I still don't publish much fiction, but my neo-noir story "Neighborhood Watch" appears on the Flash Fiction Offensive site and is eligible for subsequent inclusion in not-for-the-faint-of-heart print publication Out of the Gutter Magazine.
I don't want to ruin the story by saying too much about it, but I follow distantly in the footsteps of one of the most famous works of Jonathan Swift.
If you are wondering what neo-noir is, I would describe it as a descendant of hard-boiled noir and pulp fiction of the twentieth century, but with generally more (okay, much more) profanity and less racism and sexism, and sometimes social commentary. Leading purveyors include Todd Robinson's Thuglit and Tony Black's Pulp Pusher. (Disclosure: My stories have appeared in both.)
Reading my story doesn't take much longer than getting a fist to the face, and it hurts a lot less. What's not to like?
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Story in Bull: Fiction for Thinking Men
I don't publish a lot of fiction, at least not yet, but sometimes it happens.
The most recent example is my story "Foolish Time" in the online journal Bull: Fiction for Thinking Men.
Editor Jarrett Haley does not offer a one-size-fits-all approach to who thinking men are, or to what men's fiction should be. He is nonetheless speaking to a clear divide between mainstream publishing, particularly in literary fiction, and much of the male population.
The conventional wisdom in publishing can be summarized as "men don't read" or "men don't buy books." In response to proposal that two friends and I once made for a book targeting men, a literary agency assistant's rejection including the observation that men instead spend their money on "beer, lottery tickets and sex." This comes as news to me and to most of the men I know.
A second problem with those statements is that mainstream publishing, in spite of its dire financial situation, offers relatively little for men to read. Most of us can't relate to the upper bourgeois dilemmas of men usually portrayed in a New Yorker story. We additionally go a long time between the appearances of writers such as Thom Jones or Marc Nesbitt with something to say about the experience of men who feel burdened, cornered or simply "had" by the difference between what they were told to expect and where they find themselves.
Publications like Bull and various independent publishers are trying to meet needs that the mainstream largely ignores.
The most recent example is my story "Foolish Time" in the online journal Bull: Fiction for Thinking Men.
Editor Jarrett Haley does not offer a one-size-fits-all approach to who thinking men are, or to what men's fiction should be. He is nonetheless speaking to a clear divide between mainstream publishing, particularly in literary fiction, and much of the male population.
The conventional wisdom in publishing can be summarized as "men don't read" or "men don't buy books." In response to proposal that two friends and I once made for a book targeting men, a literary agency assistant's rejection including the observation that men instead spend their money on "beer, lottery tickets and sex." This comes as news to me and to most of the men I know.
A second problem with those statements is that mainstream publishing, in spite of its dire financial situation, offers relatively little for men to read. Most of us can't relate to the upper bourgeois dilemmas of men usually portrayed in a New Yorker story. We additionally go a long time between the appearances of writers such as Thom Jones or Marc Nesbitt with something to say about the experience of men who feel burdened, cornered or simply "had" by the difference between what they were told to expect and where they find themselves.
Publications like Bull and various independent publishers are trying to meet needs that the mainstream largely ignores.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Second Poem in The Wanderlust Review
As noted in the previous post, my second poem has been published in The Wanderlust Review.
That poem, "Andante," a Valentine to travel in general, can be found here.
You will notice that the poem is an abecedary, where each line begans with and features a letter of the alphabet. In addition to playing with sounds, the abecedary is a way of taking inventory of what's going on inside one's head. I heard Denise Duhamel read an extended abecedary at the 2004 Conference of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) in Chicago and was eventually enticed to try one myself.
But I will let the poem speak for itself.
Yellowknife beckons.
That poem, "Andante," a Valentine to travel in general, can be found here.
You will notice that the poem is an abecedary, where each line begans with and features a letter of the alphabet. In addition to playing with sounds, the abecedary is a way of taking inventory of what's going on inside one's head. I heard Denise Duhamel read an extended abecedary at the 2004 Conference of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) in Chicago and was eventually enticed to try one myself.
But I will let the poem speak for itself.
Yellowknife beckons.
