"Everything Sounds Better on Vinyl:" New Fiction in Gulf Stream Magazine

Good morning, y'all!

I have a new short story up today. You can read "Everything Sounds Better on Vinyl" in the Spring issue of Gulf Stream Magazine.

Thank you to editor T.C. Jones for being such a warm, enthusiastic editor. He and the other editors and readers have put together a wonderful mix of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction that I can't wait to spend time with this weekend.

This story means a lot to me because I first drafted it in an undergraduate creative writing course. That first attempt was terrible, and the previous version is either lost in my ancient family computer or typed out in fragments stuck in an old binder I keep under my desk. The story always stayed in my head, and I started over from memory last year, and now it's a complete, published story that I'm very proud of.

Have a great weekend. Happy reading.

"Thy Will Be Done:" New Fiction on Monkeybicycle

Hey y'all, good morning. My latest short story was published today! You can read "Thy Will Be Done" right here.

Thank you to editor James Tate Hill for the amazing work he's published and promoted at Monkeybicycle, and for being so warm, gracious, and enthusiastic about my work. When he sent me the final edits, he included a compliment that I'm too embarrassed to share here, but let's just say it's one of the best remarks I've ever received about my writing. And thank you to Steven Seighman, who I believe posted it, and may be the one who included the perfect image accompaniment. Or it might've been J.T. who did so; either way, they both had hands in this publication, and I couldn't be more pleased.

And a thank you to Alyssa Zaczek, who graciously read this in its early stages when I wasn't sure the story was doing what it was supposed to do. Alyssa and I worked together very briefly in Chicago, and reconnected online. She's a fiercely talented writer and editor, and I'm grateful she took the time to help me. Keep her name bookmarked. Her work is wonderful, and she will be making even more joyful noise in the future.

I hope you enjoy reading this story. Have a great weekend.

Hypertrophic Press: Spring 2018 Issue

Hey y'all.

This post is a week overdue, but I'm thrilled to be part of Hypertrophic Press's Spring 2018 issue. My short story "Chinatown," originally published in Luna Luna Magazine (three! years ago), has been dusted off. The issue is available online and as a beautiful print issue, a lovely collection of poems and stories held together by some of the best artwork I've ever seen, courtesy of Victoria Olt.

You can purchase the print issue here.

Thank you to Lynsey Morandin and Jeremy Bronaugh for their hard work and dedication to this literary project. And a special thank you to Maddie Anthes, who works as their acquisitions editor and was gracious in accepting my work, which I didn't expect to be published again. Its original publication home underwent a redesign, and previous work vanished. "Chinatown" is one of my personal favorites, and I'm thrilled it's back out in the world again. I'm sending love to all three people: I hope editors and readers around the literary world know how much they're appreciated, since so much of what they do is behind the scenes.

And a thank you to AJ Wolff, b.g. thomas, Chloe N Clark, Courtney LeBlanc, Kanika Lawton, Hannah Gordon, Kathryn McMahon, Liz Howard, and Paul Schiernecker. It's an honor to be included with you and your amazing craft. Hugs and high fives all around.

TinyLetter: Rising Rejections

I just posted my first TinyLetter, a slightly rambling introduction to what I hope to accomplish with (hopefully) weekly letters and updates.

From now on, I'll just share the URL whenever I do a post, but for this first one, I'll share it here in full.

If you'd like to subscribe, you can do so here: https://tinyletter.com/jyatesLA

Even though I haven't posted here with any frequency, I'll still have original content that I'll update on this blog for the sake of variety. I like using social media in various forms, as in: not excessively cross-posting for one blandly unified collection of feeds.

Hi there, and welcome to my first TinyLetter.

I'm still figuring out how to navigate this space, and while I do have ideas on how I want this to take shape, there may be stumbles and hiccups along the way. So bear with me.

I first mentioned writing a TinyLetter a month or so ago. What I hope to accomplish is straightforward. After a year living in Lafayette, Louisiana, I want to document how my writing has changed after Southern immersion. Do I call myself a "Southern writer?" Is such a label necessary, and if so, what claim do I have? Just because I've eaten a ton of po' boys and I'm a writer, should I worry about how my new environment has shaped me? My last published story ("Love Bugs," Split Lip Magazine, December 2016) was explicitly Southern, and my latest WIP is heavily immersed in a Southern landscape. So am I a Southern writer? I don't know, but that's something I can explore later on. I'm concerned with how using my surroundings in fiction translates into honesty and reality, especially when faced with Southern stereotypes that I had in my head upon the move down here, and when famous Southern writers tend to form a small sect that is influential, both positively and negatively.

