DOGZPLOT MIDWEST DOGGYSTYLE STREET CAMPAIGN 2011

Last year, 2010, your support of DOGZPLOT / ACHILLES CHAPBOOKS / PAPER HERO PRESS helped take us all across the U.S.A. with stops in New York City, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Baltimore, D.C., Philadelphia, Denver, Chicago, and everywhere in between.

This year we plan to visit even more cities and publish even more titles, beginning with the DOGZPLOT 2011 FLASH FICTION ANTHOLOGY, BEN TANZER's, THIS AMERICAN LIFE, and COREY MESLER's, THE NARCOLEPTIC THERAPIST. We plan on reading and exhibiting with our editors and authors all across the MIDWEST this year, with stops in Toledo, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Iowa City, and several stops in between.

Additionally, this summer, we will also feature the release of DOGZPLOT editor, BARRY GRAHAM's novel NOTHING OR NEXT TO NOTHING.

But this year we need you even more. If you believe in what we do and our contribution to literature, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help us raise money through KICKSTARTER. We are asking for minimal donations, with multiple rewards and incentives. Please and thank you.

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And if you feel so inclined, we would greatly appreciate if you could spread the word and spread this link anywhere and everywhere you can.

Here's the link to our project page on KICKSTARTER:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dogzplot/dogzplot-authors-book-tour

WHAT TO WEAR DURING AN ORANGE ALERT. ROBERT JOHN MILLER

Thanks to JASON BEHRENDS for giving DOGZPLOT a shout out on THE WATCH LIST over at WHAT TO WEAR DURING AN ORANGE ALERT. He graciously included ROBERT JOHN MILLER's flash LOVE AND LAUNDRY AND OUTER SPACE from last week's issue. Also included on THE WATCH LIST are:

Listening:
1. Ben Butler & Mousepad: This duo is making some very original sounds.
2. Selene: This a combination of Richard Rich and Max Tannone paying tribute to the movie "Moon". Download the free 5-song ep.
3. Dad Rocks!: This Icelandic/Danish band could not have thought of better name.

Reading:
1. Love and Laundry and Outer Space by Robert John Miller
2. Deeee-lish! by Rupan Malakin
3. Eco-Fiction by D.E.Fredd
4. Posthumous Fragments of Veronica Penn by Corinna Vallianatos
5. The Girlfriend Game by Nick Antosca
6. My Blood Flow Runs in Reverse by Sabra Embury
7. Smiling to Himself by Ben Tanzer

Wishing:
1. The Iguana Complex by Darby Larson
2. Hipster Bingo

Watching:
1. Victim by Corrie Jones
2. Pazes "Evaporar"
3. Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros "40 Day Dream"
4. Moddi "Rubbles"
5. Organizing The Bookcase


Thanks again Jason, you da man.

LITERARY DOPPELGANGERS. ADAM ROBINSON. JOHN BERRYMAN.

So, I ripped the idea off of JIMMY CHEN over at HTMLGIANT, but when I saw this picture of ADAM ROBINSON I couldn't resist.

LITERARY HAPPENINGS. BUFFALO SMALL PRESS BOOK FAIR. JAMIE IREDELL. MIKE YOUNG

MORE STUFF TO READ. XTX. MONKEYBICYCLE

“After reading Normally Special, if I knew xTx’s legal name, I’d file a restraining order. Maybe she’s Aileen Wuornos. Maybe she’s a wiccan living under A.M. Homes’s bed. I don’t know, she freaks me the hell out. “You should be glad I cannot tie knots or have access to a gun safe,” she writes in the last of these 23 texts, each somehow both demented and courageous, desperate and ready to brawl. I’d be glad of that if I believed it; you can practically smell the rope burn on the skin coming off these ransom letter sex threats. I’m leaving the door unlocked. ”
—Blake Butler, author of There Is No Year

xTx’s stories embody the terrors, wounds and deep emotions that tremor through our bodies as we walk around in our daily lives, pretending everything is alright. Nothing is alright of course, but xTx turning our hidden selves into meaningful stories helps a whole hell of a lot.
—Paula Bomer, author of Baby



With stories and poems from 22 groundbreaking authors, Monkeybicycle8 is sure to please. Featuring cinema stars, cave-dwelling hermits, imaginary monsters, Internet hookups, and so much more, this issue packs a mighty wallop.

