Timothy Gager News

Final Fenway Fiction includes a story of mine. (Go Sox!)

2012-01-27T10:54:00.000-05:00

“A simply marvelous collection! A must-have forany true Red Sox fan!"

Tom Adelman, author of The Long Ball,about Further Fenway Fiction

The third and the final installment of the Fenway Fiction series has a story of mine in it called "Six Facts about Influencing Baseball in Heaven", where God ends up telling Harry Agganis that he'd better forget about the Red Sox. The new FFF anthology is again brought to you by writer, editor and fan Adam Pachter.

Cornerstone Book Publishers and Adam Pachter are pleasedto announce the release of Final Fenway Fiction. Ever since 2005, the FenwayFiction series has chronicled the Boston Red Sox through short stories,novels, plays, and poetry. Now the series comes to its exciting conclusion in FinalFenway Fiction, and the book's 23 contributors touch every base in the bestcollection yet. Within these pages you'll travel back to Babe Ruth's time and athousand years into the future, visit the beaches of Normandy and Big Papi'sfavorite Dominican restaurant. You'll cheer from the Fenway stands and thecoast of Ireland, revisit World Series highs and late September swoons. So puton your Sox cap and crack open a copy of Final Fenway Fiction. Theseries may be ending, but your love of these Red Sox stories will go on and on.

Featuring fiction from novelists:

Henry Garfield (Tartabull’s Throw)

Rachel Solomon (Number 6 Fumbles)

Kim Ablon Whitney (The Other Half of Life)

Comic book author:

Ron Fortier (Terminator: The Burning Earth)

Playwright:

David Kruh (Curse of the Bambino)

and Singer:

Al Basile (The Goods)

Final FenwayFiction: More Short Stories from Red Sox Nation edited by Adam Pachter

ISBN: 1-613420-29-3

ISBN 13: 978-1-61342-029-4

Published byCornerstone Book Publishers

Release date: 02/01/2012

Retail Price: $21.95

available atmajor on-line booksellers and from the publisher at:www.cornerstonepublishers.com

National Public Radio, WUWM, Milwaukee will feature a flash piece of mine.

2012-01-24T14:05:00.004-05:00

One of my flashes will be read by Robert Vaughan on NPR, WUWM, The Lake Effect on January between 11-12 noon, EST. You can stream it HERE live and it will be archived HERE

Robert hosts Flash Fiction Fridays at this NPR affiliate every week. The anthology of 2011's stories can be purchased here. Writers include Meg Tuite, Sheldon Lee Compton, Susan Gibb, Len Kuntz, Julie Innis, Sam Rasnake, Susan Tepper, Joani Reese, Christopher Allen, Sara Lippmann and many more.

Various Interviews

2012-01-12T10:17:00.000-05:00

On my credits list I don't list any of the interviews that I've been asked to participate in. As always, I'm grateful for the opportunities that have presented themselves. Here's a few that cover a variety of subjects having to do with writing and editing, personal or otherwise.

3/2011 Smoking with Timothy Gager (Beth Thomas)

1/2011 Dark Sky Magazine (Brad Green)

11/2010 Fictionaut (Nicolle Elizabeth)

3/2010 Six Questions For... (Jim Harrington)

6/2009 Nibble (Jeff Fleming)

5/2009 Recommended Reading (Ravi Mangla)

5/2008 A Talk With a Dire Reader (Doug Holder)

5/2007 Mad Poets Blog (G. E. Ruetter)

New year, new story--"A Circus Story" in Right Hand Pointing

2012-01-01T11:29:00.001-05:00

I'm pleased to be in the 50th issue of Right Hand Pointing, which is not pictured to the left. (This issue, officially numbered at 47 but this disparity is explained on their site).

That said, there are many stories or poems based on the circus. Charles Simic, for example, had a good one called Country Fair.

There have been great movies too. Trapeze with Burt Lancaster stands out as one. Big Top Pee Wee, not so much. Water For Elephants, as a movie, it was a great book.

F. John Sharp noticed that many of my writings have metaphors or story lines which involve the circus. I wondered why, out of the blue, he made this observation?

The answer was that he had just read and accepted, "A Circus Story" for Right Hand Pointing #47. That fact that I'd written and critiqued with John for over six years helped this piece find a home.

Also finding a home are the following folks:

In This Issue

2011-My year in publishing.

