Emerging Writers Network

Experiences With Editors - Matt Bell

The following comes from a pretty damn good editor in his own right, Matt Bell:

In January of 2009, Samuel Ligon of Willow Springs sent me an e-mail kindly rejecting the most recent story I’d sent to his magazine, but also asking if I’d be willing to talk to him on the phone about it, as he had some thoughts about how the story might be improved. I gave him a call the next day, and he was kind enough to spend thirty minutes or so discussing my story with me, pointing out both what was already working in the story and what ultimately wasn’t, all the while demonstrating that he’d clearly thought carefully and deeply about what I was trying to accomplish with the story so that he could better advise me on how to get there.

Even if that was the end of the story, I’d still consider Sam Ligon one of the best editors I ever had. That conversation pushed me to try to take my stories farther before submitting them, to keep revising until I had something absolutely as good as I thought I could make it, and then to try to take it at least a little farther. That push has paid off in a lot of ways in the last year, and I’m glad Sam was there to give it to me.

Eventually, I submitted another story to Willow Springs, and eventually I got another invitation to call Sam and talk. Even though this situation was different—he was accepting the story this time—Sam once again enthusiastically demonstrated his ability to see my story in great detail, both for what it already was and what it could be after one more strong rewrite. He helped me diagnose the last big problem with my story as well as a handful of minor ones, then set me to work fixing them before going through the story himself to offer another round of line edits.

I can see now that Sam was the ideal reader and editor for this story: He understood my goals for it completely, and was able to articulate those goals back to me better than anyone else who had read it so far or has since. I truly believe that it would be a lesser story if it had been published by anyone else.

The story of mine that Sam edited has just come out in Willow Springs 65, and I couldn't be happier to see it there.  Called "The Receiving Tower," it's one of my favorite stories I wrote last year, and I'm glad it found a home with a magazine I've long admired and an editor who has become one of my own role models for how I conduct my own editing at The Collagist.  I can't thank Sam enough for taking the time to read my work so carefully, and to encourage and develop it throughout our interactions this last year.  I've been lucky to work with a lot of great editors over the past few years, but there's no doubt that he's one of the very best. 

Dzanc Day - March 20, 2010

On the heels of announcing the winner of this year's Dzanc Prize, Dzanc Books announces their new project, Dzanc Day!

The following is the Press Release being sent out to print and online media sources:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

ANNOUNCING DZANC DAY:  MARCH 20, 2010

 

January 21, 2010, Ann Arbor, MI - Dzanc Books, the award-winning publishing house, is pleased to announce our latest project: DZANC DAY.  Dzanc's new effort to expand our mission and bring the creative world to a national audience, DZANC DAY, takes its cue from the popularity of our Dzanc Creative Writing Sessions.  On March 20, 2010, Dzanc will run over 30 creative writing workshops in 25 cities across the country.  These workshops will be held in cities from Portland, OR to Orlando, FL, from New Haven, CT to Los Angeles, CA and points between. 

All monies raised from DZANC DAY will go toward supporting Dzanc's charitable programs which, in part, bring creative writing programs to students who could not otherwise afford the opportunity.  Fantastic authors from across the country have volunteered their time, experience, and expertise to run these individual workshops:

BJ Hollars/Tuscaloosa, AL; Scott Beal/Ann Arbor, MI; Jeff Kass/Ann Arbor, MI; Anna Clark/Detroit, MI; Peter Markus/Ferndale, MI; Rachael Perry/Brighton, MI; Amelia Gray/Austin, TX; Michael Czyzniejewski/Chicago; Fred McGavran/Cincinnati, OH; Dave Housley/Washington DC; John Domini/Des Moines, IA; Philip F. Deaver/Orlando, FL; J.A. Tyler/Fort Collins, CO; Anis Shivani/Houston, TX; Stefan Kiesbye/Los Angeles, CA; Susannah Felts/Nashville, TN; Claudia Zuluaga/New York, NY; Dawn Raffel and Pamela Ryder/New York, NY; Derek Green/New Haven, CT; Jennifer Spiegel-Bell and Bhira Backhaus/Phoenix, AZ; Marcel Jolley and Hobie Anthony/Portlant, OR; Anne Leigh Parrish/Seattle, WA; Kyle Minor/Columbus, OH; Darren Defrain/Wichita, KS; Katy Vopal/Milwaukee, WI; Sherrie Flick/Pittsburgh, PA; Nancy Krygowski/Pittsburgh, PA; Jen Michalski/Baltimore, MD; Seth Harwood/Berkeley, CA; and K. Kvashay-Boyle/Los Angeles, CA.