For now, as my bio suggests, I want to talk about anxiety, depression, and rejections. I hesitate to describe myself as depressed, because it's the kind of word that can be thrown around easily, and I've never been diagnosed with it, or treated for it. But my last several months were a spiral of negative feelings. After working as an adjunct instructor last fall, the university I worked for wasn't able to offer me any courses. I found myself dangerously unemployed for months, trying to find work in an area that had a) doesn't have a wealth of jobs available, and b) tends to give openings to family and friends in need of work. My girlfriend carried the financial weight, and I applies for dozens and dozens of jobs, with almost no return calls or emails. I was scared, depressed, and didn't know what to do. Between worrying about money and feeling isolated, my motivation to write was nonexistent, which led to even MORE writing anxiety: writers are supposed to write, no matter what. But I felt guilty and nervous carving out writing time when I didn't know what the future was going to hold.

I got damn lucky. A full-time management position was offered to me at the bookstore. I interviewed, got the job, and I'm now on better financial footing. And now I'm trying to get some long-simmer writing projects dusted off. I'm not entirely out of the woods. I still have anxieties and problems. And this is where writerly, geographic labels come back into play. I'm trying to be more brave, to write more openly about my problems. My reluctance to do so is a Midwestern trait (or, given my words above, a stereotype). I keep my fears bottled up.

And this is where this TinyLetter swoops in. I want to be more open, and I genuinely hope my own stumbles are reassuring to other creatives. This is a terribly simple hope, one I'll return to later.

Let's get back to rejections. Here are concrete numbers, presented as accurately as possible. Since January 2017, I've received:

16 short story rejections
14 novel rejections (both agents and presses)
1 fellowship rejection
1 essay rejection
1 poem rejection

I started submitting work back in 2012. I'm fully prepared for this to be the first year since then that I haven't had a single piece published. Of course, I still have many pieces both long and short floating around various journals and presses. These could be future rejections or acceptances. In addition to feeling like I wasn't a writer for most of this year, I've also dealt with the steady onslaught of rejections. Therefore, my anxieties have been twofold: "Writers write (which I struggled to do, given job woes and depression), and "Writers write to write, not to be published." I've struggled to accept this To borrow a phrase from writer Tasha Coryell, I think my post-MFA crisis year is this year, not last year. I had ups and downs last year, but I still ended 2016 with four publications.

I'm not treating this first entry as a full-fledged essay. I'm not going to say I've overcome the aforementioned obstacles, nor am I going to give any sappy notes to anyone who might be reading this, platitudes along the lines of "Hey, our struggles are the same!" We're not the same, you and I. I'm not going to assume that my being fairly open about my issues is going to make someone sit back, slap their forehead, and think "I'm not alone!" The psychology of writers and writing advice deals far too heavily in absolutes. I stop reading when I see phrases like "all writers must" and "real writers to do this." So if my future letters end up being looks at craft and process, I won't present them as set in stone. What works for me might work for you, but most likely not.

But here's the thing: you're not alone. Whatever you're dealing with, we all do. Am I being hypocritical? Yes, just as I'm hypocritical with my own creative struggles in the face of life struggles. Writing highs and lows are the same and different for everyone. But if my laying this out here offers you solace, I'm happy to do so. However, the last thing I want this TinyLetter to be is a sad sack diary entry. I want the majority of my messages to be detailed unpackings of current WIPs, readings, and entries on what it means to be Southern when one is a transplant (I plan to propose this as a presentation for next year's Deep South in the Global South conference).

I've been editing this over the last two days, but I'm going to stop for now. Thank you for reading these initial ramblings. And welcome.

-James Yates
August 28, 2017

Claire Polders' Favorite "(Dead) Father" Flashes

Late this morning, I had a pleasant surprise. Writer Claire Polders wrote a list for the great literary journal SmokeLong Quarterly, examining her favorite "(Dead) Father" flash fictions.

She graciously included my 2016 story "Empire State Building," published in matchbook literary magazine. If you missed it the first time, you can read it here.

