SWC

My full-time job is serving as the secretary for the Sewanee Writers' Conference, an annual literary conference that brings together a lot of really incredible writers in fiction, poetry, and playwriting. This is the ninth year I've worked for the conference and it's fun though it's also a nightmare to plan. But I've met some really nice people because of Sewanee. I met my wife here when we were on staff together. And a lot of my best friends are on the summer staff, so it's always nice to see them. But sometimes I get yelled at by a conferee because there is no soap in their room and I feel like I want to punch my hand through a window.

If you're in the area, the readings are open to the public and there are some really great authors here. Josh Weil is reading tomorrow. So are Erica Dawson, Carrie Jerrell, and Juliana Gray, three amazing poets. And then Richard Bausch reads tomorrow night. Tony Earley and Randall Kenan, two of my favorite writers, read next week.

And if you ever come to a writers' conference, don't ask the staff to bring you a diet coke to your room every morning. We will mess you up in secret ways.

NPR

I was really happy to learn that Lucia Silver, the book buyer for Portrait of a Bookstore in Studio City, California, said some really nice things about Tunneling to the Center of the Earth on NPR's Morning Edition today.  You can listen to the show and read about it here.  She called the stories "Like the pen-and-ink love children of Aimee Bender and Lorrie Moore, or George Saunders and Amy Hempel."  So, Ms. Silva, you move to the top of the "Who-Gets-One-of-Kevin's-Kidneys" list.

Avatar Review and ML Press

I've got a story in Avatar Review, which I'm really happy about.  There's also a story by Charles Lennox, which allows me to segue into another topic regarding J.A. Tyler's very fantastic ml press.

For the month of June, J.A. is offering a free copy of "A Field of Colors" by Charles Lennox if you will email your mailing address to him.  Go here for the full details.  MLP does great work and I always look forward to getting the three chapbooks in the mail each week.  I find the ratio is that I love two of them and I have no idea what the hell is going on the third one, but I enjoy trying to figure it out.

Leigh Anne Couch at 21c

My wife, Leigh Anne Couch, will be reading on Monday in Louisville as part of the 21c Monthly Poetry Series with Sarabande Books.  She's going to be reading with Young Smith at the 21c Musuem at 7:30 pm.

Here is one of Leigh Anne's poems, "I am not a man; I am dynamite" which was included in the 2008 Best of the Web anthology.  She is the author of Houses Fly Away, which was the co-winner of the Zone 3 Press First Book Award, and a chapbook, Green and Helpless, from Finishing Line Press.  She is awesome.

Dislocate

I've got a story in the new issue of Dislocate.  It's about a man who finds himself slowly being rendered a non-entity by his wife.  He has a strange job.  The end is kind of sad but kind of hopeful.  This is, I think, something I like to do.

I came to find and admire this journal because their third issue had a cover that was done by Carson Ellis and I bought it for that reason alone.  Carson Ellis is the wife of Colin Meloy, the lead singer of The Decemberists.  She is an amazing artist.  One of my best friends got me a print for my birthday of the picture here, "Faster, Maria!"  Oh, I love that picture.  My friend, who knows Carson, also gave me a birth announcement for Carson and Colin's child that Carson had made, a beautiful drawing, and I framed it.  Is that creepy?  Yes, Kevin, a little.  We took it down when we had Griff because we didn't want him to think that the Meloy-Ellis baby was more important than him.  He's kind of weird about that stuff.

This issue of Dislocate also has a story by Adam Peterson, a writer that I have recently discovered and come to like very, very much.  His story in this issue is so damn good.  It made me want to cry and then, by the end, had done something kind of magical and made me so happy that I wanted to hug everyone I know.

Recommended Reading

Ravi Mangla, a writer who publishes a ton and, even more jealousy-inducing, makes every story really awesome, has started a new blog called Recommended Reading, which will build up a database of recommended reading lists.  It's a great idea and a lot of fun.  

I have the first entry, a list of incredible stories that feature historical figures.  I cheated a little on one of the stories because the Harlan Ellison story only has Christopher Columbus in a small portion of the story but it's so bizarre and wonderful that I had to include it.  Plus, his name is in the title so I figured it was okay.  There's also an interview with questions about stories and books that I like.

Thanks, Ravi, for including me in this project.

The Moon's Face, Darkened

I have a new story up at BULL: Men's Fiction.  It also has work by J.A. Tyler, Jimmy Chen, and Ben Nardolilli.  If you are a fan of J.A. Tyler, and I am, then you will discover a lot of really awesome journals that you didn't know about by following his work.  That's how I found BULL.