tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61775776338311557882024-02-19T09:08:25.669-06:00Amos Magliocco's Writing Desk<i>Writing about writing and other topics for writing's sake.</i>Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-88523190058974237682013-02-18T16:57:00.005-06:002013-02-18T16:57:45.136-06:00With a student in my office moments ago, I nearly drove myself crazy looking for this Alice Munro quote on the Google Machine. My student left before I could find it, but now I want to post it here so that it will never be lost again, or at least not until I forget I've posted it on my blog.<br />
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Which I've probably done before.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Anecdotes don't make good stories. Generally, I dig down underneath them so far that the story that finally comes out is not what people thought their anecdotes were about."</blockquote>
Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-48810004346170355072013-02-17T13:55:00.001-06:002013-02-17T14:10:16.011-06:00A student asked recently for a definition of "literary fiction," not an uncommon question. I said all the usual things about the term simply denoting yet another genre, though literary writers would object, but I added ideas like "choices people make under duress" and internal conflicts that mirror surface plots, etc.<br />
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The other day <a href="http://www.narrativemagazine.com/" target="_blank">Narrative Magazine</a> emailed information about their next fiction contest, and among the submission requirements was this description of the sort of work they admire and want to publish. I think it's a great substitute for what I normally characterize as "literary." Here it is:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
As always, we are looking for works with a strong narrative drive, with characters we can respond to as human beings, and with effects of language, situation, and insight that are intense and total. We look for works that have the ambition of enlarging our view of ourselves and the world.</blockquote>
Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-1337951907781885442012-10-06T15:14:00.004-05:002012-10-06T15:19:17.505-05:00Hello, high lonesome blog. I've linked to my most recent short story publication, not so recent anymore since it's from last year, but now available for clicking on the left side of this page. The story is called "Saturday Children" and appeared in the great Redivider's Spring 2011 issue. Thanks!<br />
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PS: I don't know why it opens to the last page or why it's 10mb in size. The creation of PDFs has always been a mystery to me.Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-16506298013288259732012-08-05T15:07:00.002-05:002012-08-05T15:07:52.131-05:00At the coffee shop this morning, my friend Eve, a barista there, noticed the crickets at the front of the shop near the door were making a terrible racket. She was right; the loudest insect was only a few feet from my corner table, in fact. But I hadn't heard it, somehow, until she pointed it out. Now the thing sounded as if it had found a megaphone.<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">While Eve lunged for the crickets between potted plants on the windowsill, I thought about how ambient noise in a place like that is often exactly what I need to concentrate. Maybe that portion of the 'chattering mind' that otherwise distracts me during a writing session finds itself distracted by the sounds and sights of a public cafe. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">I don't worry so much about teasing out how or why certain locations promote productive writing sessions. I just go where the momentum is and move when it leaves. I don't ask questions. This morning I settled into a groove after two hours' scratching around, and found the elusive entrance to the scene I was writing about the same time as Eve trapped the last of her cricket tormentors in a paper cup and set it loose on Hickory Street.</span>Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-65969517284990100672012-08-01T12:12:00.000-05:002012-08-01T12:12:08.145-05:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihe_ZgJarZCif8oW-HDM-ERTNiy28OmGNFyMm1T6Yq4Te0QsDMZVqDsITK5UdI0Ai7bF3mD7Ca3_37SjlF9Jfn_gRhlquKE9MGfqtDmCgEC4Z-eKpgHXkNYwhIiWnMxXZv6KNGsyFsyBOb/s1600/bringupthebodies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihe_ZgJarZCif8oW-HDM-ERTNiy28OmGNFyMm1T6Yq4Te0QsDMZVqDsITK5UdI0Ai7bF3mD7Ca3_37SjlF9Jfn_gRhlquKE9MGfqtDmCgEC4Z-eKpgHXkNYwhIiWnMxXZv6KNGsyFsyBOb/s1600/bringupthebodies.jpg" /></a></div>
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My review of Hillary Mantel's newest, BRING UP THE BODIES (current finalist for the Man Booker Prize) went live on Ringside Review's <a href="http://www.ringsidereviews.com/book-punch">Bookpunch </a>(famous for their reviews in 200 words) today. <a href="http://www.ringsidereviews.com/book-punch/2012/8/1/bring-up-the-bodies-by-hilary-mantel.html">Read it here.</a></div>Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-16908518997578229342012-07-29T13:35:00.003-05:002012-07-29T13:53:18.971-05:00Hi, blog. I didn't win the Amazon contest, as you might have guessed, and then I retreated to a mountain cave for over a year to meditate on the poisonous influence of Amazon on literary art.<br />