About my story, Claire wrote: "Should we hate or love our fathers for their lies, their exaggerations, their obsessions? In this touching story by James Yates, in which more is said than written, I was left pondering that interesting question."

Wow. Thank you, Claire! Plus, I'm just damn stunned to see my work sharing company with the likes of Mai Nardone, Lydia Davis, Steve Edwards, Aubrey Hirsch, Horia Gârbea, Sudha Balagopal, Emily Devane, Paul Maliszewski, and John Cheever.

Overall, this just reminds me to be more vocal about my appreciation for other writers. And don't ever think that a kind word or sharing a link to a favorite piece is an empty gesture; it can come at a crucial time for somebody. I've been in a very long, frustrating creative funk that I'm slowly coming out of, and having a writer kindly share my work was a much-needed boost.

Wigleaf Top 50 (Very) Short Fictions

Earlier this week, the literary journal Wigleaf announced their Top 50 (Very) Short Fictions 2017 list, selected by the wonderful Amber Sparks, who wrote a fierce, necessary introduction to her choices:

"Why stories? Why now? After all, the thinking seems to go – at least, in my social media hive mind – there are more pressing matters, more urgent issues. More rallies to attend, more phone calls to make, more abuses of power to resist. And all this is true – and it is urgent – and it is necessary to respond to the tyranny of the moment with all of our force and might and voice. At the same time, though, I feel certain that to lose our sense of story is to capitulate more absolutely in the face of fascism than any other surrender we might make. The stories we tell are the shape of the world, and the warning of the world to come or the hope of the world we might make. Writers have a unique gift to offer to a sick and sore society: the stories that can keep us alive."

I was caught by surprise when I realized my story "Love Bugs" was on the longlist of stories considered for the Top 50. Over the years, I've browsed and read some stellar writers on the Wigleaf 50 and the longlist, and seeing my name included this year, alongside some staggeringly talented writers, was strange and lovely.

Writing should never be about publications or recognition, but real talk: this year has been hard for me in a creative sense. I'm working on some new stories and even outlining a second novel, but none of my work has been accepted for publication, and the process of finding an agent and/or publisher for my debut novel has led to dead ends and radio silence. I know this is part of the game at times, but more than once this year, I've felt nervous, worried about what my writing is doing, and battling strange, random bouts of impostor syndrome. So, to see myself included on a longlist was touching, because it reminds me that I am doing good work (most of the time, anyway), and I just need to keep pushing and working.

Thank you, Wigleaf. And congratulations to the Top 50 writers! I can't wait to catch up on all the great work published in the last year.

The Literary Magazine Project: Introduction

In the past, when I updated this blog regularly, I often did two things consistently: 1.) I'd have a great idea, say something along the lines of "I'll write about this soon!", and then never get back to it. 2.) I'd recognize this failure, claim to not make plans in writing, and then the cycle would repeat again.

But in this case, I'm taking on a smaller scale project for 2017, and I think the benefits I'll outline here have merit.

The accompanying photo shows two shelves of back issue literary magazines and journals. While I'm sure others have much more impressive collections, I have to admit that I haven't finished a lot of these. There are a handful that I've read front to back, some issues I've read selections out of, and some that I haven't touched. People love to talk about collecting books, and this word has spawned endless memes and book posts. But what about literary magazines? Are they counted as books, especially when piled up? Or should they be considered their own class?

This also came about because there are many books I want to reread this year, and I realized that nobody talks about rereading literary magazines. I'm not under the assumption that I'm doing anything unique or radical. This is my own project, to help myself as I put more emphasis on supporting the literary community that has supported me.

I'm not concerned with definitions; what I am concerned with is dusting off some older archives, and giving new attention to pieces that might not have been widely read in the last couple years. When literary magazines are published, they receive attention, hopefully some sales, but this often isn't sustained. The bump in sales and clicks is probably at its strongest when the issue debuts. What I'm hoping for is a renewal of this energy.

So for the rest of 2017, I'm going to read these all from beginning to end, and I'll document hidden gems, early pieces from now well-known writers, and give older literature a bump.

I'll also add to my collection as the year goes on, through single issues that I find and through subscriptions that I'll be taking out in due time. As for online literary journals, I'll work those in, but I'm not sure how. For now, the focus is on the printed, physical ones, especially in this age when not many journals still produce actual magazines.

