Spring LITnIMAGE

(click on image)

also, go vote for BULL.

BULL MEN'S FICTION NEEDS YOUR HELP

From the power behind the horns:

"Today BULL became one of five finalists vying for $100,000 in funding through Dockers’ (Levi’s) national “Wear the Pants” Contest. The winner will be determined by a public vote on Facebook this week, now through Sunday.

WE NEED YOUR VOTES—plain and simple. You have the power to create a paying fiction magazine and Men’s Fiction publishing house just by clicking your mouse once per day. Seven clicks, that’s all. It could not be any easier.

Vote HERE on Facebook.

Now if this is your first time voting, you’ll have to “allow” the voting app and “like” Dockers. It may sound scary, but I assure you it’s not. Dockers will see only your most basic profile info—whatever is already public, what any old stranger can see. They won’t use it for evil, and they won’t bombard you with ads—I’ve made sure of that. This is a legitimate contest through a legitimate company. Dockers is Levi’s, and Levi’s is fucking Levi’s. If ‘49ers trusted them during the Gold Rush, so can you today. Do not let skepticism keep you from this opportunity."

Learn more HERE. Vote HERE. And HERE. And HERE.

Sorry, New York

And take your time, Miami. We'll wait for you.

Around the Horn

Brian Allen Carr and his Short Bus had a busy week.

xTx and her Normally Special had a busy week too.

Scott McClanahan and his Stories V!, well, you know. Busy.

Also, Night Train drops their latest monster issue before they go on hiatus. Compton and Gay ride the rails.

Wigleaf contributors give us a hot playlist injection.

Blue Print Review gets synergized.

Celts go up 2-0 on the Knicks. It's playoff time, y'all.

Freight inches nearer. Here's a first look.

Have a hoppy weekend. Ha. Get it? Hoppy?

heard it this morning, hadn't heard it in a long time, remembered to write it down

Thursday nights
I go and type
down the church
for Father Mike
It gets me out
and he ain't hard to like
at all

marathon monday

it's marathon monday today. 115th running of the boston.

the storySouth million writers award notable list was released yesterday. congrats to all. if you didn't make the list, i'm sorry but you're a terrible writer. work harder. maybe you'll make the list next year.

the handsome gabe durham has some equally attractive news.

it's a full moon tonight.

cows are in the road.

moooooooooo.

pooh in meatspace gets some nice love from the daily s-press.

fun, fascinating, and probably completely unnecessary

I've been having some fun with Smashwords recently. For those unfamiliar with Smashwords, it's a place where you can make your own ebooks. It's pretty simple to do. Took me an hour or so to publish two small ebooks, and then it was about a 10-day wait to get "premium status," which means they'll be distributed to places like Barnes & Noble and Apple. I even opted to have a free ISBN assigned to each ebook.

Kind of fun. Pretty cool. The world is fast going the way of all things digital, so it was a neat little experiment, and also something to remember down the line should my books ever go out of print due to, oh, I don't know. Maybe my publishers will die. God forbid. Or...something might happen, I don't know what. You just never know what tomorrow will bring.

Smashwords could topple and disappear in a year's time. Can't bank on that being around forever either. Hm.

Anyway, if anyone wants either of the books for free, I've got a little code you can use. It's good for another couple of weeks, I think.

For The Hamper Affair, the code is: QE86F

For Pooh in Meatspace, the code is: EC22U

recent real mail goodness

excitement.

Stories V! by Scott McClanahan. Learn more HERE.

Forecast by Shya Scanlon. Learn more HERE, and do it quickly.

It's raining a lot today. That's okay though.

This song makes better.

Spring Flingin' with MMR

Thanks to Rae Bryant, Roxane Gay, & the Moon Milk Review crew for putting together the Spring 2011 issue. Winter was long, cold, long, and cold, and it's over now, good and gone and behind us. Let us speak of it no more.

NO MORE!

Instead, let us read quietly. Congrats go out to Anne Earney for kicking my ass in the Winter 2011 Prosetry contest. Read Anne's winning piece HERE. Read my 2nd place piece HERE.

Then dig around in the rest of the issue HERE. Dig dig dig. Dig in the garden. Make things grow in the dirt. It's good.

10E gets Greased

Big thanks to Bl Pawelek & Monkeybicycle for giving my novella Grease Stains, Kismet, and Maternal Wisdom the 10E treatment. Check it out HERE.

Oh and have I mentioned that it's still only $3.95 at Amazon, $5 at select bookstores, and FREE as a PDF download? Well, it is. Oh yes. Visit HERE for more info.

Spring is in the air.

Deckfight Press: Now & Later

The fine folks at Deckfight Press have dropped their newest latest e-chapbook: Everything That Dunks Must Converge by Bryan Harvey, described as "A literary e-chapbook of complex NBA fan fiction. Stories about Blake Griffin as Houdini, Rajon Rondo as an astronaut, Hakeem as a butcher and more features on Isiah Thomas, Amare Stoudemire, Dwight Howard, Danny Granger, Bill Walton & Kareem."

It arrives just in time for the playoffs. I like that. Learn mas aqui.

Also from their press release:

"You know us because of our first outstanding e-chapbook release, Supercomputer by Jordan Castro. You like us because of our excellent music coverage at Deckfight. You love us because of our upcoming e-chapbook releases from J. Bradley, Mel Bosworth and Christy Crutchfield, and Josh Rank."

Say wha??? Oh yeah. Keep your eyes open. It's gonna be a fun summer.

Folded Word Press on NPR

Earlier today on Insight, J.S. Graustein, managing editor of Folded Word, talked about the anthology On a Narrow Windowsill along with co-editor Rose Auslander and contributor Ellaraine Lockie. Click HERE to listen to the Insight program and/or right-click HERE to save it as an mp3.

Learn more about the anthology (featuring Ethel Rohan, Ben White, xTx, Eric Burke, and many more) HERE.

Very nice!

Riding the Night Train

Big thanks to Rusty Barnes & Night Train for giving me a little corner in the Firebox Fiction section. Check out my story HERE.

lots to read on a rainy monday

Steve Himmer's debut novel The Bee-Loud Glade is officially released today. That is rad. Read my review of Steve's novel here. Then get yourself a copy here.

Brian Allen Carr's debut collection Short Bus is laying on my bed right now looking all pretty. It's also Brian's birthday today. Get you some Short Bus, playa, right here. 

Eric Beeny's novella Milk Like a Melted Ghost is available online here. 

There's never a shortage of great things to read.

>kill Dark mud & GoodcomP. So there.

New issues abound: Dark Sky Magazine, mud luscious, >kill author, decomP.

Also, xTx meets some Good Men.

I play with Smashwords.

Lastly, it's The Weeknd.