Tuesday, May 31, 2011

DECOMP. JUNE 2011


decomP: a literary magazine


From the Editor-in-Chief

By Jason Jordan

Welcome to our June 2011 issue, featuring new work from Erica W. Adams, James Best, Peter Kispert, Harmony Neal, C. J. Opperthauser, Patricia McKernon Runkle, Richard Jay Shelton, Gary J. Shipley, Tristan Silverman, Parker Tettleton, and Cassandra Troyan. Additionally, we have reviews of Blake Butler's There Is No Year, Justin Taylor's The Gospel of Anarchy, and Laura Yes Yes's How to Seduce a White Boy in Ten Easy Steps. Thanks for reading!

PRIZE WINNERS. RYAN BRADLEY. ARTISTICALLY DECLINED


New from ARTISTICALLY DECLINED PRESS:

"So, here it is. Prize Winners, stories by Ryan W. Bradley. 112 page collection of stories "not for the faint of heart... or loins." There are 18 stories in the book, 3 of which are unpublished, 5 of which have previously only been available in print. The collection includes the mildly infamous "Every Time A Fairy Gets Laid," a story that will forever change the way you see Tinkerbell. You can read some of Bradley's thoughts on the collection HERE.

Bradley is more than an intrepid editor and designer for ADP, he's putting himself on the line as our guinea pig for this "pop-up release" project, a series we hope will prove a new way for us to be able to publish a few more books a year.

Over the next few weeks a few reviews will appear, as per the "pop-up release" guidelines we set for ourselves. Until then: GO FORTH AND PREORDER "

FAB 5. ADAM ROBINSON & MARY MILLER


ADAM ROBINSON

"The Last Book I Loved" at The Rumpus

"My Point of View" at Otoliths

"I'm Going to Have SEX with These People" at Lamination Colony

"Curtis Ebbesmeyer" at We Are Champion

"Well That's Interesting: Boats" at HTMLGiant


MARY MILLER

Girls/Paper & Tassels

Angel

South Dakota

Fast Trains

Little Brass House

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

STORYGLOSSIA 44. DIAPER BAGS PACKED WITH BEER


STORYGLOSSIA 44

Thomas Kearnes
Shame

Valerie O'Riordan
Benjamin Buchholz
Donna D. Vitucci
Eric Beeny
Michelle Reale
Matthew Salesses
Ashley Cowger
Mather Schneider

Sunday, May 22, 2011

NEW SITE TO REVIEW BOOKS. MERRY ANDREW REVIEW


About MERRY ANDREW REVIEW

Really? Another review site. Yup. Why are we doing this? Why not?

We don't actually write reviews so don't send us books.

If you are a writer, reviewer, editor, publisher, etc, and you've written a review or have had one written we will post it here.

Novels, novellas, magazines, anthologies, poetry, journals, whatever. It's all welcome. Previously published is fine as well. Just send it here and if it looks good, we'll post it.

Cool? Cool.

DEAR TECUMSEH DISTRICT LIBRARY PATRON 92110275


On 11/28/2009 you checked out Papa Bear's Islands In the Stream. Good choice. I checked it out a year and a half later. I'm curious though, why your library slip was sticking out as a book mark from page 168. Is that where you stopped? Before the accident? Before Paris or Cuba? Before the Sea? Why? I know The Sun Also Rises, For Whom the Bells Tolls, Old Man and the Sea, they get all the credit, but this is his masterpiece. The forgotten testament of a man who knew he was destined for suicide. It's all in these pages. I'm not gonna give away any details because I'm hoping somehow, by fate or by chance, you see this and return to the islands and give it a proper go through. I have faith.


Friday, May 20, 2011

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

NEW ISSUE OF THE NORTHVILLE REVIEW. NOT BEING SHOT


New issue of THE NORTHVILLE REVIEW, featuring writing from:

KIRSTY LOGAN
KENNETH POBO
ERIC BEENY
JEN MICHALSKI
THOMAS MUNDT
CEZARIJA ABARTIS
DEVON MILLER-DUGGAN

Read it, love it, embrace it.

Friday, May 13, 2011

DOGZPLOT FLASH FICTION REVIEWED @ SMALL PRESS REVIEWS


Thanks to MARC SCHUSTER for this short and sweet review of the 2011 DOGZPLOT FLASH FICTION anthology. Here's an excerpt:

"Indeed, if Dogzplot excels at anything (and it does!), it’s bending and warping and re-shuffling the English language in order to reinvent the art of storytelling one page at a time."