I started this last night, and I already made a pleasant discovery: I'm reading a 2010 issue of Eleven Eleven Journal, and I read an early piece by Alissa Nutting, one of my favorite fiction writers. I'll include more analysis when I report back on the issue, but this is what I want: to see the early development of writers, and to discover names that have slipped under my radar. Maybe these are writers who are still widely published; maybe I'll fall in love with a story by someone who published one piece of fiction in 2012 and never published again.

I'll either do single issue recaps, multiple issue analysis, or a combination of the two. I might incorporate online magazines as well, but this will mostly be devoted to the physical copies, old and new.

If anything else comes to mind, I'll update this post accordingly. For now, I like this foundation, and I'm eager to really get it moving.

"Love Bugs," Split Lip Magazine

With all the horrible things happening in the world to wrap up a terrible 2016, I feel silly promoting myself, but my latest flash fiction, titled "Love Bugs," is now live at the great Split Lip Magazine. You can read my story here, but I'd prefer if you'd check out the other voices in this issue. Click here.

Thank you to Kaitlyn Andrews-Rice, Split Lip's wonderful flash fiction editor. And a thank you to Amanda Miska, Editor in Chief, who's been such a wonderful fixture in the literary community, both as a writer and champion of others. She's essential, and I think her words in the introduction to this issue are best to close out this year. Let's all keep reading, creating, writing, and fighting the terrible, looming administration.

"This time of year can be hard. Holidays and darkness and cold and anxiety about what will come in 2017. I am choosing to be hopeful--it's a choice I have to make daily, because it's not my natural inclination. I am choosing to keep writing and publishing writing because I think Art matters and can change the world. It's not the only thing, but it's one thing. I am choosing to get out of bed every morning and try, which is all we can really ask of anyone." -Amanda Miska

Chicago Flashbacks: A 2013 Interview with Ben Tanzer

Two weeks ago,my girlfriend and I moved from Chicago to Lafayette, Louisiana, as she prepares to embark on her PhD studies at the University of Louisiana. While this is an exciting new phase, in a fantastically different landscape from the Midwestern lives we've been used to, there's also the challenge of immersing myself in a new literary community, one concentrated in what feels like a small town (in reality, Lafayette is the fourth biggest city in Louisiana, I believe; in addition to the University, there's a beautiful downtown and fantastic restaurants sprinkled in unexpected areas off the main roads).

I'm going to be teaching two English composition courses at the university, and once I get into that groove, and once we explore the city (and hopefully nearby New Orleans in due time), the transition will feel more complete. For now, though, I still feel pang of homesickness, and I remember why I started this blog in the first place: back in 2008, I impulsively moved to Washington state, and thought this would be a log of new landscape experiences. Instead, it turned into a film and book review blog, and the upkeep of this site led me to renew my focus on creative writing. Eight (!) years later, I have my MFA, I have a novel draft that's almost ready to send out (Hi agents! Hi publishers!), and I'm about to start teaching at the university level.

Where am I going with these ramblings? I've neglected this space pretty heavily over the last three years, updating sporadically, mainly showcasing my publications when they happen. I don't want to make any goals on how I'll dust off this blog, but I'd like to start with a piece of writing I recently unearthed. Back in 2013, I had to do an interview as part of a creative nonfiction assignment, and I reached out to Chicago writer Ben Tanzer. I'd read his work, loved it, and found him to be gracious and hilarious on social media. To my surprise, he readily agreed to take time and meet with me. Little did I know that I'd end up doing readings with him, and fostering what became a genuine friendship. In 2015, we read together for the book launch of Steve Karas' Kinda Sorta American Dream. After, we went out for drinks, and Ben insisted I ask him whenever I had questions about publishing, writing, or life in general. It doesn't matter if I end up moving back to Chicago or just end up visiting sporadically. Ben will always be a warm link to Chicago for me, and I'll always be grateful for his guidance as I stumble toward life as a professional writer (whatever the hell that means). So here's the transcript of my first meeting with him. I've edited parts (mainly to clean up some bad writing of mine), but almost three years later, I think this reveals some good ideas. Thanks, Ben.

Also, Ben has a new book out: Be Cool is now available from the great people at Dock Street Press. So if you'd like, read this and then order the book from your favorite independent bookseller.

