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I must be one of the only writers who hadn’t read Lorrie Moore’s “Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? Until last week. Did I enjoy it? Well yes, but I enjoyed it more for the memories it evoked in me. Right away I knew Lorrie Moore’s setting was my own childhood setting, if not exactly, pretty damn close. The Storyland in her novel is the very Storyland I went to as a child, just over the New York border near Glens Falls. I believe it’s called Great Escape now. But then, back then in the seventies, the time Moore captures so well, it was still Storyland where all the stories came alive and a kid could get lost in a park of magic. And some of the language Moore uses: downstreet for downtown. My beloved grandfather always said downstreet. And the place to which her character drives to help her friend: Elm Street, Rutland, well that’s a dear place to me: my oldest son’s grandparents lived on the street for over fifty years. It’s a combination of these things strung together by the mood of the times and the place. I could picture not only the people of Moore’s novel clearly, I could picture the people of my youth as well. Thanks, Lorrie.

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Ink Pot #6 is now available for sale and features the work of:

Issue No. 6 April 2005
Janet K. Albright, Priscilla Atkins, Shyamal Bagchee, Dianne Benedict, Sheila Black, Terri Brown-Davidson, Mary Legato Brownell, Brenna Burns, Katrina Denza, Alison Eastley, Mike Finley, Kathy Fish, Stacey R. Fruits, John Grey, Judd Hampton, Thomas L. Hartwell Aaron Hellem, Andy Henion, S.N. Jacobson, Amy L. Jenkins, Kevin Patrick Lee, Dennis Mahagin, Khrynn Yvonne McManus, Allison McVety, Ellen Meister, Andrea Miles, Sally Molini, Carolyn Moore, Roger Morris, Pam Mosher, Susan O'Neill, Patricia Parkinson, Vincent Peloso, Jayne Pupek, Kay Sexton, Knute Skinner, Maryanne Stahl, JodiAnn Stevenson, S. Asher Sund, Valeria Vegas, Joshua Weber, Jay Wexler Leisha Wharfield, William Winston

Also the last issue, Ink Pot #7 is available at a special price for preorders.

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The Paris Review's Newest Editor

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A gorgeous piece from Tomi Shaw at Literary Mama

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New work at Salome

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A poem by Mary Oliver:

Wild Geese

A Break

I've been temporarily grounded by a nasty virus. I'm taking a break from blogging for the duration.

xoxox

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Read R. M. Berry's opening remarks regarding literature for the Other Words convention in Florida here at NewPages

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Here's an excerpt of Will Allison's story What You Have Left and an interview with One Story.

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New literary journal reviews from New Pages

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Read Myfanwy Collin's exquisite new nature column here:

Fawn

And while you're there, read other wonderful essays by Lucinda Nelson Dhavan, Lydia Fazio Theys, Kay Sexton, Liesl Jobson and Sarah Bain.

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You can listen to a couple of songs from Algerian rocker, Rachid Taha's album called "Tekitoi," here: NPR's World Music

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I heard this fascinating discussion on NPR's Fresh Air yesterday.

Reza Aslan has a brilliant mind and a lovely soul. I'm looking for his book.

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Last night I dreamed of Hello Kitty and these hideous crocheted handbags. For some unknown reason (I must have flipped my lid) I thought the handbags were lovely and inside each were more crocheted items that I thought were just amazing. The bags were red and white. In my dream I thought about the friends I would send them to.
They really were hideous.
But if I should find them in real life...

Look out friends. You might find yourselves proud owners of Hello Kitty hand crocheted handbags. Bwah wah wah....

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A poem by the talented Theresa Boyar:

Painting a Star

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Fiction from Black Warrior Review:

Frog and Peach

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A bit of hope for former Hutu and Tutsi warriors:

NPR

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Maybe it's because he writes like a New Englander, maybe it's because he makes it look so easy, but whatever the reason, Russo's collection, "The Whore's Child," has been one of my favorites and one I'll read again and again.

