Monday, December 28, 2009

Looking for something to do?

Tomorrow night Tuesday December 29th
DreamSpeak at The Vine   700PM

Feature: Timothy Gager

Timothy is the author of eight books of short fiction and poetry.His latest book of flash fiction, Treating a Sick Animal,was released in November 2009. he has had over 200 works of fiction and poetry published since 2008, of which five have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.






Music by The Ravens
One reviewer: "Best thing we've heard since the Gypsy Kings!"

Word Open-Mic - bring short fiction, poetry to share.

The Vine

47 Court St., Downtown Plymouth

The Premiere European Wine Bar in New England

Fabulous wine, desserts, appetizers, coffee

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

The Outlaw



POETS  outside the academy, barbarians at the gate, Philistines, ner-do-wells, poseurs, stumble bums, nattering nabobs of negativism.. .
everything you won't find in cafe society..... .


                         IBBETSON STREET PRESS ANNOUNCES:
                                http://ibbetsonpress.com

                                  OUTLAW POET READING:

                   TIMOTHY GAGER, IRENE KORONAS, CD COLLINS


                                   DEC.12, 2009.   2 to 4PM

                            ALLSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

                       
Honan-Allston Branch Library
                  300 North Harvard Street, Allston, MA 02134
                                617-787-6313
                     Branch Librarian: Jennifer Koerber
                              

                  Hosted  by Boston Poet Laureate Sam Cornish

Thursday, December 3, 2009

This weekends readings: Dire Series and Myopic Books in Providence



 Friday December 4, marks the 105th installment of the Dire Literary Series and it should be a great one. Sherrie Flick, Molly Gaudry and Paul Schneider will be the features after an always pleasing open mic (4, 15 minute slots available first come, first served). It all takes places at The Out of the Blue Art Gallery, 106 Prospect Street, Cambridge, Ma. There will be plenty of books, beer, wine and shenanigans.





Time:
7:00pm - 8:00pm
Location:
Myopc Books
Street:
5 South Angell Street
City/Town:
Providence, RI


BIG READING @ MYOPIC BOOKS

Sherrie Flick / Reconsidering Happiness

Molly Gaudry / We Take Me Apart

Timothy Gager / Treating a Sick Animal

Steve Himmer / Necessary Fiction, Ed.

Refreshments, wine, beer, and lots of books.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Larry Brown, Thanksgiving eve, 5 years ago.

I was stunned when I heard he'd had a heart attack. Also, I was disappointed, for by my own count not enough people had heard of him. I felt I had done my part, loaning my copy of Big Bad Love to more than twenty people. When I looked for it last week, I didn’t have a copy left for myself.

Brown wrote about topics that most of us wouldn't touch or ever experience. When asked about this he told people that "he writes fiction and that he enjoys life, unlike his characters." Reading Brown in college not only fueled my own motivation to write, but also gave me confidence that success in writing could be attained, the same way Brown was able to succeed.

In an interview with Southern Scribe he listed the following advice to aspiring writers trying to make it:
1. Rejection
2. Trial and error.
3. Make lots of stupid mistakes.
4. There are no shortcuts.
5. You have to learn to write fiction that grabs the reader by the throat and doesn't let him go until you're through with him.
6. The only way to do that is to sit down and spend years writing and failing and writing again. If you quit, nobody's ever going to hear from you.

Brown’s writing career gives optimism to many of us still struggling with the craft, trying to get work accepted in various places in the literary world. The story of Larry Brown’s success would seem like a fairy tale to many of us trying to be noticed in the arts. Edward Wyatt of the New York Times wrote about it Brown’s obituary:

Before graduating from high school in 1969, he failed senior English and had to attend summer school, he told an interviewer in 2000. Soon after, he enlisted in the Marines, serving for two years in non-combat positions.

After his discharge Mr. Brown returned to Mississippi, where he worked a variety of odd jobs - over the years they included lumberjack, house painter, hay hauler and fence builder - before joining the Oxford Fire Department in 1973.

He remained a firefighter for 16 years, during which he began to teach himself how to write, reading obsessively the work of Flannery O'Connor, Raymond Carver, Cormac McCarthy and, of course, Faulkner. For years afterward he would be referred to as "the fireman-writer," enough so that he tired of that designation and discouraged its use.