Each workshop will allow students to work face-to-face with the instructor in specific venues with each location focusing on a specific aspect of the writing world.  For example:

 

Flannery O'Connor Short Fiction Award winning author, Philip F. Deaver, will run his Short Story Crank Workshop at the Urban Think Bookstore in Orlando, FL.  In it he will use a series of prompt exercises designed to get an author well into a first draft of a short story in a short period of time.

In NYC the combination of Dawn Raffel and Pamela Ryder, two writers well known for their innovative usage of language, will be co-running a workshop at the Mercantile Library Center for Fiction, analyzing short fiction, as well as discussing voice, stance, and the acoustical effects of writing, plus using exercises to get students up and running on work of their own.

 

This link will take you to the DZANC DAY page at our website where specific details regarding each session including location, time, details of the workshop, and author biographies.  The page is also where individuals wishing to sign up for one of the workshops will be able to, either via Paypal, or by sending an email and check to the address listed.  Most of the workshops will run for 4 or 5 hours and will cost $50, while another runs for 8 hours and will cost $100, rates far lower than any comparable program.

The DZANC DAY workshops serve not only to expand Dzanc's effort to bring inexpensive, face-to-face workshops to a wider audience, but also to help us generate income that will, as noted, allow Dzanc to continue that effort in our other charitable arenas - publishing literary fiction, awarding the annual Dzanc Prize, running Dzanc Writer in Residence Programs in schools across the country, and more.

For more information please visit the DZANC DAY page at the Dzanc website.  Questions can be directed to Dan Wickett at dan@dzancbooks.org.
 

ABOUT DZANC BOOKS

 

Dzanc Books was created in 2006 by Steven Gillis and Dan Wickett to advance great writing and to champion those writers who do not fit neatly into the marketing niches of for-profit presses. As a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization, Dzanc Books not only publishes literary fiction, but works in partnership with literary journals to advance their readership at every level. Dzanc is also fully committed to developing educational programs in schools and organizes workshops and Writer-In-Residence programs in Michigan and elsewhere to meet that goal.

 

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2009 Dzanc Prize Announced

As noted over at the Dzanc Books blog:

EUGENE CROSS WINS 3^RD ANNUAL DZANC PRIZE

January 19, 2010, Ann Arbor, MI—Dzanc Books is pleased to announce that Eugene Cross of Erie, Pennsylvania is the winner of the third annual $5,000 Dzanc Prize. Cross was selected from more than 100 applicants for both the quality of his fiction writing, as well as his proposal to set up and run a progressive series of creative workshops for refugees from Nepal, Sudan and Bhutan, in Erie.  For his community service, Cross will conduct  three 4-month workshops in concurrence with an ESL class currently being taught.  We at Dzanc found Eugene’s conviction in the importance of providing the tools for self-expression to these displaced individuals to be a monumentally significant undertaking.  Eugene’s work will help people going through an extremely tough time find a means of expression and a way to share their experiences. Throughout the workshop there will be an exploration of the personal histories of the students, as well as that of language. Cross, a Lecturer in English/Creative Writing at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, will begin his service within the next month, and will have with half of the prize awarded in February and the other half awarded once the service is completed.

 

Steven Gillis, Publisher of Dzanc Books, notes:  “Eugene's writing has that perfect blend of modernism and classic storytelling, is at once humorous and sexy, intelligent and provocative, and is at the same time composed and controlled.  We were also very much moved by Eugene's service program.  With all that is going on in the world, and in particular as the devastation in Haiti this past week is front page news, we found Eugene's desire to work with refugees in the telling of their stories a wonderful and timely idea.  All taken together, we at Dzanc are proud to have Eugene as our recipient of the 2009 Dzanc Prize."   

 

Cross, a native of Erie, Pennsylvania, and graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, is currently working on a short story collection, Fires of Our Choosing, and plans to complete that. He says, "I'm excited and extremely honored to have been selected for the 2009 Dzanc Prize. The award will give me the opportunity to work closely with Nepalese, Bhutanese, and Sudanese refugees as they write and share their amazing stories even as they continue to unfold. I'm also deeply grateful for the opportunity to continue working on my manuscript while engaging in literary outreach with a civic- minded organization such as Dzanc."