Ben Tanzer Interview: October, 2013

The rise of social media has made it possible to blur the definition and distinction of "stranger." Last fall, I became acquainted with Chicago writer Ben Tanzer after I read and reviewed My Father's House, a novella published by Main Street Rag. Mr. Tanzer shared my review on his website and his social media feeds and sent me a thank-you email for my review. Since then, we've followed each other on Twitter and have been Facebook friends without actually meeting in person; however, I've met him twice in the last week.

I attended a book launch last Saturday at City Lit Books in Logan Square for Friend.Follow.Text., a collection of stories about digital culture, and Tanzer read his excerpt. The previous week, he agreed to meet with me as the subject for this interview, and I talked to him after the reading. We finally introduced ourselves, and actually had proper faces to put with our social media handles. We met the following Monday at the Starbucks on Wabash and Jackson. I wanted to interview Ben for a variety of reasons. In my opinion, his fiction explores contemporary masculinity in complex ways, not shying away from negative aspects. This is a subject I want to explore more in my own fiction and creative nonfiction writings.

Tanzer is interested in twenty-first century men, but he explained to me that he wants to write stronger female characters. This is yet another idea that I've been conscious of in my own work. With Tanzer, he explained this need not with any grand social meaning, but out a necessity for male writers to make sure they're not just exploring their own views and sensibilities.

Tanzer is very active on Facebook and Twitter, which ties nicely into his inclusion in the Friend.Follow.Text. anthology. He also maintains a blog and website, devoted to publicizing other writers and books, in addition to sharing reviews of his own work. However, he maintains a strict distinction between marketing and writing, saying "I would never market [myself] instead of write." I also asked him about his online persona. His blog is called This Blog Will Change Your Life, and online, he maintains a steadily sarcastic, hop voice. In real life, however, he's polite and expansive in his answers. He started the blog back when, in his words, "nobody was blogging," and he wanted to create a mini-universe and tongue-in-cheek "media empire," making it a fake corporate blog. This backfired on him at one point: an unnamed writer, upon reading Tanzer's debut novel, was disappointed that the book didn't literally change his life. He wrote a long complaint to Tanzer, who was perplexed that anyone could confused a literary work with an obviously satirical website.

My work with Longform.org has helped me familiarize myself with small presses and independent journals; that's how I discovered Tanzer in the first place. I stumbled upon his short story "The Gift," published in The 2nd Hand, after a random Google search for local journals. I asked him how he views the sheer number of places for writers to publish their work, both in print and online. He believes it's very good for writers, since it gives them wider audiences and readers. For readers, however, Tanzer maintains that the volume is good and bad. There are a lot of journals that publish work of poor quality, and the amount of reading available is such that one can never read everything.

This brought me to the final question of my interview. Tanzer is married with two boys, works full-time doing social media work for a nonprofit, and finds the time to write a variety of stories and novels (Orphans was released this week, with a starred review in Publisher's Weekly), in addition to reading a staggering amount of outside fiction. He's very strict about his time.

"If my wife and kids go out unexpectedly, I never look at it as 'oh, I have half an hour to myself to sit on the couch and watch TV.' I made it my writing time. I strip the fat out of my day." I asked him about this because I find myself daunted with my school activities and my day job, but Tanzer believes that, no matter how busy one is, there is more time in the day than most people realize. He makes his day segmented, balancing his outside responsibilities with his duties as a reader and writer.

This interview wasn't conducted out of a need to research a specific topic, but it was done because Tanzer represents so many intangible ideas that come up in my writings and research. I wanted to get his opinion on these ideas-masculinity, time management, and independent journals- because, combined, these make up the vast majority of my interests. For as familiar as I am with independent journals, I wanted to hear a new take on their numbers and qualities. And most importantly, I believe this interview has given me a new contact within the literary world; while Mr. Tanzer and I have been in touch over the last year, he's always been quick to answer my messages and questions.

He closed the interview by insisting that I email him with any further questions or to set up times to meet for coffee and more discussions. This was a genuine offer, and I'm confident that, should I need an outside opinion on creative matters or subjects, I have someone I can reach out to for insights and guidance. This will prove to be very valuable during the course of my MFA candidacy. So while I'm still considering various creative nonfiction projects, this interview provided me with an excellent face-to-face with a writer who touches upon my concerns.