Though he took one writing course at the University of Mississippi, he honed his craft by writing scores of stories, many of which were rejected before he got one published in 1982 in, of all places, Easyriders, a bikers' magazine.

Five years later another story, "Facing the Music," published in the Mississippi Review, a literary journal, caught the attention of Shannon Ravenel, a founder of Algonquin Books. "I called him and asked if he had other stories," Ms. Ravenel recalled. "He said he had a lot."

In the fall of 2003, Larry Brown was being looked at as a potential feature for The Somerville News Writers Festival II. The first festival hadn’t even happened yet. I worked with his publicist at Simon and Schuster and she wanted it to happen as much as I did. After a few e-mails back and forth between Simon and Schuster and myself, I was told that he regretfully had turned down our offer, but to “Give him a call. You may be able to talk him into it.” Larry was in Portland, Oregon, touring his book, Rabbit Factory. I called the bookstore where he was reading and was told to call back. When I called back he was gone. The next day, I called Seattle. When Mr. Brown got on the phone he was very polite and gracious. In his deep southern accent he informed me that he was just too tired to do any more engagements. I tried to tell him that the event was more than a year away, but he said he was looking forward to finishing his tour and being home in Mississippi for a bit. I got the impression that he was uncomfortable being on the road. He did manage to send me a signed single chapter (literally a chapter book-bound with a staple) of Billy Ray's Farm, something I treasured and still do.

Brown died at home on Thanksgiving eve in 2004.

Published poem in decomP, "From the Weekend"

I'm pleased to be in decomP for the December 2009 issue.



This month I'm featured with many names I'm
-->familiar with: Laurel Bastian, Patrick Allen Carberry, P. Edward Cunningham, Michele daSilva,  Matthew J. Goering, Alexandra Isacson, Tim Jones-Yelvington, Christina Large, Kristin Lueke, Mark Neely, Dylan Nice, Jal Nicholl, Ryan Ridge, Paul Sacksteder, Peter Schwartz, Doug Tanoury, Mahdi Tavajohi, and Andrew S. Taylor. Additionally, there is also a review of Molly Gaudry's We Take Me Apart.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

There is a direct relationship between....

sending this:

Dear Editor,
 
I was hoping you’d consider nominating my work you published for The Pushcart Prize. My thoughts are that if you haven't nominated yet, you’ve already found the poem/story worthy of placement of your fine journal, why not? Here’s the webpage for nominations.  Thanks for your consideration..
 
Best
Timothy Gager

and receiving this:
3 Pushcart Nominations.



To further the study you can do this:


send the following to

Pushcart Press
P.O. Box 380
Wainscott
New York 11975.


Dear Pushcart Editor

My name is _________ and I am a _________.  Please  consider (
by using your superb editing skills) Timothy Gager's work. I would purchase your next anthology if  Timothy Gager is included.

 


Sincerely

__________

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Review of Treating A Sick Animal--Boston Small Press and Poetry Scene

The first review is up from one of the leaders and champions of the Small Press, Mr. Doug Holder 
(and it's fantastic!).



To order pay $15 through Paypal: ctgager37@yahoo.com 
or e-mail me through that address and I'll tell you where to send a check.


Treating A Sick Animal: Flash and Micro Fictions. Timothy Gager. (Cervena Barva Press PO BOX 44035 W. Somerville, Mass. 02144) $15. http://www.cervenabarvapress.com

The noted author Steve Almond once stated that Timothy Gager was one of his favorite local writers. I can see why. Gager shares Almond’s sense of irony, razor sharp wit, he deftly explores the ying and yang of relationships and this capricious thing we call “Love.”

This book titled, “Treating a Sick Animal: Flash and Micro Fictions” published by Somerville’s Cervena Barva Press, is a collection of flash fiction; very short pieces, where like poetry every word counts. Gager is an accomplished poet and this serves him well in this genre. In his piece “Why couples have pets,” a cat provides a mirror to a relationship that has lost its flame:

“Today she’s late for work. Late too, with other things. Damn cat can’t be found. It’s nine o’clock and she has decided to get rid of it. That decision upsets me, but mistakes happen—that time we made love under a blanket at Ocean City, plush towel in her mouth so the beach couldn’t hear.