Here's an interview with Richard Russo.

SPRING IS HERE

I woke up this morning to possible tornado warnings and rainy skies and six hours later drove to Chapel Hill and back with my sun roof open to blue skies, the sun warming my face, and the air a comfortable 76 degrees.

Ahhhh. At last.

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For Myfwany and Carol:

A conversation with Michael Dorris here: Artful Dodge

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New work from M. Lynx Qualey here: 2River View

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New work at Salome

The Stick

Kathy Fish and Carol Peters passed the stick to me…

1. You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, what book would you like to be?

--Oh this is impossible! How can I choose one? Okay: “Love in the Time Of Cholera.”

2. Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character—No.

3. The last book you read

--“Homeland”

4. What are you currently reading?

--“As Cool As I Am,” by Pete Fromm

5. Five books you would take to a deserted island:

--Pablo Neruda poems
--Ulysses—I’d finally have the time to try to figure it out.
--Annotations for Ulysses
--Collected Works of Richard Bausch
--Collected Works of Judy Budnitz—okay, so there isn’t such a book yet…but there will be.

6. Who are you going to pass the stick to (3 persons) and why?
--Jai Clare
--Katie Weekley
--Laila Lalami

Because they’re all brilliant.

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New Lit mag reviews are posted on New Pages with focus on Baltimore Review; Descant; Jubilat; Fourteen Hills; Meridian; Pebble lake Review and Small Spiral Notebook.

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Mnay congratulations to talented writer, Robin Slick for her recent successes!

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New fiction in Salome

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Thanks to Myfanwy Collins I learned the newest issue of SmokeLong Quarterly is live. It's full of hot-hot stories and eye-opening interviews.

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This afternoon I went to see "Hotel Rwanda".

I cried during the whole thing. This may have been the most difficult movie for me to sit through. And there were times I wanted to get out of my seat. I made myself watch it. Not to torture myself, but because this is part of life. I am fortunate it is not part of MY life at this moment, but it is a piece of the human experience on this planet and I will not look away.

Genocide is never comfortable or pretty or tolerable. In whatever form it takes, genocide is unbearable and ugly and inhumane. But this is an important movie and the main character of the movie, Paul Rusesabagina, is a hero. Don't miss this movie.

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"I am not afraid that the book will be controversial, I'm afraid it will not be controversial."

--Flannery O'Connor

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I just finished "House Fires," by Nancy Reisman. It won the Iowa Short Fiction Award in 1999.

Wonderful, beautifully crafted, elegant stories. I highly recommend it!

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Pia Ehrhardt in Mr. Beller's Neighborhood

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Hear some incredible work at Madhatters Review

Some of the work is recited; some is accompanied by music. The end product is AMAZING!


Father in Three by Rebecca Cook

Missive from Shakaland: Nakithi liyoze line by Liesl Jobson

Swollen by Randall Brown

Nice Easy by Bob Arter

The Bird of Stone by Daphne Buter

My Political Analysis of 11/02 by Debbie Ann Ice, read by Carol Novack

The Trunk of My Car by Roy Kesey

Tiger Dog Horse McFadden by Julie Shapiro

The Little Room by Donia Carey

I Am Not Nor Have I Ever Been by Carol Novack

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Growing up we had an Alaskan Malamute named Badger. He was a gentle dog, with lovely brown eyes (one of the characteristics that dintinguish malamutes from huskies) and thick, oily fur. His howl would cut to the bone and often drove our neighbors crazy. Badger liked to chew many things, his favorites were the living room sofa and my newest box of 64 crayons. He died in his sleep at the age of nine. I was the one who found him curled up in his usual spot as if he were merely sleeping.

I came across this article about the famous Alaskan Sled dog race and discovered a sadder side of the story: Cruel Traditions: The Alaskan Iditarod

Goodbye and Thank You

To Bev Jackson's innovative journal Ink Pot.