2011-12-28T18:15:00.001-05:00

Here's the count: A total of 53. 26 Flash, 25 Poems and 2 works of Non-Fiction plus 50,000 words for "An Angry Therapist's Thursday Appointments" . Here's a chance to read them all and comment on the ones you like. Oh, yeah, the Bruins won the cup. Fear the beard!

FICTION

"Aspirations" , "Action Figures" Unshod Quills

"Becoming a Couple" , Metazen

"Things About Callie" , Blue Lake Review

"I Don't Know Who You Are" , In Between Altered States

"Home Invasion" , Fried Chicken and Coffee

"Fireworks" , Squawk Back #31

"Multiplicity" , Midway Journal

"Shooting Them Out" , U.M.Ph.!

"Last Call" , Curbside Splendor

"Channeling" , "Bipolar" Red Fez

"A Little Slice Of" , not from here, are you?

"A New Life" , "What's in the Clouds", "Some Sort of Anonymous Meeting" Thunderclap V

"Everyday There Is So Much about Elephants" , Smokelong Quarterly 31

"Bonfire" ,Prick of the Spindle

"The Recital" , "Divided" The Legendary

"Not the Stuff of Fairy Tales" , RE: Telling

"The Things We Have" , In Between Altered States

"They Covered all the Rust Spots with Bumper Stickers" , 1 AM Project Zine

"The Soul Must Go On" , Metazen

"Entertaining Just An Option" , Monkeybicycle

"How to Give Dating Advice as a State Social Worker" , JMWW V

POETRY

"often they fall from the sky"
"Exposed"
"Salmon Fishing in Alaska "
Dead Mule School of Southern Literature

"Back In Boston"
"Her Car is Officially Dead"
U.M.Ph.!

"In A Jam"
Truck

"Seasonal Affective Disorder"
Durable Goods 2009-2010 Anthology

"What do Men Want (in response to Kim A)"
Poor Mojos Almanac, #540

"Forgiveness"
"Wait-You Can't Hide It"
Istanbul Literary Review

"When I'm Drunk I Think About Phoenix"
The Endicott Review Vol. 28, Issue 1.

"An Ocean Inn"
Bagels with the Bards 6

"Falling For An Attached Woman"
Referential Magazine

"When you live by yourself"
Muddy River Poetry Review

"I take my date and her Kid to the Zoo"
"A Circus Memory"
"All That We Ate"
"A Fifth of Scotch"
"Like Moths in the Night"
Curbside Splendor, Volume 1

"When it is Still Winter"
riverbabble 18

"the girl this weekend"
"An Angry Mel Gibson Gets a Dog"
Howls and Pushycats

"The rain is like the Things You Couldn't Stop"
Wilderness House Literary Review

"The Enabler"
"starting a poem with "sometimes" is really weak"
Gutter Eloquence

ESSAY AND NON-FICTION

"Dire Series Memories"

February 9, 2011, The Somerville News: Lyrical Somerville

"My Personal Catelog of Dating Drinkers and Non-Drinkers"
January 31, 2011, Drinking Diaries

Quite a line-up at Unshod Quills: "You're gonna need a bigger sandwich"

2011-12-14T09:30:00.001-05:00

The list of contributors and work in December's Unshod Quills is really fantastic (see below). I love a good themed issue, especially when there are many themes. Dena Rash Guzman and Wendy Ellis set up this issue with the following themes: Love--Coffee--David Bowie--Joan of Arc--Enough Rope--Childhood--Dancing About Architecture.

I have two new pieces in this issue, "Aspirations" and "Action Figures". In "Aspirations" the story involves a struggling individual reflecting on collectables offered at fast food restaurants. The second piece, "Action Figures" is a vamp about bendable figurines modeled after literary figures--but, it's really not about that. Check out what the issue's other writers came up with on these themes!

Contributors

New story in Metazen ---"Becoming a Couple"

2011-12-08T11:43:00.001-05:00

I must say, I love Metazen. I think they "get me" and that's no small task.

Editor Christopher Allen selected, "Becoming A Couple", a story about caring, knowing and then going out of your way for that woman. A fickle person can make something bad out of that, because there is only one perfect algorithm for the creation of a beautiful relationship but infinite possibilities which can lead to failure. That fickle person doesn't have to look, or work to make up excuses, because any of them will do at the time they are needed.

Writing can be cathartic, at times, but also, at others, communicative. Last August, during a brief open window was when "Becoming A Couple" was produced.

Also of note, Jason Jordan from What to Wear During An Orange Alert was reading it too!

