I have to say I haven’t felt this excited about a new reading list in a long while. Scott Phillips has two new books….  And they’re ebooks!  That’s perfect for me because it’s hard as hell to get new books in English in China.  I’m as giddy as a crack junkie.  Hook me up.

But I did pause long enough to write this post so you could get hooked up.  I’m a bro like that.

So here’s the fix.

Phillips books are Rum, Sodomy, and False Eyelashes, (that’s got a nice ring to it, don’t it?) and Rut.

And here’s his blog if you haven’t been reading it…. Pocketful of Ginch.

From the looks of it there are a number of good reads on that website to add to your summer reading list as well.

Just when you think you know a guy, a super cool article/interview comes out about him and twists your image.  Okay, I know Scott’s into retro cool stuff, it’s all over his blog.  But writing to Yo La Tengo on Vinyl?  No wonder his writing is so fucked it’s wonderful.  I can just see him typing away to “Love Life of an Octopus.”  I might have to break out the typewriter and clack along.

Check out Scott Phillips’ May 6th Last Collector Standing interview.

So what’s black and white and flarfy all over?  The Wall Street Journal.

Check out this article.

Poetry’s Latest Battleground: WSJ.com

Search for a New Poetics Yields This: ‘Kitty Goes Postal/Wants Pizza’

Google-Inspired Verse Gains Respect; Shakespeare Meets the Anagram Generator

From the look on Gary Sullivan’s face, he’s happy with the development of his movement.

A while back, not that long actually,  I submitted a shortened version of a flash fiction piece I wrote called Fashioning Time to Bryce Beattie over at Story Hack.  The magazine has just come out and it look real good.  I’m impressed with the quality.  

Check out the magazine.

There’s a very nice preview function.  My story is page 15 and features a photograph with a pile of newspaper.  

I’ve read about half the magazine so far.  It’s pretty good.  There’s zombies, and cowboys, horror, and humor, and one strange absurdist (that’s me.)

Nicely Done, Bryce!

Some of you have noticed, I’m actually sure all of you have noticed, I’ve been farting around with my logo.  The Absurd Circle is a new literary turn for me.  I’ve been writing, and thinking, in more absurd terms than I normally do.  Those of you who know me very fairly well have right to be concerned.  But I assure you, I’ve got this all thought through… absurd as it may be.

There is a growing community of absurdist writers.  I’ll be introducing some of them in this blog by way of reviewing there works–the first step I’m planning to take as a member of this literary community.  I’ve been writing absurd works for a while.  I just didn’t realize that there was a movement going on and that I was part of it.  Some of my closest writing friends have been doing it as well, though we never considered how to label our work… we just knew it defied categorization into any of the established genres.

So now that I’m more aware of what’s happening, I’m planning on getting more involved by reading more absurdists and reviewing their works. I’ll be reaching out to the more established community members leaving thoughtful comments on their blogs as well as my blog url.

In this way I hope to establish myself as a participant in the absurd conversation.  So when my new friends come to my site to see their works reviewed or whenever a new reader comes they’ll see my new absurd logo.

So what’s up with that?  What the hell is it? (more…)

I’m still working out the details of my experiment in the brave new world of alt-publishing.  Part of this experiment has meant defining my writing.  It’s kind of been all over the place.  My first novel, Torque, which gained me representation in the traditional publishing world in NYC, was neo-Noir.  It’s a fun genre and through that I went to NoirCon in Philadelphia and met some of the best people I know.

But since then, I haven’t written neo-Noir.  My writing, and even Torque, to some extent has been laden with questions of identity.  In many of my fictions characters wear masks, or in the case of the new book, My Alien Sex Fiend, there’s a character who literary shape-shifts.  The book has an alien in it, and it has clones, and it’s not entirely serious.  So what category of fiction is it?  Sci-Fi fans wouldn’t called it Sci-Fi.  I don’t think it fits comedy either, and is that even a real literary genre? (more…)

I started playing with the concept of Shrunken Manuscripts as a revision technique as laid out by Darcy Pattison but had to mod the process.  You know me, I love modding.  It’s my creative way of taking ownership of a process, making it work for me.  And maybe, just maybe, giving something back to the community which shared the idea in the first place.

That’s the spirit of this post. (more…)

So I tell my mom about my post, Me, My Dad, and Maurice.  Because it’s cute, and there are pictures of her grandson, and I know she’ll get a kick out of it.  Well she did more than that.  See my mom is an elementary school teacher, and her specialty is reading to kids.  So naturally, she takes the blog post and reads it to her students.  Then she has them write a journal about the story.  Here’s the email she sent me regarding the experience.  Their comments are great!  (Emily’s comment is my favorite).

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In my post Feedback, I published an email a friend sent regarding the direction the blog is taking.  I’m finding this conversation to be extremely useful, so I’m posting the continued conversation. I know this particular friend doesn’t usually comment on blogs, so it’s extra cool of him to take the time to give such insight.

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So I asked for Feedback in my post So Tell Me This, and I got it.  Only a good friend has guts to say it so straight.  And I have great need of good friends.  Here’s what he had to say:

You want feedback, pal?  Well, brace yourself.  I’m sure you’re looking for more than just “great job dude.” 

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