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No, none of that.<br />
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I had started a new book even before last year's Amazon news and the slight stir of agent interest that followed. The new book is now a nearly-complete first draft, which sounds great--and it is--but it's also the equivalent of forging the granite block you intend to chisel into some appealing shape. Can't start without the block. Can't rush the chiseling. In other words, there's a very long way to go. I can't imagine this novel will be ready even for my loyal cat to peruse for another year.<br />
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I will recommit to small, almost Twitter like updates to this blog. I can post about the oddities of the novelizing habit and some sense of the story's context. I don't want to write about the story, though, not because I think you'll steal it, dear sleepy blog, but because I'm superstitious about how many times you can tell or write about a story that isn't finished or even fully imagined yet.<br />
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Long entries in this space are probably counterproductive since they might make think I've actually accomplished something at the keyboard.<br />
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The new novel is set in London between the summer of 1909 and late 1910, and also partially in Wahoo, Nebraska. The main characters are a young American couple who get caught up in an obsession that takes them far from home and even farther from who they thought their lives would make them.<br />
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The story has nothing to do with the weather, but metaphorically it is finally the "stormchasing novel" my friends have suggested for years that I should write.Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-13463770267185962712011-05-20T18:45:00.000-05:002011-05-20T18:45:20.542-05:00Amazon says circle the wagonsIn the event <a href="http://amzn.to/k0qkME">REMEDY WHEEL</a> does not advance to the final round of the Breakthrough Novel Contest, the free excerpt from my novel and all the warm hearted reviews and comments will disappear like tomorrow is...oh, well, never mind.<br />
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So for safekeeping I'll post the two official Amazon reviews here. But you should definitely <a href="http://amzn.to/k0qkME">download the excerpt for Kindle and Kindle apps</a> which is free of charge.<br />
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Reviews:<br />
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<blockquote><h3 class="productDescriptionSource" style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.23em; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.375em; margin-left: -15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.75em;">Amazon.com Review</h3><div class="productDescriptionWrapper" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">It is very impressive. The whole setting and the character Haley are well developed and interesting. I would love to read this book or short story. The author seems to have well developed his/her setting, their character and has a strong feeling for where he/she wants to go with the story.<div class="emptyClear" style="clear: left; font-size: 0px; height: 0px;"></div></div><h3 class="productDescriptionSource" style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.23em; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.375em; margin-left: -15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.75em;">Amazon.com Review</h3><div class="productDescriptionWrapper" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I loved it! I feel as though I'm just repeating myself. There were so many little things I liked about this excerpt. Number one: the protagonist was a skinny female who is fighting to get help for her sick father. That touched the heartstrings. Number two: the author touches on a bit of history that has been pretty much neglected. Blacks migrated to Chicago in order to find a better way of life, and yes a lot of them got involved in big churches that had charismatic leaders of dubious ethics. Plus, the author mentioned Mahalia Jackson, a gospel singer whom a lot of people respect. I'm really looking forward to reading the finished novel.</div></blockquote>Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-39737463824412683412011-05-06T19:28:00.002-05:002011-05-14T13:13:43.212-05:00Remedy Wheel at the Fair: Amelia Earhart & the Dymaxion Futurecar<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPpbsVRsT4SiW10oaXLYdkIrPY1_1794eEPjZriLoTH67xT2MSb_8S5t_RZCtXRFg5A5zjGcZSGOTv1uZqKQSVUqsPrawgNRQ2xX6EOu9PzwTI1knBbi_dcXbJhbfoZ2rAvphExENufUU1/s1600/dymaxioncarjpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPpbsVRsT4SiW10oaXLYdkIrPY1_1794eEPjZriLoTH67xT2MSb_8S5t_RZCtXRFg5A5zjGcZSGOTv1uZqKQSVUqsPrawgNRQ2xX6EOu9PzwTI1knBbi_dcXbJhbfoZ2rAvphExENufUU1/s320/dymaxioncarjpg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>An entertaining part of writing <a href="http://amzn.to/k0qkME">REMEDY WHEEL </a>was discovering all the bizarre, futuristic electronics and vehicles which made their debut during the "big show by the lake," the 1933-34 World's Fair in Chicago. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymaxion_car">Dymaxion Car </a>was designed to negotiate the narrow lanes and limited parking areas in newly congested cities. Part of the message of the Fair, of course, was that economic recovery was so assured that soon everyone would have a car, and such problems as parking would become universal. Prosperity was right around the corner. Designed by archietct and inventor Buckminster Fuller, the sleek, bullet car looked much like the airborne "pods" of the Skyride which lifted passengers back and forth above the lagoon, a perch from which they could see four states.<br />