Read the rest here:

THE SINGULAR EXPLOITS OF WONDER MOM AND PARTY GIRL. MARC SCHUSTER


From MARC SCHUSTER of SMALL PRESS REVIEWS fame. One of the hardest working guys in the game. Here's a bit about his new book:

Dear Friends of Small Press Reviews,

Just a quick note to say that the new, blue edition of my novel, The Singular Exploits of Wonder Mom and Party Girl, is now available at Amazon. If you bought the pink edition in 2009 and are wondering how the blue edition is different, check out this article by Stephen J. Gertz: One Novel. Two First Editions, Different Book. Huh? And if you haven’t read either, now’s your chance...

Needless to say, I appreciate all of the interest you've shown in Small Press Reviews in the past, and if you're curious to see the kind of stuff I write when I'm not writing book reviews, I'd love for you to check out a copy of my book.

Thanks!
--Marc Schuster

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Monday, May 9, 2011

INTERVIEW. FICTION WRITERS REVIEW. MARY GAITSKILL

I really like this interview for a few reasons. One, Mary is representing Michigan. Two, she isn't afraid to say that she wasn't a very good writer in school and a certain professor didn't think she was even good enough to give her a recommendation, and also, because she admits that just because she doesn't like something doesn't mean it isn't good. Certainly a refreshing attitude coming from the world of MFA's, overly saturated with ego. Here's a bit from the interview.

There are so many students who want to write. As a teacher, do you ever believe in telling any of them, “Maybe you should try something else, this isn’t for you”?

No, I’ve never said that because I don’t think I know that. As a teacher, you just don’t know enough, especially if you are only with them for a semester. Someone can write twenty bad stories and then they write a good one; people can potentially develop very fast when they’re young. On top of that, my idea of what’s good or not may be irrelevant—a lot gets published that I don’t like at all.


Read the interview in full: http://fictionwritersreview.com/interviews/woman-to-woman-an-interview-with-mary-gaitskill

CIRCE. LOWBROW PRESS. 2011



The film is a compliment to the book Circe, which will be released in fall 2011 with Lowbrow Press.

NOTHING OR NEXT TO NOTHING. REVIEW. PLUMB. LAVINIA LUDLOW


Thanks so much to LAVINIA LUDLOW for reviewing my novel at PLUMB MAGAZINE. Here's an excerpt or three from the review:

"...a distinctive contemporary voice that makes me laugh at how blatantly offensive his choice of words is, and yet, I am compelled to feel certain tenderness at the same time..."

"...I think there’s a closet romantic lurking inside Graham’s rough-around-the-edges-tough-guy façade and it definitely bubbles up from the caverns of his subconscious and emerges in his writing. Though the protagonist could be graphically describing intimacy of the most perverse nature, woven in between the obscene are gentle reminders that he really wants to find someone to love..."

"Some of his scenes made me shiver and crave a scalding hot bath with many bars of soap, maybe, to just wash out my eyes."


Read the review in its entirety here:

Saturday, May 7, 2011

WIGLEAF TOP 50. 2011

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It's back bitches. SCOTT GARSON and company put together another amazing list of TOP 50 flash fictions under 1000 words. I haven't checked it out yet, but I feel like I need a Mickey D's peach pie before I crack it. Who's with me?


Editor - SCOTT GARSON
Associate Series Editor - RAVI MANGLA
Guest Editor - LILY HOANG

WIGLEAF TOP 50

Monday, May 2, 2011

The Podiatrist’s Foot

“Who’s not allowed to?” is why “What?” must be asked. It’s a passionate way to ignore privacy. At least that’s the argument.

You don’t want anyone to know you’re barefoot. Recent polls among podiatrists show passion accounts only for 7.998% of a compelling argument. Size does matter.

Your fear of elegance tastes like diet Coke served by Donald Trump’s Hawaiian investigator in a Jamaican resort surrounded by New York City tenements.

You get there by airplane. The pilot’s joystick goes limp in your hand. He seems happy when his parachute pops. “What?”

You’ve duct-taped two seashells to your ears. It looks nice. You're listening to the ocean's soundtrack. You gesture to say you can’t hear me. Nevermind me.

Your sneakers are made out of old bibles and you can almost make out the word ‘Barabbas’ on one of your soles. You want to save them for nostalgic purposes. Children made them far away.

We nickname you ‘Pontius’. “Who’s not allowed to?”

When your plane goes down you’re 7.998% passionate about surviving the pilot’s privacy. You’re surrounded by parachutes, like an ant in a falling garden. On the island, sneakers hang from the power lines.

The local missionaries who invaded half a century ago give you a bible. The bible says something about diet Coke you swear is not a typo. This is not very compelling.

You decide you’ll go door-to-door in your neighborhood, absorb all your neighbors into your testicles through your urethra's straw, store them there until you die.

When you die their ghosts will seep out of your urethra in one big orgasm you’ll only be able to feel nostalgically.

It will feel like your whole body has become carbonated, like small, fizzing bubbles of diet Coke.

You'll feel around in the dark. The podiatrist’s foot will go limp in your hand.