Now she is late and she runs for the cat.”

And in his lead story “How to Care for a Sick Animal” Gager uses the conceit of a man treated like a dog (literally) by his girlfriend and a rather clueless veterinarian. Here, the girlfriend wishes the hapless man a fond farewell before he is put to sleep; their relationship relegated to its final resting place…or it was great fun, but hey, it was just one of those things, just one of those fabulous flings:

“After Dr. Jones left, Gracie approaches the table. “So how are you doing boy? I’m sorry that it has to end this way. There’s nothing I can do for you. Awwww…don’t look at me with those sad eyes. It’ll be ok. I just want you to know that I'm not going to go out and get a new dog anytime soon,ok? Oh, Todd you were my best friend and I loved you, but can’t you see I need to do this?” Helen entered the room with various snout sized Halothane masks and Gracie gave Todd a hug goodbye.”

Don't expect Gager to get sentimental on you--he is too much of a realist for that. But behind the dark Bukowski bombast there is still a glimmer-- that light of the hopeful romantic.

Highly Recommended.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Two video poems published at Shape of a Box--(those are really my feet)

http://shapeofabox.wordpress.com/2009/11/16/issue-58/






HUNGOVER FOR JURY DUTY

Maybe it was the beer I had at 4:30,
the day before my appointment,
leading to…more beer,
bourbon with hot lemon and honey
(for my cold) then scotch
on the rocks, a favorite
nightcap for the drive home,
take it slow buddy….take it slow.

8 AM at the Office of Deeds
I’ll say anything to go home,
I’m a liberal with a wrongful arrest record,
I’m a social worker and I’m needed,
I know the victim today,
which case?
All of them.

I’m guilty.
They’ll all guilt today…
or innocent,
whichever comes quickest.

MY DEAR IN HEADLIGHTS

Her entire life flashes in front of my car,
in the dusty parking lot of the VFW,
when my Alva’s pocketbook spills out.
I edge my foot slightly off the break,
tempted to move it onto the gas,
like the stooped over the wheel
geriatric, today on Main Street,
who misplaced his pedals,
possibly for a hat,
rammed his Oldsmobile
into a coffee shop, in the middle
of a sun blinded afternoon.

But Alva, smoky, sloppy and boozy,
is not like the surprised customers,
whose mugs and saucers flew shattering
against the hard tiled floor, the sounds combined
with the screaming, and the screaming…yet,
no one died or will die today but it was close.
Alva cackles, “hold your horses, Timothy”
not once, but twice and I feel myself getting older
each and every second.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Book is available BEFORE official release

Treating a Sick Animal available through me...I have copies now before Cervena Barva's official release. 

 

 

$15 includes free shipping. Paypal ctgager37@yahoo.com, or use that to e-mail me.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

The Somerville News Writers Festival VII





For all the Festival information on our 7th year.

http://www.somervillenewswritersfestival.com

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Two published flash stories, Night Train and Suss: Another Literary Journal


A Little Slice Of is a story I'm proud of and Rusty Barnes who published it in Night Train e-mailed me the following:

"That piece you gave me to post is one of the best short-shorts I've ever read."

Well,  he's read a lot of great work so it's very generous praise, but my jaw certainly dropped.




Perhaps, the female protagonist, pictured to the left..



Then in Suss: Another Literary Journal, "Somewhere on the Edge", appeared. This was a flash that revolved around a woman, drug and alcohol rehab and a monkey named Pluto. (No the monkey wasn't in rehab)


The last line "I didn't want to leave."  had four meanings with her not wanting to leave  1) the rehab, 2) him 3) the restaurant 4) her relationship with drinking.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Treating A Sick Animal

The cover is set...



Blurbs on the back

Timothy Gager's stories came at us like a brisk punch to the heart. His characters are profane and tender, dazed and confused, out of work and short on options. And yet they remain stubbornly vibrant, these damaged children of Bukowski, illuminated by their desires and inflamed by unreasonable hopes.