Me and The Circus

2011-12-04T00:23:00.001-05:00

F. John Sharp from Right Hand Pointing noticed the circus often pops up in my stories and poems. He's correct, of course and what follows are examples of this :

The following quote is from the "Smoking with Timothy Gager" interview at Smokelong Quarterly

“The opening sentence also chains to the one that follows. I have many friends that champion causes and during the week this was written I'd heard from two about how I could change the life of an elephant by protesting the circus. The circus comes up often in my stories and poems, so off I went. “

Below you can click the links for pieces from where the circus calls me.

"A Wing, A Prayer and A Tall Man"
Word Riot

"People Find Comfort in Repetition"
Poem Hunter

"Falling For an Attached Woman"
Referential Magazine

"Everyday There is So Much About Elephants"
Smokelong Quarterly

"The Soul Must Go On"
Metazen

"A Circus Memory"
Curbside Splendor

"The Best Interest of the Child"
Thieves Jargon

From my unpublished novel An Angry Therapist’s Thursday Appointments

A clown cloud is juggling balls. There’s one for work, one for school, one for family. The
clown drops a ball. Distention happens on its own. The clouds house more of the circus. I
see Siegfriend and Roy with some white tigers. Is it a mirage because Roy is still whole.
He was attacked, lived and spoke. “Don’t shoot the cat,” the cloud said. I find myself
saying that to myself. Don’t shoot the messenger. No one listened to Roy. I’m listening to
the clouds.

New Blue Lake Review story and A Pushcart Nomination

2011-12-01T20:43:00.001-05:00

The Blue Lake Review published for your enjoyment, Things About Callie, one of those ditties that if I have to explain, it's just not funny.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Across the continent "Back in Boston" was nominated by U.M.Ph.! for a Pushcart Prize.

I totally appreciate the nomination from the hard working and talented, Mignon Ariel King. It tells the story of traveling to places and seeing people whom now seem to be as far away as one can possible be.

Back in Boston

It’s been raining every day:
smacks down onto sidewalks,
roads that seem more curved
than before, falling loud
the run off has been brutal,
you’ve soaked me once more.

I hear bits of conversation
from the homeless
huddled in doorways
one turns to another,
“A standing poodle is a substantial dog.”

and the force of this storm
hits a woman’s plastic bag,
which covers a wedding dress,
like a snare drum,

and a man turns to his wife,
says, “I hope it stops soon,”
but she can’t hear him
say, I need you
in my life, I love you.
as a door is held open
for her,

and it falls even harder, for me,
the world washes away,
the weather, fine
over where you are--

the sun brightly shines.

------------------------

I actually do know who you are, and where you are from.

2011-11-28T09:56:00.001-05:00

My flash piece, I Don't Know Who You Are, appears today in In Between Altered States-19, (the theme of which was denial).

Aleathia Drehmer runs the show both there and at Durable Goods,a printed micro-zine. My story is an excerpt of my unsigned novel, An Angry Therapist's Thursday Appointments. Ethan is one of the characters found within, whose struggles are met often with denial. All I can say about Ethan is this: The kid is going to be a real heartbreaker.

If you are interested in the background of The Who in Cincinnati tragedy, check the link out HERE. Check out the other fine and dark work of Len Kuntz, Shawn Misener, Kevin Ridgeway, Michael Goscinski, Cheryl Ann Gardner, Josh Olsen and Calvin Fantone in this issue.

At Rumored.com, A Holiday Book List with some great unsung authors

2011-11-19T09:36:00.001-05:00

Jon Konrath, author of A Fistful of Pizza, and editor/publisher at Air in the Paragraph Line, offers up a list of books for the Holidays, which includes Treating a Sick Animal: Flash and Micro Fictions. So, ho, ho, ho....

I've copied and pasted his text below but if you care for his posting, it is found HERE

Your Holiday Shopping List, Should You Choose To Accept It

Posted on November 18, 2011 by jkonrath

It’s almost Christmas! Or it’s almost Hanukkah, and maybe it’s almost Kwanzaa (not sure), and it’s definitely almost the Firestorm, if you worship Satan. But it’s definitely that time of year where you spend your hard earned money on carefully thought-out presents for all of your family, and maybe get a fruit basket in return. And a week from today, the criminally insane will converge on local big box stores to beat the shit out of each other to get a crappy DVD player made by slave labor in China out of toxic plastic, that will work for roughly 37 minutes before exploding.

