probably just a story

New Interview, New Blog

2012-02-01T10:29:00.003-05:00

I'm so happy to be interviewed at The Nervous Breakdown by Jen Michalski. Much is revealed. Some of what I have to say may well bite me in the ass. Also, we've dumped the go daddy site and switched Laura Ellen Scott over to a wordpress template. I'm still playing with it, but I wanted something brighter, busier, etc than what we had.

Back to being a novelist

2012-01-10T18:16:00.000-05:00

Death Wishing did not make a lot of year end lists, but it seems to be getting steady lovin'. Just yesterday, Scott Garson posted a moving little review on his blog--which he hardly EVER updates, so a mention there feels pretty damned special. A couple of weeks ago, Robert Swartwood included DW in his year-ender, which doesn't feature much in the way of chick-lit. On New Year's day, DW was picked

January 9, 2011

2012-01-10T17:23:00.000-05:00

Celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. We'll be having a party in February, where we plan to re-marry in an alien-themed ceremony. Yesterday we went to art galleries, ate and drank like sailors, and ordered Dean a new wedding band. He destroyed his burying a cat a few years ago.Left to Right: Father of the groom, Mother of groom, Bro of groom, Gram 1, Groom, Bride, Gram 2. This was taken at our

Oy

2012-01-04T19:58:00.001-05:00

Curio the creeper

2011-12-23T12:09:00.000-05:00

Unexpectedly, Curio is getting some year end attention. I hope you enjoy this interview in jmww. Beth Buchannan is the Writer-in-Residence at St. Alban's school in DC, and we talked at length after she invited me out to speak to her creative writing students in October.

heart sick

2011-12-22T19:49:00.000-05:00

Wednesday was a a bad one. Thursday wasn't so hot, either. We learned that the cause of our little Einstein's loss of appetite over the past 10 days was an inoperable mass constricting her small intestine. The oncologist detected several types of "bizarre" cancerous cells(her words, and she's a big deal researcher), none of which was reasonable to treat. She also said Einie's level of discomfort

Top secrets of 2011

2011-12-19T08:45:00.000-05:00

A very literary baby boy is due today, but then so are final projects for my class, and I bet those are gonna be late, too. Thinking good thoughts about little no-name-yet. Speaking of the final project, this year I'm a genius. Instead of requiring a revision, portfolio or self-evaluative essay, I made my students interview each other--Smokelong style. The results, so far, have been amazing.

Big Deal Round Up, Florida edition

2011-12-15T09:56:00.001-05:00

I'm writing this in the Palm Beach International Terminal after a great visit with mom. This morning my notes on "Being Indie" went up at the TNBBC blog. Yesterday, The Orlando Sentinel recommended Death Wishing as a Holiday gift pick for hipsters. The always-wonderful Jen Michalski also recommended DW as holiday pick at Karen Lillis' blog, Karen the Small Press Librarian. And on Tuesday I

Lurvely New Reviews

2011-12-02T09:15:00.001-05:00

About Death Wishing In the intro to my Book Notes Death Wishing Playlist largehearted boy says DW is a "charming and unforgettable comic fantasy that begs to be adapted into a feature film." About Curio Jack Kaulfus thinks my shorts are disturbing, in a good way.

Is this for real?

2011-11-26T11:38:00.001-05:00

According to the tickets/pass site for the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, I'll be on this panel: Women to Watch: Bright new talents Jesmyn Ward (Salvage the Bones), Ellen Baker (I Gave My Heart to Know This), Laura Ellen Scott (Death Wishing), and Jessica Maria Tuccelli (Glow) will discuss their latest works and their rise in the literary world. That's right. Jesmyn Ward.

Giveaway at Goodreads--in time for for Solstice Day!

2011-11-23T15:09:00.001-05:00

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Taking a breather

2011-11-21T13:09:00.001-05:00

The Barrelhouse party at The Black Squirrel was terrific, and Amber Sparks was amazing. The room was nice and full, the beer flowed, etc etc. Rather than read the intro again, I read three very short stories that came from the novel: "Do you know what it means to miss"/Juked, "Karaoke People are Happy People"/Storyglossia, and "The Dusty Bastards"/JMWW. But now no more travel until mid December

BIG Week

2011-11-19T09:45:00.001-05:00

So this week was/continues to be a whopper, starting off with a packed reading at Brooklyn's Greenlight Books, which was a semi-sloshy hoot with my publisher providing home-made hurricanes and Zapp's potato chips. Erin Fitzgerald trekked out to provide moral support and logistics, but I was reading on my own, no matter what this chalk and slate promised: I stayed on the 19th floor of a