-Steve Almond
author of THE EVIL B.B. CHOW, CANDY FREAK, and NOT THAT YOU ASKED


Timothy Gager is a compelling and unforgettable writer. These bold and witty little stories limn the peculiarities, and sometimes alarming behavior, of our human species.

-John Sheppard
author of SMALL TOWN PUNK


As good an orator you'll find, Timothy Gager flashes a gleam in the eyes while carrying a slouch in the shoulders. His fiction connects to the giggling man as well as it does to the sad man.

-Matt DiGangi
editor, publisher and founder of THIEVES JARGON


This book is a trip-- or actually it is 40-plus quick and vivid trips into Timothy Gager's untamed fictional terrain. Sometimes surreal, sometimes all-too-real, these Flash Fictions always surprise. Fasten your readerly seatbelt, choose your own adventure and enjoy the wild rides.

-Elizabeth Searle
author of CELEBRITIES IN DISGRACE and TONYA & NANCY: THE ROCK OPERA


Timothy Gager’s flash fictions are full of flashes of insight into the great human predicament.

-Michael Kimball,
author of DEAR EVERYBODY



Some of the Stories and where they appeared:

-->
The Big Toe Review: “How to Care for a Sick Animal,”
Right Hand Pointing: “In and Out”
Thieves Jargon: “The Best Interest of the Child,” “Daddy,” “All because they had enough children,” “Coach,” “Punchless Jimmy Collins,” “FuTuReTube”
Long Short Story: “Hidden Hoboken
Twelve Stories: “Your Vasectomy Journal”
Trailer Park Quarterly: “What’s An Atheist Doing Behind the Wheel”
Not Just Air: “Jealousy,” “Someone will come upon a savior”
Tuesday Shorts: “Cheers to Sylvia Plath,” “Why Couples Have Pets,”
Mourning Silence: “Paying For It”
Zygote in my Coffee: “The Top of Grace’s Upper Lip,” “The things you do Remember,” “Canvas”
Poor Mojo’s Almanac: “Mother and Daughter,” “The Flounderer”
Penguin: “Searching for My Bukowski”
Dogzplot: “Coney Island is Dead”
Litsnack: “Vex”
The Smoking Poet: “This Really was Love”
Slurve: “Brophy is in the Air,” “Ferry Boat to God,” “The Cheeseburger and The Cherry Jubilee Flambé”
VerbSap: “Joeseph”
Letter X: “Through the Trees”
Silent Actor: “Just Dessert”
New Graffiti: “The Chicken Factor”
55 Word: “Graveyard Shift” as “Overnight Shift”
Scapegoat Review: “The Short Marriage of a Bride and Groom”
Skive: “You Did Not Hear the Ping
Word Riot: “A Tavern, 6 PM
The Askew Review: “Feed Your Head”  
971 menu: “How do you fix it?”

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

List of Upcoming Readings

November 6, 2009, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Hosting and reading at The Dire Literary Series, 8 PM

Out of the Blue Art Gallery Backyard
106 Prospect Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Featuring: Nathan Graziano, Daniel Crocker and Rebecca Schumejda


_________________________________________________

November 7, 2009, Kingston, New York

Half Moon Books, 6 PM

35 North Front Street
Kingston, New York

Reading With: Nathan Graziano, Daniel Crocker, Tim Horvath,
Alan Catlin and Rebecca Schumejda (hosting)

_________________________________________________

November 14, 2009. Somerville, Ma.

Somerville News Writers Festival, Readings at 7 PM

Hosting and Reading
Featuring: Rick Moody, Frank Bidart

writers: Margot Livesey , John Buffalo Mailer, Steve Almond, Lise Haines and Kim Chinquee

poets: Boston Poet Laureate Sam Cornish, Richard Hoffman, Tina Villanueva,
Tam Lin Neville and Douglas Holder

with music by The Swaggerin" Growlers

_________________________________________________

December 4, 2009, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Hosting and reading at The Dire Literary Series, 8 PM

Out of the Blue Art Gallery Backyard
106 Prospect Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Featuring: Sherri Flick, Paul Schneider and Ethan Gilsdorf
plus surprise caped Christmas guest author.
_________________________________________________

December 5, 2009, Providence, Rhode Island

Myopic Books, 7 PM

5 South Angell,
Providence, RI

Reading With: Sherrie Flick, Molly Gaudry, and Steve Himmer.
William Walsh (hosting)

_________________________________________________

December 12, 2009, Allston,Ma.