So, you looking for some gifts that aren’t made by children in sweatshops that might actually promote an artist and maybe make a person think? How about some books? Here’s my list of books I’ve read lately that aren’t big-6 published, written by people without a massive marketing budget:

Small Town Punk by John Sheppard – This is probably one of the best self-published books I’ve ever read. All of John’s stuff is awesome, and maybe I’m biased because I published Tales of the Peacetime Army. Make sure to get the original 2002 edition, and not the 1997 abortion. (It’s not in print, but there are many copies floating around for $5, which is the best five bucks you could possibly spend.)

Mostly Redneck by Rusty Barnes – I only know him as a friend-of-friend through Timothy Gager, which was enough for me to put down the cash. This is 18 short stories of hard living in rural Appalachia, and each one is so precisely crafted, with absolutely no waste. He’s got a way of really haunting you, getting something wedged very deep in your head in a thousand words. Great stuff.

Treating a Sick Animal by Timothy Gager – Speaking of, check out Gager’s latest collection of flash fiction. It contains 40-some shorter pieces, each just as lethal as the last. What’s even more amazing than the quality of his writing is the tremendous speed at which he turns out this precision work. He’s probably written four stories better than anything I’ve ever done in the time it takes me to finish this post.

How Some People Like Their Eggs by Sean Lovelace – Lovelace is a writer in Indiana (he teaches at my sister’s alma mater of Ball State) and he has a blog that almost entirely talks about nachos. There’s two things I like about this chapbook, aside from the quality of the prose. One is that Lovelace has a way of coming up with very unique forms, twisting and clever structures that make me think, “god DAMN why didn’t I do that?” (Example: the titular piece is a list of how famous people like their eggs.) The other thing I like is that this is a real damn chapbook: a carefully designed, really printed on quality paper chapbook. It’s not just a POD 6×9 trade paperback, which is awesome.

Johnny Astronaut by Rory Carmichael and I, An Actress: The Autobiography of Karen Jamey by Jeffrey Dinsmore – These are both kindle reissues of the Awkward Press editor’s earlier novels. He’s added bonus materials to both, and priced them at 99 cents each, so they’re well worth the look.

Between Panic and Desire by Dinty W. Moore – This is truly awesome creative nonfiction, the telling of a person’s life in hilarious autobiographical sketches, knitted together in a way that tells more than the whole story, and then breaks to throw in some quiz questions or go off on a different tangent. It’s like a mix of Vonnegut at his best, but replace the aliens with tripping acid at the top of the World Trade Center.

Powering the Devil’s Circus, Redux by Jason Jordan – A collection from the editor of decomP, this is a dozen stories and a novella of experimental work, with plenty of mention of metal, which I of course like.

Tomorrowland by Grant Bailie – The UPS guy literally showed up with this one as I was typing this post. It’s a collection of interwoven stories, and looks promising. I loved his books Cloud 8 and Mortarville, so this looks awesome.

Fistful of Pizza by Jon Konrath – Most importantly, buy my damn book! Nine twisted stories, and it’s only 99 cents on the kindle. Break in that new Kindle Fire by reading about a parody of the Ben Hur chariot race, filmed with small breed dogs around a set designed like a 1970s Times Square filled with heroin addicts and pornographers. Also available in print for you luddites.

Certainly not dead....three poems at Dead Mule School of Southern Literature

2011-11-15T07:40:00.001-05:00

I'm pleased to find three poems of mine today in the Dead Mule School of Southern Literature.

Dead Mule School of Southern Literature has been around for fifteen years. It started in 1996 and if you observe the comings and goings of literary journals, both in print and on-line, you'll know that they are one of the longest running shows out there. In Dead Mule, each poet and writer writes a southern legacy statement which I fine much more interesting than writing a bio and in some cases more interesting than the actual work. I hope this was not the case for me, as I anticipated this and made my legacy statement very thin in content.

In their 15th Anniversary Issue, Dead Mule features three of my poems: often they fall from the sky, Exposed and Salmon Fishing in Alaska. The first one is about the angels on this earth. The second is about having feelings and emotions, that leave your inner-most self exposed and the last is a really old poem that has finally seen the light of day which I will dedicate to my friends that fished one summer from the University of Delaware.

"Disconcertingly Sexual Writing"

2011-11-14T20:43:00.001-05:00

Heard from Editor, Zachary Block of Squawk Back and my piece, Fireworks, which he calls "A disconcertingly sexual prose poem" is in their issue 31.