3 fab things

2011-11-14T15:22:00.001-05:00

1) The provost has approved my promotion to Term Full Professor and the reappointment of my contract for five more years, effective August 2012. So I'm booked until 2017. 2) An amazing, a wee-bit spoiler-y review of Death Wishing at David Allen Barker's excellent blog. 3) My contribution to The Story, So Far feature at The Northville Review. (Yeah, I don't know what I'm talking about there,

Writing Tip

2011-11-13T14:26:00.001-05:00

When writing fiction, try to make it up.

Book tour adjustments, drama

2011-11-13T13:44:00.001-05:00

Back from readings in San Francisco (City Lights) and Seattle (Elliott Bay), only to learn that the author with whom I had been partnered is unable to continue with our schedule and will not be attending any of this week's events (Brooklyn, Providence, Arlington VA, & DC). As the Providence stop was something he had arranged with friends, that won't be happening now. However, we're hoping that

West Coast Beckons, plus mentions and reviews

2011-11-06T19:51:00.000-05:00

Off to San Francisco's City Lights for a reading Wednesday the 9th, and then to Seattle's Elliot Bay Book Company for a reading on Friday, the 11th. Both with start at 7pm. Love this mention about the Seattle reading: "Scott's Death Wishing is about a world in which wishing actually does something for a frickin' change." I've never been out to these parts of the country, so forgive my ignorance,

The Other Kind of Promotion

2011-11-04T18:56:00.002-04:00

A week ago I was in a room in what has been called the most haunted hotel in New Orleans, getting ready to out to a restaurant where later we'd disagree about the steak I'd ordered; it was either carved from God's back or merely "cooked in fuck" (Dean's theory). But before that, I got a call from one of my colleagues telling me that the department had met that day and unanimously voted to

More from the Louisiana Book Festival

2011-10-30T19:21:00.000-04:00

We are back from New Orleans and Baton Rouge, where I did three events--readings with Mark Yakich at The Garden District Bookstore and Antenna Gallery, and a panel on post-Katrina novels at the Louisiana Book Festival, which was a terrrific, inspiring event. I presented with the amazing Rosalyn Story, author of Wading Home, a novel that you need. right. now. Gorgeous prose and a riveting

Not enough data, surely

2011-10-30T19:18:00.000-04:00

At the Louisiana Book Festival, a woman came up to the table, picked up the book and gestured at me with it--as if I might not know what book she was talking about otherwise. She asked, "Is this good for a book club?" She never even bothered to read the back. "I think so," I said. "I'm speaking to a book club about it this weekend, in fact." "Oh what book club? I belong to Amy's book club."

Spotted in the wild, Plus the Poets & Writers Page One

2011-10-22T15:10:00.000-04:00

A friend sent these along. They're from the Barnes & Noble out at Tyson's Center: Very cool. I'm also told I need to make a much bigger deal out of making Poet's & Writers Page One: Where New & Noteworthy Books Begin column.

nice things and an update

2011-10-21T15:25:00.001-04:00

update first--the sun is setting on the giveaway of the kindle version of Death Wishing, but on terms that everyone can live with. Not sure when the Amazonians will flip the switch to OFF, so make sure your friends get their freebie before it's gone. Many more positive reviews now than stinkers, and among the latest is a lovely capsule review on Shelf Awareness. The reviewer, Natalie Papailiou,

I want to believe!

2011-10-18T17:28:00.000-04:00

First up, a big thanks to Robert Swartwood, who let me blabber on about a particular kind of murder book. Rob's latest is a collection of short fiction called, Phantom Energy, which looks like a winner. Second, I just received my formal invitation to panel at The 26th Annual Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival in March of 2012. Yes, this is the festival with the Stella/Stanley

Another weird week, yeah

2011-10-14T11:54:00.000-04:00

Most of the week has been slow-no sales, but I've been feeling the love. Three people close to me are in mid-read of Death Wishing, and they chose to gush at me about it yesterday, which, along with the posting of my Recommended Reading list at Ravi Mangla's excellent site, took the edge off my anxiety about the unexplained delay in launching the free Kindle version. And then there is/was today.

Maybe you can fill up on appetizers?