 

ABOUT EUGENE CROSS

 

Eugene Cross teaches English and Creative Writing at Penn State University - Erie, where he received the 2008 Faculty Scholarship.  His stories have appeared in Storyglossia, Guernica, Hobart, Third Coast and other literary journals.  Currently, he is completing a collection of short fiction tentatively titled Fires of Our Choosing.  To interview Eugene, please contact Dan Wickett at dan@dzancbooks.org.

 

ABOUT DZANC BOOKS AND THE DZANC PRIZE

 

Dzanc Books was created in 2006 by Steven Gillis and Dan Wickett to advance great writing and to champion those writers who do not fit neatly into the marketing niches of for-profit presses. As a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization, Dzanc Books not only publishes literary fiction, but works in partnership with literary journals to advance their readership at every level. Dzanc is also fully committed to developing educational programs in schools and organizes workshops and Writer-In-Residence programs in Michigan and elsewhere to meet that goal.

 

In 2007, to further its mission of fostering literary excellence, community involvement, and education, Dzanc Books created the Dzanc Prize, which awards $5,000 annually to a writer working toward completion of a novel or short story collection who is also interested in bettering their community through literary community service. For further details and more information on Dzanc Books, its mission, titles, authors, awards, and programs, please visit www.dzancbooks.org .

 

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Two Dollar Radio - A Great Deal!

The fine folks at Two Dollar Radio have spent the last few years putting out somefantastic books.  They are offering their next five titles for the very low price of $45.  I've yet to read any of the five they've got coming out (and these will arrive about a month before they're in stores) but they include works from Scott Bradfield (whose The History of Luminous Motion I loved back in the 90's when it came out), Joshua Mohr (loved his debut from them last year) and Xiaoda Xiao (whose The Cave Man was excerpted in The Collagist), Barbara Browning and Grace Krilanovich (whose novel is the first to ever be excerpted twice in the pages of Black Clock).

The deal is only available at this price through 1/20/2010 so hurry!

Further Adventures . . .

The fantastic Luca Dipierro, has created a book trailer for Dawn Raffel's forthcoming short story collection, Further Adventures in the Restless Universe (Dzanc Books, March 2010):

Source of Lit - Unsaid - Benjamin Landry

Benjamin Landry - Three Poems

One thing I noticed was how well Landry's titles fit the work, yet in a subtle way.  "Sericulture," which is defined as the raising of silk worms to get raw silk, does include aspects about this within the poem, yet is about much, much more.

What was it about Landry's work that made you think it was Unsaid material?

David McLendon

Landry is a serious poet who gives all his attention to each detail of his compositions. His work is never less than terse, and the unfaltering elegance of his poetry is wrought by only the greatest care and dedication to the form. The poems by Landry that appear in Unsaid are no exception. When read aloud, these poems appear even stronger, as Landry never betrays the acoustical foundation from which each is built. There is nothing “casual” in the world of Landry’s poetry. I have a great respect for the depth of his seriousness in these matters. As Unsaid was nearing its print date, Landry contacted me and politely insisted that the sequence of the poems be changed. The order in which pieces appear in Unsaid is very important to me, and I was impressed that Landry shares this concern. Here is Landry’s philosophy: When a poem is the best it can possibly be, insist on making it better.

Source of Lit - The Postman!

The last two days have been snow-filled around these parts.  Which makes me feel even worse for the postman as he's been lugging packages in greater than normal amounts both days.

Recent acquisitions include:

Street Shadows:  A Memoir of Race, Rebellion, and Redemption by Jared Walker from Bantam (Random House).  I suppose the subtitle pretty much says all we need to, doesn't it?

The new issue of The Kenyon Review (Winter 2010 - Volume XXXII, Number 1) arrived as well.  It has a very colorful cover and is a special issue "Devoted to Work by North American Indigenous Authors" and guest edited by Simon Ortiz.

I know I ordered a couple of things from Greying Ghost Press, but think that Carl may have filled the envelope out a bit as I don't remember ordering everything that arrived:

    Help! by Adam Field, Helen Mirren Picks Out My Clothes by Andrew Terhune,  Naturalistless by Christopher Rizzo, Hank Williams by Peter Berghoef, and The Deviants by Jack Boettcher

 New Michigan Press sent me their latest chapbook contest winner, Ben Mirov's I Is To Vorticism, as well as one of the finalists, Brent Armendinger's Undetectable.

