I think art helps many of us when times are tough. I’ve been fortunate to find several things during quarantine that’ve affected me during the past couple of months. Just wanted to share my list for those who feel like they’ve watched, heard, or read it all and are searching for something else:
Read MoreThose Fantastic Lives, my debut collection of stories, will be hitting bookshelves in 2021! Like anyone would be, I’m stoked for this journey. I’ve worked on these stories for the past seven years, beginning back in my mid-20s. Some of them helped me get through some dark days. To have my work of weird, wistful stories put together as a collection is something special.
Read MoreI don’t get to take a lot of field trips with my students, but I do have a few that I enjoy each year. One of the most enjoyable annual trips we take is to the University of North Alabama for their annual Writer’s Series. If I’m not mistaken, this year marked the 38th year of this valuable literary program.
Read MoreSquare Books in beautiful Oxford, Mississippi is one of the best bookstores in the country. I’m fortunate to live only a couple of hours away and get to make the drive a few times a year. I made my first Square Books trip of 2020 this past weekend, and it was an excellent day.
Read MoreI’ve been anxiously awaiting for it to arrive, and it finally did. And the very first book listed is Toni Morrison’s Beloved. (That has to be a sign that this is the program for me.)
Read MoreI have a very short—I think my shortest ever—story, titled “The Paper Son,” coming out in a few weeks at Spelk. It’s about a sad father looking for a son to call his own. It also has a little magic in it. I look forward to sharing it when it goes live.
Read MoreIt was a pleasure to be able to interview Teddy Wayne for The Millions. His latest novel, Apartment, is a fantastic book and one that I think many readers will enjoy. It’s largely about lonely men and how loneliness causes desperation. The story gets dark, and it is full of surprises.
Read MoreMy story “The Merpod” will be out on April 1st at Blind Corner Literary Magazine. It’s a story about a non-traditional merpeople family while also looking at issues of toxic masculinity.
Read MoreThe folks at Drunk Monkeys have always been supportive and extremely kind in regards to my work. When I started writing book reviews back several years ago, they were the ones who first published my writing. They’ve also shown love to my fiction. (Send your work there!)
Read MoreI enjoyed being about to ask Wilson some questions about Nothing to See Here for The Millions. This interview was my second one with him. I talked to him last year at the release of his collection Baby, You’re Gonna Be Mine for Electric Lit. In our most recent talk, I was able to dig into his fascination with weirdness.
Read MoreI had the privilege of being able to interview Leland Cheuk and Nino Cipri at Chicago Review of Books recently, and both interviews ran last week. Leland is one of the great folks of indie literature, and his latest novel is one of the funniest (and affecting) books I’ve read this year. I found it to be truly excellent. Nino’s debut collection is one of the most memorable speculative reads I’ve been privileged to read in the past several months. It’s haunting and just really, really good. I am drawn to stories about home, so this one was right in my wheelhouse.
Read MoreShaun Hamill, the author of the fantastic literary-horror novel A Cosmology of Monsters, came to town this weekend. He visited the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library and gave a reading (and participated in a Q&A), and all was excellent. To have a horror writer visit was something special. Shaun talked about his book (obviously), but he also talked about his MFA journey, the path to publication, and some other really fascinating elements of the horror genre.
Read MoreI wrote about how I applied for early admission into Queens’ MFA program a couple of weeks ago (to begin in the summer of 2020). Well, Fred Leebron, the director of the program at Queens, called me Friday afternoon and made the official offer. Queens is/was my top choice—seriously, it matches all the things I’m looking for in a program with top-notch faculty, proven success, and a structure that works for my family and I. So, it’s safe to say I’ve pretty much been ecstatic all weekend.
Read MoreThis past weekend, Nashville hosted the 31st annual Southern Festival of Books. It was an awesome weekend. Honestly, though, anytime literary-minded folks gather in one place, it’s sure to be a good time.
Read MoreIt’s time to begin the MFA process. Over the coming weeks, months, and years, I’ll document all of my failures and (hopeful) successes as I begin and go through the journey.
Read MoreI sent my short story collection out in the spring. It’s still floating around, hoping to land at a place that gets it and loves it. It’s impossible to not think about it in the meantime, but I try my best. One thing I did to get my mind off of it was start planning my next set of stories. I sat down, and I made an outline of fifteen or so ideas I had and how the stories might connect. Things were flowing really well. I took my ideas and pinned them to my board above my desk. Then, out of nowhere, something hit me. It was—gasp!—the idea for a novel.
Read MoreI’m always on the search for a good monster novel, so when I received an early copy of Shaun Hamill’s A Cosmology of Monsters I was already stoked. The book doesn’t disappoint. It’s terrifying for sure, but it’s also tender. It’s the perfect novel for this time of the year, as we are all preparing for Halloween. It was a treat to be able to talk to Shaun about his debut. He’ll be at my local library in a few weeks, and I’m already looking forward to learning more about Cosmology.
Read MoreJ Ryan Stradal’s sophomore novel, The Lager Queen of Minnesota, is a book that is ripe for the summer. It’s charming, kind, and full of hopeful. The novel tells the story of three woman who seek to transform the brewery industry in the Midwest. There’s drinks and pies a plenty. This novel should be the target of many, many book clubs in the coming months.
Read MoreApplying for MFA programs is an intimidating process. Am I good enough? That’s the question that haunts me. A lot. Anyone who knows about writing knows that rejection comes frequently. For me, this summer has been rejection season. I have, I think, four or five different stories out on submission, and they just aren’t landing. I revised them recently and sent them back out, so here’s hoping. I know that many rejections are not about the quality of the work and are, instead, about what a particular journal is looking for. Still, though, it sometimes gets to you. (I have my collection out at a handful of places, and it hasn’t been rejected yet. I’m taking that as good news. And I’m hopeful.)
Read MoreKaren Russell and I spoke for about an hour over the phone a few weeks back. Our conversation is one I’ll never forget. We talked about monsters, and our talk helped me channel my ideas for my novel, which I think I’m making progress on. Karen’s my literary hero. The way she balances magic with real humanity is incredible. And enviable.
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