Read it HERE

Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental

"Home Invasion" is fifth piece of mine in November to invade your home.

2011-11-14T15:38:00.001-05:00

The journal, Fried Chicken and Coffee is not named after Red Sox pitchers Lester, Lackey and Beckett's locker room habits. Just to be clear, is named after a song by the band Nashville Pussy. and it does my heart good to mention that.

My story, "Home Invasion", which appears in Fried Chicken and Coffee, is a bit of a leap for me in subject matter, but I blame this on my writing group and a series of writing prompts from "news stories". Siegfried and Roy were in the news that day, as was Dwight Gooden, but when you read this they're not exactly in the story. Instead, it involves a squatter, a mountain lion, a small dog and a woman, who is the dog's owner--so, check it out! (My animal, pie, and sports obsession manage to find their way into this piece.)

Three in U.M.Ph.!

2011-11-02T20:10:00.000-04:00

Besides the story in The Midway Journal, more of my work appears today. U.M.Ph. published a flash piece, "Shooting Them Out" plus two poems, "Back In Boston" and "Her Car is Officially Dead". Now that's some oomph!

Multiplicity published on Midway Journal today/

2011-11-02T09:28:00.002-04:00

Multiplicity is my first piece of flash that has been published since June. For me, that is a long dry spell but things have happened, such as novel writing through April-early July. I did not submit much of anything during that time, unless by request and as they say, "nothing leads to nothing".

Sometimes things fall into place, as I'll tell you about this piece and how it ended up in the hands of the editor. Every Saturday in Somerville, a group of poets nicknamed The Bagel Bards meet, talk writing, and drink lots of coffee. It's a great social/poetry group where everyone is invited. One Saturday in June, Ralph Pennel dropped by to promote The Midway Journal and tell folks that they are open for submissions. Here it is November and Multiplicity is now up and ready to be read. It features works by Ray Gonzalez, Elizabeth Aoki, Drew Jennings, Richard Lovejoy, Sarah Katherine McCann, Lucas Pingle, and Phillip Sterling.

This week is big for me. My son is in his High School production of Hairspray , I host my monthly Dire Literary Series, I'm having a birthday and perhaps the most unbelievable event: my one year anniversary of my last drink. At first I worried how my sobriety would effect my writing narrative, plot, or even in my darkest of thoughts, effect my willingness to write at all?

Multiplicity was one of my earliest flash pieces in my sobriety and I found it interesting how all of the above came together. Keep checking back...the dry spell is over.

P.S.-The kids really own and love rabbits

Coming Soon, Anti-Social Network, a chapbook of poetry from Redneck Press

2011-10-20T13:41:00.000-04:00

Rusty Barnes reported it on their site HERE but basically it says this....

In exciting new news, Redneck Press and Fried Chicken and Coffee will be publishing three poetry chapbooks in 2010/2011: new chapbooks from Dennis Mahagin, Timothy Gager, and Rosemary Royston.

Kenneth Clark's Eggs of American Songbirds was officially released on 12÷13÷10.

Submissions for the 2012 chapbook series are open. Please use Submishmash and be sure to include details of why you think Redneck Press/FCAC is the right press for you. Please don't send me bullshit. Read the blog, the stories, the poems, the manifesto, and be sure you've read a published poem or two within the last century and can demonstrate that knowledge by what you've written. You could buy and read our first chapbook release, too. That wouldn't hurt your chances at all.
Our next chapbooks will be from:

Dennis Mahagin's chapbook Fare will be published in 2011. Dennis is a poet and writer from the Pacific Northwest. He was born in Butte, Montana, and studied Music, Literature and History at Whitman College and Portland State University. His poems and stories have appeared in magazines such as Exquisite Corpse, 42opus, Absinthe Literary Review, Stirring, Night Train, Keyhole, 3 A.M., Thieves Jargon, Storyglossia, and Smokelong Quarterly. Writers who have influenced his style include Thom Jones, Barry Hannah, Denis Johnson, Gregory Corso, Kim Addonizio, and Dorianne Laux. A first book-length collection of Dennis's poetry is forthcoming in late 2011, from Rebel Satori Press. http://fourhourhardon.blogspot.com