The copy of Sleepingfish 8 that I ordered arrived!  Work from many favorites including Matt Bell, Amelia Gray, Blake Butler, Ryan Call, David McLendon, David Ohle, Terese Svoboda and hell, I'm basically typing out those listed in the contributor's notes - co-edited by Derek White and Gary Lutz, it looks fantastic - much more on this issue soon.

Micah Ling's Three Islands arrived too, from Sunnyoutside - I'm  not sure who puts out the nicer looking smaller books, Sunnyoutside, Greying Ghost or New Michigan  Press - all three create works that are art as objects, as well as the art within.  Just beautiful.

Warm Milk Printing Press sent me the copy of David Peak's chapbook, Museum of Fucked, that I'd ordered earlier in the week.  Been reading too many great things about this one to not place an order.

Gordon Lish's Krupp's Lulu arrived today, courtesy of the fantastic Sean Lovelace.  Seems I won a little contest he ran over at HTMLGiant.com not too long ago.  Been trying to read more Gordon Lish lately, so this was a good win.

Lastly, today a package arrived from Coffee House Press with three of their forthcoming titles within:

    Off We Go Into the Wild Blue Yonder by Travis Nichols, Drowning Tucson by Aaron Michael Morales, and the final novel from Gilbert Sorrentino, The Abyss of Human Illusion.  Molly at CHP is one of those great publicity people that only sends me books she's pretty sure I'll really like, which leads to a great percentage of them being read.

Who's Who in the EWN - Volume I (redux)

So the next five posts make sense, I'm setting this one above them, and deleting the super sized post from Wednesday that had all the same information.

One of the early things I did in the EWN was send out review via email.  In those emails I'd also try to remember to mention various things I'd noticed about EWN members - so and so published a poem here, so and so got a book deal here, etc.  It's been a while since I've done so, and so, this is a bit longer than usual.  Here's what's going on with some of those in the Emerging Writers Network - congrats to them all (this is supposed to be in alphabetical order and I hope I spelled everybody's names properly):

David Abrams:  His short story, "This is Not a Christmas Story," was chosen as a finalist in Narrative's Fall 2009 Story Contest.

Steve Amick:  His novel, Nothing But a Smile, was selected for the 2010 Michigan Notable Book Awards.

Jensen Beach:  He’s had stories in Avery, Keyhole, Waccamaw and Everyday Genius, and a couple more forthcoming in PANK and Notnostrums.

Shaindel Beers:  Press 53 Spotlight will be featuring three of Shaindel Beers' short stories, “Longing on Hwy 10,” What to Expect When You’re Introspecting,” and “ISO.”

C.B. Bernard:  The short story, "Buckets," will run in the February/March issue of Gray's Sporting Journal.

Jessica Breheny:  Has a story, “For They Heard the First Sound and Trembled,” forthcoming in Electric Velocipede.  She also has a story, “Pan and the Broken City,” in the current Eleven Eleven.

Bonnie Jo Campbell:  Received National Book Award Finalist status for American Salvage. It was also included in some of the "best of" lists in the last few weeks, including the Cleveland Plain Dealer
http://www.cleveland.com/books/index.ssf/2009/12/from_fiction_to_non-fiction_he.html
Kansas City Star
*http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/1609350-p3.html
*something called the Norman Transcript http://www.normantranscript.com/features/local_story_365011542
The Lansing City Pulse
http://www.lansingcitypulse.com/lansing/article-3836-what-you-aught-to-read.html

Wayne State Univ. Press sold paperback rights to W.W. Norton, so the book is available through Norton now.  Norton has purchased her next novel as well.

Rachel Cantor:  Stories out this week in Fence and in The Normal School; the latter was nominated for a Pushcart (!).

Pam Carter:  With five other Seattle playwrights she collaborated on a play, "It's not in the P-I: a Living Newspaper about a Dying Newspaper." They had a run in November at North Seattle Community College and she received my first royalty check. Many nights sold-out. They wrote the play in response to the death of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and based it on interviews with the one-time reporters. "On the Media," the NPR show, even did a piece on their play.

Jeremiah Chamberlin:  Has seen his interviews with independent booksellers turn into a series at Poets & Writers.

Kelly Cherry:  Had two books published in mid-November: Girl in a Library: On Women Writers & The Writing Life (BkMk Press) and The Retreats of Thought: Poems (LSU Press). Forthcoming: The Woman Who, stories, Boson Books.

