http://www.expressmilwaukee.com/blogs-1-1-1-34.html Here's another publication by a fellow alum of mine, David Atkinson. I don't normally brag, but I'd just like to point out that the University of Nebraska-Omaha's MFA program grads are doing really well for themselves. This particular work is a little weird, a little "experimental," if you will. But you know what? I think we've reached a point in the literary canon where it's totally acceptable to deviate from the standard story structu]]> I wanted to share a link with you on narration because I know a lot of people who regularly check out this blog are writers themselves. It comes from the Echo Ink Review, which is doing a couple of really neat things right now, including a free writing workshop (which is literally worth its weight in gold). Not only that, they're actually PAYING people who contribute. How crazy, I know! In addition, they sometimes "tip" writers whos]]> I thought it'd be cool to show off some of the writing coming from one of the smaller universities because it's sometimes amazing where good fiction ends up. It's another example of just how much good stuff is out there, and how sometimes you need to really look to find it. So I'm proud to have found this piece in the slick little mag called Convergence Review. From "A Natural History of the Body," by Alicita Rodriguez: My ]]> I don't normally provide links to excerpts, but I really enjoyed reading the first part of this short story published in the Sycamore Review and I encourage readers to check it out. If you like it, buy a copy of the magazine to read the rest of the piece. Here's a short excerpt: We are at the tip of the thumb of Michigan. The sky threatens sun, so John has reluctantly left the water and run into town for groceries. His waders, latex]]> Palooka Literary Journal is doing a lot of great things. And while I think the term "underdog" hardly applies to a journal of this high caliber, I'm more than happy to play along. If you're an aspiring writer, you should be reading this journal. Why? Because the editors at Palooka know what they're doing.   I'd like to share my fave story I've read recently just to give you a better idea of where my mind is. From "Scr]]> There's nothing I love better than shamelessly promoting my former classmates from the University of Nebraska-Omaha's graduate writing program. One of the coolest things about getting your MFA is establishing life-long connections with the friends you make and now, with the advent of this strange device called a "computer," combined with these tubes that make up the "Internet," following their accomplishments is easier than ev]]> Anderbo can feel a little overwhelming at first, but if you take your time and really browse the site, you can find some great stuff to read while you're whittling away your time at work being unproductive. The Pinch Literary journal, on the other hand, is kind of the opposite. It's easy to navigate, but there's not much there. No, you have to buy their literary journal, which I do on occasion, and I'm sorry to say there's not much I can offe]]> I thought I'd share this short story with you, primarily because I really enjoyed it. Obviously, right? Well, my brain is a little fried from playing Dragon Age II for so long this past week and now everything I say seems obvious. It might be destroying my brain cells. From "The Old Mill," by Kathryn Scanlan:   When we party by the old mill, we have to walk through pine woods and down steep hills to the river. No one]]> Well, I don't see any reason why I shouldn't share a story I recently got published in Bartleby Snopes magazine. Plus, aside from sharing my hard work, I can enlighten you a little on the writing process and where I got the idea. My inspiration came from two sources: (1) "Bright Sided" by Barbara Ehrenreich and (2) my accidental visit to a National Speakers Association meeting in a hotel. A lot of what happens in this story is "tru]]> Apalachee Review is a very nice literary journal. So nice, in fact, that I've bookmarked it in a folder I use to randomly pick a lit journal to buy. This folder contains many journals I haven't gotten around to buying, but I really do have the best of intentions. So until the little coins in my pocketbook sprout into full-fledged dollar trees, I'll have to settle for the great stuff they have on their Web site. From "Awakened," by Ch]]> I recently had something published in Jersey Devil Press (you can find it here!), and while I've visited the site from time to time to check out the stories, a recent email had me heading back for a fresh look. Surprise, surprise, I found something to share. Tends to happen when I start wandering around these magical tubes we call the Internet. On a completely unrelated note, I'm reading Gryphon, Charles Baxter's short story collection. I know]]> I received word that one of my short stories will appear in Bartleby Snopes at the beginning of February and so I thought it might be nice to share something from that site. I've been reading their stories of the month for quite some time, but I read the entire January issue and, hard as it was, picked one that I thought deserved some extra time. Really, this was a tough decision. They're all quality stories, which is probably why Bartleby Snopes]]> Sometimes I read a short story that has such a fantastic narrative voice that it literally inspires me to go over to my typewriter(!) and try writing something similar. No, I don't want to steal Kate Horsely's voice shining through in her short story. I just want to borrow it, use it, and then clean it before returning it with the receipt. From "One Dentist, Many Frogs" by Kate Horsely:   ­ When I got the tooth problem ]]> While my Internet was on the fritz, I tried to take myself back to an era pre-Facebook and found myself to be completely and utterly bored. Not necessarily because I had nothing to do (I just downloaded a new book on my Kindle), but it turns out a great deal of my time is spent researching stuff for short stories, reading fiction online and submitting stories to literary journals.  So I'm glad to have my Internet back. And while I wait on]]> Sometimes, while traversing the Internets-super-highway, I find something in my bookmarks folder that I'd completely forgotten about ... which is a bummer because sometimes it's a fiction contest that's already expired. Or, worse, it's a publisher that's no longer taking submissions. Then I remember the odds of winning a contest or getting published are about a million to one and I feel a lot better about it all. But regardless, I thought I'd thr]]> Instead of promoting the Coachella Review's fiction contest winner (Erika Brumett, which you can read here), I thought it might be nice to share a story from that same issue that I thought was pretty darned great, to say the least. That isn't to say Brumett's winner isn't great--it is! You should read it!--but let's face it: the winner gets all the publicity, and she certainly doesn't need a shout-out by the Fiction Addict. Before I shove my f]]> ... Formerly the Mississippi Review Online. Ah, it's always nice to see the bigger literary journals dip their toes into the Internets. I think there should be a rule: literary journals should evolve technologically at a faster pace than President George W. Bush. That means if George W. Bush sets up a blog, every literary journal in the country should already have one set up. If George W. Bush starts tweeting, every literary journal in the countr]]> One of the few nice things about Facebook is that you can become friends with editors and their literary magazines, which can occasionally lead to some interesting conversations (if the editor chooses to talk to you, of course) as well as fascinating links. Like this one. Who knew Flavorwire was putting together a list of online literary journals and ranking them? Not I. Why would I? I'm not God. The Internet is big. So finding a link to this ]]> I know, it's been a couple weeks, and I promise that won't happen again. Now that I'm teaching, I'm in the process of constantly adjusting my schedule depending on how many students show up to class. On top of that, I've been sending out queries to dozens and dozens of agents for the new book. On top of that, I'm sifting through a mound of rejection letters ... slowly, slowly sifting through those. Because they're depressing. Here's something ]]> Before I mention the short story I found, I just wanted to drop a Web site for you that I thought you might like: FictionDaily.org. Click the link. Check it out. It's a roaring good time. I found the site while reading one of the short stories on Annalemma Magazine. It was in the comments section--go figure! Commenters are usually insane, raving lunatics striving to get some attention, but not this time. So anyway, I found another short sto]]>