I’m sure those of you that know me or know my blog are thinking: she’s posting about Shellie Zacharia again??!! Well, yes I am! I dig Shellie’s writing. She has what Juked editor John Wang calls “sparkling wit,” and what Mad to Live author Randall Brown calls “wondorous writing.” I’m stealing their phrases to describe what I love about Shellie’s work because they are spot on, and I can’t describe her writing any better.

Shellie’s book Now Playing was published by Keyhole Press many months ago, but I figured it’s better late than never to pimp her stuff. So, here’s the link. Everyone go over and buy it. It’s $13.95 with free shipping.

Feeding Strays: Short Stories by Stefanie Freele came out in August, and if you haven’t already bought it, do so now. The collection has been praised by Gayle Brandeis, Bellweather Prize-winning author of The Book of Dead Birds, Self Storage, and Fruitflesh, Deb Olin Unferth, and Benjamin Percy. Wow!

Here is the publisher’s blurb about the book:

A woman hides from her husband in a fish tank and another absently bakes sponges inside her tarts. Appliances drop from the sky, men grapple with chainsaws, women struggle with hormonal violence, and abandoned boys beg on doorsteps. Enter into the territory of broken people and the folks that love them. Sensitive and unruly, sincere and absurd, Stefanie Freele’s Feeding Strays is a collection of fifty short stories, both slipstream and modern, about children, family, relationships, and oysters.

Stefanie won the 2008 Kathy Fish Fellowship at SmokeLong Quarterly, where she is now an editor. She is also the fiction editor of the Los Angeles Review. Visit Stefanie’s website for more info about her. You can also purchase the collection from there, or by going to Lost Horse Press.

As if Press 53 didn’t already have a plethora of new, exciting titles recently published or forthcoming (think Women Up on Blocks by Mary Akers, Bad Monkey by Curt Smith, and a collection forthcoming from Darlin’ Neal) they’ve gone ahead and added another–In an Uncharted Country by Cliff Garstang. Whoopee! I’ve been a fan of Garstang for several years. In addition to being a great writer, he’s a nice guy, and he also has a frequently updated and informative blog, titled Perpetual Folly.

This is what Press 53 has to say about the collection:

The award-winning stories that make up the linked collection IN AN UNCHARTED COUNTRY showcase ordinary men and women in and around Rugglesville, Virginia, as they struggle to find places and identities in their families and the community. They experience natural disasters, a sun-worshipping cult, Vietnam flashbacks, kidnapping, addiction, and loss. The book’s opening story, “Flood, 1978,” follows Hank, who comes to understand his father’s deep sense of grief over the death of his wife. Later, in “Hand-painted Angel,” Hank’s sons see the family spinning apart as their father ages and family secrets are disclosed. In “The Clattering of Bones,” Walt mourns the collapse of his marriage after the loss of a child, but in the collection’s title story he recognizes his emotional need for family. The concluding story, “Red Peony,” unifies the collection, as many of the characters from other stories come together for a tumultuous 4th of July Celebration.

And because I’m so behind on pimping, In an Uncharted Country is now available. Order it here.

You all remember Curt Smith’s last book of stories released by Press 53, don’t you? The Species Crown? Of course you do–that’s what I thought! Well, good news for all of you, then. Curt’s newest collection–Bad Monkey–was released on September 9th, with praise for John McNally, Pinckney Benedict, and Kim Chinquee. John McNally said: “Reading Curtis Smith’s prose is like listening to a brilliant electric guitar solo: you not only hear the music, you fall into it head-first until it alters the beat of your heart, the rhythm of your breathing.” Sounds like an experience, no? To purchase Bad Monkey click here. I’m damn sure it will be worth your $14, and your time.

I haven’t written anything not work related in about a year. I don’t feel guilty about this. In fact, I feel fine. And I feel lucky to have other things in my life that are as equally important and fun for me. But it begs the question: does the fact that I don’t have the urge to write every day, or even for an entire year, make me less of a writer? I suppose that would depend on whom you ask.

The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction poses some equally difficult questions to answer:

What is flash fiction?
What are the roots of flash fiction?
Does a story that contains only 312 words make it less of a story?

The 25 essays included in the book attempt to answer these, and other questions, as well as explore and guide readers, writers, teachers, etc., through the genre. The answers to those questions? There is no right answer. There isn’t even one answer, only each individual essayer’s interpretation of the truth.

So, am I less of a writer for not writing, and not even having the urge to write, every single day? Maybe. But I try not to define things that don’t have conclusive answers. I am what I am, and that’s a whole lot of things. What I do know is this—when I return to writing, I’m going straight to the Field Guide to work on some of the exercises within. Exercises I’m particularly interested in trying, in order of appearance:

Tom Hazuka’s Point of View Switch, where you tell a story you’re having trouble with from another character’s point of view, or another context. (I think people could benefit from trying this in real life, too, by the way.)

Stuart Dybek’s Lint, which requires you to keep a Great Thoughts notebook and collect “lint” from your childhood.

Jennifer Pieroni’s Smart Surprises, which asks you to push your writing to the next level by incorporating smart, surprising images and language.

Kim Chinquee’s Five Stories, in which you use the same event to write five different stories, changing the voice, tone, characters, and setting.

Sherrie Flick’s Warped Encyclopedia Entry, where you write an old-time encyclopedia entry about a place.

Also, as a bonus to the book, the editor, Tara L. Masih, has a blog inspired by the compilation that publishes stories prompted by the exercises in the Field Guide. The stories must be 1,500 words or less. For more information, and to submit your story, head to http://www.taramasih.com/.

I just found out that Mary Akers, co-author of Radical Gratitude and other Life Lessons Learned in Siberia, has a short story collection forthcoming from Press 53. It’s called Women Up on Blocks, and is available for pre-order here. Mary is a terrific writer, and Press 53 is a kick-ass press, so I’m hugely excited by this collection. Here’s what Press 53 has to say about it:

Whether it’s a young co-ed who has lived her life succumbing to passion and authority, a woman struggling with the intense demands of motherhood, or a newlywed whose new mirror-filled home proves too much for her fragile psyche, these thirteen stories—edgy and alluring—inexorably peel back the layers of the women they portray. By turns lyrical and haunting, plainspoken and frank, award-winning writer Mary Akers’ finely crafted debut collection WOMEN UP ON BLOCKS explores the price women pay when they allow the roles of wife, mother, daughter, or lover to define them.

The new issue of the Oxford American is out, and get this—it’s a HOME issue! But not a home issue as in a fancy display of products and projects only a few can afford. Nope, this is a home issue about “the real places we live…and the intimate relationships we have with our domestic spaces.” The editors say: “There is no place like home, especially in a dangerous economy, and our writers specify why, offering perspectives on the homeless and the homesick, the modern masterpieces you’ve not heard about, the highs and lows of home ownership, and the settings the exude our personal histories and innermost secrets.” Sound good? Read some content online, or order this issue, by clicking here. I highly recommend it.

Five Star Literary Stories

This is a new blog that brings together the story, the editor, and the reviewer. Editors nominate a story from their journal, and the website’s “publisher” assigns a reviewer from his accomplished panel of writers. All stories appear on the web, so readers can check out the work for themselves. Pretty neat, right? Stories from Hobart, Vestal Review, The Summerset Review, and Night Train have received reviews thus far. Head on over to the site and browse around. Click here.