And thank you to her wonderful staff: Myfanwy Collins; Carol Peters; Stephanie Anagnoson; Lalo Fox; Danielle La Vaque-Manty; T.J. Forrester; Steven Hansen; Kathleen McCall; Jim Boring; and associate editors, Maryanne Stahl; Bob Arter; and Mary McCluskey.

Thanks to all of you for putting out an amazing product every time, and for all the grace, dignity and encouragement you bestowed on your fellow writers.

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Read Startled by the amazing Claudia Smith in the latest issue of Word Riot

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The new issue of edifice WRECKED is up with a piece by the wildly talented Kathy Fish and other pieces by equally talented Darby Larson, Brian Ames, Steven Gullion and many many others...

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An interview with Aimee Bender on Magic Realism

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Recently I have fallen under the spell of Judy Budnitz's wild imagination. After reading the twenty-three stories in her first collection, Flying Leap, it's clear she writes directly from her intuition. Just as each story asks the reader to suspend belief, each speaks of the undeniable truth of human nature.
In one of my favorites, "Guilt," a man is asked by his mother's sisters to donate his healthy heart to his failing mother.
It begins: " 'What kind of son are you?' asks Aunt Fran.
Aunt Nina says, 'Your own flesh and blood!
'What your mother wouldn't do for you...' Aunt Fran goes on. 'She'd do anything for you, anything in the world.'
'And now you won't give just a little back. For shame,' says Aunt Nina.

In "Average Joe," a man is hounded by various marketing experts because he has come to represent the average man.

"There's a hundred-pound baby in the house, who no one's talking about." So begins "Hundred-Pound Baby," the story of the demise of a marriage as witnessed by a child.

In her second, equally as wonderful collection "Nice Big American Baby", the stories within will captivate the reader.
In "Where We Come From," a pregnant woman repeatedly attempts to cross the border into America so her baby will be an American. And as she tries and fails, her baby continues to grow inside her.
In "Miracle," a woman gives birth to a child and because of the baby's appearance, the father questions his connection to him. And when the baby is "cured," the mother questions hers.
In "Immersion," Budnitz displays the stubborn stupidity of prejudice.

As Budnitz draws the reader into her often strange worlds it is her tone, one of friendly authority, that keeps the reader grounded with one foot in reality. I love this woman's prose and I feel newly inspired in my own writing. Thank you, Ms. Budnitz.

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Stunning poetry from Miriam Kotzin at Salome

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An interview with one of my favorite writers, Richard Bausch.

I have this collection on my shelf and am looking forward to reading it.

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"I always thought that the great high privilege, relief and comfort of friendship was that one had to explain nothing"
-- Katherine Mansfield

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Fiction from Small Spiral Notebook

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New online fiction from AGNI

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An interview with Pam Houston and Mary Morris from Failbetter

Reminder

Remember to vote for your favorite of the MWA's top ten:

Vote

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When I used to visit the Boston Museum of Art, the Egyptian Room used to be one of my favorite parts.There was a gold beaded dress on exhibit that really made an impression on me. I couldn't find the exact one on the internet, but here's another very similar:

HIGH

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"It is the nature of the artist to mind excessively what is said about him. Literature is strewn with the wreckage of men who have minded beyond reason the opinions of others."

--Virginia Woolf

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An interview with author, Judy Budnitz

For a Friend

On Death:

A SHEET OF PAPER

No coming, no going,
No after, no before.
I hold you close,
I release you to be free;
I am in you
And you are in me.

--Thich Nhat Hanh

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Interview with National Book Award Nominee, Joan Silber and her editor, Carol Houck Smith:

Off the Page

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I was actually looking up Joan Silber, but typed in a "v" for a "b" and found this interesting site:

Joan Silver

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Exploitation of Fear: We live in a new climate of fear and it is exploited by faceless terrorists, religious fanatics and even our own government.

A Conversation with Nigerian Author, Wole Soyinka

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Fascinating insight into the "other side:"

Making Light