Contributors: Summer Block, Matt Briggs, Aaron Burch, E. Michael Desilets, Ori Fienberg, Jesús Ángel García, Scott Geiger, Michael Hickins, Steve Himmer, Blake Kimzey, Ben Loory, Annam Manthiram, Laura McCullough, Michael Mlekoday, Dustin Luke Nelson, Ben Nickol, Steve Peacock, Jonathan Redhorse, Vincent Scarpa, Curtis Smith, Rosalynn Stovall, and Andrew Weatherhead.

FREE FLASH COMEDY CD. REVELATIONS: A PURGATORY PREVIEW. PETER SCHWARTZ

PETER SCHWARTZ
REVELATIONS: A PURGATORY PREVIEW
FLASH COMEDY
9 AUDIO TRACKS

REVELATIONS: A PURGATORY PREVIEW
　
1. Late money
2. Fake karate
3. Tranny shenanigans
4. Testicle dispute
5. Hostile hypnosis takeover attempt
6. Anal meaning
7. Bullshit story
8. Bed time story
9. The unofficial guide to using time travel to avoid being molested

This FLASH COMEDY cd is available for free with the purchase of any DOGZPLOT / PAPER HERO PRESS / ACHILLES CHAPBOOK / PETER SCHWARTZ / BARRY GRAHAM title. Just shoot us an email and forward the receipt and it's all good baby baby.

Here's what people have been saying about PETER SCHWARTZ and his poetry, prose, art, and comedy:

The first time I met Peter Schwartz I was scheduled to follow him at a reading and he went from reciting poetry to belting out a quite emotional rendition of "Amazing Grace". My first thought was, what a f**ker, I’m supposed to follow that? My second thought though was this guy may be a f**ker, but he’s definitely my kind of f**ker and I need to get to know him. What has since transpired are a series of e-mails that have confirmed my initial suspicions. Peter Schwartz is a funny, talented, pop-culture spewing dude who is maybe just a little f**ked-up. He is also someone you need to know…Peter himself, is wonderful and heavy, in love with words and endlessly searching to make better sense of confinement and loss and their impact on his life.”
– Ben Tanzer, author of You Can make Him Like You, This American Life, and My Father’s House

“Peter Schwartz’s poems collect our hard-won confessions, our fragile constructions, our temporary homes and our more permanent losses, but not for the purpose of hoarding them away. Instead, Schwartz organizes these obsessions into new structures–complex and beautiful poems–inviting us to experience their transformations.”
- Matt Bell, author of How They Were Found, and The Collectors

Throughout the proceedings, Schwartz presents a host of lonely, psychologically damaged characters, all of whom seek comfort in the company of others yet, tragically, lack the capacity to connect in a meaningful way.
- Marc Schuster, Small Press Review, and author of The Singular Exploits of Wonder Mom & Party Girl

“…at times it’s almost as if Schwartz’s pen is spilling out of control, words all-a-tumble but it’s very tightly written, giving the sequence a powerful sense of cohesion, unifying the narrator’s concern across the series… Nowhere does the language feel contrived or artificial. Schwartz’s manner of naming illustrates the immanence, plurality and many contradictions inherent within the nature of divinity, sometimes unusual and surprising but always appropriate.”
- Alan Garvey, Gloom Cupboard

INTERVIEW. ALT.PUNK. LAVINIA LUDLOW

LAVINIA LUDLOW

ALT.PUNK

CASPERIAN BOOKS

http://www.casperianbooks.com/catalog/1-934081-29-9.html

Fiction • Paperback • 204 pages
ISBN 978-1-934081-29-7 • List Price: $15.00

We Need a Cleanup on Aisle Five

Hazel is a middle-class hypochondriac doing (over)time as a manager at Safeway, the only place that would hire her with an MBA from a state school. She hates her boyfriend, her family, and her life.

Otis is a guiltless weirdo who still has action figures in his bed; a postindustrial Peter Pan who wakes up in the middle of the night crying from nightmares he can't remember. A punk rock void, he describes the world with the creative imagination of a child. Together, they are a disaster.

In alt.punk, Lavinia Ludlow explores the ragged edge of art, society, and sanity, viciously skewering the politics of rebellion. With a savage eye for detail, she unveils the layers of mythmaking that underlie class and ideology in the twenty-first century.

A review of alt.punk from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography.

