out my interview with RYAN MANNING over at his site, THUNK. Here's a small excerpt:

has anyone ever said something about you to you that shocked you?

i stopped being shocked at what people do and say a long time ago, sometime around my 7th birthday, when my father showed up to my party drunk and gave me toenail clippers and a 20 dollar bill and then took the 20 back before he left and said he needed bus fair.


Read the rest of the interview here, and check out all the interviews too. There's some pretty good shit going on over there. Read it, love it, embrace.

http://metaphysicalthinking.blogspot.com/2009/04/ryan-manning-v-barry-graham.html

ANN ARBOR BOOK FESTIVAL. HOBART READING. FOUND MAGAZINE. FART PARTY

From ELIZABETH ELLEN and AARON BURCH over on the HOBART blog:

"A few months ago we picked up The Fart Party at our favorite comic bookstore Vault of Midnight here in Ann Arbor. Okay, we'll admit it. We picked it up based on the title. It's funny. It got our attention. We took it home and read it in one night. Then we gave it to other people we knew. Teens. Tweens. People we don't really like. People we like a lot. The verdict was unanimous: everyone loved it. Even people we formerly thought were assholes.(This caused us to rethink our opinions of said people.) So we googled The Fart Party author Julia Wertz and messaged her on Myspace. We wanted her to know how much we loved her book, and, of course, by extension: her. We were also hoping she might have something for Hobart. The funny thing was, she'd actually heard of Hobart. It turns out one of the Hobart web editors (and good friend) Jensen Whelan was her brother's best friend growing up!! So he'd told Julia about Hobart. Maybe sent her an issue. I forget now. But that part's not important. What is important is Julia's coming here to Ann Arbor in May! So is Jensen! As are these people:

-Mary Miller
-Blake Butler
-Sam Pink
-Matthew Simmons

They're all coming to read for Hobart, along with these local authors:

-Matt Bell
-Barry Graham
-Mike Alber
-Davy fucking Rothbart!

You should come, too.

May 15-17th.

Readings at Vault of Midnight (on the 16th with Wertz & Rothbart) and a as-yet-undisclosed-location (on either the 15th or 17th). And after the Vault reading we're all going to head a couple of blocks over to a Found Magazine event with Davy. It's gonna be rad. You'll wish you'd come. Oh, Colson Whitehead's gonna be in town, too, for the annual Ann Arbor Book Festival, but if you're with us, you probably won't see him. Still, we thought you should know."

THIS ZINE WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE. BEN TANZER. JAMIE IREDELL

From BEN TANZER:

"The new edition of THIS ZINE WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE is live and we are eating crow. Or something like that, so please see the below link.

We have a new poem, The Night My Sister and I Boycotted Crow by Shane Allison, which we are way excited about, and, as always, photo action from Adam Lawrence, a music selection from Jason Behrends, and regulatory credit card prose love from Pete Anderson.

We hope you enjoy this edition and we appreciate all shout-outs and links."

Also, over on BEN TANZER's blog, there is a podcast with DOGZPLOT contributor, ACHILLES CHAPBOOK author, and friend, JAMIE IREDELL.

Check it out here:

http://bentanzer.blogspot.com/2009/04/some-closing-thoughts-on-atlanta-both.html

And also, huge thanks to Ben for giving a shout out to my collection THE NATIONAL VIRGINITY PLEDGE. I really like what he had to say, he's a smart guy. Be on the look-out for his chapbook collection sometime this summer from ACHILLES.

Here's a small bit of what Ben said about TNVP:

"...while the interplay between these images are entertaining all by themselves, what you come to realize as you slowly lose yourself in Graham's cracked world, is that these stories are also a super-insightful exploration of all the myriad ways relationships go bad, get lost, and leave us wanting "

Read the rest here. It also includes a few words on ELIZABETH CRANE's collection, YOU MUST BE THIS HAPPY TO ENTER.

http://bentanzer.blogspot.com/2009/04/planes-trains-automobiles-and-you-must.html

THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH SVEN. GREG GERKE

In this group of flash fiction and short stories Greg Gerke looks at the world with a sometimes absurd, sometimes tragic, but entirely compassionate eye. Two cars crash but the drivers turn out to be a cyclist who witnessed the accident, a son is visited by his dead father, a single Rainier cherry is used as a football in a scrimmage between potheads and in the hilarious title story a 1000-pound moth is nearing the end of his days.

