Emerging Writers Network

Short Story Collections Matter

And fortunately there are people like Andrew Scott that agree with that statement.  I'm horribly late to obeying the first two rules of Andrew's Book Club - Talking about Andrew's Book Club.  Better late than never though.

While Andrew concedes that Oprah's Book Club has done some fine work, especially now that she's concentrating on living writers again, he's noticed that not once has she opted to select a short story collection.  So, Andrew has created his own club and will do the following - select two short story collections each month, one from a larger, NY publishing house, and one from an independent publishing house.

January 2009 saw him select Lauren Groff's Delicate Edible Birds (Hyperion, 2009) and Allison Amend's Things That Pass for Love (Other Voices Books, 2008) {which makes my own delay on posting about this all the worse}.  I love the fact that even the book from the larger publisher has an independent spirit about it as I first discovered Lauren's stories in Hobart, One Story and Glimmer Train.

It's a great idea, kicking the hell out of that silly Short Story Month idea somebody else had a couple of years ago.  Wander on over, buy the books Andrew is selecting, and enjoy and promote short fiction!

Reminder - Visiting Hours

WARNING - SHAMELESS SELF PLUGGING TO FOLLOW!!!

Hey folks, I have received my official, final version, copies of the short story anthology, Visiting Hours (Press 53, December 2008).  To my knowledge, the bulk of the authors involved have also received contributor copies and this means the publisher has copies available for purchase!

As a reminder, this is a collection of short stories (22 of them) as well as an introduction by Kyle Minor.

Authors included are:  David Abrams, Lauren Baratz-Logsted, Beth Ann Bauman, James R. Cooley, Quinn Dalton, Philip F. Deaver, Rochelle Distelheim, Pamela Erens, Patry Francis, Joseph Freda, Steven Gillis, Nancy Ginzer, Roberta Israeloff, Kaytie M. Lee, T.M. McNally, Michael Milliken, Jim Nichols, Benjamin Percy, Ron Rash, Bill Roorbach, Max Ruback, and Gabriel Welsch.

The book came about thanks to an idea that Amy Koppelman had - to quote her from an old email:

"I don't know what it is, but I can't stop thinking about the dynamic of visiting.  How one person is going to leave and the other will stay.  How there is a time limit on it.  I don't know what it is yet that plagues me about this situation.  Is it the conflict, the unfairness?  Hopefully, through doing this anthology I'll figure it out."

Yes, you've read that last line right, I've essentially stolen Amy's idea, albeit, with her blessing.  This is what the stories included look at - that odd dynamic that occurs during visiting hours - one has to leave, one has to stay, there are only certain times you can be together, etc.

What others have had to say:

"Visiting Hours unhinges our anxieties about illness.  These stories are funny, touching, and buoyed high by the surprising twists of human love.  Thank goodness for a book that paints bright, savvy colors on white hospital walls."

-- Alyson Hagy, author of Snow, Ashes

"Why aren't there more books like this one?  This anthology is alive, and it's electric.  Every piece in here is full of heart and packed with surprise.  Dan Wickett has done a great job of finding work by writers who matter.  Here's to him -- and to them."

-- Steve Yarbrough, author of The End of California

"In one fell swoop Dan Wickett's anthology erases the need for the frivolous reading of Highlights and Field and Stream in waiting room purgatory, the kind of place one invariably ends up in en route to visiting hours.  Consider these stories about visiting people at their most vulnerable required reading for your next trip to the hospital, prison, or mental ward."

-- Jeff Parker, author of Ovenman

Win a Copy of . . .

. . . Philipp Meyer's debut novel, American Rust.  The book, which will be published in late February, is seeing 100 ARC's being given away through a combination effort of the website Monsters and Critics, and the publisher, Spiegel & Grau.

The novel has seen some early attention as it found its way into Patricia Cornwell's latest mystery (they share an agent, and Cornwell also provided a blurb, comparing Meyer's writing to that of Hemingway and really seems to love the book).