Steven Church:  His book, Theoretical Killings: Essays and Accidents, was released in November by UNO Press. His forthcoming book, The Day After The Day After: My Atomic Angst will be out in March from Soft Skull Press. He's had essays published by The Pinch and accepted for future publication by Fourth Genre, Brevity, Colorado Review, Sonora Review, and New South.

Patricia Clark:  Had a book out in 2009: She Walks Into the Sea, from Michigan State Univ Press, and poems in: Northwest Review, Zone 3, & anthology Imagination & Place.

Alicia Conroy:  She was named a finalist for the Bush Foundation Artist Fellowships in 2010, putting her in company of writers like Susan Power and Sheila O'Connor.  Finalists received a $1,000 award.  Conroy, a resident of Minneapolis, is the author of Lives of Mapmakers, a finalist for the 2007 Minnesota Book Awards.

Who's Who in the EWN - Volume VI

And the last group - quite a bit of talent in the EWN these days:

Curtis Smith:  His new novel, Truth Or Something Like It, from Casperian Books, hits March 1st.  His essay collection, The Agnostic's Prayer, from Sunnyoutside Press, will be out this summer.

Barbara Smith-Alfaro:  Her poem titled "Oddly American" is published in the latest edition of New Millennium Writings (Number Nineteen - 2010).

Garret Socol:  Saw the short story “Aesthetics” recently published in Metazen, and the story “Gathered Here Together” appeared in Spork Press on January 4th.

Tatjana Soli:  Her story, "The Sweet & the Salt," will appear in the January 2010 issue of The Sun.

Onna Solomon:  She is the 2009 winner of the Beloit Poetry Journal’s annual Chad Walsh Poetry Prize. The editors of the BPJ select on the basis of its excellence a poem or group of poems they have published in the calendar year to receive the award. This year’s choice is Solomon's "Autism Suite," which appeared in the Fall 2009 issue. The prize award is $3,500.

Michael Steinberg:  1)  "Memory, Fact, Imagination, Research: Memoir's Hybrid Personality" Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Literary Voices,Fall, 2009 http://solsticelitmag.org/ , 2)  "Notes From an Accidental Journal Keeper,"Writers and Their Notebooks, ed Dianna Rabb, University of South Carolina Press, December, 2009, pp 101-109, and 3)  "Three Things That Stopped Me in My Tracks: An Exercise in Discovery and Reflection," Now Write Nonfiction: Memoir, Journalism, and Creative Nonfiction From Today's Best Writers and Teachers, ed. Sherry Ellis, Tarcher/Penguin, December, 2009, pp 3-5

Virginia Chase Sutton:  Poem "On Being Bipolar and the Phenomenal World" accepted by Bellevue Literary Review; poems "Making Love in Argentina" and "The Swallow Test" accepted by the Wisconsin Review; poem "Lemons" accepted by "Comstock Review"; and "Upon the Death of Fay Wray" accepted by the Salt River Review."

Terese Svoboda:  In the last three months of 2009 she had a poem in Poetry (first in thirty-odd years!) a poem accepted at the Boston Review, a story accepted by One Story, and two published in Wigleaf and Cell Stories. She also had an essay published in More magazine, and in Significant Object and Fictionaut. My new poetry book was spotlighted on NBCC’s blog, Critical Mass, and both books were featured in interviews on WKCR, KOGA, WYEP, and “The Poet  and The Poem from the Library of Congress,” as well as in Html Giant, Word Riot, Andrew’s Book Club, Nebraska Life, Largehearted Boy, and in the New York Times Book Review. She also reviewed a book for The Rumpus.

Ed Tasca:  Has won the 2009 Robert Benchley Society Award for Humor. He’s also had two new books accepted for publication in the last six months. Lub Dub, which is a comic novella, and Autobiography of a Worm, a serious work about a man's descent into madness and murder. They are added to three already published works.

Katherine Taylor:  In December, John Haskell, Jerry Stahl, Matthew Specktor, Strawberry Saroyan and Katherine did a tag-team story for Dave Daley's Five Chapters. http://www.fivechapters.com/2009/viva-lost-vegas/

Laura Thomas:  1) “The Lavinia Nude”.  In Cimarron Review, Issue 169, Fall 2009.

2) “Down to the Last Kopek”.  In Nimrod International Journal, Awards 31, Fall/Winter 2009.  Winner, Honorable Mention, The Nimrod Literary Awards: The Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction. (This was her Dzanc Write a thon story last year).