2011-10-12T20:53:00.000-04:00

I'm getting very distressed about the delay in offering the kindle version of Death Wishing for free. I know the publishers are doing what they can, and today I even talked to a human at Amazon (an amazonian?). In the mean time other good things are happening, like the fact that Necessary Fiction posted an excerpt today, and Curio is attracting readers again. So I will not whine. Not here.

No Free Lunch--Yet

2011-10-11T18:30:00.004-04:00

Complications on the free kindle version. Publishers are looking into it. Sigh.

Freedom: Death Wishing Giveaway

2011-10-10T04:19:00.002-04:00

So I am here at the cabin in WV, up a 3:30ish in the morning because my husband's cell phone went into beeping battery cardiac arrest. My cats are stalking & murdering moths, the dogs and man are snoring contentedly. I am effing blogging. Why? Tomorrow, the 11th, would have been the official release date for Death Wishing, but in fact the physical book has been available for a couple of weeks

A selected guide for new writers

2011-10-04T08:12:00.000-04:00

As part of my presentation for Pages & Places, I put together a handout designed to help writers ease into the lively world of literary writing culture. I've heard from some folks who wanted a digital copy, which is the reason for this post. Last night I showed this list to my class, and one of my students had a great question for me after--are there similar resources, pathways in other

The Scranton Report: Pages & Places Book Festival

2011-10-03T11:14:00.002-04:00

The Pages & Places Book Festival in Scranton, PA provided my first opportunity to take my Death Wishing on the road. I met the festival's coordinator, writer Bill Black, a couple of years ago when we both read at the 510 series in Baltimore, at which time he'd invited me to read at the fest. I begged off, explaining that I did not have a book to festivate. But this year I do, as does my dear

and it's only tuesday

2011-09-27T20:15:00.000-04:00

So people are starting to get their copies of Death Wishing from Amazon, and oddly enough some folks have reported getting two copies. Shrug. A fantastic review + giveaway went live at Erin Reads, and so far it looks like folks are responding very positively. One thing seems clear--I sort of have to put the book in people's faces, BUT that's working. I did the Last Rites reading in Baltimore

Versions & Releases

2011-09-24T17:37:00.000-04:00

So everyone I know who pre-ordered Death Wishing via amazon has recieved notice that the book has shipped and should arrive by September 28, well ahead of the publisher's release date of October 1. The release date is still listed as Oct 11 elsewhere, but I'm not sure if that means anything at all. A friend of mine noticed that the iBook version just popped up for pre-order along with a 23 page

A very good day

2011-09-20T20:07:00.000-04:00

My reading at Fall for the Book went very well. I saw a lot of familiar faces in the crowd, tons of alumz, and I signed many books. The tent was about half to two thirds full when I started, but by the wrap up it was SRO. I guess hearing some crazy lady reference butcher block table sex will make your average busy sophomore pause for a listen. While I was reading, Amye Archer's review of Death

skip your classes, I'll write you a note.

2011-09-19T08:55:00.000-04:00

Today I do my first reading from Death Wishing. Noon. The copy from the Fall for the Book festival Page: Laura Ellen Scott, author of the novel Death Wishing, teaches fiction writing at George Mason University. Her work has been selected for The Wigleaf Top Fifty and Barrelhouse magazine's "Futures" issue. She has twice been nominated for Dzanc's Best of the Web 2010 anthology. Novelist and

Obligatory Box O' Books Pic

2011-09-16T07:57:00.000-04:00

So the publisher made sure I got my books asap, and they are gorgeous. No French flap or author photo but I figured that wouldn't happen in this economy, and given that the book was rushed into production to meet the Fall for the Book and Pages and Places deadlines. It's been a great 15 hours so far, with eggplant ravioli, sazeracs, mst3k, and a 4 star rating snuck in by a book blogger on

Not Just Letters

2011-09-11T11:44:00.000-04:00

Hope you didn't stop by for 9/11 memories. Ours are only interesting to ourselves, and other people have much more important things to say. I hope they get a chance to do so. This newsletter went out to faculty and alums last week. Written by my Art Taylor. My mom made the necklace. And yeah, I always look like I'm about to snort koolaid out my nose.

Official Coming Out of my new Blog: Wish Tank

2011-09-07T20:45:00.003-04:00

To promote my novel, Death Wishing, and to create a little fun cross promotion as well, I've launched Wish Tank as a place to collect Death Wishes--as I've redefined the term, a Death Wish is a wish uttered before dying in hopes that it comes true. PLEASE send me a wish--submission details are on the About page. My publishers have pledged to donate copies of my book for a possible wish contest.

oof

2011-09-06T22:58:00.001-04:00

novel shipping from printers next week. oh shit http://igpub.com/death-wishing/

My Spidey Senses . . .

