Best Intentions
What is an intention? We know it, mostly, as an aim or a plan. When you begin to write a short story or a novel, you have a general sense of something that’s guiding you forward. It might be a…
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A Closer Look: “Meet Behind Mars,” Renee Simms
“Meet Behind Mars” is the title story in Renee Simms’ debut short story collection, published by Wayne State University Press this month. The story, which you can read here in a slightly altered version, is in the form of a…
New books: week of April 30
Here’s a quick look at some of the great books out this week. Happy pub day to all! Jamel Brinkley, A Lucky Man Graywolf Press From Kirkus Reviews: “An assured debut collection of stories about men and women, young and…
The Whites by Dustin M. Hoffman
We wear only white. Sneaker to cap. It’s the housepainter way. Except for the day Simon’s ass was splotched brown. From mid-thigh to lower-back, he was coated in eggshell-sheen Mocha Morning, looking like he shat himself, like he suffered…
Interview: Jamel Brinkley
CRAFT: Your debut short story collection, A Lucky Man, lives and breathes New York, with most of the stories located in one, or more, of the boroughs. And while I believe you grew up and went to school here, you’ve…
WRITING IN GENERAL, Rust Hills
Writing in General and the Short Story in Particular, Rust Hills Mariner Books, 2000 Originally published in 1977, this book examines the elements of craft, with an emphasis on the short story, examining the components of a successful short story…
The Muse & the Marketplace
The Muse and the Marketplace is a conference run by Grub Street, Boston’s premiere writing organization. Featuring keynote speeches, seminars on craft, pedagogy, and the business of publishing, and opportunities to meet with agents and editors, this conference is held…
New books: week of April 16!
Here’s a quick look at some of the great books out this week. Happy pub day to all! Julian Barnes, The Only Story Knopf From Kirkus Reviews: “A May-September romance devolves into dysfunction and regret. Much like Barnes’ 2011…
“A Girl Like You” by Beth Hahn
May took the trolley to the new grocer’s—the one on the boulevard with shining white aisles where the exit was near the back of the store on an otherwise blank wall past the butcher’s station, which smelled of bleach and…
I Love the Bad Ones Best
By Louise Marburg There is perhaps nothing more annoying to hear from an editor that they find a character too unsympathetic to be believable. Part of me wonders if the character in question might in fact be all too believable,…