Outlaws of Poetry, 2 PM

Allston Library
300 N Harvard Street
Allston, Ma

Reading With: Sam Cornish and other outlaws

_________________________________________________


December 29, 2009. Plymouth, Ma.

Featured Reader
Dreamspeak at The Vine, 6:30 PM

The Vine Winebar
47 Court Street, Plymouth, Ma.

_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
Future Series Appearances

April 11, 2009. Red Bank, NJ
The River Read Reading Series
The Dublin House, 30 Monmouth Street, Red Bank, NJ 07701
hosted by John Joseph Petrolino III
_________________________________________________

May 19, 2010. Pittsburgh, PA
New Yinzer Reading Series
Modern Foundations, 4919 Penn Ave.
hosted by Savannah Guz
_________________________________________________

June 19, 2010. Baltimore, MD
510 Reading Series
Minás Gallery, 815 W. 36th Street
hosted by Michael Kimball

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction

Read my review HERE




The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to W


Review by Timothy Gager

· Paperback: 208 pages

· Publisher: Rose Metal Press; First edition (May 13, 2009)

· ISBN-10: 0978984862

· ISBN-13: 978-0978984861 




As a writer of flash fiction, I found this field guide extremely interesting, pertinent and useful. It is full of surprises and mind opening essays for those who only look at flash or very short fiction in a limited way.. The essays included in this book read like a who’s who in the form of very short fiction. These are authors that I’ve read and admired for either their economy of language, their punch of prose or their paint strokes of fast and deep emotion. Included are many personal favorites of mine such as Randall Brown, Rusty Barnes, Kim Chinquee and Pamela Painter whom are only a small piece of this literary all-star team ripe for the reading.



Inside the pages of The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction you will receive twenty-five short written lectures; points of view of what comprises great flash fiction. There also are writing exercises intended to help writers of various skill levels create work from each point of focus. This is very helpful if you like to write from prompts. Each author also pick examples of flash fiction pieces they feel back up their points.



Fiction today, especially what you may read on-line tends to run shorter in length than ever before. Whether it is the short attention span of readers, the need for something quick and hard hitting and grabbing as a computer read. Whatever the reason, flash fiction has become increasingly popular to both writers and readers. The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction demonstrate this phenomena in great detail by the varying theories from each author, whom all have different focuses on the same point.



The book is aptly presented as a “field guide”, and I couldn’t agree more with that descriptor. It is user friendly, can be picked up and read at any chapter point break by any individual, writing group or classroom. The book also presents historic references of fiction, short fiction, micro-fiction and flash. Shouhua Qi points out the early origins from the Chinese short short or what is called a “Smoke-Long story”. (note: Randall Brown, the editor of Smoke Long Quarterly is also included in Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction) TRMPFGTWFF also distinguishes between narrative/prose poetry and flash fiction---often viewed as interchangeable. Robert Olen Butler says on the form, “it may not have a fully developed plot, but it must have the essence of a plot, a yearning.” Steve Almond instructs as on how to turn your bad poetry into fantastic flash, which was an essay I found to be extraordinarily useful and entertaining.



Jennifer Pieroni’s thoughts on the purpose of images “smart and surprising” was also useful, not only to those whom enjoy Jennifer’s writing but also whom read her and her well know magazine, Quick Fiction (TRMPFGTWFF indirectly shows you what certain editors like). Kim Chinquee presents us with examples of five distinctly different stories based on the same event. Rusty Barnes, author of Breaking It Down and Editor of Night Train, takes you on a journey in the revision process. Randall Brown points out ways to “make flash count’ for the aspiring author.



I highly recommend this book as a learning tool and prompt generator. It pulls from the insight of today’s very best writers of short shorts, many whom are the editors of some of very well known anthologies, magazines and journals of fiction.

