Zvi Sesling's 10 X 10: Flash Fiction Stories comes out about once a month (whenever he accepts 10 stories), and I'm thrilled that my flash fiction, Kooshioning the Blow is included in Issue #38.
I've been published here four times previously, and this time I'm in the issue with Huina Zheng, Eileen Tabios, David Henson, Swetha Amid, Pablo Libedinsky, Debra Myers, Robert David Garnham, Austin Alexis and Joan Leotta. I've embedded it here for your convenience.
The story itself was a nice break from the serious true crime writing I've been working on of late. Back to the odd, strange and bizarre world flash fiction allows, and I often use. The main character wears a rubber koosh-ball suit. Why? Read by scrolling below it to find out!
To win your bracket it involves getting people to vote for you as your opponent is doing the same thing. It feels weird. Begging people to vote for you, by flooding their social media feeds with this request so you can win lacks integrity, and my feelings are the over-and-over begging can come across as pathetic. Usually friends, who won't even read the piece will click it because it's as easy to do as a 'like'. These contests play like a high-school popularity contests and less about quality of he work. That's my head talking.
In reality, the concept itself is very cool and a blast, and I had fun writing about recovery through the lense of the the Chili Peppers song.
I didn't post like a maniac and beg for votes, so I lost. More specifically, I forgot the competition was running and my game happened on March 4th, without me mentioning it at all and I lost. If I had only remembered, I would have been begging to the devil.
I forgot because I was at AWP in Baltimore in the middle of a book tour, where hawking books somehow showed much more integrity. The elevator pitch, I repeated over 5,000 times really sold Shadows of the Seen.
"Shadows of the Seen is a novel dealing with the gun issue
written in three distinct narratives. There is a politician who is actually a liberal
in beliefs who runs on right-wing gun talking points to have a career. There is
a mass shooter, and finally there is someone with nothing to live for who
breaks up a mass shooting, but of the two, you don't know which is
which until the end."
Then I weaved my way home doing a reading in Philadelphia for the Philadelphia Writers Circle hosted by the wonderful Jane-Rebecca Cannarella and Alex DiFrancesco. The event was held at Ray's Happy Birthday Bar, a remarkable dive that removes the Bathroom Out of Order Sign for use, but it also has a sign in the bathroom that reads, Hand Towels Available at the Bar right next to the sink.
The next night, I went on to Mid-Town Manhattan, to read for The Italian American Writers Association, who also hosts readings in Boston and Philadelphia. My co-feature, Tony Gloeggler was a poet I had a lot in common with professionally Tony ran group homes before he retired, and some of his poems about his job were gut-thrashing realistic and sweet.
I left with 3 boxes of books, and came home with a handful. I didn't beg for your votes, but read the essay anyway. I'm so very grateful to have been on a successful book tour, where, fool that I am, secretly fell in love a bunch of times, but I won't bring that up, the same way I won't bring up voting for an essay in order to win. What I will bring up was the support, the purchases, the friends I ran into, the old friends I met with, and the folks running these events were all simply amazing. I also found 5 nice recovery meetings in all these cities, which keeps me from being under a bridge.
Of course, Robin Stratton is a tour de force, and an amazing human being. My writing world became a whole lot bigger because of her and her publishing arm Big Table!
Read it and you can find out a little more about me. Thx.
Mignon Ariel King was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts and has never left her home time zone. An alumna of Simmons University, she worked for a decade as a database assistant by day and an adjunct English instructor by night at various small colleges. King is the publisher of Tell-Tale Chapbooks and Hidden Charm Press. Her blog is Making Books Rock (dot) wordpress (dot) com.
Richard Hoffman is an amazing poet, and a friend. When it comes down to it, friends are those who will give you blurbs, and his is very generous. I'm extremely grateful he liked the book
TOP TEN MOST VIEWED BLOG POSTS FOR 2025! Links to each one and reasons why found below. Big boosts for ones with multi-media, either video or audio. Also, posts about Shadows of the Seen received a lot of looks.
More likely you'll give a shit about as much as the Top 10 Most Iconic Pop Culture Moments of 2025.
In the top two spots these SHOW need to know as people kept losing track of when the Virtual Thursdays Dire Literary Series was happening. Sometimes it's on a Friday, sometimes not every other week.
Also, on a personal note. I had to stop running for 6 months as I ruptured my hamstring, detaching it from the bone in June. The pattern of bruising is common for significant hamstring injuries.
I also had knee surgery (scope) in late September. In early December after months of Physical Therapy, which was amazing, I began to slowly run and build up stamina and "speed". So grateful for the ability to recover.
End of the season for 2025. Here are all the fall readings, and at the bottom links to ALL the videos from 2020-now. Also, subscribe to the YouTube channel.
Eileen Pollack, George S. Peterson, Ellen Kombiyil, M.K. Jackson, Chad Parenteau, Kerry Beth Neville, Lawrence Kessenich, Linda Carney-Goodrich, Amy Alvarez, Kurt Baumeister
Doug Crandell, Mathew Olzmann, William Orem, Martin Ott, M.P. Carver, Phil Temples, Mag Gabbert, Robert Fleming, Danielle Legros George, Michael Keith, Mark Wish
Marianne Leone, Tiffany Davenport, Jennifer Friedman Lang, Ray Guidrox, Gary Grossman, Elizabeth McKim, Carla Panciera, Dr. Dannagal G. Young, Ellis Elliot, Enzo Silon Surin, Josh Barkan, Laura Zigman, Tom Laughlin
Suzanne Frischkorn, Kim Addonizio, Thomas McNeely, Jenna Le, Sarah Bridgins, Lee Matthew Goldberg, Lise Hanes, Dr. Paula Perez, Michael Mark, Maya Williams, Hannah Sward, Caitlin Avery, Carla Swartz, Stacy TenHouton, Donna Spruijt-Metz, Morgan Baker
Jonathan Papernick, A.K. Small, Aaron Tillman, David Rockland, Kimberly Ann Priest, Sain Griffiths, Harris Gardner, Lisa Taylor, Michael Keith, Jim Shepard, Zach VandeZande, Rusty Barnes, Daniel Nester. Kurk Lovelace (reading from Annemarie O'Connell's book), and Nina Shope
Sara Lippmann, Robin McLean, Gregory Orr, Rich Murphy, Diane Suess, Ron Tanner, Aleathea Drehmer, Christina Adams, Sharon Applegate Greenwald, Lucas Scheelk,
Joseph Milosch, Barbara Legere, Ellene Glenn Moore, Vincent Cellucci and Chris Shipman
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