"What is Possible:" 'Why Flash Fiction Essay' at SmokeLong Quarterly

Hey all. I have a new craft/personal essay featured today at one of my favorite literary journals/websites.

"What is Possible" examines the differences between longform and flash fiction, my own creative growth, and mentions some of my favorite contemporary flash fiction writers.

You can read my essay here.

Thank you so much to Virgie Townsend and Annie Bilancini for reaching out and letting me contribute to such a great conversation, hosted by a journal I've admired for many years. The previous entries have been written by some of my favorite people: Georgia Bellas, Leesa Cross-Smith, and others. I can't wait to see this project evolve more this year. "Why Flash?" has already sparked so many ideas and hypotheses for flash fiction, and I hope my entry does the same.

"Empire State Building" at matchbook literary magazine

I'm normally more punctual here. Last Monday, my latest short story went up at one of my favorite literary journals: matchbook literary magazine.

My story, titled "Empire State Building," is a piece of flash fiction about family tall tales, infrastructures, and a weird, mysterious possibility. It went through many drafts, and thanks to some terrific editing and assistance on the part of R.B. Pillay, it made its way into this new, final form.

You can read my piece here. Thank you to R.B. and Brian Mihok for their care and time with my work, and for allowing me to have space next to some of my favorite writers.

"America, This Is You" Now Up on Hobart

Happy 2016 (again), y'all.

I'm a few days late, but last Friday, the wonderful people of Hobart published a small piece of mine, titled "America, This Is You."

It's a section from my novel manuscript, but I'm not sure if it will remain in the final draft, or will just be this weird little piece of fiction on its own.

So if you like stories about Americana, families, game shows, and chaos, I think this will be up your alley. You can read the piece here.

Again, I love the people behind Hobart. They publish stellar work every week, and founder Aaron Burch has put a lot of my work into the world. And he took the perfect photo that accompanies my piece.

Beth Gilstrap Interview at Split Lip Magazine

The new issue of Split Lip Magazine is up, and I'm thrilled to have a contribution: I interviewed one of my favorite writers, Beth Gilstrap.

We discussed writing, social media, and pets. You can read the interview here, and the rest of Split Lip here.

Thank you to Beth for being an inspiration (her collection I Am Barbarella is one of my favorites of 2015), and thank you to Amanda Miska (Editor in Chief of Split Lip Magazine, another favorite person).

Book Reviews in The Collagist

It's been awhile since I last contributed book reviews, and I'm pleased to finally contribute to one of my favorite literary journals.

I reviewed three e-books for the November issue of The Collagist: Locked Away by Gabe Durham, Invisible Women by Lily Hoang, and Man Bites Cloud by Bob Schofield (Publishing Genuis, 2015). These are stellar, diverse writers, and I was honored to spend time with their words.

You can read my review here. And if you click here, you can check out the rest of this awesome issue.

Thanks to Matthew Olzmann, Gabriel Blackwell, and Michael Jauchen for being terrific editors and putting a lot of time into one of the web's best literary resources. I'm grateful to be a small part of it.

"The Cookie Sun:" Vol. 1 Brooklyn Sunday Stories

This should be a great week. I'm starting my final (!!) semester of my MFA on Tuesday, and thesis is rolling along. I always fail to meet timetables, but I hope to have a draft of my novel done by mid or late September. Exciting times. Overwhelming, exhausting, scary, but exciting.

Also, I have a new short story published! I'm thrilled to be this week's Sunday Story at Vol. 1 Brooklyn, a phenomenal literary website that has published work by some of my favorite writers. It's still weird to see my name there.

My story is called "The Cookie Sun." You can read it here.

I wrote my first draft of this back in 2009, not long after I moved back to Chicago from the suburbs of Seattle. While the first drafts sucked, it was part of my breakout, my transition from unmotivated writing to taking my work much more seriously. Last fall, I workshopped it for one of my creative writing classes, and I finally got it into the draft you can read above.

If you do read it, I hope you enjoy it. Thanks to Tobias Carroll and Jason Diamond of Vol. 1 Brooklyn for being astounding writers and literary citizens, and for giving my work a new home.