Timothy Gager's chapbook Anti-Social Network will be published in 2011. Timothy Gager is the author of eight books of short fiction and poetry. His latest, Treating a Sick Animal (Cervena Barva Press) features over forty stories, many previously published in various literary magazines. He has hosted the successful Dire Literary Series in Cambridge, Massachusetts every month for the past ten years and is the co-founder of Somerville News Writers Festival. http://www.timothygager.com

Rosemary Royston’s chapbook Splitting the Soil will be published in late 2011/early 2012. Rosemary is a poet and writer who has lived in the foothills of the Southern Appalachians for the last sixteen years. A native of north Georgia, she studied at Young Harris College, The University of Georgia, and received her MFA in Writing from Spalding University in Louisville, KY. Rosemary’s poetry has been published in The Comstock Review, Main Street Rag, Alehouse, Literal Latte, Public Republic, and Dark Sky Magazine. Her essays on writing poetry are forthcoming in Women and Poetry: Tips on Writing, Teaching and Publishing by Successful Women Poets, McFarland. She was the recipient of the 2010 Literal Latte Food Verse Award, and she was the 2004 recipient of first and third place in poetry, Porter Fleming Literary Awards. She currently serves as the Program Coördinator for the North Carolina Writers Network-West. http://theluxuryoftrees.wordpress.com/

"In a Jam" about airport security? Read about it, not by plane but by Truck!

2011-10-05T11:16:00.001-04:00

The TSA states repeatedly in their security announcements that you cannot bring aerosols, liquids, or gels through security if they are bigger than 3oz or 100ml. There was a news story about this man who got detained for objecting to this after packing his grandmother's homemade orange marmalade in his suitcase .

I remembered seeing Henry Rollins speak about being detained once because of his political views and was placed in the same room as Cat Stevens.

I wrote a poem about this called, "In a Jam" and it appears in Truck Magazine today..

I'm heading to Austin, Texas, Saturday. I'd better be careful. I could always take a truck.

What is being said at Goodreads.

2011-09-16T15:08:00.001-04:00

Goodreads, the site which encourages grandma's, "If you can't say something nice don't say anything at all"* has a lot of nice comments up regarding my "Treating A Sick Animal"

Here's a few summaries, but to see who said what, click the previous link:

"One of his opening shorts “In and Out” sucked me into a vortex, and I couldn’t escape until I finished the book from cover to cover."

"One of my favorite things is the way the author takes an object and twists it into something else entirely. This concept can be found in many of the sories, but my favorite one was "Just Dessert." The focus of the story is on a belt buckle and then it morphs into a love story. "

"Tim Gager's book of flash and micro fiction reads like an old wooden roller coaster ride, where the carnie is on speed and you've just eaten a plate full of nachos, with extra ghost chilis. It's dangerous stuff, but in a good way."

"Gager does it again with raw, eclectic stories that sometimes make you sick and sometimes give you the warm and fuzzes."

"Tim's flash stories are little gems. He has a gift for revealing the exact moments in his characters' lives when everything changes."

"Sometimes surreal, sometimes all to real, always gritty, raw and original, Timothy Gager's flash fictions say so much with so little. These are literary delights you're going to want to savor."

* unless it's a well known author whom you'll never interact with or someone you have a juvenile running internet war with.

Back in April....

2011-08-22T10:25:00.001-04:00

I told you how Referential Magazine worked when my poem "Falling for an Attached Woman" referred to a poem by Shane Manier.

To keep the chain going, Ben Pincus uses a reference to Billy Collins, same as I did, in his poem Is There Hope For Me?

Someone will write something referring to Ben's at some point. Will it be you?

Appearing on Red Fez Talk Radio, Saturday 8/20, 11 PM EST

2011-08-18T12:53:00.001-04:00

Red Fez Blog Talk Radio is a spin off of Red Fez Magazine, which I have appeared in and talked about HERE way back in May. Their radio show is usually pretty wild, so tune in and listen or call in at (323) 417-6786.

Review of "Mostly Redneck"

2011-08-12T20:18:00.000-04:00

I reviewed Rusty Barnes great book of short stories, Mostly Redneck on the Boston Small Press and Poetry Scene Blog.

I’ve known Rusty Barnes for close to eight years and I previously have read every one of the stories found in Mostly Redneck. After absorbing the book cover to cover, my first reaction was how heavy the plots, the prose and the words were. Also, don’t let the title fool you, as rednecks are stereotypically viewed as unintelligent, Barnes is a word craftsman of the finest kind. Language, pace, place, conflict and plot are carefully considered within each story and I found myself comparing the author to writers such as Andre Dubus II and Raymond Carver, masters I respect greatly.