Based on its title and cover, it'd be natural to assume that Lavinia Ludlow's literary debut alt.punk is going to be a sort-of tell-all novel about the music industry, especially given the author's past as a drummer for various bands herself. But this instead turns out to be a more interesting and charming thing, a confessional-style tale (i.e. it feels like you're sneakily reading someone's blog) about our sympathetic but undeniably trainwrecky narrator, as she stumbles in and out of a series of nightmare relationships with barely functioning grimy musicians in the San Francisco/Sacramento area of northern California, while constantly fending off comments about her weight and career from her dysfunctional family, accepting pent-up abuse from retail flunkies in her job as a pharmacy manager, and OCD-obsessing over germs and cleanliness so incessantly that it makes Woody Allen seem well-adjusted. As such, then, alt.punk is surprisingly funny while still being utterly relentless in its abuse, both self- and outer- in nature, an extremely true-feeling tale that nonetheless veers into cartoonish exaggeration at points (oy vey, all those descriptions of her boyfriend's "Grey Gardens" style nightmare apartment). Fascinating like a car crash, this was one of the rare books I found myself literally unable to put down until I had finished it (thankfully only later that night, in that this 200-page novel is quite breezy), another winner from the regularly reviewed Casperian Books that is well worth your time and money. It comes highly recommended to my fellow artsy slackers.

Lavinia Ludlow was born and raised in Northern California. A percussionist since childhood, she has played with different ensembles in California and Hawaii and immerses herself in music when not writing. Her short fiction has appeared in Pear Noir!, Is Greater Than, Dogzplot, and MonkeyBicycle. alt.punk is her first novel.

HERE'S THE INTERVIEW

BG : For me, ALT.PUNK is a tale of brutally honest, fatalistic, twenty-first century American Naturalism. I can’t help but feel that Hazel’s entire existence is preordained, that her germophobic, socially inept personality and her narrow, semi-elitist world view were shaped well before she was conceived, and a job at Safeway and her frustrating habit of returning again and again to the same deadbeat boyfriends are all part of her inescapable destiny. Tell me why this is or is not a good assessment?

LL: You couldn’t have assessed the protagonist in a more anal, undignified, and dysfunctional manner. It was dead-on.

I’ve always wanted to write a story about a bitter and jaded suburbanite putting down the unproductive complaining and taking action. My intent was to instill melodramatic teenage angst into a character that was well into adulthood, and put her in the middle of a dark-humored fast-paced entertaining novel.

In this story, Hazel tucked balls into her big girl panties and got the hell out of her dead end lifestyle. Naturally, without meticulous planning, everything blew chunks in her face.

BG: In Hazel, we find a woman who sees salmonella poisoning in every bite of food, AIDS in every mosquito bite, and makes any potential sex partner show her lab results for STD tests before sexual contact, so I think it’s fair to call her a bit of a hypochondriac. As I was reading I couldn’t help but wonder how much of Hazel’s personality comes from Lavinia. Are you a germ freak? Have you ever gotten the shit kicked out of you by any punks? Is your mother sadistic? Do you have bad taste in men? Do you make them show you STD tests? Give me the inside dope. And what about Hazel’s ex-boyfriends in ALT.PUNK, are they inspired by Lavinia’s ex-boyfriends?

LL: This is a work of fiction. How dare you believe I’m a tight-ass with bad taste in men. I mean, all my last boyfriend did was sell and use drugs, get drunk and violent, brag about prison, and borrow money from me to squander on Vegas whores. Come on, bad taste in men?

All jokes aside, I knew I needed to construct a powerful voice that fit the needs of the novel. Hazel was a tragically comical anal-retentive product of suburbia. I put a lot of research into her personality disorder, so in no way am I a germaphobic freak. But after all that research I am more aware than ever of STDs and microbes. I mean, is two minutes of sloppy drunk unsatisfying sex worth a lifetime of herpes or HIV?

Maybe ignorance is bliss.

BG: It seems that Hazel was fed up with her day to day life and her mundane job at Safeway for quite awhile before she finally quit and went on the punk rock tour with her boyfriend Otis. So what was the catalyst for making her quit when she did? What was her breaking point? It seems she had access to crazy men, drugs, and the punk lifestyle anytime she wanted through other Safeway employees and her best friend Avaline, so why did she make the change when she did?

LL: For some, turning thirty is huge. I know I’ll have some sort of episode when I round that corner. I might shave my head. Live off the grid. Or maybe I’ll write another novel.

For Hazel, it was a combination of turning thirty, believing the next conventional step would be to get married, crap out some kids, and live with an unremitting retail headache. Though she was angst-ridden and hypocritical, deep down, she knew there was something wrong with her life choices. Ultimately, she snaps.

