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A few weeks ago I chatted with fellow author and scholar Amanda Barusch about all things HORSE SHOW! Amanda and I are both fascinated by animal studies, horses, and animal fiction, so she was a fantastic conversation partner!

By way of introduction, Amanda writes: “When I first heard about the book on the radio, I was intrigued. I grew up with horses and have never let go of their fascination. What I discovered in this book was far more than traditional equestrian fiction like Black Beauty. The thirteen stories in this collection unearth forgotten moments of American history and reimagine them with dark humor, deep empathy, and unflinching honesty. Through carnival attractions, crime scenes, and circus acts, Bowers explores the complex relationship between humans and horses—partners who together built the modern world, only for one to be left behind. Some stories break your heart, others make you laugh, and the best somehow manage to do both.”

You can read our wide-ranging conversation right here at Amanda’s blog, Swagger & Ink, where she’s also recently featured interviews with authors Katy Betts Adams and Talia Lakshmi Kolluri!

This week, a glowing review of Horse Show by poet Jenn Blair appeared in Virginia Commonwealth University’s Blackbird: an online journal of literature and the arts!

From the review: “Jess Bowers’s short story collection Horse Show (Santa Fe Writers Project, 2024) invites readers to visit “that little golden age between the horse and the automobile, when we still had wonder” (14), even as its narrators puncture the tableaus they artfully weave by pulling back the curtain on the strings and pulleys continually whirring outside the proffered frame.”

Check out the full review right here at Blackbird, then head over to bookshop.org to snag your copy of Horse Show!

“Of Course, Of Course,” which appears as the last story in Horse Show, has been selected by Santa Fe Writers Project as the press’s Pushcart Prize nominee for 2024!

The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses book series, published annually since 1976, features the very best short stories, essays, and poems that are published by small presses and literary journals each year, as chosen by the prize’s stewards.

If selected as a winner, “Of Course, Of Course” will appear in Pushcart’s annual anthology, bringing the story of Carol Post’s secret double life to a new audience. Fingers and hooves firmly crossed!

This is my fifth nomination for a Pushcart Prize.

I’ve been told that once I collect ten, there’s a secret booth at AWP where you can trade in your nominations for a free personal pan pizza!

The HORSE SHOW reading tour gallops onward with a trip to Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, MO on 9/19, where I’m the featured guest for the Dorothy and Wedel Nilsen Visiting Writer Series!

I’ll be reading from HORSE SHOW at 3:30 PM at SEMO’s Catapult Creative House, which is located at 612 Broadway in Cape Girardeau. I’ll also have copies on hand for sale and signage.

Many thanks to fellow fictioneer and general awesome guy James Brubaker, as well as the rest of the English faculty at SEMO for hosting!

I was also interviewed by Matthew Schmidt for 1 Week Critique’s Interview Series earlier this month! 1-Week Critique (1WC) is “a 501(c)(3) nonprofit editing studio, which aims to provide literary education and pedagogical support to writers.” In the Interview Series, “our editors discuss editorial process with established writers, comparing, in particular, an early and published draft of a given piece of work.”

My “drafts” tend to be these Frankenstein’s Creature documents where I cobble together a lot of raw material, found text, quotes, etc., until I figure out what I’m doing, so I had fun trying to explain my strange process while researching/writing what became my (Pushcart-nominated!) story “One Trick Pony.”

Watch/listen to our conversation right here, and then do yourself a favor and delve into the deep well of author interviews, craft advice, and other free resources for writers at 1 Week Critique!

If you’ve finished reading HORSE SHOW, you can get a taste of where my writing’s going next in the inaugural issue of Blue Press: The Literary Magazine of Debut Authors, out August 26th!

Blue Press is a new UK-based print publication that features work by authors debuting full-length books during the year that each issue is published.

Enhanced by an original ouroboros-inspired illustration from Bristol-based artist Alex Dimond, my new short story “Snake” explores what happens after a romantic relationship fizzles and a once-beloved serpentine pet is left behind.

Although I haven’t seen it in person yet (the picture at left is from Blue Press’s Twitter account) I’m thrilled with how “Snake” looks on the page. I’m also beyond excited to have work in a journal alongside Jessica Manack, a fellow Hollins University M.A. Class of ’03 alum and part of the 1980s Jessica army.

Manack is a Pittsburgh-based writer whose delicious debut collection, GASTROMYTHOLOGY, is out now from Sheila-Na-Gig Editions. You can sample one of her poems, “That Kind of Night,” at Blue Press’s website right now!

To get your copy of Blue Press’s debut issue featuring “Snake,” contact the editors via their website. And if you’ve got a book coming out in 2025, consider submitting some work to them! Blue Press has been so lovely to work with, and it’s a great concept for a literary journal.

More readings/appearances to support HORSE SHOW are in the works this fall, both in-person and virtual, Midwestern and East Coast. Stay tuned for more details as I have them!

One of the best “fringe benefits” of publishing HORSE SHOW has been getting more chances to shine the spotlight on fellow writers!

Today over at Heavy Feather Review, you can read my review of Katharine Coldiron’s Wire Mothers, a delightfully odd new short story collection that you can finish in the span of a long, hot bath. Check it out here, then head over to Whisk(e)y Tit to order yourself a copy.

Meanwhile, Shepherd.com asked me to join their “Best Books of 2023” initiative and recommend my three favorite reads from 2023. As you can see above, my list includes Kathryn Scanlan’s Kick the Latch…but you’ll have to click this link to discover my other two picks!

More HORSE SHOW events are in the works for fall, including some readings…stay tuned!