
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Autobiography of Mark Twain: Volume 1, Reader's Edition

Friday, April 28, 2017
Recent press: Quick Sip Reviews on my poem ‘Instructions for Astronauts’: ‘strange and haunting’
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Recent press: Times Union on my Pushcart nomination
Watch: My poem ‘Instructions for Astronauts’ now a video
New Lit on the Block :: Curieux Academic Journal
Just launched on March 20, Bass plans Curieux Academic Journal to come out online three times a year, with the next schedule date of publication July 20. “My personal motivation,” he explains, “was the fact that there are no places for high school students to publish their academic papers and essays. I decided to fill the void. Hopefully we can grow to become an international network of high school students publishing their wonderful work.”
Currently, all editors and personnel involved with the publication “are motivated, intelligent high school students who do not work for pay,” Bass says. “My thanks goes out to them; they're the ones who make the journal work.”
Writers who submit works can expect to have them read by two editors, with each weighing in on the decision to accept/deny, and both offering feedback for how the submissions could be improved.
Readers of the publication can expect this quality to be upheld as well as variety. “It really is a collage of papers and essays” Bass tells NewPages. “We accept work from essentially every academic field, so when you're reading our journal there is no specific theme you will find except for that of well-thought out research.”
The future of Curieux Academic Journal will depend upon the dedication of its readers and editorial staff. “I'd love to make the transition to print. That's obviously a dream,” Bass says, joining in the dream of many a journal. (And it’s a good dream to have!) “I'd also like to publish more: instead of publishing every four months I'd like to publish every two months.”
To meet that goal, Bass and his fellow editors encourage students to submit works, and for teachers to encourage their students to participate in the process of submitting works for peer review and publication. Submissions must come from high-school (or younger) aged writers, with academic papers and essays on every academic topic considered. Bass adds, “Instead of looking at subject-matter, we look at thoughtfulness.”
Young writers with thoughtful academic writing – this is your call!
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Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Books :: 2015 SFWP Literary Award Program Winner
The Santa Fe Writers Project hosts their Literary Awards Program each year since 2000. At the beginning of April, they published the 2015 grand prize winner: Magic for Unlucky Girls by A.A. Balaskovits. Selected by Emily St. John Mandel, the winning short story collection retells traditional fairy tales, taking familiar tropes and weaving them into modern stories of horror and hope.
From the publisher’s website:
From carnivorous husbands to a bath of lemons to whirling basements that drive people mad, these stories are about the demons that lurk in the corners and the women who refuse to submit to them, instead fighting back . . .
Find out more about Magic for Unlucky Girls at the SFWP website, where readers can order copies, check out the author’s website, and stop by the Awards Program page, submissions currently open until the tail end of July.
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Thursday, April 20, 2017
My poem ‘For Your Own Safety’ Nominated for a Pushcart Prize
New Lit on the Block :: The Drowning Gull
A published writer herself, Dakin pulled the name The Drowning Gull from one of her own short stories “about three people who were all writing letters to their deceased loved ones as a way of making peace with themselves. One of the main characters wrote to her deceased husband; he worked for a literary magazine called The Drowning Gull. I found it intriguing that the title involved an animal out of their element. A fish out of water, so to speak. When it occurred to me to start my own, it was the first thing that came to my head. I guess I felt kind of out of my element, taking such a big risk by starting a lit mag on my own.”
The risk has been worth it, as The Drowning Gull’s publishing track record shows early promise, in part, due to a scrupulous editorial process. Dakin explains, “I know that people think that fledgling lit mags accept anything that gets them new material to publish, but we're not like that at all. We put a lot of thought into whether we accept or reject a piece; and a few times, we've sent acceptance letters to writers requesting revisions, because we like a concept but think they could improve upon a few things. What's in our inaugural issue, and what will be in future issues, is the real deal.”
Readers of The Drowning Gull can “definitely expect a wide range of voices.” When asked to highlight some recently published writers, Dakin replied, “Answering that question would kind of contradict the point of The Drowning Gull; to discover the undiscovered. Journals would want popular, well-known writers to contribute. BUT. We know how famous people write; they've already been on the journey to fame and reached it. We want to help emerging writers get there (although we couldn't say that if some famous writer submitted something, that we would reject it without a second thought). If it's honest, adventurous and eloquent, chances are we'll take it.”
The Drowning Gull accepts submissions via e-mail and has added a new call for a mini-issue series called Sea Salt. Smaller than the June and December issues, Sea Salt will be themed and more selective, published in March and September. Dakin hopes this quarterly model will keep readers and writers coming to The Drowning Gull while making the submissions and editorial process manageable.
There are all kinds of motivations for people starting literary publications. For Dakin, her desire was driven by her own experiences of submitting works. “I'd been submitting to literary magazines for less than a year, but I found that I loved the chase of getting things published, and I wanted to provide that thrill for other writers and artists. I found that most of my work kept getting turned down. I wondered whether it was because my work was too honest or bold or whether it just sucked, so I wanted to provide people whose work was like the former (honest and adventurous) with a genuine opportunity for publication. The goal was genuine; I didn't want to be that person who dangled a bone in front of a dog, and then snatched it away.”
“I know a lot of literary magazine editors might not say this, but they probably think it; I also had this drive to be successful. I've always been kind of business-minded in that I just really wanted to make something big. Something that everyone would love. Managing The Drowning Gull has been an absolute adventure and simultaneous stress, and that success wasn't on as big a scale as I had expected, but I wouldn't change it at all. I've met some wonderful people like Shona, Rebecca and Katie in the process, so it's been wonderful.”
For more about The Drowning Gull, visit their website here.
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Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Aquifer :: The Florida Review Online
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Monday, April 17, 2017
Sunday, April 16, 2017
Birthday awesomeness
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Books :: 2016 FIELD Poetry Prize Winner
The winner of the 2016 FIELD Poetry Prize, Chance Divine by Jeffrey Skinner, was published at the end of last month. The editors, David Young and David Walker, selected the collection from a group of submissions they say was one of the strongest in the prize’s 20-year history. However, Chance Divine made an impression, the editors “coming back to it with increasing admiration. It’s a notably ambitious book, unafraid to ask large questions about contemporary physics, poetry, and faith, and the relationships between them—but with a wit and inventiveness that lead to unpredictable, exhilarating results.”
On the Oberlin College Press website, readers can find three excerpted poems, more information about the collection, and a way to order a copy.
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Books :: 2016 FIELD Poetry Prize Winner
The winner of the 2016 FIELD Poetry Prize, Chance Divine by Jeffrey Skinner, was published at the end of last month. The editors, David Young and David Walker, selected the collection from a group of submissions they say was one of the strongest in the prize’s 20-year history. However, Chance Divine made an impression, the editors “coming back to it with increasing admiration. It’s a notably ambitious book, unafraid to ask large questions about contemporary physics, poetry, and faith, and the relationships between them—but with a wit and inventiveness that lead to unpredictable, exhilarating results.”
On the Oberlin College Press website, readers can find three excerpted poems, more information about the collection, and a way to order a copy.
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