The Debut of HOBART HANDBOOKS

Aaron Burch and Jensen Beach have launched a new division of Hobart: Another Literary Journal: HOBART HANDBOOKS. I can't describe it properly, so I'll copy and paste from the "About" page:

"Envisioned as a kind of mash-up of all things Hobart-related (website, print issues, book division, goofy ideas), Hobart Handbooks will publish 2-3 books/year, likely alternating themed anthologies (focused on reprinting some of the best from the Hobart archives, as well as new work and art and design) with single author books, and possibly occasional special projects. Of course, like all things Hobart, it’s still a project in motion and, while we have some exciting ideas, we’re making it up as we go. But we’re excited to see where it goes."

The first-ever Hobart Handbook is a best of the annual online Hobart baseball issue, and I'm honored that "Hands of Grace," my first ever publication, is included, therefore making this my first ever print publication. Thank you to Aaron and Jensen for including my work. I've used the word "honor" a lot in promoting this collection, but I'm not using it lightly. It's an honor to have my work in this new project, and to have my fiction sharing space with some stunning writers, including (but even close to being limited to): Jill Talbot, Justin St. Germain, Ben Lyon, Jim Ruland, and Elizabeth Ellen, to name a few.

Want to buy a copy: click here. Until July 16th (tomorrow), the book is available for a donation. The minimum is $4 to cover shipping, the maximum is up to how generous you want to be.

The Hobart Handbooks website is here. There's a bundle option, so you can receive the baseball book, a forthcoming book by Micah Ling, and the third book in the Handbook series.

Again, I'm thrilled to be included in this kickoff. Read, donate, support!

Flutterfucked: Reading Snapshots

In order to devote more time to writing my novel, I've taken an extended break from social media. I haven't posted on Twitter and Facebook in two weeks. But that's not to say I'm completely off the grid: I'll admit to scrolling from time to time, and I've been more active on Instagram (it's an outlet and a pleasant distraction, but one that, for me, doesn't lend itself to endless, mindless staring).

I'm sure I'll have the occasional post in the next couple weeks; this isn't an endless break, just a small one, because I found myself thinking of all the time I spend gazing at a screen without any engagement. Of course, I'm still wasting time online, but it's easier to blink when browsing, say, ESPN or NPR for long stretches.

Being off social media means I haven't liked or shared my reading activity. I'm writing this to showcase some of the things I read this week that stuck with me.

1.) I finally read Juliet Escoria's BLACK CLOUD, a stunning collection of stories (with a linked theme of depression, addiction, and loneliness) published last year by Civil Coping Mechanisms. I've followed Juliet online for awhile, and the book had been on my to-read list ever since it came out. I snagged a copy at AWP and finally devoured it. Some highlights:

"The train comes but it has the wrong number on the front and I move myself to the middle of the platform, because suddenly I realize how beautiful it would be to jump. If there were swords in stones with the pricks facing outwards, I would surely hurl my heart at one, just to try it, just to say that I did. To see what it feels like to have something slice me open (85)."

"I wanted to stop speaking now, but I had already treaded too far. The words tumbled out of my mouth in ribbons, bitter and curling. I watched his eyes glaze over as I spoke. I watched his pupils turn into flat disks, dull and dry as paper (103)."

2.) The spring issue of Wyvern Lit was published this week. There are so many literary magazines out there, and Wyvern Editor-in-Chief Brent Rydin has done a stellar job of making each issue kill. Click here to browse the spring issue (including their first-ever inclusion of poetry!)

I made the story "Other Gods" by Emily Carpenter the Longform Fiction Pick of the Week. It's a stunningly crafted examination of weather, religion, and combinations thereof that lead to unexpected catastrophes:

"On the tenth of April, Our Heavenly Father sent a tornado that wiped out practically the whole town of Rosewood. Every family lost their home. The Murphys, Engels, Hillyers, Rathbuns, Randalls, Wyatts. Everybody. The grocery and the hardware store were smashed to pieces. The post office, the school, and the fire station—all gone too.

The only buildings left standing were the church, the armory, and my house. My house, praise the Lord, with me in it."

3.) I'm leaning toward making July a month devoted exclusively to my stack of literary magazines, but I started Issue 22.1 of Yemassee, co-edited by the stellar writer/reader Matt Fogarty. A poem by Rachel Mindell caught my eye right away with a terrific use of what is now my favorite word: "flutterfucked:"

...There's this good spot. We could just get
in any car. The miles would part their legs
for us headscarves all flutterfucked.
As it stands, I possess a near doctorate...