BG: When Hazel leaves her job and goes on tour with her boyfriend Otis, a suicidal, drug addicted front man for a punk band, where does her interest, and ultimately intense devotion to Otis come from? There is nothing in Hazel’s personality that would indicate that she has the character to deal with someone like Otis. He is helpless, needy, and yeah, the drugs and suicide, so what is it? What makes her stick around? Is it just a “fuck you to the family,” boredom, an escape from her longtime, unemployed, unmotivated boyfriend Kree?

LL: Hazel wanted to prove that she wasn’t a naïve suburbanite that chose wrong. And in a way, I think she likes him. I mean, who wouldn’t like someone as adorable as Otis with all his helplessness and addictions and weird sex? I get hard just thinking about it.

BG: I can’t help but feel that there is some sort of underlying New Testament messages of judge not lest ye be judged and that which you do returning upon your own head and that which judgment ye meet, ye also will be met, I know my paraphrasing is bad and I’m too lazy to get my Bible out, but I think you know what I mean. Can you elaborate on this at all, and were you conscious of it as you were writing, of the karmic quality to your story and to the characters; lives, relationships, actions and consequences?

LL: I purposely wrote irony into certain aspects of ALT.PUNK. Irony that the punks who were supposed to be so liberal were the most damning. Irony that Otis was a punk but a total pussy. Irony that Hazel was a tight-ass, but of all characters, she introduced the most change into her life.

In terms of consequences, the story took off on its own and became more intense than I intended. And I never realized how much I’d pay later. It’s easy to draft up something dark and extreme, but to have to revise all that darkness a hundred times over is incredibly disturbing. Some days, it would physically hurt me to have to deal with so much addiction, depression, and negativity. I never want to relive what I went through to get this to print.

That being said, I wouldn’t take it back. Not to mooch off Ben Tanzer, but publishing this novel changed my life. I was at the rock bottom of rock bottom when Casperian Books accepted the manuscript. I was unemployed, crashing on a couch, chronically inebriated, lost in a mental standstill. Preparing this novel for publication forced me to get my shit together. I had to find a source of income. I had to clean up. I had to get sober.

When I was paired up with Nathan Holic, the editor behind ALT.PUNK, I was working seventy hours a week, on the road for fifteen, completing community college online classes, and editing the hell out of the broken manuscript. Thinking back, if I could rise above, multitask all of the above, and come out well adjusted then there is no excuse for me to entertain the thought of rock bottom again.

I don’t think I answered your question but ALT.PUNK was a wild ride that truly saved my life.

BG: You know, it’s absolutely inevitable that if Hazel ever has children she will be just as cruel and viscous to them as her mother was to her; that her children will end up with all the same psychological hang-ups and social inadequacies as she has. Am I being too hard on Hazel? Is there hope? Convince me.

LL: Hazel on a cocktail of downers and booze is pretty badass. There’s a closet raunch in her somewhere. In terms of children, let us leave the novel where it ends. Like many dysfunctional people (and one that I am), she shouldn’t entertain the idea of kids just yet.

WE GOT THE CLAP

BEN TANZER. THIS AMERICAN LIFE. ACHILLES CHAPBOOK SERIES

Coming soon from ACHILLES CHAPBOOK SERIES

BEN TANZER
THIS AMERICAN LIFE
60 PGS.
STORIES

http://achilleschapbook.blogspot.com/2009/05/ben-tanzer.html

"If I want to think of sharply written stories that capture a humorous reality of the day-to-day I think of Ben Tanzer. Or if I just want to think about one of my favorite underappreciated writers, I think of Ben Tanzer."
- Josh Spilker, Deckfight

"Something that's always consistently impressed me about Ben's writing -- his willingness to dig under the polite layers of young middle-class life, to find the ugly and dark bits and hold them up for all of us to look at."
- Jason Pettus, CCLaP

NEW FROM ML PRESS. NEPHEW IMPRINT SERIES. DARBY LARSON. THE IGUANA COMPLEX

From ML PRESS

Nephew, an imprint of Mud Luscious Press, publishes raw & aggressive pocket-sized titles in limited-editions of 150 copies or for a sales period of three months, whichever comes first. There will be no subsequent editions.

There is Only One Thing We Want to Say Right Now,

Mud Luscious Press has officially launched the imprint series Nephew: perfect-bound, pocket-sized, raw & aggressive titles published in limited-editions of 150 copies or for a sales period of three months, whichever comes first, & there will be no subsequent editions of any Nephew title, ever.

Our first book is Darby Larson’s THE IGUANA COMPLEX, a wonder of negation & meta-narrative, a mountain of little steps walking in circles. Larson has had short fiction published recently at The Collagist, Everyday Genius, Caketrain, & New York Tyrant. He is also the editor of Abjective. This is his first book.