Story wise, if you can take a punch in the face and be able to brag about it, this is where it’s at. Teen pregnant lovers kill the fathers of their babies. People party and have sex in the woods. Scores are settled in complete beat downs. Women compete against each other for men and their own self-worth. Men want women that are unavailable or they hit the road and never come back, leaving others destroyed.

Two of the stories which stood out for me were “Rick’s Song”, where the main character, Jimmy starts a new life, one torn apart from a car accident, by taking a crappy job at a Chinese restaurant. The other story I loved was, “O, Saddam”, a fine satire, completely different than the rest of the book. (Note: The mostly in Mostly Redneck). Here, a tour guide in Boston becomes involved with Saddam Hussein, who is hiding out as a nut vendor. Barnes creates a brilliant display of humor and heaviness intertwined within the set up.

Mostly Redneck, packs a wallop and as mention full of excellent writing. The denseness of subject matter was in stark contrast to the physical length of the book (153 pages) and the smallness of the font which were both, in my opinion, too small for my want for more and my aging eyes.

As far as independent books go, who does Ben Tanzer check out? ( * )

2011-07-29T13:45:00.002-04:00

Ben answers:

When I first read this question I thought about that famous New Yorker cover where it shows New York City as the center of the universe and the rest of the world sort of slowly unfolding under the shadows of the city’s awesomeness. This wasn’t because it made me think of New York City though, it was because it made me think that to answer this question I had to start with Chicago, because while there is a lot of indie literary things going on everywhere these days, I’m not sure it compares with what’s going on here. How’s that for grandiose? Still, and I am bound to leave some people out, but starting with Chicago there are really so many indie writers doing so many cool things to check out, Lindsay Duncan, Robert Duffer, Spencer Dew, Gina Frangello, Lauryn Allison Lewis, Brandon Will, Jason Fisk, Victor David Giron, James Tadd Alcox, Kathleen Rooney, Tim Jones-Yevlington, Mark Brand, Pete Anderson, Joseph G. Peterson, Jacob S. Knabb, David Masciotra and Luis Humberto Valadez. And then looking around the county you have BL Pawelek, Nick Ostdick, Barry Graham, Caleb J. Ross and Brandon Teitz out across the Midwest; Michael FitzGerald in Montana; J.A. Tyler in Colorado; Hosho McCreesh in New Mexico; James Greer, xTx, Matty Byloos, Ryan Bradley, Joshua Mohr and Lavinia Ludlow all points West; down South there are your neighbors Jamie Iredell and Collin Kelley; J. Bradley, Nathan Holic and Gregory Sherl in Florida; Alex Kudera in South Carolina; S. Craig Renfroe in North Carolina; Shannon Burke and Corey Mesler in Tennessee; Thomas Williams in Oklahoma; Jason Jordan in Kentucky; Mary Miller and Elizabeth Crane in Texas; and finally, and loosely, in the East, Paula Bomer, Greg Olear, Tim Hall, John Reed, Ken Wohlrob and Shya Scanlon in New York; Mel Bosworth, Laura Cherry, Ray Charbonneau, Rusty Barnes, Steve Himmer and Timothy Gager in and around Boston; William Walsh in Providence; Scott McClanahan in West Virginia; Dave Housley and Karen Lillis in Pennsylvania; Nik Korpon and Michael Kimball in Baltimore; and Amber Sparks in Washington, DC; and that’s a big list and I apologize, but I think it’s a good place to start.

( * ) Ben's answer was found in Baby Got Books.

Ben Tanzer is the author of the novels You Can Make Him Like You, You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine, Lucky Man, other works of fiction and non-fiction.

Thanks Istanbul Literary Review and Google

2011-07-02T22:27:00.000-04:00

Two poems which came out May 2011 were mentioned at the Bagel Bard Group this morning. I saw them out in the world today for the first time.

Please read
Forgiveness
and
Wait-You Can't Hide It

Curbside Splendor, "Last Call"

2011-06-30T10:52:00.011-04:00

This is the second piece that Curbside Splendor has accepted. "Last Call" is a subtle story where I'm aiming for the reader to focus on two key phrases: "You can't do nothing" and "Certain things couldn’t wait." What does Frank do and why does he wait? Do you want to get angry at Frank, but somehow can't? Hmmmm, you never know how the life you led reflects in death. Don't waste life's time.