4.) And finally, something I should have written about a couple months ago. I'm super excited that Steve Karas' debut story collection, Kinda Sorta American Dream, is being published this fall by Tailwinds Press. I had the fortune to read this collection awhile back, and I'm thrilled it has found a home. Steve is one of the best short story writers and literary citizens around, and I can't wait to hold the book in its physical form. I'll update once there's a set publication date.

I'll do more updates, especially when I do my literary magazine project. I'm eager to read new and old journals that I've been collecting, and I'm sure there are plenty of brilliant pieces by writers with whom I'm unfamiliar, waiting to be discovered. Can't wait. And thank you for reading.

Hobart: Photo Credits

Preface: my Instagram account includes this disclaimer: apologies to actual photographers. I know people do some stellar work with cell phone cameras, but personally, I don't think clicking a few snapshots on my phone allows me to even look at the word "photographer."

Onward.

The literary magazine Hobart did its annual online baseball issue in April. I contributed stories in 2013 and 2014. Awhile back, editor Aaron Burch put out a request for baseball photos and artwork to accompany this year's fiction, poetry, and essays. When I saw this request, I realized I had several baseball-themed photos on my phone. I e-mailed them his way, and I'm really pleased with how the images paired with some stellar writing.

Frankly, I don't care if someone reads the writing and doesn't think twice about the images. The emphasis SHOULD be on the writing here, but anyway, here are my first "official" photo credits:

2015 baseball predictions by Andrew Ervin (a concourse shot from U.S. Cellular Field)

A pitching guide by Emily Nemens (a game shot from a Tigers-White Sox game in August)

Little League memories from Dylan Fisher (I took a walk by a baseball field early one morning and saw this solitary Yankees cap on a post)

A short story by Chad Schuster (my glove and a battered ball)


I'm honored that my images are paired with some terrific writers.


To close, the Hobart baseball issue also included a terrific short story by one of my favorite Chicago writers/lit citizens. Enjoy "Pop Up" by the great Wyl Villacres.

"Mythos:" WhiskeyPaper Story of the Week

I've been running around like a crazy person this week--in my novel writing workshop, we're starting massive manuscript edits, and in my Women's Literature course, I had to prepare and give an in-class presentation. And there's this writing conference I'm heading to today. AW...something.

So I'm using a rare 20 minutes of downtime for a cool announcement: On Sunday, Mythos, a piece of my flash fiction, was published as the story of the week at the great journal WhiskeyPaper.

I've been reading WhiskeyPaper for years, and they've published work by a staggering lineup of my favorite writers: Wendy C. Ortiz, Ben Tanzer, Amanda Miska, Sean H. Doyle, and many others. There's no way to say this and not have it sound obvious or trite, but seeing my work in the same place as these people is a fucking honor.

WhiskeyPaper is edited and run by the wonderful wife and husband team of Leesa Cross-Smith and Loran Smith. They edit and maintain such a wonderful literary home, and Leesa is easily one of the top five nicest, kindest writers you can ever care to meet.

The link to my story is here.

WhiskeyPaper recently published their first chapbook, a stunning, beautiful collection of stories by Robert James Russell titled DON'T ASK ME TO SPELL IT OUT. It's for sale here, as well as a delightfully awesome WhiskeyPaper koozie. There's photo evidence below:

We all love to share and support independent literature. But an even better way to support is with dollars. Keep indie presses alive.

See you at AWP!

"Chinatown" Now Live at Luna Luna Magazine

I'm really thrilled for my first publication of 2015. It's a short story called "Chinatown," published by the fine people at Luna Luna Magazine.

The piece is set in Chicago's Chinatown neighborhood and explores cultural awareness, loneliness, and fear. I wrote a first draft about three years ago. I submitted it to a literary magazine, and while it was declined, I received my very first personalized rejection letter. After including it in my MFA applications, I sat on it, dusted it off some more, and it received a lovely response from Amanda Miska, who's now the Editor-In-Chief of Split Lip Magazine. Amanda is a wonderful friend and editor, and I'm grateful she gave this work a home. It's one of my personal favorites, and I hope you'll give it a read.

Here's the link.