$10, free shipping, 150 copies or 90 days, whichever comes first.

www.mudlusciouspress.com/nephew/

PETER SCHWARTZ. PREMATURE EMANCIPATION

PETER SCHWARTZ
METAZEN
PREMATURE EMANCIPATION
http://www.metazen.ca/?p=6420

P. DIDDY SCHWARTZ brings it over at METAZEN. Read it and listen to the audio. Really good shit. Here's something else of his:

Review of his poetry collection OLD MEN, GIRLS, AND MONSTERS
http://gloomcupboard.com/2011/01/18/old-men-girls-and-monsters-by-peter-schwartz/

DOGZPLOT FLASH FICTION 2011 ANTHOLOGY

Here's a list of contributors for the 2011 DOGZPLOT FLASH FICTION anthology. The anthologies should be ready by AWP but I'm slow with shits sometimes so we'll see. Ordering info will come soon. Contributors get a free copy and a discount on any additional ordered copies. Here's the contributors list. If you are on this list and don't want to be please let me know. Peace.

BILL BARR
LAUREN BECKER
ERIC BENNETT
ALEC BRYAN
ELIZABETH ELLEN
ASHLEY FARMER
SASHA FLETCHER
JON-MICHAEL FRANK
REBECCA GAFFRON
ROXANE GAY
MADDIE GORMAN
BARRY GRAHAM
PAUL GRINER
SHELLY HOLDER
JAMIE IREDELL
DREW KALBACH
STEFAN KIESBYE
JEREMY KELLY
CHRISTOPHER KENNEDY
MAXINE LOPEZ-KEOUGH
ANDREA KNEELAND
LEN KUNTZ
DARBY LARSON
MK LAUGHLIN
BRIAN LE LAY
ROBERT LOPEZ
ROBERT JOHN MILLER
KYLE MINOR
DAVID PEAK
SHANNON PEIL
SAM RASNAKE
MICHELLE REALE
S. CRAIG RENFROE, JR.
DANIEL ROMO
LINDA SANDS
KELLY SCHIRMANN
MARNIE SHURE
ANI SMITH
E. SODERBACK
BEN SPIVEY
PARKER TETTLETON
XTX

NFL PLAYOFF / SUPERBOWL PICKS - TAKE II

Ok, so I went 2/4. No surprise though with the Jets vs. Colts, as I said last week, the Jets had the best shot of upsetting my bracket. But like I said, it isn't gonna matter anyway because they can't beat New England at home.

But the Saints losing to the Seahawks means I have to restructure a bit, as I picked the Saints to win the NFC. No biggie, because my Super Bowl winner comes out of the AFC anyway, and ultimately who wins the NFC is irrelavant. So here goes Round 2 predictions.

NFC

ROUND 2

1. Seattle Seahawks vs. Chicago Bears

The Seahawks had a great upset win at home last week. But that's over. The Bears are playing at home and their defense should be able to get it done.

WINNER: CHICAGO BEARS

2. Green Bay Packers vs. Atlanta Falcons

I already picked this matchup last week and I'll say it again, Green Bay goes down to Atlanta and takes care of business.

WINNER: GREEN BAY PACKERS

ROUND 3

1. Green Bay Packers vs. Chicago Bears

Both teams have the same things going for them. Well balanced offense combined with a rock solid defense. Green Bay won their last meeting to finish the regular season, but the Bears already had the number two seed locked and had nothing on the line. This time they are at home against a division rival for all the marbles. It's gonna be a brawl and to tell you the truth either team could pull this off, Unfortunately who ever it is will have to play the winner of the Steelers - Patriots. But with that said, someone still has to win this one.

WINNER: GREEN BAY PACKERS

AFC

I'm not redoing my AFC bracket because with the exception of the Jets beating the Colts, nothing has changed. I still like my picks and I still like Pittsburgh making it to the Super Bowl over the Patriots. Although, I want to see Tom Brady solidify his legacy, I'm sticking with the age old wisdom that defense wins championships, combined with the fact that these aren't the same old Steelers who put up 19 points and rely on their D to pull it off. These Steelers can put up 30 points a game.

nfl

Teams with the best shot to upset these picks:

nfl

1. Bears could beat the Packers since Chicago is playing at home, but ultimately they will lose in the Super Bowl.

nfl

2. Patriots could beat the Steelers in the AFC championship game and win it all.

SOME READINGS / EVENTS AT AWP. I'LL ADD MORE AS I SEE THEM

NFL PLAYOFF / SUPERBOWL PICKS

ROUND 1

1. New Orlean Saints vs. Seattle Seahawks

The fact that Seattle even made the playoffs is embarrassing. Last year's Super Bowl champions begin their run for back to back titles and should have no problem handling the Seahawks. Will it be a blowout? Maybe, maybe not. Seattle is a very good home team and the Saints have to come out west to play, where historically, teams that travel cross country don't always fair so well. So maybe not a blowout, but a solid beat down.