"Full of twists and turns, Greg Gerke’s debut collection is more powerful than fun; each character has flavor, the situations stick, the work is unique. There’s Something Wrong with Sven, but this book is right on."
—Kim Chinquee, Pushcart Winner and author of Oh Baby

"With an ever-roving eye for the peculiar episodic at home and abroad, Greg Gerke lets plenty of little thrills bound out from these stories—though don’t look past the more tender moments in his carnivalesque travels. They are just as humorous as they are oddly endearing."
—Forrest Roth, author of Line and Pause

"In There’s Something Wrong With Sven , Greg Gerke delivers dozens of short-shorts, each an absurdist world full of compassion and ambition, populated by surprisingly earnest characters who cannot help but enchant us as they pursue goals that are simultaneously fleeting and eternal. These stories contain big hearts and big laughter, as well as just enough of the sad and the weird to be both believable and memorable."
—Matt Bell, author of The Collectors and How the Broken Lead the Blind

For all other info, go here:

http://www.greggerke.com

MORE STUFF TO READ

STEFANIE FREELE
WHAT CAME AFTER SHE LEFT HIM
SUPERSTITION REVIEW
http://www.asu.edu/superstitionreview/n3/fiction/stefaniefreele.html

ELIZABETH ELLEN
SAMUEL L. JACKSON IS NOT A GOOD NAME FOR A RABBIT
WIGLEAF
http://wigleaf.com/200904slj.htm

BARRELHOUSE 7
FREE SAMPLER
REMIXED STORY
ANNOTATED STORY
FUTURE INTERVIEWS
http://www.barrelhousemag.com/word/

SAM PINK
THING THAT DETAILS A TRIP TO THE SUPERMARKET
UNSAID
http://www.unsaidmagazine.com/

PAULA BOMER
TEN THINGS WRONG
BRANDI WELLS REVIEW
(1-5)
http://brandiwellsreview.blogspot.com/2009/04/ten-things-wrong-one-through-five-by.html
(5-10)
http://brandiwellsreview.blogspot.com/2009/04/ten-things-wrong-five-through-ten-and.html

STORYSOUTH MILLION WRITERS AWARD NOTABLE STORIES. SAM PINK

Hell yeah. SAM PINK made the notable stories of 2008 for ADVICE, from one of last year's issues of DOGZPLOT. It is a pretty great list of practical advice that is capable of helping you discover the promised land, reach old age with perfect health, and retire a millionaire. Early to bed early to rise biotch.

http://www.storysouth.com/millionwriters/millionwritersnotable2008.html

Read ADVICE here:

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

Thank you to the folks from STORYSOUTH for having such impeccable taste in literature.

HINT FICTION CONTEST. ROBERT SWARTWOOD. STEWART O' NAN

25 WORDS OR LESS FICTION CONTEST.

Here's the info from DOGZPLOT contributor and friend ROBERT SWARTWOOD:

The rules are quite simple: write a Hint Fiction story and enter it into the comments section. You can submit up to two. Reprints? Sure, but please note where it was first published. Deadline is midnight April 30th.

Now for those of you asking yourselves what is Hint Fiction, check out the essay. Or, if you’re too lazy, Hint Fiction is anything under 25 words, title not included.

As a special treat, the one and only Stewart O’Nan — author of so many great novels, including Snow Angels, A Prayer For The Dying, Last Night At The Lobster, and Songs For The Missing — has agreed to be the final judge.

Here’s the process: Gay Degani and I will each pick our top ten and send them to Mr. O’Nan with the bylines stripped. As soon as he picks a winner, I’ll announce it here.

And what does the winner receive?

A $25 gift certificate to Amazon. Which basically works out to a dollar a word. Which, if you think about it, ain’t too shabby.

Wait — there’s more!

We are also running a second contest.

To help spread the word about Hint Fiction, we’re asking you to post a link to this contest on your blog or website. E-mail me the link of your post at rswartwood (at) gmail (dot) com and I’ll write your name on a piece of paper and drop it in a hat. Once the contest deadline is reached (remember, midnight April 30th) I’ll pick a name out of said hat and that winner will receive a paperback copy of The Best Of Every Day Fiction 2008. (Which, if you think about it, ain’t too shabby either.)