Christina Thompson:  She has been awarded an NEA Creative Writing Fellowship for 2010, as has a short story writer we recently published in issue 34 of Harvard Review, Vinnie Wilhelm.

Kristen Tsetsi:  Her novel, Homefront, self-published though it may be, received an exceptional review in the Huffington Post, and was also featured in the Stars and Stripes newspaper.

J.A. Tyler:  Has Inconceivable Wilson coming out and his Mudluscious Press saw their first novella, Molly Gaudry’s We Take Me Apart, released to great reviews.

Laura van den Berg:  Her debut collection, What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us, was published by Dzanc Books in October and received a starred review in Booklist, was included on holiday/year-end lists published by The Louisville Courier-Journal, HTML Giant, and The Daily Beast, was a November selection for Andrew's Book Club and Foreword Magazine’s Book Club, and was a Holiday “Discover Great New Writers” selection from Barnes & Noble, who wrote of the collection, “The mysteries of science and the mysteries of the heart—perhaps nowhere have they been so proactively linked as in this debut short-story collection.”

Mitchell Waldman:  Had a short story “The Man From New York” and a poem (American Cheese on Wonder Bread) published in Five Fishes Journal, as well as another poem “Warehouse” published in Mobius: The Poetry Magazine.

William Walsh:  The biggest news here is Cousins Reading Series, which I co-offer with Darcie Dennigan. We're moving to a new location (Abe's on Wickenden Street in Providence) and launching on March 7 with Claire Dontato, Matt Hart, Nate Pritts. We're firming up April and May programs (dates TBD) but a few readers are already on board: Marc Lowe, Matt Jasper, and Gordon Massman.

Blogspot: http://readcousins.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=208574753875

This series is newly named Cousins Reading Series, but it's an extension of the events we've been hosting in Providence the past few years, which featured some very talented writers: Ana Bozicevic, Blake Butler, Kim Chinquee, Jackie Corley, Matthew Derby, Brian Evenson, Sherrie Flick, Brian Foley, Margaret Funkhouser, Timothy Gager, Geoff Herbach, Molly Gaudry, James Allen Hall, Steve Himmer, Gillian Kiley, Michael Kimball, Amy King, Sam Ligon, Robert Lopez, Sam Osterhout, Timmy Waldron, Sam White.

We would welcome members of the Emerging Writers Network to read at Cousins--anytime.

Laura Wellner:  Her novel, Dusty Waters: A Ghost Story has been receiving good reviews from readers at Goodreads.com where she held two giveaways since its release June 2009.

Gabriel Welsch:  Is happy to report that editors have taken my poems at West Branch, Lake Effect, and Eclipse, and that I have had stories accepted at PANK and Chautauqua.

Tim Wendel:  Tim received an Award for Teaching Excellence at Johns Hopkins University in 2009. His latest book, High Heat, will be published by Da Capo Press in March, with cover blurbs from David Maraniss and Ken Burns.

Mitch Wieland:  In October, a story from God's Dogs was one of 18 stories selected for The Best of the West 2009.  The title story from God's Dogs also made the prize anthology's "Other Notable Western Stories of the Year" list.  The website New West cited God's Dogs as one of the Best Books in the West for 2009.  God's Dogs was featured on Foreword Magazine's online Book Club during the week of September 30.  Foreword's editor Heather Shaw rated the book five stars on Goodreads.  

In December, God's Dogs was reviewed by Fiction Writers Review and New West. Earlier this fall, the book was discussed on XM Radio's Book Channel and Idaho's NPR affiliate.

Joe Wilkins:  His first book, Killing the Murnion Dogs, is forthcoming from Black Lawrence Press. He has new work appearing in Harvard Review, Cave Wall, Linebreak, and Orion, and he was recently awarded the Richard J. Margolis Award of Blue Mountain Center, which goes each year to “a promising new journalist or essayist whose work combines warmth, humor, wisdom and concern with social justice.” 

Chris Willard:  1.) Story "Little Wite Squirel Angel" published in the anthology Can'tLit: Fearless Fiction from Broken Pencil magazine

2.) Poem titled "Problem" published in the journal Third Wednesday.

3.) My 2009 novel Sundre chosen for Best of the West by the Publisher's Association of Alberta.

Kevin C. Wilson:  Had a poem, "Vows," published in the Fall issue of Think Journal.