WINNER: NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

2. New York Jets vs. Indianapolis Colts

This should be a good game no matter what happens. I like the Colts for a few reasons. The Jets haven't been the hottest team coming down the stretch and the Colts have stepped their game up. Most of the Colts players that were injured this season are back and ready to go. Also, the Colts are at home, they are the defending AFC champions, and Peyton Manning knows how to win.

WINNER: INDIANAPOLIS COLTS

3. Baltimore Ravens vs. Kansas City Chiefs

Mad respect for what the Chiefs have been able to do this year, but the Ravens are gonna dominate this game start to finish. The Ravens offense hasn't been as amazing and productive this year as most people thought, considering the talented editions to their offense, but that's not why the Ravens win in the playoff. Ed Reed and Ray Lewis are aging, but they are solid veterans who play lights out football come playoff time. Plus, the Chiefs aren't coming in hot, if they were I might give them a little better chance, but naa.

WINNER: BALTIMORE RAVENS

4. Green Bay Packers vs. Philadelphia Eagles

This game is gonna come down to which Eagles team shows up and which Packers team shows up. Both teams have been pretty good, but sometimes inconsistent. I really like Mike Vick and the young, high octane offense they have in Philly, and I'm not sold on Aaron Rodgers' greatness. But, I think teams around the league have got the formula to shut the Eagles down. Neither team is coming in hot right now, but I think the Green Bay defense will find a way to get it done. Although they are playing in Philly and if the dominant, high energy Eagles offense shows up I'm gonna be wrong on this one, but I just don't think it's gonna happen.

WINNER: GREEN BAY PACKERS

NFL
ROUND 2

1. New Orleans Saints vs. Chicago Bears

I'm not a huge Chicago fan, never have been. They play in a week conference and they can't beat anybody with a winning record. Are they the same Bears team this year that has a good regular season then lets their fans down in the playoffs? Maybe not, if they got the winner of the Packers - Eagles game, but like I said before, the Saints are the champs, and they are gonna handle the Bears.

WINNER: NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

2. Baltimore Ravens vs. New England Patriots

Sure, the Ravens know how to get it done with defense in the playoffs, but I gotta keep it real here. Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback in the history of the NFL and they are playing lights out football right now. Score for score the Ravens can't keep up with the Patriots. Plus, New England is at home. 'Nuff said.

WINNER: NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS

3. Indianapolis Colts vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

I gotta give a lot of credit to the Colts for even making it this far. At one point half their team was injured and they were sitting at 6-6. But, Jacksonville collapsed down the strecth and let the Colts sneak in one more time. But this is where their run ends. Pittsburgh just put up a ridiculous amount of points on the road against a division rival to finish out the season. Their defense in the playoffs is second to none. Pittsburgh should have no problems handling their business at home.

WINNER: PITTSBURGH STEELERS

4. Green Bay Packers vs. Atlanta Falcons

This is the game that may be hardest for me to pick. I know Atlanta has home field and they are sitting at the top of the NFC right now, but I just haven't seen them play this year. Too busy watching other divisions to pay attention to the NFC South. Only because I don't think Green Bay is playing their best football and because the Falcons are playing at home I'm gonna go with the Falcons here, but ultimately, I'm not sure it's gonna matter much. But, if the Eagles somehow beat Green Bay and they pick up some momentum and get that offense going, I think the Eagles have a shot, but as it stands, I like them Dirty Birds.

WINNER: ATLANTA FALCONS

nfl

ROUND 3

1. Atlanta Falcons vs. New Orleans Saints

Although personally, I'm not a fan, I think my pick here is obvious. The Saints are the defending champs, and even though they don't get to play at home, they still get this game inside a dome where Brees can throw it around and run up the scoreboard. The Saints know how to turn it up in the playoffs and get it done.