2011-08-31T08:57:00.000-04:00

. . .are tingling. can't sleep much. Also, my hearing impaired student told me I didn't really need to LECTURE THAT LOUDLY for his sake. To be honest, I'd forgotten he was hearing impaired.

It's the little things

2011-08-24T21:21:00.001-04:00

I have a "One Note" entry up at Small Doggies today. That was really fun. You probably heard we had a bit of a geological event here yesterday. Some nick-nacks and picture frames got broken. One of the aftershocks tinkled the hanging wine glasses. But at the time of the quake we were in a thai restaurant. I'm glad the manager laughed when I told him it was because the food was too spicy. After

My First Bad Review

2011-08-20T12:58:00.000-04:00

Well, it was bound to happen. Found this in a grocery cart tipped over outside the Lutheran church. Apologies for the poor scan, I'm a little too upset to put much effort into this. Click for bigger images. Sigh.

The Change

2011-08-15T10:57:00.000-04:00

This will be a boring post. Fair warning. Today is the due date for my promotion packet. I am currently a Term (non-tenure track) Associate Professor, with the opportunity to go up up for Term Full status. I have no idea what that means, but I do know it won't come with money because there is no money. But this is irrelevant to my post. Part of my packet includes a Teaching Statement, as it did

Good things come

2011-08-09T21:14:00.000-04:00

The reading tour is taking shape, especially with Elliott Bay and a really cool Writer's Center event added to the list. In feb I'll be doing a Writer's Center Open Door reading or something with fellow Mason alum, Matt Norman, whose debut novel, Domestic Violets, CAME OUT TODAY. Dean and I are only just talking about the travel plans, logistics. He wants to be with me at these things but he

Bizzy

2011-08-01T09:00:00.001-04:00

Ig's website has been beautifully reconditioned, and my page there is awesome. Gonna head off to WV for a few days this week, so I expect some catastrophe at work. I've made a very modest contribution to the "On Reading" series at The Laughing Yeti. My unnecessary review of John Minichillo's The Snow Whale is up at Plumb today. It's my brother Doug's birthday. I'd do something netty about

Dead Mouse Mysteries Presents: Why I was allowed to sleep in this morning

2011-07-27T11:26:00.001-04:00

Warning, this post contains images of death. For most of the summer my animals, two cats and two dogs, have not allowed me to sleep past 7 am, so why was I able to snooze until 9 this morning--trash pick up morning, of all days? I am quite a light sleeper under normal circumstances, but Dean is away and my thoughts are naturally full of serial killers--I should have been up at the crack of dawn.

Research Topics

2011-07-26T09:26:00.000-04:00

Starting work on the new novel, and already I realize I don't know enough about the following: Sysco operations towns/routes adjacent to Death Valley caramel corn promotional stunts desert marathon runners how to pour beer auto part delivery wildflower bloom of 2005 Timbisha Shoshone treasure hunting 80s culture for kids ephemeral lakes jobs in the DNR Welsh guys In other news, yesterday I

The Shopping News

2011-07-24T11:48:00.000-04:00

We have a Borders store just a couple of blocks from our home, but we stopped shopping there a long time ago when the place was overrun with vampire books and Glenn Beck memoirs. I feel very badly for the folks losing their jobs, though; they work hard. We stopped into the store yesterday, and it was a madhouse of activity, mainly kids running wild. But the discounts weren't worth the trouble--

Learning Smarts

2011-07-23T09:43:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I attended the inaugural Indie Lit Summit in DC, sponsored by the moguls and mavens of Barrelhouse and The Lit Pub, and facilitated—with charm and efficiency—by B’s poetry editor Dan Brady. The summit is a regional thing where literary editors and publishers convene to discuss the problems and opportunities of the day; in our case, the breakout sessions we decided on were marketing,