Unless I'm mistaken about the details, this book has the strange back story of seeing a six figure advance, and foreign rights sold to at least 8 other publishers, BUT seeing very little publicity prior to about six weeks before its publish date (February 24) due to the 4th quarter 2008 shake-up at Random House.

Fortunately, the book has been assigned to Asst. Director of Publicity Jynne Dillon Martin, who has begun to get the word out.  I'm currently reading an ARC of this book and believe it to be worth whatever early hype it may have missed out on because of the shake-up.  It's a multi-point of view, literary page-turner and I'm half-way in and hating how frequently life is taking me away from getting deeper into the story.

It's certainly worth your taking a chance on winning one of these 100 ARCs.

Speaking of ...

... online journals, Esquire's Book Blog recently had a post listing the five best online literary journals.  Just off the top of my head, I know that at least 3 of the 5 they listed will be represented in Best of the Web 2009, and 1 of those, The Adirondack Review, is a personal favorite, and was even before they became affiliated with Dzanc Books!  Congrats to all listed, and especially to Diane Goettel and Colleen Ryor for continuing to put out such a fantastic journal, quarter after quarter.

Source of Lit - SN Review

The latest issue of the SN Review is up and has some great stuff in it.  I've not finished it all yet, but have enjoyed Steven Gillis' "The Night I Met Me," Lucille Sutton's "Schwegemann's," poems by Allan Johnston, and those of J. Alan Nelson, plus a great essay from Linda Gonzalez, "Finding Our Way Home".

Just one more example of a different way to do an online journal - each link goes to a pdf of the piece in question, creating a nice looking page to read the work from.

And the Winners Are . . .

Thanks again to Back Bay Books and publicist Miriam Parker for backing our idea of a band name contest, and to author Michael Schilling for playing along with the idea.  The following comes from Michael - his thoughts on band names in general, and his five selections.  If you submitted one of these five, please email your address to me (see upper left hand corner for email address/link) and I'll forward to Back Bay Books so your own copy of Rock Bottom will be headed out soon.  My own review is coming soon, but suffice to say, I enjoyed the book quite a bit.

There is a certain unique poetry to every band name, and something heroic in the attempt to encapsulate both the sublime chaos of performance and the wracked weirdness of band fellowship. Subsequently, in my experience, band names are hard-fought between band members, and someone is always upset with the outcome. I for one am still upset about some of the band names I have been a part of, such as Psonica, Mistress Daydream, and Jeffrey Nothing. Too bad I didn't have you fine people around to help out, because all of the names submitted were really good/funny/flat-out upsetting.

These made the final cut:

Tongue and Groove
Scowcroft Brzezinski
Tea Wrecks
Inspector Handbag
The Belva Plain

I tried to be diverse here, from the totally raunchy to the vaguely aristocratic (I will leave you to decide which adjectives apply to which names). Each of these names were ultimately chosen because if I saw them on a show bill I would think, Huh, I'll go see them, they might be really good, or, even better, really bad.

Thanks so much for playing, and hope all of you will check out the sordid story of Blood Orphans!

Humbly submitted,
Michael Shilling

Source of Lit - One Story

I feel as if I've been slacking in my support for One Story these days.  Whereas I used to send EWN members suggestions to subscribe on about a bi-monthly basis, I can't remember the last time I suggested as such here.  And it's certainly not due to a lack of interest in what they're doing.  I still think it's an incredible bit of genius, the single story every three weeks.  I also still think they're publishing fantastic material - looking at their recently published list and recalling great enjoyment from reading new stories from Yannick Murphy, Jean Thompson, and Laura van den Berg to name a few.

The two most recent issue to hit my mailbox, #111 "We Bluegills" from Robert Travieso and #112 "Sir Fleeting" from Lauren Groff have been excellent and as I've got the Groff collection to review soon, I'll talk about "We Bluegills" in this post.

