Microchondria

03.24.10 // Writing

I received my contributor’s copy of Harvard Book Store’s Microchondria yesterday in the mail. It’s that great pocket size and a pretty neat project. And since I was fortunate enough to earn two out of the forty-two spots, my stories also make up 1/21 of the final product (one, “Consumer Reports,” is a traditional short short; the other, “Desperate Measures,” is Hint Fiction). Excerpts from the foreword:

On February 1, 2010, the call went out: Harvard Book Store would produce a book of original short short stories.

On Monday, March 1, 2010, at 5:15p.m., the first copy of Microchondria was printed in Harvard Book Store on Paige M. Gutenborg, our in-store print-on-demand book machine.

Thirty days ago, this book didn’t exist. No one knew what would be in it or what it would look like. Now you are holding a copy of Microchondria in your hands. Now you are going to read it.

We think that’s pretty awesome.

I think that’s pretty awesome too. HBS in the only independent book store I think I’ve ever spent significant time in, and, you know what, why just sell books? Why not also make books? They have a party. They have readings. They have wine. They print out copies. They sell the copies. Everyone has fun.

It’s a singular book buying experience.

HBS is the bookstore and the book publisher. Afterward, it’s available on their shelves and online here, with more copies just a few minutes away thanks to POD technology. Welcome to independent publishing in 2010.

Milestones

03.08.10 // Writing

I have a new story up at Everyday Genius, called “Milestones.” Thanks go to March editor Laura Ellen Scott, now slated to be the fiction editor for Prick of the Spindle, which should be good things for LES and good things for POTS, so cheers all around. I like acronyms.

This story is actually based on a news bit from last December about a Taiwanese man who “beat” World of Warcraft by essentially doing every in-game task. Of course, my understanding is that the new patch added new achievements (makes the game unbeatable doesn’t it?). There’s also a good chance that the “man” was actually more than one player sharing an account, but hey, this is fiction, right? Let the record also state that I used to exclusively wear cargo pants and cargo shorts in my youth.

While you’re there, read “13 Ways of Looking at a Roadtrip” by Barry Graham, which went up in EG last week. Now that is an ending.

Litwit Love

02.22.10 // Reading, Writing

David Backer of FictionDaily has a guest post over at The Millions, Long Live Fiction: A Guide to Fiction Online. It’s a great, positive look of a newcomer to the world of fiction publishing online. A year ago I also literally had no idea these sites or the writers that populate them even existed. When you discover online fiction, the words seem never-ending:

What’s changing is access. I might read a short story in a magazine in Australia. Then I’ll follow a link to a new journal that’s just popped up in York, England. Then I’ll read an author bio and find the author’s blog, which has more of her writing and links to other magazines and the magazines and blogs of her friends in Nashville, New York, Portland, Austin, etc. The et cetera continues indefinitely. I find new places everyday. More and more and more writing.

Backer went searching for new fiction. He found “gobs and gobs of it,” and is happy to share the results. Part of his rundown is a very charitable view of twitter-fiction, particularly of my taste for Nanoism:

The difference with White’s stuff, both his own writing and the writing he publishes, is that in it you can see the litwit taking shape as a valid form, shaped by our technology, for getting at the truth.

Overall, an excellent introduction to why “Fiction is dead, long live Fiction,” and a great illustration for why sites like FictionDaily will help us navigate the endless story-seas for more manageable journeys.

And speaking of truth, here are two more Thaumatrope stories. The first, in particular, we must be wary of as we step into the future.

FictionDaily

02.15.10 // Reading

I read an article the other day stating that MFA programs are on pace to churn out sixty thousand new writers every ten years. Between that and sheer volume of information available and accessible online, the next battle for grassroots entertainment is not production but curation and aggregation: there is too much to read even a significant fraction.

That’s where projects like David Backer’s FictionDaily come in. Each day, the site hosts a snippet and link to three free stories online: one very short, one short, and one genre. It’s a gateway, and it’s these curated gateways that users will trust to collected and filter the independent publishing for consumption. Soon, the site will begin publishing socially progressive stories as well.

In addition to featuring both Nanoism and one of my stories, FictionDaily now hosts a short interview with yours truly.

Thoughts on Joseph Young’s Easter Rabbit

02.10.10 // Reading

Edward Mullany over at matchbook wrote an excellent review that I largely agree with. John Madera of Big Other wrote a review on NewPages that I largely disagree with. Between the two you’d get the idea.