WINNER: NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

2. Pittsburgh Steelers vs. New England Patriots

This game is another hard one for me. It seems ridiculous to bet against Tom Brady and the Patriots. I hope they can get it done, just like I hope the Eagles can get it done, but I just don't know if it will happen this time. The Steelers are used to cold weather so that won't be as big a factor as it would be with some other teams, plus if the old saying is true, that defense does indeed win chamionships, then considering the new, explosiveness of the Steelers offense, combined with their lights out defense...

WINNER: PITTSBURGH STEELERS

SUPER BOWL

New Orleans Saints vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

This is it. This is why we watch. Some may say that the scoring capability of the Saints, combined with last years Super Bowl victory, combined with the fact that they are playing in warm weather, means the Saints will find a way to neautralize the punishing Pittsburgh defense and get it done. But that's just not gonna happen. Consider two years ago when Pittsburgh played a red hot Arizona Cardionals team in the Super Bowl, who were putting up 30 - 50 points a game during the playoffs. And what happened. The Steelers shut them down. Just like they will the Saints.

SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS: PITTSBURGH STEELERS

Teams with the best shot of upsetting these picks:

1. The Jets may beat the Colts, but I don't think it will matter because they will lose in the next round.

2. The Eagles may beat the Packers since they are playing at home, and maybe with that momentum they can get passed the Falcons in the next round. But I think the fun would eventually stop when they have to play the Saints, but maybe, just maybe the Eagles will find a way to explode again. But even if that happens. They have no shot against the Steelers or the Patriots in the Super Bowl

3. Of Course, the Patriots can beat the Steelers and win it all.

NISSA LEE. POEMS. REQUITED

Check out some poems in the new REQUITED from one of my partners in crime at Rutgers, superstar NISSA LEE.

FIGURE STUDIES: THREE POEMS AFTER SALVADORE DALI

SPECTER OF SEX APPEAL

CITY OF DRAWERS

GIRL AT THE WINDOW

KILL AUTHOR. INTERVIEW AT FIX IT BROKEN. AND A COUPLE OF TOP 10 LISTS

Here's an interview featuring two of my favorite new online literary magazines. GREG DYBEC from FIX IT BROKEN interviews the still anonymous folks over at KILL AUTHOR. Here's a small piece from the interview then CLICK HERE to read it in its entirety:

FIB: You have recently been listed as one of the “Top Ten Lit Mags You Should be Reading” by flavorwire. Congratulations on the success and recognition. Any words of advice for other online publications that may be just starting off? (Is this a selfish question? Yes. Yes it is.)

KA: We don't want to repeat ourselves, but it's what we've been talking about in the previous answers. Have some firm ideas about the personality you want your whole publication to put across. Don't just rely on your own personality as editors to do it for you. This next statement might seem a bit too strong and too dismissive of some fine publications, but if you just want to put together a lit mag because you like publishing people's writing and want to have a go at editing a journal, is that really enough to sustain your venture? In a very crowded field, how will that come across to readers in a way other than, "Oh here's another one…send us your best shot and we'll maybe publish some of them”? Does that excite you and make you want to get involved? Because it doesn't excite us.

Also included in the TOP TEN LIT MAGS YOU SHOULD BE READING are:

1. MOON MILK REVIEW

2. BLIP

3. PANK

4. KILL AUTHOR

5. BARTLEBY SNOPES

6. MCSWEENEYS

7. THE EXQUISITE CORPSE

8. DECOMP

9. TWELVE STORIES

10. ANDERBO

If I may, I'd like to do a little top ten of my own here. These are the places I turn to online again and again if I wanna read the good shit:

1. STORYGLOSSIA

2. WIGLEAF

3. EVERYDAY GENIUS

4. PANK

5. FRIGG

6. SMOKELONG QUARTERLY

7. ELIMAE

8. KILL AUTHOR

9. MUD LUSCIOUS

10. HOBART

JEN MICHALSKI. 10 STORIES FROM 2010 WORTH A 2ND LOOK

Thanks for the shout out Jen. Here's THE LIST.

A few stories that, if you didn't read them the first time, in 2010, you should definitely read in 2011:

“All the People in These Pictures Are Dead Now,” by Frank Hinton
“The Monstrous Sadness of Mythical Figures,” by Amber Sparks
“What Passes for Normal,” by Michelle Reale
“The Hamburger Story,” by Lauren Becker
“Boys in Drag,” by Roxane Gay
“The Woman,” by Donna Vitucci
“Wherever You’re Going,” by Susan Gibb
“Witness,” by Curtis Smith
“Whatever a Man Soweth (Bloody Mary),” by Barry Graham
“The Hamster,” by Tara Laskowski

XTX. NORMALLY SPECIAL. TINY HARDCORE PRESS

NORMALLY SPECIAL is our first title, a collection of 23 big, fierce stories by XTX.