This seems like it might be your typical sporting event story - two teams, one an underdog, giving your all, that sort of thing.  However, Travieso has infused his story with some slightly out of the ordinary factors.  To begin with, the teams are playing water polo, not your typical start to one of these.  The two teams are the Coasties from the Coast Guard, mostly crew cutted, marching to the pool in unison and clapping in rhythm,etc. while the Bluegills (not even officially the Fighting Bluegills) have all taken ecstasy prior to coming out to the pool. 

The Bluegills are coached by Benedik Bonk.  The Seventh.  From somewhere in Europe (though not Hungary) with amazing pre-match pep talks.  He ends the one prior to the match against the Coasties with the realization:

"Perhaps," Bonk says, "I do not convey all that I am wishing to convey.  I am meaning to be rousing.  I promise, next speech, is more rousing.  Dammitt hands, I have failed you."

During the match, perhaps due to the acid, the opponent our narrator is guarding sprouts wings and turns into a Thor-like god of water polo.  The narrator is also dealing with the three month old passing of his grandfather, due to drowning, an event he was present for.  There's a lot going on in "We Bluegills" and Trevieso keeps it all contained nicely.  With a nice flair for humor (if you, like me, consider the end of the coaches pre-match talk to be funny).

Maribeth and Hannah still have it, and hopefully by now, you are getting it too.

Source of Lit - American Short Fiction

The latest issue of American Short Fiction, Vol. 11, issue 42 (summer/fall 2008), is out and as always, full of great fiction.  Since reviving this literary journal in 2006, editors Stacey Swann, Jill Meyers and Rebecca Bengal have done a great job of mixing established and soon to be established (ie, emerging) writers within their pages.  This issue has their second annual story contest winner (as selected by Julie Orringer), Anne Leigh Parrish, as well as work from Molly Antopol, Karen Brown (recently seen in BASS 2008), Owen Egerton, Mathew Goldberg and Katie Williams.  To be honest, selecting a favorite one or two this time around is pretty tough as I enjoyed them all.  Buy your own.

Source of Lit - Quick Fiction

The new issue, number 14, of Quick Fiction has arrived and as usual is chock full of  goodness in the form of short fiction under 500 words in length.  Excellent works from Mary Miller, Randall Brown, Kathy Fish, Clifford Garstang, Kim Chinquee, Molly Gaudry, Rachel Yoder, and many others fill up the 40 plus pages here that I was elated I had grabbed on my way out the door yesterday as there was an unexpectedly long line at the bank.  This in hand, I was able to somewhat ignore the inane chatter on cell phones, and frighteningly wet-sounding coughs coming from the depths of . . . Okay, back to the task.  Adam and Jennifer Pieroni have carved out quite the niche with this journal that appears each spring and fall and is well worth your own hard earned dollars.

(Note:  Cover art to QF 14 is the painting titled Souvenir of the Lovely Stranger by Andy Kehoe - the actual cover also has a 14 above the body on the ground in red, and the name Quick Fiction in the upper right hand covern of the tree - more work by Andy Kehoe can be seen here)

Source of Lit - Fairy Tale Review

I've had The Violet Issue of Fairy Tale Review for some time now and have finally made some time to dig in and it was well worth it.  This is the third issue of this journal and continues the interesting tradition that is best described on the website:

"Fairy Tale Review is an annual literary journal devoted to contemporary fairy tales. The journal hopes to provide an elegant and innovative venue for both established and emerging authors of poetry and prose. Fairy Tale Review is not devoted to any particular school of writing, but rather to fairy tales as an inspiring art form."

This issue contains poetry, short fiction, sections from a novella, and the first chapter of a translated novel - an impressive mix, even without the self-imposed constraints listed above.  I enjoyed the aforementioned translation of the first chapter of Espido Freire's novel Irlanda, from the Spanish, by Toshiya Kamei, as well as sections of Lily Hoang's novella and especially the short stories by Lucy Corin and Tracy Daugherty.

Ordering details here.