Easter Rabbit is a collection of microfictions, each under 200 words and many hovering around 50. The stories themselves are wholly literary in nature, a compilation of scenes and moments focused on language and vivid (if sometimes cryptic) imagery. As the word microfiction implies, each entry is supposed to stand as a story. And here I think its use is distracting from the body of work: even coming from someone like me who uses the term “story” very loosely, these microfictions don’t really convey a sense of narrative very often. These are impressionist paintings, carefully crafted vignettes that walk the personally-drawn line between ambiguity and vagueness.

With around 80 stories that one could read in under an hour, the collection has the potential to be a numbing read. Many of stories understandably have a similar feel, the sparse dialog of a man and a woman, an image, a setting. ER demands to be read slowly, picked up and put down.

The book’s success, I think, has everything to do with how much ambiguity the reader is comfortable with. So if you’re looking for lovingly crafted sentences and some poignant moments, then Young delivers.

Sounds like poetry, doesn’t it?

Will Babysit for Little $$$

01.21.10 // Writing

I have a very short piece with a critical thought up on the front-page of Matchbook for the next two weeks. It’s the last piece I have out for a while, but I’ve been looking forward to it since October. It’s more Craigslist fiction; read it here.

Matchbook is unique in two great ways.

They have a rolling, one-story-at-a-time publication schedule. Currently, the run for each story on the main page is two full weeks, which is incredibly generous to the writing they select. Things stay fresh but they don’t get lost.
They include critical companion pieces, so fictional stories and nonfiction thoughts are presented side-by-side. Anyone who has ever enjoyed reading an author interview knows that sometimes the background can not only change how we interact with stories but also be as fascinating as the writing itself. And Matchbook puts these mini-essays right in the forefront.

The whole site is unique but fast and eminently readable.

In other news, the awesome Mel Bosworth reads my flash “When We Are Old” in Big Other Reading Series, #3. What a gracious and kind thing of him to do, not just for me, but for everyone he’s read on his YouTube channel: Mel Bosworth Reads Things. Check it out.

Lastly, another Thaumatrope.

I Can See

01.10.10 // Writing

Writer’s Bloc (Rutgers) is a rare site that has a new design–a good design–with every issue. I have piece in the new issue 7. Check out the splash page to see the issue’s underwater theme in action, as well as the writing of Jimmy Chen (owner of the best personal url meme of all time) and Laura Ellen Scott (curator of VIPs on vsf, a blogsource [is that a word? should be] on very short fiction).

It’s a fresh, exciting venue, and it’s always a pleasure to see what’s going to pop up the next month.

My wife and I just watched the first few episodes of Food Network’s Worst Cooks in America because we love food and we love TV and the Food Network is a dangerous timesink. They “found” the 24 “worst” cooks in America. Then they took the worst 12 and put them in a cooking competition with two good chefs as teachers, who proceed to give them shit when they–surprise, surprise–can’t cook. It’s sorta sad watching these guys flounder and not as entertaining as the classy folks on Jersey Shore, but it’s still an entertaining twist on the endless stream of competition shows (there’s actually a hairdressing one [ick]).

I need a friend

01.07.10 // Writing

“I need a friend” is another piece of Craigslist Fiction, now up in issue 30 of Right Hand Pointing, alongside fine folks like Nanoism contributor, K.M.A. Sullivan. The series continues…on January 18th.

And how about that near comeback for the Longhorns during the BCS Championship?

Wack Bible Stories

01.05.10 // Miscellany

At the request of Publishing Genius’ Adam Robinson, I wrote a guest post at HTMLGIANT about the fascinating story of Onan:

And Onan knew that the seed would not be his; and it came to pass when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest he should give seed to his brother.

Click the link above to read up on lifestyle and writing advice from the Old Testament.

Easter Rabbit, Microfiction, Contests, Comics, and Free Stuff

12.30.09 // Miscellany

I’ve been winning some free stuff recently, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I really really like it.

I just won a copy of Joseph Young’s Easter Rabbit from Publishing Genius. Young has made a name for himself as the microfiction guy. His approach is similar to some of the writing I’ve done for Midnight Stories. The contest was to write a story in Young’s style, and I submitted a story from my Twitter feed (more or less) and won, so I suppose that confirms my thoughts on the matter. I’m excited: this is the first book-length collection of micros that I’ll have the pleasure of reading.

I also won a copies of Molly Gaudry’s We Take Me Apart from PANK and the horror anthology Fifty-Two Stitches from Robert Swartwood. On my birthday I won a comic caption contest over at HTMLGiant, and cartoonist Jeffrey Brown sent me a bunch of really cool artwork and stuff.

This is all to say that the internet provides. At this rate, maybe we’ll cancel our cable subscription. Eat it, Time Warner!