The Big Secret

2011-07-18T16:12:00.000-04:00

Right now my new computer is being shipped from Shanghai, which means that by July 21 or thereabouts I will begin writing my next novel. It's all rolling around in my head--set in Death Valley 2005 during the big bloom and there was enough water in Lake Manley to float a kayak. It's going to be a treasure hunt story with a quirky heroine who inherits a mystery house from a cowboy actor.I can't

updates

2011-07-14T11:13:00.000-04:00

Let's seeeeee. Just sent back galley corrections to the publisher. Working on website. Got my picture taken. All these have bw versions as well, but so far my 3 yr old publicity manager says, "I like the pink one!" The pics with the meerkats statuette are in my office (hence the FROM HELL graphic novel in the back). The Dylan/bird/shadowbox pics were taken in poets Eric Pankey's/Jennifer

Uncanny Valley's developing catalogue of the strange

2011-06-29T18:08:00.001-04:00

So Mike Meginnis' and Tracy Bowling's Uncanny Valley Press now has three web releases, and I think we can see a bit of a pattern developing. Curio, my 21 little ghost stories Sutherland Douglass' Peeping Tom 'Rockefeller', an excerpt from a fictional psycho-sexual memoir of 'Clark Rockefeller' Gabriel Blackwell's Neverland, a satirical exhibition from the infamous Discovery Institute, those

The Creative Response

2011-06-26T13:58:00.002-04:00

So we're sort of going nuts here on Planet Lala, preparing mentally for a book tour that's gonna have us zig-zagging the nation. I say mentally, because nothing concrete is being achieved, except on Mom's end. She's making necklaces for me to read at all the events. She made everything on this table, more than half of which were strung specifically for the tour, and there's another 5 or so

Advance Uncorrected Proofs arrived today!

2011-06-21T17:22:00.000-04:00

280 pages--40 more than expected. Can't wait to read it.

But surely not in this order . . .

2011-06-20T18:33:00.001-04:00

New Orleans Seattle Brooklyn Boston Providence Cleveland Chicago DC Philly Memphis Denver San Francisco Baton Rouge

De-sentiment

2011-06-15T08:39:00.000-04:00

Having a great couple of days here with a new novel idea sort of developing geometrically--a kooky desert romance + treasure hunt, maybe sorta like a 60s movie--and Dean says the concept is a winner, but I have to get my notes on the dry-erase board asap. Thing is, I don't want to erase the board because it has my Death-Wishing notes on it (once showcased at the defunct Hit and Run blog). I'm so

How to, by Charli

2011-06-10T09:43:00.000-04:00

Louisiana Stories

2011-06-09T16:15:00.000-04:00

My review of Sara Gran's Claire DeWitt and The City of The Dead went live late last night on Art Taylor's blog, Art & Literature: the Literary Blog of Raleigh's Metro Magazine, and today he interviewed me about Death Wishing for our department newsletter. I just finished a writing up a Q&A to go out with review copies, and I guess I'm relieved that the questions Art asked me were pretty close to

back to work

2011-06-05T19:34:00.002-04:00

today is the last day of vacation--we went to ocracoke last week, and both of us got colds. I'm still coughing, making really ugly noises in my chest. oh well, seeing as I've not had a cold since Nov 2009, I think I got off easy. We went out to a Louisiana music fest thing today, headlined by Trombone Shorty. Chances of him being referenced in tonight's ep of Treme, about 70%. "Show me something

Can I catch a break?

2011-05-30T07:42:00.002-04:00

How about if plot is just time?

shaping up

2011-05-19T17:22:00.001-04:00

So here at Mason, May 21 is Graduation Day. This year that's also Judgment Day. I don't remember Judgment Day from last year, was there a lot of traffic? I've known it for a while, but I'll be debuting Death Wishing at the Fall for the Book festival in September, somewhat ahead of the official release date of October 11. Then at the end of October, I've been invited to the Louisiana Book

Curio, reviewed by Ethel Rohan

2011-05-13T13:14:00.000-04:00

Early this week Ethel Rohan posted a beautiful review of Curio on her blog. I am very grateful for her kind words and careful read, but also for her honesty concerning her reluctance to read the collection. She was worried that the stories included wouldn't be "storied" enough, an anxiety I share about many contemporary collections. It's definitely true that along with a few conventional

Wigleaf Top 50 izzup!