All right, that’s it for now. Get writing!

***UPDATE: Barry Graham, editor of Dogzplot, has graciously donated a copy of Sam Pink’s collection I Am Going To Clone Myself Then Kill The Close And Eat It and a copy of Barry’s own collection The National Virginity Pledge to the final winner of this contest. Which means in addition to the $25 gift certificate, the winner will also receive these two fine books. Which means Barry just helped bump this contest into the next level. Thanks, Barry!***


So that's that folks. Additionally, the winner will receive a copy of KEN BAUMANN's STAMP STORY from ML PRESS. If anyone else would like to donate anything to the winner, please let Robert know. Thanks.

Here's the link:

http://robertswartwood.wordpress.com/2009/04/19/hint-fiction-contest/

PINDELDYBOZ. NEW ISSUE

New issue of PINDELDYBOZ. Contributors include:

I Love You When You're Pretty
Christopher Cocca

Plastic Coup de Grace
Lauren Becker

Bus Driver
S.J. Brooks

Barcelona
Marc Gulezian

Lake Guanoco
P. Terrence McGovern

Preferences
Amina Gautier


Check it out here:

http://www.pindeldyboz.com/

NIMBLE. NEW ISSUE

New issue of NIMBLE is live. It's a great journal that features poetry, fiction, and artwork. It's edited by one of my partners in crime from EMU, AMANDINE WILLIAMS-ABRAHAM. Check this shit out.

Contributors include:

FICTION

SEAN LOVELACE
BEATE SIGRIDDAUGHTER

POETRY

HOWIE GOOD
JOHN GREY
GAVIN MCCALL

PHOTOGRAPHY

CARRIE CROW


http://www.thenimblefew.com/index.html

FRIGG. NEW ISSUE. IS IT JUST ME...OR IS THAT A BENT OVER HOOKER ON THE COVER

New issue of FRIGG.

SPECIAL FLASH FICTION EDITION. Contributors include:

RANDALL BROWN
KIM CHINQUEE
LYDIA COPELAND
KATHY FISH
SCOTT GARSON
BARRY GRAHAM
TIFF HOLLAND
MARY MILLER
KIM PARKO
JENNIFER PIERONI
MEG POKRASS
JOSEPH YOUNG

My flashes are from a series I've been working on where all the pieces are called THE SAME STORY, so if you see that title other places, I'm not just recycling the same story, its just the title.

Also, all flashes are followed by commentary from the contributors concerning their definitions / thoughts / feelings on flash (micro) fiction.

Check it out here:

http://friggmagazine.com/issuetwentyfour/contents24.htm

MORE STUFF TO READ

New issue of ELIMAE
http://www.elimae.com/index.html

Spring issue of LITNIMAGE
http://www.litnimage.com/spring2009.htm

JAMIE IREDELL
ATLANTA APRTMENT HUNTING
WIGLEAF
http://wigleaf.com/200904hunting.htm

ERIN FITZGERALD
ORANGE
WIGLEAF
http://wigleaf.com/200904orange.htm

AUDRI SOUSA
PRESERVATIVES
KEYHOLE
http://www.keyholemagazine.com/audri-sousa/preservatives

DAVE ERLEWINE
MARIONETTES
NECESSARY FICTION
http://necessaryfiction.com/2009/04/marionettes.html

NEW EDITORS

Just posted the new Spring issue last week and some of you may have noticed there are new names on the masthead, but most likely this is not true, most likely nobody noticed or gave a shit or is even gonna read this. But in case you do. Here's what's going down.

PETER SCHWARTZ is still our art editor. If you like the images you see on DOGZPLOT, thank him. He's the man.

JAMIE JONES is still doing poetry. So likewise, if you like what's she's doing why don't you send her some poetry stuff.

SAM PINK is gonna be doing interviews. His first interview, with MARY MILLER, author of BIG WORLD and LESS SHINY is posted now. So if you want Sam to interview you or you have a good idea for an interview shoot him an email.

