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Monday, July 21, 2008
Congratulations to Matt Bell
for winning the Million Writers Award this year with his AMAZING story "Alex Trebeck Never Eats Fried Chicken." A well deserved honor for a fabulous story. posted by katrina at 4:11 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Smoking With...Jennifer Pieroni
Catch the interview with writer and editor extraordinaire Jennifer Pieroni in this month's Smokelong Features, Smoking With... posted by Randall Brown at 12:19 PM 0 comments
Monday, July 14, 2008
A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness Winner Announced
Kathy Fish has chosen the winner of the A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness contest. Congratulations to Steven, who wrote:
"At 3 a.m., my molars stretch their tiny legs, strain to free themselves of my gums, whisper their plans to leave me and join my traitorous hair in some sunnier clime, some faraway paradise for the bits and pieces of slowly dismemembered heads, and all I can do is wish them well, wish I and my empty skull could go there too."
Labels: contest
posted by Kelly Spitzer at 7:55 AM 0 commentsThursday, July 03, 2008
A Review and CONTEST for A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness: Four Chapbooks by Four Women
A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness: Four Chapbooks by Four Women
Published by Rose Metal Press
A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness: Four Chapbooks by Four Women is a triumph for flash fiction. This is not your typical anthology, with one story per author. While those are good too, A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness provides a richer experience. Each author--Amy Clark, Elizabeth Ellen, Kathy Fish, and Claudia Smith--explode onto the page with an entire album of flashes. And as with any album, you'll discover a favorite "song," you'll learn the versatility of the artist--their range. You'll play the album again and again and learn the order of the songs, memorize the lyrics.
Each artist in A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness has a different voice, a distinct style. The book starts out with Kathy Fish's chapbook "Laughter, Applause, Laughter, Music, Applause." It's a wise choice for the lead. Kathy's flash is concise, surprising, and she has a gift for using words that will amaze you. Amy Clark's chapbook, "Waiting," follows. Amy takes more time with her work--her flashes tend to be longer, the timeframe more drawn out. Speaking of time, Amy likes to play with the concept. Many of her stories switch between the past, present, and future tense, which makes for an interesting read. Next up is Elizabeth Ellen with "Sixteen Miles Outside of Phoenix." Elizabeth's work is intimate. She gets right in there and gives you what she's got. Many of her stories focus on relationships and that tumultuous concept called love. Claudia Smith, the winner of Rose Metal Press' first annual chapbook contest, anchors the team with "The Sky is a Well." Claudia has a knack for nailing titles, and her writing is exceptionally eloquent. Like Kathy Fish, childhood is a common theme in her work, and often, her stories illustrate how the world can be a dangerous place for girls.
If you're a fan of flash fiction, A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness is a must-have. But if you're a fan, you already know this. You already know what it feels like to hold such a precious item in your hands. And you know that opening the cover for the first time is akin to that flutter you get during a hot kiss. If you're new to flash, this collection is a great introduction to the form. The stories within are engaging, thought-provoking, strong. They will force you to pay attention, to look closely, and deeply, at the subtleties of life. Like music with metaphor, the stories will demand you listen.
Interested? You can order A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness here, or, you can try and win a copy by entering the "My Own Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness Contest." Details are as follows...
WIN A COPY OF A PECULIAR FEELING OF RESTLESSNESS
In the comments section of this post, share your own "Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness." Be creative. You can write fiction, non-fiction, poetry, lyrics, etc., and interpret the theme widely. The ONE RULE is your entry must not be longer than ONE LINE. And please don't be clever and write three pages without any punctuation. One line, with a reasonable word count.
Deadline: Friday, July 11th
Judge: Kathy Fish
Winner Announced: Monday, July 14th
Labels: Amy L. Clark, Claudia Smith, Elizabeth Ellen, Kathy Fish, reviews
posted by Kelly Spitzer at 7:40 AM 22 commentsTuesday, July 01, 2008
Top Ten Page Views for June 2008
Almond moves back on top again, and I'm sure that's due at least in part to Microsoft's pervy search engine results, but whatever. Lots of stuff from the anniversary issue appears here as well, and it was a huge traffic month: over 90,000 page views, our highest-traffic month ever. Can't complain about that!1. (2) Pornography by Steve Almond (6/15/05)
2. (5) Ten Very Short Stories by John Leary (3/15/07)
3. (NR) The Folk Singer Dreams of Time Machines by Matt Bell (6/15/08)
4. (NR) Disease Relics by Blake Butler (6/15/08)
5. (NR) Paper Mouse by Bob Arter (6/15/08)
6. (NR) The Bone Orchard by Randall Brown (6/15/08)
7. (NR) We Decided to Make Porn by Brian Allen Carr (6/15/08)
8. (NR) Ethnic Lego Girls Carry Spears by Heidi W. Durrow (9/15/07)
9. (1) The Cockroach by David Barringer (3/15/08)
10. (NR) Memento Mori by Rosanne Grifeth (6/15/08)
One thing I really notice about the top ten is that a number of these pieces were highlighted in various blogs recently: Matt Bell's piece was featured by Dan Wickett here, Dogzplot here, and in Matt's own blog here (along with links to every other story in the issue); Matt and Blake Butler were featured by Josh Maday here; Blake is also featured by Keyhole Magazine here (as are Rosanne Griffeth and Shellie Zacharia), and in his own blog here; Randall Brown's piece appears on his blog here; and Rosanne, in addition to the Keyhole feature, is featured by The Angler here, Carolina On My Mind (the blog of the artist who illustrated the story) here, Dew on the Kudzu here, and in her own blog here.
Labels: Blake Butler, Bob Arter, Brian Allen Carr, David Barringer, Heidi W. Durrow, John Leary, Matt Bell, Randall Brown, Rosanne Griffeth, Steve Almond, Top Ten
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