2011-05-07T13:59:00.001-04:00

So my Wigleaf Top 50 news is complicated: 1) I've got two stories on the long shortlist: "The Brewsters" & "Last Seen Leaving," which appeared in Moon Milk Review and Smokelong, respectively, and are also collected in Curio. 2)Next year I will be on the Top 50 team, along with Ravi Mangla and Greg Gerke, and the new guest ed. (I know who it is, but it doesn't look like Scott has made a formal

Well alrighty. Galleys ahoy

2011-05-04T12:59:00.000-04:00

Looks like the publisher approves the revisions, has completed the line edit, and is rushing the copy off to the galley printers by the weekend. I get passed by this go-round because we're a tad behind schedule, but that's fine with me. There'll still be time to work with the galleys. Actually, they really liked the revisions, to the point of using four exclamation points to say so, and this

Hope no one was expecting me to get any work done this weekend

2011-04-29T11:05:00.000-04:00

Because I may be getting the pre-lim galley copy this weekend. To be sent on to the galley printers next weekend. Gulp Plus, we just started a weight loss program. Mainly in preparation for the book tour. How doomed are we? The main character of Death Wishing is a guy who is trying to lose weight in New Orleans.

beelines & pinballs

2011-04-22T09:17:00.000-04:00

Looking forward to a weekend at the cabin where I don't have to talk to anyone but Dean. I'm still talk-tired from last weekend's admissions event where not only were we swamped by potential English majors and their fams, but engineering and business and everyone else, because we're offering a new writing and rhetoric minor. They'd beeline to the communications table then pinball over to us--I

Death Wishing listed on Amazon.

2011-04-07T16:14:00.002-04:00

So my friend's mom asked her to check out Amazon to see if my book was listed yet, and it was so she posted it to Facebook. Which is how I found out. Yes, that is THE Dorothy Allison blurbing me. I'm buzzy and my ears are hot. The cover art is awesome, check out the wee little rats in the background.

Purring

2011-04-01T09:26:00.000-04:00

Writer Tim Dicks said a couple sweet things about Curio in an interview over at Flash Fiction Chronicles. But he also talks about writing flash every day, which should drive you over to his blog where you'll see his "Story every Day" project unfolding. Really interesting stuff, and it looks like he's up to #160. People should be talking about this project. I'll try to get to work on that. Over

Making the list

2011-03-28T16:46:00.000-04:00

Erin Fitzgerald's Storybucket 2011 is a compilation of suggestions, and for the time being the suggester identities are being withheld. Insanely I was dreaming about this thing for the past few days, really working up a lather. And today? Delight and confusion. Yes, one of my stories made the list, but it's a really random one from Curio called "Crimson." One that I almost cut, as a matter of

Prick of the Spindle 5.1 is live & my last

2011-03-23T09:46:00.000-04:00

The latest issue is live and chock full of features by me, mainly because Cynthia Reeser encouraged me to initiate a lot of projects last winter, and now they've come into being. Check out My interview with Steve Himmer. A round up of silly questions for Steve, Matt Bell, Paula Bomer, D. Harlan Wilson, Lee Papa, Ethel Rohan, and Joseph Young. A review of Joe Young's Name, where I seek

Curio Reviewed (at last!)

2011-03-19T10:51:00.000-04:00

Well, mini-reviewed, but damned sweet. David Barker was an early supporter of the project, and now he's the first reviewer. But the best part? (And here Robert Swartwood needs to listen up.) I don't know this person. We're not even FB friends. I don't think--hafta check. Also? A CANADAIAN OPINION. C'mon US, what're you scared of?

Why, it's revision-fest!

2011-03-17T21:13:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the fourth annual (fifth? we may have skipped a year)re-write of my West Virginia novel. This year we're working on making it sure it "jells" and features a "plot." At the cabin right now, and the peepers are outraged.

Exploiting my gosh daughter to further my fabulous career

2011-03-15T21:01:00.000-04:00

Rexine reads Garson over at Plumb. Btw, the url keeps sitting in my mind as "plumbdognet." Zatta prollem?

Curio the ebook has arrived

2011-03-11T12:28:00.000-05:00

Woweee, respect the tweet. Last night Curio was set free in ebook format, and we're using pay with a tweet or FB update, which has been pretty successful, especially after the support of some heavy taste-makers. I've been getting a couple of questions about the "free" status. It's not that I don't value my work. My thing is out there the way I want it, Dean taught himself how to do e-pubs, Mike

PLUMB!

2011-03-09T09:05:00.000-05:00

PLUMB is a lit & culture blog dreamed up by Charles Dodd White. My debut post is up today--it's about some DIY Katrina lit titles that I like. Other contributors include: Matt Baker Matt Briggs Kirby Gann Robert Kloss Sheldon’s Lee Compton Lavinia Ludlow Cynthia Reeser And The Terrifying PH Madore Too early to tell what flavor this project is, especially since I've been caught up in

P.U.