Table of Contents:

For the Girl Who Doesn’t Know She Has Everything
The Duty Mouths Bring
Water is Thrown on the Witch
The Importance of Folding Towels
Standoff
Father’s Day
Marci is Going to Shoot Up Meth With Her Friend
She Who Subjected the Sun
For Her
The Honking Was Deafening
Their Daughter Played With the Boxes
The Mill Pond
Good Boy, Fritos
A Brief History of Masturbation
Fireflies
Exactly Raisins
I Love My Dad, My Dad Loves Me
There was no mother in that house. There were a lot of boys and men and there was me. That is all. That is how it was.
An Unsteady Place
Because Seven Ate Nine
I Wish They Knew
Things I Could Tell You
Because I Am Not a Monster

Samples:

Standoff, Word Riot, September 2010

She Who Subjected The Sun, Emprise Review, November 2010

Because Seven Ate Nine, Wigleaf, November 2010

NORMALLY SPECIAL will be released on March 1, 2011. You can pre-order the book now.

BEN TANZER. YOU CAN MAKE HIM LIKE YOU. ARTISTICALLY DECLINED PRESS

You Can Make Him Like You, ADP's next book and Ben Tanzer's third novel is due in April and preorders (including a special, limited deluxe edition) will be available in the coming weeks. We couldn't be more excited to get this book out in the world. For now, bask in the glory of its cover. There's more to come soon.

THE BROKEN BLURB CHALLENGE. FIX IT BROKEN

FIX IT BROKEN has realized something. Something big. While riding the subway, waiting in line for food, and staggering down the street, we have realized the world is one big puzzle. A puzzle of stories, all scattered and dispersed, and who knows if the pieces even fit together?

What we’re trying to say is, we all encounter stories. Sometimes we read them, sometimes we write them, and sometimes we watch or listen to them. What we want to bring to your attention is the millions of fragments of stories that we come across each day. We’ll call them Broken Blurbs. Little snippets of a conversation, a quick bit of plot, dialogue from a character we’ll never know. We hear these broken sentences uttered by strangers each day in passing, and they act as insight into stories we’ll never hear the end of, or introductions to characters we will never put a face to. Sometimes, these Broken Blurbs, whether comedic or wise, stick with us. They stand out. They leave their mark.

FIX IT BROKEN has devised a plan in order to safeguard these Broken Blurb gems, the ones that don’t deserve to be taken by the wind and whirled into oblivion. We’re asking you to pay close attention next time you hold the door for an old couple, or sit next to the crazy guy on the bus. Keep your ears alert while you take the daily commute or return that ugly Christmas sweater at the mall.

We hope to put a little “issue” together, at some point in 2011, of the best submitted stumbled-upon-phrases.

After choosing a select few “Best Broken Blurbs” they will act as writing prompts, and the best short-short fiction pieces to incorporate the Blurb will be featured in the issue, along with several notable Broken Blurbs themselves.

It all starts with your ears and other peoples lives, so get going.

Submission Guidelines

-Submit up to three Broken Blurbs to: FIXITBROKEN@YAHOO.COM
-Include your name and the location in which you heard the Broken Blurb.
-Please write “Broken Blurb Submission” in the subject line of the email.

Some examples that we’ve heard within the past few weeks:

“I thought Spike Lee was Asian.”

“Is it Memento, or is it Bukowski and Beckett?”

“I was walking home the other night and I literally saw Courtney Love peeing on a stoop.”

“Like his sweater grew wings.”

You get the idea, right?

PRICK OF THE SPINDLE. 4.4

Another great issue of PRICK OF THE SPINDLE. here's just a quick mention of some of what you're getting. Read the rest HERE.

Andrew Bowen
Robert, the Architect

Andrew Wallace Chamings
The Piano Lesson

Leah Erickson
The Night Brides

Regina Faunes
Study Abroad

Marko Fong
The Amnesia Academy

Jennifer Juneau
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun

Peter D. Kramer
The Name of the Helper

Reprint in Memoriam:
Cami Park
When You Heard

Brian Mihok
Sharp Shooter
Little Lubyanka

D. Quentin Miller
3 x 2

Justin Nicholes
Summer Ice

Jeanne Thornton
Temple of Zuul

Scott Tucker
Ousmane Would Like to Go Nightclubbing with Cadiatu

Donna D. Vitucci
Bliss

Valerie Vogrin
Apologies