#antistories

[stilleatingoranges]

Stories in the wild

Since our update in February, six more pieces of our writer's fiction have seen publication. Among them: "The Orphic Mystery", an absurdist comedic short in SPANK the CARP; a microfiction piece called "The Charcoal Woman", published by 101 Words; something entitled "The Only Surviving Fragment of 'The Sack of Brooklyn' by Marcus of Bushwick, with Annotations" in The B'K; and a psychedelic story about glass toast and the business world, "Or is This Only What the Other You is Dreaming?", featured in TL;DR Magazine.

Meanwhile, "The Feeling of Guilt Felt in Private by a Child" (in 50-Word Stories) won its publisher's Story of the Week award earlier this month. The piece is now competing for March's Story of the Month prize. Yet the last of the six new publications, in our collective's opinion, is the major highlight: "Honko Dies", a tragicomic nonsense story published by Sick Lit Magazine this month.

These six pieces join "Geese Teeth" and "Several Judgments and Adventures Courtesy of the Young Ms. James" from earlier in the year. Two or three more are due to appear in April, and we will update our readers then.

Still Eating Oranges

[stilleatingoranges]

The Toothbrush Vanguard, nominated

It is now public information: our writer’s short anti-story “The Toothbrush Vanguard” has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Yearly, magazines in the small press sphere submit six pieces each--essays, poems, stories, et cetera--for Pushcart consideration. Squawk Back, which published “The Toothbrush Vanguard” in January 2016, has included our writer’s story among its six nominations.

Although the Pushcart Prize receives thousands of nominees annually, consideration for the award remains a tremendous, and relatively rare, honor. We at Still Eating Oranges cannot thank Squawk Back enough--first for taking a chance in publishing the story, second for this nomination. In our writer’s estimation, it is overwhelmingly unlikely that “The Toothbrush Vanguard” will win. The nomination alone, though, is electrifying.

Still Eating Oranges

[deadsuperhero]

I've started a new set of writing experiments on the side to try and better define my own writing style. It's a really different approach to writing, and the content is largely transgressive and occasionally abrasive. I call these kinds of stories "Anti-Stories" because at the time of writing, there is no planned plot or ending. You write one crazy sentence, write another, and then build on it. Not every Anti-Story is offensive. Some of them are silly and light-hearted. I cannot stress enough that these types of stories may indeed shock you and offend you as an audience, especially as a recurring theme for Anti-Stories seems to focus on mental instability, social norms, and society itself. For those of you who'd rather enjoy my "Normal" stories, don't worry! I have every intention of writing and posting those online too, and I'll let you know which ones are which, so you know which ones to skip in case it offends certain sensibilities.

For those of you who would rather read it on WattPad, check here.