BILL BISHOP-JAMES is taking over the non-fiction. He's an award winning humor columnist. So if you write real shit, give him a try.

LAUREN BECKER will be taking over the longer fiction. Her fiction is all over the place. Read it. Love it. Embrace it.

Huge thanks to all you guys for lending your time and energy and heart and soul. I appreciate it tremedously.

I will still do the flash fiction, 200 words or less. Bring it.

So that's that. Look for the 2009 flash fiction anthology this summer. We're planning a release party this summer in Atlantic City. More details will follow next month.

Thanks to everyone who continues to read, contribute, support, and spread the word. Keep doing what you're doing and God bless.

MORE BOOKS YOU SHOULD READ RIGHT NOW

JAMIE IREDELL - WHEN I MOVED TO NEVADA (PUBLISHING GENIUS)

JIMMY CHEN - TYPEWRITER (MAGIC HELICOPTER PRESS)

HEATHER O' NEILL - LULLABIES FOR LITTLE CRIMINALS (HARPER COLLINS)

JAYNE ANNE PHILLIPS - LARK AND TERMITE (KNOPF)

QUICK FICTION 15 or THE BAD ASSEST COVER I'M EVER GONNA LICK

Ok, I'm 0 / 11 with QUICK FICTION, but I'll break 'em eventually. Ha. Here's the info on their latest anthology.

Contributors include:

Jami Brandli
Andrew Brininstool
Randall Brown
Kenneth Calhoun
Elizabeth Ellen
Scott Garson
Lydia Copeland
Stefan Kiesbye
Andrea Kneeland
Charles Lennox
Sean Lovelace
Jen Marquardt
Lee Martin
Michael Meyerhofer
Taylur Thu Hien Ngo
Dylan Nice
G. C. Perry
Andrew Michael Roberts
Helen Klein Ross
Joanna Ruocco
James Scott
Don Strange
Jensen Whelan
Daniel E. Wickett
Blythe Winslow
Spencer Wise
Mike Young
Mabel Yu

Cover Art:

Ray Caesar

DOUCHE BAG. VIDEO INTERVIEW BY COLUMBIA COLLEGE @ AWP

I was interviewed by COLUMBIA COLLEGE during AWP. I say stupid things about words and genre and bullshit and Sam Pink.

Also, I really like what Mike C. from MAR said, so watch his video too.

This is what it sounds like... when doves cry...

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1494875207?bclid=1497977534&bctid=19343201001

BETTER THAN CHOCOLATE. JEANNE HOLTZMAN. NIGHT TRAIN

New story up at NIGHT TRAIN from DOGZPLOT contributor and friend JEANNE HOLTZMAN.

BETTER THAN CHOCOLATE

http://www.nighttrainmagazine.com/contents/holtzman_fb.php

MEOW. KITTY SNACKS. MICHAEL BIBLE

ACHILLES CHAPBOOK author and friend MICHAEL BIBLE, was recently interviewed by the fine folks at WHAT TO WEAR DURING AN ORANGE ALERT. He talks about his bad ass print journal, KITTY SNACKS, music, his experince with DOGZPLOT, and what it means to create art with hometown folks in Oxford, Mississippi.

Here's a completely self-serving excerpt:

OA: What was it like working with Barry Graham?

MB: Barry is the man. I didn't know anything about him when I sent him my stuff. I found his press by accident. I'm glad I did because now I'm a big fan of his writing and of Dogzplot and the stuff he's published on Paper Hero Press and Achilles. He was awesome every step of the way with my chapbook. It was my first real publication and he answered all my annoying questions with kindness. I've never met him in person but he's doing a reading down here in the fall and I'm excited about getting to have a drink with him.

Read the rest of the interview here:

http://www.orangealert.net/bible

Check out KITTY SNACKS here:

http://kittysnacks.blogspot.com/

MATT BELL. THE COLLECTORS. CAKETRAIN

If that cover isn't enough to arouse your genitals. Check this mess out:

“Matt Bell makes of the pathology of the miser, hoarder, or packrat an emblem of the obsessive life and makes his reader understand how the compulsion to collect may be only the mind’s seeking to construct for itself a refuge from an intolerable and otherwise inescapable reality. Bell’s fiction excites pity for those who live, as though walled up, in ruins of their own necessary construction. I admire The Collectors for the certainty of its prose and its unflinching observation of a most profound alienation—envying the first; fearing the second; and unhappily aware that artifice—no matter how splendid—is inadequate to ameliorate the despair.”

