Jul 18
seen from Türkiye
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Russia
seen from Malaysia
seen from China
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Maldives
seen from France
seen from United States
seen from Yemen
seen from United States
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seen from Israel
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PALOMA’S I sat in my late father’s bar, baseball bat leaning against the side of a table. It was five am and the bar was empty. I sipped a half-drunk Heineken, Ted’s drink. He considered it foreign (technically true). I thought of Ted and his affable pliability, his total lack of personal story.
New stories at Always Crashing!
Not to have this be an all-out puff piece, but let me try and describe two types of
Uzodinma Okehi interviewed me about my book Murder for The Nervous Breakdown. Most questions were answered before the election. Some after. Can you tell which?
Here I am reading "The Broad" from my story collection Murder, available at Small Press Distribution: http://www.spdbooks.org/Products/9781945028014/murder.aspx or 421atlanta.com
For the place aspect, I might just go out on a limb and say that cities always, at some point, fail to meet our expectations. Same way people do. At some point you realize you’re struggling to keep that mythology alive. You either project your frustration, your disillusionment, on that person, on the city, or you can turn back, you can choose to reinvest that belief in your own strengths.
The Sunday Rumpus Interview: Uzodinma Okehi.
Few exceptions aside, the most compelling, challenging, absorbing literary art is being produced by small presses and their respective writers. I asked a number of writers, editors, and publishers …
Thanks to Adam Robinson and Jason Teal for including Murder on this list of 2016 small press books.
“I couldn’t think of much more to pack into a book, let alone a debut.”
My book Murder is out tomorrow, 3/29! It features 50+ short stories about murder. Save $3 if you order now from 421atlanta.com. Here is a preview:
The Chick
The chick had three dudes in her car. They were driving to a basement show on the other side of town. The chick had a smoky voice and messy hair. She held the three dudes’ attention with a story about how the older guitarist of a legendary band (in their scene) wanted to do cocaine with her. One of the dudes in the car pointed out his girlfriend’s house as they drove by it but the chick ignored him. She was getting to the part where the legendary guitarist got on his knees to beg the chick to do cocaine with him in the bathroom while his wife was outside smoking a cigarette. The three dudes were jealous because they wanted to do cocaine with the legendary guitarist and also beg the chick for something/anything. The chick’s story inspired her to put the legendary guitarist’s band on the stereo. She grabbed her iPod and scrolled through while telling the three dudes how she laughed in the legendary guitarist’s face when he tried to kiss her after they did cocaine in the bathroom. The three dudes laughed and said no way. The chick ran a red light and collided with another vehicle, a sixteen-year-old learning to drive with her dad in the passenger seat. The sixteen-year-old died. The chick got a year in prison, which some people thought was too little and some dudes thought was too much.
My book launch will be April 14, hosted by Vol 1 Brooklyn at Word Bookstore in Greenpoint. Seah H. Doyle and Hannah Sloane will be joining me, and my mom will provide wine and treats. Hope to see you there.