[Stolen Plums]

July Short, Fast, and Deadly

Our summers were idyllic. Maybe that makes us weird.

I've got a short chapbook, Recurring Childhood Nightmares, up at Ten Pages Press. The book is comprised of 10 flash-fiction "nightmares" that each correspond chronologically to a year in the life of a 26-year-old narrator. There's also a bonus poem about hipsters.

Six of the pieces -- "Buddy," "Why He Went to Guernica," "The Parents Were Made of Gas," "Virtual Zuckerbergian (un)Reality Blues," "American Hubris," and "Homesick at Adult Camp" -- originally appeared in Short, Fast, and Deadly. "Nobody Likes a Pragmatist" appeared in Staccato Fiction a while back. And I put up "Three Degrees of Separation from the Same Thing We Were Still Supposed to be Thinking About" on Fictionaut a couple weeks ago. 

Much thanks to Craig at Ten Pages Press and the editors of the journals where the fictions originally appeared.

a nice, good chap

I'm stoked to be the chapbook reviewer for the forthcoming print publication Short, Fast, and Deadly Monthly, which will be launching in January 2012. I'll also be posting 420-character reviews on Deadly Chaps Press' Facebook page as soon as I get some scribbles down. On that note, if you wrote or published a chapbook or echapbook you want reviewed, please send it to me and I will be happy to promptly take a look at it and write about it. If you know of any chapbook or echapbook that is awesome or not so awesome, I would like to look at it and promptly write about it. Get in touch with me at christopher.vola@gmail.com because we all like chaps and you seem like a good person.

Also, I wrote this novel called Monkeytown when I was in grad school. It's a transgressive thriller about an orphan named Josh from Connecticut who gets involved with a bunch of faux-terrorists in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. I'm going to start putting chapters up on Fictionaut because I can't figure out what to do with it just yet: more submitting to skittish presses or the incinerator? Feel free to check it out and hate it and comment on its sophomoric vapidity and gore-porn. Or maybe you'll like it and don't want to comment. Either way.

barfing and winking emoticons

New story up in Short, Fast, and Deadly's latest issue. Some good stuff in there.

Bend. System. Collapse.

New story up at Short, Fast, and Deadly. Celebrate the end of the flu season. But the cold season's still here. Detox begins now.

The Deadliest of the Deadliest of the Deadly

Short, Fast, and Deadly released its 2010 Anthology, "Deadlier Than Thou," a couple days ago. Edited by Joseph A. Quintela, it's an 88-page collection of the weekly e-mag's deadliest two pieces from each of its first 55 issues, as well as a poem and a story representing each month of the year. A story of mine snuck in, and I contributed the June poem. You should buy it. Seriously. Don't be a douche, support indie lit. Also, it makes a great roach swatter or 40 oz coaster.

I'll write a review of the other stuff in it besides my own (which is obviously awesome) when my copy comes in the mail. Hopefully Amelia in 1B won't be keeping it and not letting me know, as she's been doing with my rent checks (and probably the last 6 books I've ordered that mysteriously haven't arrived) for the last few months. NYC postal system is wack. This anthology isn't.

The refrigerator's glow

New (depressing) story up at Short, Fast, and Deadly.

...in the bombshine

New story up at Short, Fast, and Deadly in the "Revolution/Revelation" issue.

2010?

Got a new short story up at Short, Fast, and Deadly called "American Hubris." The theme for this week's issue is "The Year in Review." When I thought of 2010, three images came to mind. Oil, flashing computer screens, and people being self-centered dicks. Let's see if all that comes through. The dick part probably will.

Short, Fast, and Awkward

Got a new story out on Short, Fast, and Deadly. It's called "Recurring Childhood Nightmares 16 & 17". It's weird so I thought I'd explain it a little. For those who haven't checked out the site, it's comprised of really, really short poetry and prose pieces, "literature for the ADD generation." The site's fiction pieces are shorter than a Facebook status update and the poems are shorter than a tweet. The story itself started as an assignment for this poetry class I took in grad school. Basically we had to write a poem about recurring dreams we'd had. When I was a kid, I always had nightmares about having a sibling, usually an older sister. I say 'nightmares' because, being an only child, I never wanted a sibling. Who would want to actually have to share toys and Christmas presents with someone else??? Not to mention your parents' undivided attention. I think it would be cool to have a brother or sister now, but back then I was a spoiled little shit. In the dreams, Sibling A or B and I would go on adventures that always ended with random, creepy events like a dog I didn't own in real life getting smacked by a truck. Lovely. I'll shut up because this post is now 158 words longer than the story itself. Later.