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Here's a quick <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymaxion_car">description from <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Wikipedia</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">: "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">The Dymaxion car was a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_wheeler" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Three wheeler">three wheeler</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">, steered by a single rear wheel, and could do a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-turn" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="U-turn">U-turn</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"> in its own length. However, the rear-wheel steering made the car somewhat counterintuitive to operate, especially in crosswind situations. The body was teardrop-shaped, and naturally </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerodynamics" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Aerodynamics">aerodynamically efficient</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">. The car was twice as long as a conventional automobile, at 20 feet (6.1 m) long.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-3" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymaxion_car#cite_note-3" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;"><span>[</span>4<span>]</span></a></sup></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"> Drive power was provided by a rear-mounted Ford V8 engine, (</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><i>See: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rear-engine,_front-wheel_drive_layout" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Rear-engine, front-wheel drive layout">RF →</a></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">) which produced 85 brake horsepower (63 kW; 86 PS) through the front wheels. The front axle was also a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Motor_Company" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Ford Motor Company">Ford</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"> component, being the rear axle of a contemporary Ford roadster turned upside-down."</span></span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YlLZE23EJKs" width="425"></iframe><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Even Amelia Earhart, who made a surprise landing in Lake Michigan during the Fair, took a joyride in the Dymaxion. You can see her in the backseat during this video clip. Luckily she wasn't onboard when the Dymaxion suffered a fatal accident during a later exhibition. The prototype flipped over, rolled a few times, and killed the driver. Investors quickly lost interest.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Earhart fans should check out my friend Micah Ling's beautiful poetry collection, <a href="http://amzn.to/kRLdwH">Three Islands</a>, which revolves around the enigmatic figures of Earhart, Fletcher Christian and Robert Stroud.</span>Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-24240542405877507702011-05-03T20:46:00.000-05:002011-05-03T20:46:46.916-05:00connecting the system of tubes known as the interwebsAn unexpected benefit of the Amazon contest is my Goodreads account was upgraded to an author profile, and that allows me to cross post this blog to the blog module there.<br />
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However, I noticed a problem from the posts I imported, and I'm using this post to see what I can do about it. So though I'll mention another web location I'd like you to visit, namely Amazon's page for the Remedy Wheel Kindle/Kindle app excerpt (free! whee!), I'll omit the URL because that seemed to cause a problem in the last post. Can't live with that, of course, so troubleshooting will commence presently.<br />
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For the sake of new content, I'll say that I'm surprised to find myself promoting a Kindle and Kindle app product. E-books and online delivery don't scare me all that much, and I don't know enough about the economics of Big Publishing to understand Amazon's effect on the industry very well. I've tried to focus on writing well, frankly. I'll learn more as needed, but my sense is that content and delivery paradigms will work themselves out and it will look very different than it did ten years ago, unrecognizable from thirty years ago. Some people won't like the change. Others will thrive. Humans will read narrative prose no matter what because that's how we're wired; we're storytellers. We're narrative beings. And people will always buy and keep books--real books, with beautiful covers and crisp pages that smell like your father's office. Just perhaps not in the numbers they did before.<br />