2011-03-07T08:37:00.004-05:00

Last week one of my students came back from a job & internship fair with a dismal report: Upon entering the site a suit-clad woman jumped up and demanded to know, “Are you a SHARK!?” (I suppose that counts as whimsy in the world of biz.) My student’s honest repulsion at how the professional world/professionalism was depicted at the job fair reminded me of when, in a moment of stress, I bitchily

"Stickers" is my autobiography

2011-02-25T11:16:00.002-05:00

The last story in Curio. It's my favorite.

Crimson

2011-02-23T20:13:00.002-05:00

Story 20 is a wee thing that reflects my fear of turnpike rest stops. It's also a vague tribute to the spirit of Shane Jones' Light Boxes. "Crimson" almost didn't make the collection, but now I'm glad it did, because 1) on its own it would have perished, and 2) the folks who have indicated they like it are an odd, unexpected bunch.

Last Week of Curio: "I Want to Kiss!"

2011-02-21T19:49:00.002-05:00

Story 19 was originally published Corium Magazine's debut issue, but in context of the collection, you finally get to see why Bun likes to carry a dead chicken around with him. In other news, I've gotten a glimpse at the possible cover art for my novel, Death Wishing, due our in October from Ig Publishing. It's completely crazy and I LOVE it. My main worry about the new title was that it seemed

"First Anniversary," Story 18

2011-02-18T21:31:00.000-05:00

"First Anniversary" went live today. It's based on our real life adventure of having found a guy out in the snow with a broken leg. I'd say almost all of it is true except the end, the car models, and the fact that Dean and I are not quite as old as Linda and Red. Only one more week of these to go. Also, I think I figured out/fixed most of the large edits for the novel--there were about 25 pages

"Inking"

2011-02-16T11:22:00.000-05:00

Brining The Chronicler and The Courier together in this one. The final story in Curio, "Stickers," depends somewhat heavily on this one. I like reading "Inking" out loud so I can shout the final 5 lines.

"Seckle"--Sweet Sixteen

2011-02-14T16:34:00.000-05:00

"Seckle" appeared in Double Shiny, but then vaporized. Guess they don't archive, which is a drag.The story is an extract from a humongous story I've been writing all my life called "The Temple of Love and Hate." It's about being a kid, then being a grown-up. It sucks, but the title is good and there are five little possum skulls in it. Apparently you can purchase a possum skull for $69 from a

aspiration, ohio

2011-02-12T08:02:00.002-05:00

Remember Simon & Garfunkel's "My Little Town"? Story 15 from Curio is my version of that song. "A Closed Throat"

Two Thirds

2011-02-09T19:09:00.000-05:00

"Last Seen Leaving" is the 14th story from Curio. It was originally published in last Summer's Smokelong Quarterly, something I never thought would happen. I have a virtual pile of SLQ rejections, so many that for a long time I refused to "like" SLQ on facebook because it seemed S&M to do so. In fact, I had given up on SLQ, but last February I did a reading at The Big Bear Cafe as part of the

You Told Me So

2011-02-08T17:21:00.002-05:00

I went to AWP and loved it. I was very nervous about meeting Elizabeth and Robert from Ig--they're the ones who are going to put out the novel, now titled Death Wishing, in October. But christ they are great people and christ they love the book. Plus, they seem to know more about it than I do, like what the ending means. We're going to be genuine partners on this trip. We had two great

Witch!!!

2011-02-07T15:56:00.000-05:00

This was fun to write. AWP de-brief coming soon.

"37 lbs" & AWP madness

2011-02-05T12:25:00.000-05:00

Story 12 from Curio went up yesterday and I missed it, mainly because I've been caught up in AWP action. Debriefing yet to come, but last night's Atticus Books Happy Hour at Bourbon was followed by the Smokelong/Corium/Prick of the Spindle reading at The Black Squirrel, and both events were terrific.