Wendy Sumner Winter:  Has work coming out this spring in Switchback and Fourth Genre.

Mike Young:  Has two books coming out in 2010: We Are All Good If They Try Hard Enough, a collection of poetry from Publishing Genius Press, and Look! Look! Feathers, a collection of short stories from Word Riot Press.

Shellie Zacharia:  Her debut story collection, Now Playing, was published by Keyhole Press in 2009.  http://www.nowplayingstories.com

Who's Who in the EWN - Volume V

Group V:

Harmony Neal:  “Serendipity,” nonfiction, forthcoming in Gulf Coast;  “Give Us This Day, Some Meaning, a Purpose,” fiction, forthcoming in Alaska Quarterly Review; and    “Prince Fatty Bottom,” nonfiction, forthcoming in Georgetown Review.

Maud Newton:  Was awarded the 2009 Narrative Prize for my novel excerpt, and last month she wrote a piece for the LA Times about my reasons for writing a novel rather than a memoir.

Perry Norton:  Has an essay on prepping for giving a webinar, for a book that’s literally just been published called Public Speaking and Presentations Demystified by Melody Templeton, Publ by McGraw-Hill; the other in the last three months was a case study for RainToday.com about how “SoloPreneurs” thrive and survive in a tough economy.

Carol Novack:  Recent and future publishings:  1)  Caketrain: Violet's Dream published.
2) Jivin' Ladybug:  Collaborative poem "ROOM" with Sheila E. Murphy: http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8911e/jivinladybug/id100.html
3) Scythe Vol. 1: Poem & Playpoem:  http://scytheliteraryjournal.com/
4) Acceptance of "Quantum Physics" in Flash Fiction issue of Mississippi Review online, due to emerge next month.
5) Acceptance of flash "A Tourist" in Utah," to be published in elimae.

Ashley Owens:  She has been published for the very first time. A single poem in a book titled Inspired.

Jeff Parker:  His story collection, The Taste of Penny, is coming out in April with the baddest ass indie press around!

Anne Leigh Parrish:  Her story, "Pinny and the Fat Girl" will appear in the February, 2010 issue of Storyglossia.

Benjamin Percy:  The Refresh, Refresh graphic novel -- co-authored by filmmaker James Ponsoldt and illustrated by Danica Novgorodoff -- was published in October, 2009 by First Second Books (a division of Macmillan).  USA Today listed Refresh ,Refresh as one of the top ten comics/graphic novels of the year.  In the past few months I've also published fiction and nonfiction in Esquire, Orion, Paris Review, Poets & Writers,  Southern Review, and Ecotone.

Jamie Poissant:  His story "Lizard Man" appears in Best New American Voices 2010, out now from Mariner Books (Laura van den Berg has a story in there too). And his story "First Love" appears in the Fall, 2009 issue of Southern Indiana Review. He’s also just received two acceptances. "The Baby Glows" will appear in the summer 2010 issue of The Southern Review. "What the Wolf Wants" will appear in the Spring 2010 issue of West Branch.

Donald Ray Pollock:  Has a non-fiction piece called "Tommy" coming out in the next issue of Granta (winter 2010).  Also has a short story called "Carl and Sandy" coming out in the Washington Square Review (winter 2010).

Joseph Ponepinto:  1) Has been named Book Review Editor for the Los Angeles Review (if anyone is interested in writing reviews for the journal, please contact him)

2) His novel has been accepted for representation by Andrea Hurst Literary Management

3) His flash fiction "Eyes With No Promise" was published in Vestal Review.

Joseph Powell:  Had his collection of poems, Joby, Uninterrupted:Bittersweet Symphonies and Bohemian Rhapsodies(1989-2009), published by Lulu.com.

Virginia Pye:  Has stories upcoming in The Baltimore Review and two in The Potomac Review.  She’s also been offered a fellowship to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and has been named a judge in the 2010 Library of Virginia Literary Awards.

Mary Rechner:  Her story “Exhibit” was published in the inaugural issue of Propeller Magazine (www.propellermag.com) and her collection of stories, Nine Simple Patterns for Complicated Women, has been accepted for publication by Propeller Books.  The story collection is slated for November 2010 New Short Fiction Series (www.newshortfiction.com) in Los Angeles.

Dave Reidy:  His story "Chasing Cars" was published by Granta on the magazine's website this past October.