Norman Lock, author of A History of the Imagination


Matt Bell’s “The Collectors” was chosen by Brian Evenson as the runner-up manuscript in the 2008 Caketrain Chapbook Competition. The tale of compulsive hoarders Homer and Langley Collyer so shocked 1940s Manhattan that the brothers and their Harlem brownstone live on today as one of the most notable American case studies of acute disposophobia. With a nervous energy and obsession to match his protagonists, Matt Bell’s prose burrows, forensically, into the layers of the brothers’ lives, employing a multilinear narrative structure and a frenetic plurality of perspectives to reach a core of despair that is both terrifyingly primal and distressingly familiar.

Additonal info, including how to order, is HERE:

http://www.caketrain.org/collectors.html

A BUNCH OF DIFFERENT SHIT IS GOING DOWN

The winner of this year's AWP FLASH FICTION CONTEST, LAUREN BECKER, has a story in PANK that was reviewed on 5 STAR LITERARY STORIES.

http://fivestarliterarystories.blogspot.com/


I AM GOING TO CLONE MYSELF THAN KILL THE CLONE AND EAT IT was reviewed over at WHAT TO WEAR DURING AN ORANGE ALERT. Huge thanks to JASON BEHRENDS for the shout out. Here's a bit from the review:

"You feel as though you are reading a diary or somehow ready every thought of this troubled person. Yet, you are strangely comforted by an odd sense of humor and moments so awkward that they make you smile and look around the room to see if anyone may be watching."

Read the rest here:

http://www.orangealert.net/pinkballoons


New issue of DIAGRAM

http://thediagram.com/


New issue of LIT CHAOS

http://www.litchaos.com/

I AM IN THE AIR RIGHT NOW. KATHRYN REGINA

I Am In the Air Right Now from Greg Lytle on Vimeo.

I AM IN THE AIR RIGHT NOW

KATHRYN REGINA

GREYING GHOST PRESS

http://www.airforcejoyride.com/gg

SWING BATTA BATTA SWING

It's April. You know what that means... Time to put GDub in a mothafuckin headlock. There's also HOBART's annual BASEBALL ISSUE. This time around, there's writing from:

J. RYAN STRADAL
JESSE MORSE
SIMON A. SMITH
JIM RULAND
ADAM ROBINSON
LITSA DREMOUSIS
PAUL SILVERMAN

there's also some haiku(s)

http://www.hobartpulp.com/

DOGZPLOT @ PHILADELPHIA BOOK FESTIVAL

We're gonna be sharing a table with PHILADELPHIA STORIES. April 18-19.

Big thanks to CHRISTINE WEISER and MARC SCHUSTER and the other folks at Philadelphia Stories.

If you're gonna be in town, stop by and say what's up. If you aren't gonna be in town... why not? Bring your ass to Philly.

ML PRESS. STAMP STORIES. LAMINATION COLONY.

ANNOUNCEMENT FROM J.A. TYLER AT ML PRESS

stamp stories
we wanted to offer free printed literature.
we wanted to connect small presses in a new way.
we wanted to, so we did.

stamp stories.

50-55 word stories from fantastic authors, printed by mlp on colorful 1x1 squares, & sent to tremendous small presses for free distribution with all their orders. collect them like baseball cards, bruises, or two-dollar bills. as new stamp stories are created & ready for distribution we will list them here & on the ml press blog.

http://www.aboutjatyler.com/index_files/Page675.html

DOGZPLOT is participating. We will be distributing a STAMP STORY from KEN BAUMANN. Also, a story of mine is being distributed by WORD RIOT.


New issue of LAMINATION COLONY is live. It was guest edited by MICHAEL KIMBALL. Contributors include:

Kim Chinquee
Adam Robinson
J.A. Tyler
Cooper Renner
Lauren Becker
Michael Bible
Robert Swartwood
Shane Jones
Conor Madigan
Krammer Abrahams
Josh Maday
Gena Mohwish
Jac Jemc

and others

http://www.laminationcolony.com/