For more information about Timothy Gager go to:

http://www.timothygager.com

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Somerville News Writers Festival VII, 11.14.09, The Center for the Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville, Ma.

Rick Moody
Frank Bidart



7 PM-- Reading

$10 admission
tickets available at www.brownpapertickets.com

Hosting and Reading Timothy Gager
Music by The Swaggerin' Growlers

Featuring: Rick Moody and Frank Bidart
Writers: Margot Livesey , John Buffalo Mailer, Steve Almond, Lise Haines and Kim Chinquee
Poets: Boston Poet Laureate Sam Cornish, Richard Hoffman, Tino Villanueva, Tam Lin Neville and Douglas Holder

For the latest SPEAKER and BOOTH UPDATES, please visit www.SomervilleNewsWritersFestival.com

Sponsored by Porter Square Books and Grub Street



This year there is a Book Fair from 11:00 AM to 4:30 PM

Porter square Books
signings by Main Event Readers plus Special Guests 

Margot Livesey, 1 PM
Brian MacQuarrie and Robert Curley, 2 PM
Lise Haines, 3 PM
Kim Chinquee, 4 PM

Grub Street
Ibbetson Street Press
The Somerville News
Cervena Barva Press
Black Lawrence Press, (Norman Waksler, Jason Tandon and Helen Marie Casey)
Propaganda Press
Adastra Press
Naugatuck River Press
The Boston Review
Off the Grid Press


AUTHOR TABLES

Daniel Hudon
Paul Stone
John Sheier
Kristin Callender
Paul DeFazio
Erik Tate
Luke Salisbury
Denise Robbins
Kevin Daley


Tuesday, October 20, 2009

New News

I've decided to move my news to a blog form, mostly because my current news page is a pain in the ass to edit and I've not updated it in about ten months, even though lots of work has been published. Yesterday I received two very pretty things in the mail.

1) The print anthology of Dogzplot.



My story "Coney Island is Dead" appears. Check out who's who--pretty amazing read all stories less than 200 words.

DAVID AICHENBAUM
C. EDWARD ANABLE
CORBY ANDERSON
BILL BARR
RUSTY BARNES
LAUREN BECKER
ERIC BENNETT
CL BLEDSOE
BEN BROOKS
RANDALL BROWN
CHRISTY CALL (COVER ART)
DAVE CLAPPER
LYDIA COPELAND
SPENCER DEW
ROBERT A. DOLLESIN
NICOLLE ELIZABETH
KATHY FISH
TIMOTHY GAGER
MOLLY GAUDRY
ROXANE GAY
ALICIA GIFFORD
BARRY GRAHAM
KYLE HEMMINGS
JAMIE IREDELL
ALEXANDRA ISACSON
BRYAN JONES
HARDY JONES
DREW KALBACH
KIP KNOTT
CHARLES LENNOX
SEAN LOVELACE
ANTONIOS MALTEZOS
RAVI MANGLA
CORTNEY MCLELLAN
STEVEN J. MCDERMOTT
KYLE MINOR
KIM PARKO
JENNIFER PIERONI
SAM PINK
TED POWERS
S. CRAIG RENFROE, JR.
FORREST ROTH
EDMUND SANDOVAL
PETER SCHWARTZ
M. BARTLEY SEIGEL
EMILY SIEGENTHALER
ANI SMITH
CLAUDIA SMITH
AUDRI SOUSA
ATHENA STRICKLAND
ROBB TODD
ANIA VESENNY
JARED WARD
BRANDI WELLS
BLYTHE WINSLOW
XTX
ORLO YEAHBLIP
MIKE YOUNG


2) Askew Review 14, where my "Feed Your Head" gets eaten.




40 pages cover to cover  
Fiction? Yes
Nonfiction? It’s in there.
Flash? That’s in there, too.
DVD, CD, and book reviews? But of course!
Other mumbo jumbo found in this thing? Wouldn’t have it any other way. Order now via Paypal for a mere $3! (buy my book and get it for free)
Or mail the money to the below address.
Cheers and thanks for your support,
Denis Sheehan
Askew Reviews
PO Box 684
Hanover, MA 02339