S. Craig Renfroe Jr.:  He has recently had stories accepted at JMWW, Thuglit, Cemetery Dance, and NANO Fiction. 

Rachel Richardson:  Her first book of poems, Copperhead, has been accepted by Carnegie Mellon University Press and will be published in early 2011. 

Matt Roberts:  His essay "The Myopia of Scale," which first appeared in Ecotone Vol. 3, No. 2, was selected as a Notable Essay of the Year by Robert Atwan for 2009's Best American Essays collection.

Lisa Romeo:  1) Her essay, "43 Lies About My Child," was a winner of the 31 Hours Essay Contest for pieces about parental intuition -- http://www.mashahamilton.com/31_hours/contest.php

2) The essay titled, "It Always Happens One Summer," will appear in Why We Ride: Women Writers on the Horses in Their Lives, edited by Verna Dreisbach (Seal Press, May 2010) --

http://sealpress.com/book.php?isbn=9781580052665

3) An essay, "The Other Mothers Patrol," ran on Babble.com last week --

http://babble.com/parenting-advice-other-moms-disciplining-children/

4) Another essay, "Cradle and All," about postpartum depression, was accepted by the online journal Sweetlit (http://sweetlit.com/) and will run in early 2010.

Andrew Row:  Has had stories recently accepted by SmokeLong Quarterly, Wigleaf, Pank, Emprise Review and JMWW. In addition, his work was recently featured at the New Short Fiction Series in Los Angeles.

Paul Ruffin:  Had a novel chapter, familiar essay, and three poems in BOULEVARD recently. TCU Press will be bringing out PAUL RUFFIN: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS early in 2010, and Lousiana Literature Press will be publishing a new collection of essays, RUFFIN-IT in January or February, 2010.

Jim Ruland:  2009 ended with a flurry of fiction publications in Quick Fiction, The Collagist and Canteen, where he was fortunate enough to be named the winner of their fiction contest. More stories forthcoming in Keyhole and The Normal School. Plus, he’s very excited to be bringing his reading series, Vermin on the Mount, to Denver for AWP.

Ksenia Rychtycka:  She recently had short stories published in The Dalhousie Review and Yellow Medicine Review. She also have a story forthcoming in Twenty Years After The Fall (an anthology by Wising Up Press) and a poem forthcoming in The Literary Bohemian.

Kevin Sampsell:  Has a memoir, A Common Pornography, due out on 1/19 (and will have an upcoming tour to places like SF, LA, Boston, NY, Chicago, and Ann Arbor). The book has garnered really nice reviews already from Harper's, Penthouse, and Portland Monthly to name a few. His new website, www.kevinsampsell.com, is up and running.  Kevin also runs Future Tense Press, and published Claudia Smith's chapbook and has upcoming releases by Zachary Schomburg and Emily Kendal Frey (titled OK, Goodnight).

Robert Saniscalchi:  His novel, My Life, For Her, is now in print.

Anne Sanow:  Her story collection Triple Time was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press (winner of the 2009 Drue Heinz Literature Prize); her story "The Grand Tour" won the 2009 Nelson Algren Award for Short Fiction from the Chicago Tribune; and he was awarded a 2010 Literature Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

James Scott:  Has had work in the last three months in Memorious and forthcoming in Eleven Eleven (an awesome, beautiful mag) and just got word that four of my 2009 stories have been nominated for the Pushcart prize, thanks to some kind editors and fellow writers.

Jenny Shank:  She has a story in the Winter 2009 issue of Prairie Schooner, "Lightest Lights Against Darkest Darks," and The Permanent Press recently accepted my first
novel, THE RINGER, for publication in 2011.

Maureen Sherbondy:  1) Her first short story collection, THE SLOW VANISHING, was published at the end of August (Mint Hill Books/Main Street Rag).
2) The book was recently reviewed by Newpages.com  http://www.newpages.com/bookreviews/2009_12/december2009_book_reviews.htm#Slow_Vanishing
3) In October, she won the Carrie McCray Poetry Award (500$--given at the South Carolina Writers' Workshop Conference).
4) She was interviewed on NPR's The State of Things by Frank Statio in December (about being a Jewish writer in the South):  http://wunc.org/tsot/archive/sot1209c09.mp3/view

Robin Slick:  Her latest book, Bitten to the Core, which is the third book in her Three Days in New York City series, was published by Mundania Press on December 7 and is available everywhere; her six word memoir will be published on January 5, 2010 in the new Smith Magazine anthology It All Changed in An Instant, published by HarperCollins.