Sunday, January 13, 2008

Phoebe & Etc.

I got my contributor copies of the new issue of PHOEBE in the mail yesterday. The issue looks beautiful. I really like it. The front and back cover art is nice. I've read a bunch of the work so far and it is very well put together. It seems to form a continuum. My story is the last one in the issue and seems to be perfectly bookended by Zachary Schomburg's opening. Ryan Call and company did an excellent job putting this together. There is also work by Aaron Burch, K. Silem Mohammad, Kim Chinquee, Erin Gay, Heather Green, Karen Rigby, Anne Boyer, Brandon Lewis and lots of others.

My story is the longest I've ever published. It is called SEABED. It is in my collection SCORCH ATLAS. Here is the first graf:

Gilbert had a head the size of several persons' heads—a vast seething bulb with rotten hair that shined under certain light. Several summers back he'd driven to a bigger city where smarter men removed a hunk of him due to the wide black cyst that'd laid claim to his brain flesh. They'd said it was on account of the wires that hung over his parents' house. Little Phillip hadn't been so fortunate. The crap ate through the kid's whole head. Radiation. Scrambled cells. One had to be mindful of these things. Now, though, with the woman gone and the baby dead, Gilbert didn't give much of a damn. He kept on living in that house where guilt breathed in the walls. He lugged the kid's last Christmas tricycle everywhere, the handlebars screeching from side to side with rust on account of how Gilbert even brought it in the shower.

To read the rest, please buy the issue. It's only $6.

To receive this publication, I winkum blubvad steerzum cubba ling fwahblip eich non slem, et veer vod auslit peerpeep nigh-jum tiki soldinaffutz.

Also: there was a new story by BEN MARCUS in the latest issue of Harper's. I wanted to read it but I didn't have $7 on me when I saw it. I read a bit of it standing in the store but I was in a hurry. It seemed very different from his other stuff. Much more linear and standard-seeming. It was kind of a detective story. Weird.

Also: the next issue of Harper's has a DAVID FOSTER WALLACE story, which is supposedly also very different than his other stuff. I have to find that damn thing.

Also: Is anyone going to AWP? I know it's sold out but you can volunteer on their website to work 4 hours and they get you in for free. I am trying to arrange it so I can go. I had a lot of fun last year but that was easier since it was in my backyard.

2 comments:

Mike Young said...

I'm gonna be there and going to some readings and also seeing The Felice Brothers on Feb 1st. They are a good band.

Josh Maday said...

The new issue of Phoebe is very nice. I got my copy yesterday, too. I'm looking forward to reading SEABED and the other excellent stuff in there.

Hey, if you make it to AWP, check out the NewPages booth and give Denise and Casey a hard time for me. Tell them I asked you to or they might think you're crazy. When you mention me they will understand completely. Good luck getting there. Looks like it's going to be amazing what with AWP and NYC; days of recovery will be required.