Friday, August 28, 2009
New Poem in The Wanderlust Review
I once heard of a saying in Arabic that states humans are driven by four great motives. I can't remember what the other three were, but the fourth was the urge to travel.
New online journal The Wanderlust Review, based on that premise, takes travel writing beyond listings of accommodations and places to see and attempts to capture the experience of travel as well as the logistics.
I am therefore greatly pleased that the editors have recently chosen to include my poem "London Postcard" on the site. I also expect to have another poem in The Wanderlust Review before long.
New online journal The Wanderlust Review, based on that premise, takes travel writing beyond listings of accommodations and places to see and attempts to capture the experience of travel as well as the logistics.
I am therefore greatly pleased that the editors have recently chosen to include my poem "London Postcard" on the site. I also expect to have another poem in The Wanderlust Review before long.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Interview at Los Bloguitos
Today I am interviewed here at Los Bloguitos (literally, "the little blogs" or, if you will, "bloglets"), a daily updated Spanish-language blog for children, parents and teachers.
Interviewer Leticia Teresa Pontoni, whose poetry also appears on the site, contacted me by email and asked me a few questions about my book The Best Mariachi in the World/El Mejor Mariachi del Mundo, as well as about how writing feels and how someone named Smith comes to write about mariachis. I even get to offer a little encouragement to the youngsters coming up in the world.
An approximate English translation is available here.
Interviewer Leticia Teresa Pontoni, whose poetry also appears on the site, contacted me by email and asked me a few questions about my book The Best Mariachi in the World/El Mejor Mariachi del Mundo, as well as about how writing feels and how someone named Smith comes to write about mariachis. I even get to offer a little encouragement to the youngsters coming up in the world.
An approximate English translation is available here.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
New Poems in Light Quarterly
As noted in the January 24 post, I believe the world needs more light verse, and sometimes I attempt to provide a bit of my own.
With this in mind, I am pleased to announce that some of my work appears in the current double issue of Light Quarterly, the leading journal of light verse in English. Editor John Mella and colleagues have kindly featured my poem "The Jellyfish" at the bottom of the page announcing the current issue.
The issue also includes two of an ongoing series of critterhews, my own variation on the clerihew that uses the name of an animal instead of a person. I have compiled enough for an abecedary, including the letter X, and hope to have them eventually published as a book or book section.
One example, previously published in The Other Herald, is the following:
Garfish
May not look like but are fish.
Shaped like needles and spears,
They devour their piscine peers.
That is also based on fact.
With this in mind, I am pleased to announce that some of my work appears in the current double issue of Light Quarterly, the leading journal of light verse in English. Editor John Mella and colleagues have kindly featured my poem "The Jellyfish" at the bottom of the page announcing the current issue.
The issue also includes two of an ongoing series of critterhews, my own variation on the clerihew that uses the name of an animal instead of a person. I have compiled enough for an abecedary, including the letter X, and hope to have them eventually published as a book or book section.
One example, previously published in The Other Herald, is the following:
Garfish
May not look like but are fish.
Shaped like needles and spears,
They devour their piscine peers.
That is also based on fact.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Two Poems in Anon
Delayed by other doings this summer, only now am I mentioning that two of my poems, "Fragment from Zeno" and "Heart," appear in Issue 6 of Anon, a Scottish poetry journal that draws its name from an anonymous submissions process designed to reduce the amount of logrolling, backscratching and all-around cronyism in the poetry world. Poets' identities are known to the editors only after their work is accepted.
Launched July 9 at the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh, Issue 6 will also be featured in an August 16 event at Edinburgh's West Port Book Festival, which will overlap with several days of the world-famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I won't be attending, alas, but I will be anxiously awaiting word of how the festivities go.
A sample of the issue, including "Heart," is available here, and an audio file of "Fragment from Zeno" read by Ishbel McFarlane can be found here.
Launched July 9 at the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh, Issue 6 will also be featured in an August 16 event at Edinburgh's West Port Book Festival, which will overlap with several days of the world-famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I won't be attending, alas, but I will be anxiously awaiting word of how the festivities go.
A sample of the issue, including "Heart," is available here, and an audio file of "Fragment from Zeno" read by Ishbel McFarlane can be found here.
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