Category Archives: Uncategorized

I just received the wonderful news that “Stock Footage,” my short story about Missouri cowgirl Lucille Mulhall, was a finalist for The Chariton Review Short Fiction Prize, judged by David Marshall Chan.

As a finalist, “Stock Footage” will appear in the spring 2014 issue of The Chariton Review, along with the other honorees.

Thank you to the kind people at The Chariton Review, and to Miss Mulhall, of course…!

Lucille Mulhall shows us how it’s done.

I just received word that the good people at The Indiana Review have nominated “Two On A Horse”  (read an excerpt here!) for a Pushcart Prize. This is the second time I’ve been nominated, and the second year in a row. Fingers crossed!

“Granddad Swam,” also known as “the story about the homemade swimming pool,” earned an honorable mention in Glimmer Train Stories‘ August 2013 Short Story Award for New Writers contest. This means, they tell me, that it was among the top 5% of more than a thousand entries: close, but no cigar.

That’s okay, though, because Oyez Review is going to publish “Granddad Swam” in their Spring 2014 issue, anyway.

I was recently asked a slew of sharp questions about “Two On A Horse” by Belle Kim at The Indiana Review, which published the story this past spring. The article is two pages long, with the actual interview on the second page.

The first page just makes me blush.

Click here to read some good questions, and some answers…

“The Mammoth Horse Waits” is in the cream city review‘s special “Labor Issue,” out in print now, and available by e-mailing info@creamcityreview.org

The first section of “Two On A Horse” is online at the Indiana Review, with the rest of it out in their next print issue, hitting the mail on Monday.

Buy some copies, won’t you?

I’ll be reading in Room 215 of Tate Hall at the University of Missouri on April 22nd at 7 p.m. The reading is part of a special series honoring creative writing students who are graduating this spring, this summer, or during the early fall, which is when I plan to defend.

But wait, there’s more!

Stephanie Kartalopoulos will bring the poetry, Sarah Neuroth will bring some prose, and I’ll bring a new story that’s never been read before. The English Department will bring snacks and wine, you bring your best “I’m listening to a reading” face, and we’ll put on a show in the barn.

Hope to see you there…

I’ll be reading some new stories about the Coney Island Steeplechase and the Midwest Utilitor at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, January 29th at Columbia, Missouri’s own Orr Street Studios.

There will be poetry, too, from Elizabeth Hatmaker, whose work has appeared in ACM, Epoch, Language and Learning Across the Disciplines, Social Epistemology, Bird Dog, L’Bourgeoizine, MiPOesias, Mandorla, Mirage #4/Period(ical), Mississippi Review and in the anthology Life as We Show It: Writing on Film (City Lights 2009).  She teaches creative writing and cultural studies at Illinois State University.

All I know is, the last time I read at Orr Street Studios, I got a “woooooo!” from someone in the audience. So it’s a pretty chill place to hear a reading.

Hope to see you there.

I am dead chuffed to announce that the editors of The Poydras Review have nominated my story “Midwest Utilitor Breakdown” for The Pushcart Prize!

Each year (since 1976), Pushcart Press has published an extremely influential anthology of the literary work that they deem to be the “best of the small presses.” Getting nominated by a swell journal like The Poydras Review puts “Midwest Utilitor Breakdown” in the running for publication in that book.

Along with lots of other people. But still!

It’s in Issue #2 of The Poydras Review, available now here.

I’m happy to report that “Midwest Utilitor Breakdown,” my tale of tractors and salesmanship in 1920s Missouri, will be part of The Poydras Review‘s second-ever issue, to be published this winter.

To celebrate, let’s enjoy the sweet, sweet sounds of diesel and some Swedish guys, performing the “Midwest Utilitor Blues.”