. . . and the hump story is "Moon walk"

2011-02-02T19:51:00.000-05:00

The 11th story in the 21 story collection is a streamlined version of "Moon Walk," which originally appeared in the Paycock Press anthology Gravity Dancers: Even more Fiction by Washington Area Women. "Moon Walk" is a straight up ghost story, the longest in Curio. Tomorrow I hit AWP hard, and I'll be armed with postcards to pimp the collection. Tomorrow night, I'm part of the dogzplot/wigleaf/

illegible undecipherable

2011-01-31T20:13:00.000-05:00

is Curio story number 10. It suggests the essence of horror for me, but I'm not sure it will strike anyone else the same way. I mean, it's not even a story. Wednesday will be a real story, regular length, too. Tomorrow, if class isn't canceled by the ice storm, we discuss chapter one of Steve Himmer's The Bee-Loud Glade, which is available for preorder now. I feel really privileged to have

Onions

2011-01-29T17:37:00.000-05:00

Numba Nine went live yesterday, and it's one of the stories from Curio that I was unsure of, along with "Spoon and Blade," but it turns out that those two stories have gotten really great responses. I have a good excuse for posting notice late--Thursday was my birthday and because of the storm our power was out for 21 hours. We didn't do anything, but waiting for light and heat is exhausting. I

A Fish Story

2011-01-26T12:49:00.000-05:00

"Spoon and Blade" it's getting too real with the novel. looks like I'm reading with Ig Publishing stable-mate Mark Yakich at City Lights next November. Dean just keeps blinking at me like I grew a new arm.

Bun Fun

2011-01-24T19:01:00.000-05:00

Bun likes to watch.

great weekend

2011-01-23T20:01:00.000-05:00

got my advance check got my birthday ipad got my syllabus done (garson/"captions", denza/"soap", mangla/"retention", and call&call/"snowstorm. . ." will be read in-class tuesday) got to hear the waitress say to her co-workers: "anyone here see a black book? you know, a book for reading?"

Meet the Grandson of The Ax Man of New Orleans

2011-01-21T09:11:00.000-05:00

Here. The Ax Man was real.

Drownded Demonds

2011-01-19T08:51:00.000-05:00

The fifth story from Curio is live. "Drownded Demonds" comes from two thoughts I couldn't shake--the fact that Dean kept finding broken knives in the woods, and my friend's mother talking about how they would use a chicken to get a septic tank started. This is one of three or four stories featuring Bun, a mountain man psychopath who has found his level. Recently James Robison did one of those

"Christmas Eve" in Curio

2011-01-17T13:47:00.000-05:00

Up today is "Christmas Eve," the first of several West Virginia inspired stories.

Ravi Mangla's Visiting Writers & Uncanny Valley

2011-01-16T10:57:00.000-05:00

Very excited by the news that Ravi's Visiting Writers series is slated for serialization by the great folks at Uncanny Valley. Back in March 2010, I was guest ed for Everyday Genius, and I launched my month with five pieces from the series because it was so special. Ravi's one of my favorite writers, and I've just decided to put him on the syllabus.

Curio Week One, Three Stories Up/Down

2011-01-14T17:36:00.001-05:00

Today Uncanny Valley Press posted "TheBrewsters," originally published in Moon Milk Review # 9, October 2010. The image here is Mike Meginnis' hilarious/ appalling interpretation of the Brewster children--I hope you love it as much as I do. Wednesday's post was "Bog Redaction," from last January's Wigleaf, and the first post on Monday was "The Second Prettiest of the Daughters," a new story. For

Laura's Big Day

2011-01-10T11:08:00.004-05:00

Curio is here at last! If you think you'd like to review it, lemme know.I've written a review of Erin Kelly's debut thriller, The Poison Tree.I go back to work today. Haven't seen the old place sine the 23rd.

CURIO is coming

2011-01-07T15:33:00.005-05:00

My collection of creepy little stories is due to launch Monday, January 10. Don't worry, I'll remind you. But just so you know what you're getting, there are 21 stories, and one will be posted each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday until they run out. There will also be downloadable versions of the entire collection, with illustrations and design by Mike Meginnis.The whole shebang is coming at you

Writing in public, 2010

2010-12-31T13:07:00.005-05:00

I've been trying to write this post for days but threw out my drafts. We're in the French Quarter for the holiday weekend, and I just received the contract for my New Orleans novel by email. Haven't had a drink but I feel pretty drunk right now. Not joking, I'm woozy.so, details. The publisher is IG Publishing, and we've been working back and forth since last new year's eve. There will be a few

Dear Recycling Team,

2010-12-21T09:48:00.002-05:00

Yes, that's an empty champagne bottle on the top of all those cat food tins. No, I don't think I'm Zsa Zsa Gabor or even Edina Monsoon. I had/have something to celebrate ahead of the official holidays, but as it's still an unofficial occasion for joy, I'll keep my yap shut-or full of $25 fizzy wine from the Korean grocery. (Back channel gossip welcome, though).