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Trees will celebrate.Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-35687034788860238772011-05-01T12:43:00.005-05:002011-05-01T17:46:02.650-05:00REMEDY WHEEL is semifinalist in Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Contest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW8m-GgpsdWX16OLUpmJ415W_sDysWLUjigCXoUHUekv2EzVlenusK0swuGtt3f19790t8tc4Y7LObp05Z1ghD5RN-vDW1DstlwjkOb8FSbmjKiloile0eAAsbnBp2WMLwCmGw27GHc3yj/s1600/sandor-chicago-world-s-fair-1934.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW8m-GgpsdWX16OLUpmJ415W_sDysWLUjigCXoUHUekv2EzVlenusK0swuGtt3f19790t8tc4Y7LObp05Z1ghD5RN-vDW1DstlwjkOb8FSbmjKiloile0eAAsbnBp2WMLwCmGw27GHc3yj/s400/sandor-chicago-world-s-fair-1934.jpg" width="298" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">My novel <a href="http://amzn.to/k0qkME">REMEDY WHEEL</a> is a semifinalist in Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Contest! Pretty exciting. The big surprise for me was a review by Publishers Weekly, who called the book, "a highly literary tale... a grand old story." You can see the full review on the full <a href="http://amzn.to/mHr3ov">editorial review page</a>.<br />
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The Amazon page I've linked includes a free excerpt of the book for the Kindle and Kindle-based apps, such as for iPhone. Please download (and write a review!) if the spirit moves you. I believe the excerpt they've posted is the first 50 pages of the book.<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
In a month, three finalists will be chosen and then, in June, a winner selected by Amazon customers. I'm still learning how all that works, but the final result is a book deal with Penguin, an outstanding house.<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
Well, since I have plenty of room here on my own blog (how does one post without character limits??), I'll post the full review from Publishers Weekly:<br />
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<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"It’s the spring of 1934 in Southside Chicago, a mostly black area hit hard by the Depression, a little before the opening of the World’s Fair. Haley Mitchell, 19, and white, is running numbers for the Kings, a gang too ornery and peculiar for the Capone operation to trouble with. Haley, like every character in this sprawling, highly literary tale, needs a remedy—in Haley’s case, for her possibly brain-dead father. Black store owner Thomas Harris, a strong family man, wants to get out of his neighborhood and away from the Southern blacks, or “migrants,” and move to an all-white enclave near the university, but the most moving scene in the novel portrays the death of his sweet young son, after Thomas has made the move. Sorrow, and muted triumphs take over the novel therafter. Young Oscar Candelero, new to the city, naive and shrewd at once, saves the day. Impressed by the healing ministry of Elder Lucy and seeking the love of Haley, he invents a brand-new game, bringing together both ministry and numbers on the neutral ground—outside Chicago’s jurisdiction—of the Fair. From a souvenir of the 1893 Fair he fashions the remedy wheel, and remedies result, sort of, for everyone. A carefully researched, slow-moving, old-fashioned, and grand old story."</i>Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-91184529386457567912011-04-10T15:05:00.001-05:002011-04-10T15:05:11.981-05:00West Texas A&M, Thursday April 14th. Old Main 220 @7pmAnother plug for my reading at West Texas A&M next week. I'll read from my novel in progress and discuss research for this book and for historical fiction in general. Earlier in the day I'll conduct a fiction workshop for some A&M students. Excited about the trip!Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-8321413901131660212011-03-25T22:29:00.000-05:002011-03-25T22:29:17.422-05:00The poster for my talk at West Texas A&M<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdTKXJXHKDR4LxXT5LfRUWHfRSedH5st3YpnBZit_MHBjA1OWM0eFU4HI7G4_2SP5riMTgpy7FrGew8Fm1axzhGwKf8h2f30UnzHr-em9OIitw42fU_2yiw1jg1HxWFYML4_6P5HrylACK/s1600/literary_detectives2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="500" width="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdTKXJXHKDR4LxXT5LfRUWHfRSedH5st3YpnBZit_MHBjA1OWM0eFU4HI7G4_2SP5riMTgpy7FrGew8Fm1axzhGwKf8h2f30UnzHr-em9OIitw42fU_2yiw1jg1HxWFYML4_6P5HrylACK/s400/literary_detectives2.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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If you happen to be in Amarillo next month, come out and say hello! More details to come.Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-71130528901997459722011-03-18T22:12:00.000-05:002011-03-18T22:12:06.649-05:00Tsunami filmed from a ship at sea<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3fqyOpqnJyw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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Last week's tragic events in Japan, and the ongoing humanitarian and nuclear crises on the islands, underscore our absolute vulnerability and reliance upon our surroundings. This is not a bad thing. This is not a hostile relationship. What I hope can come after is more recasting of the drama not as humankind versus nature, but as human beings integrated within a complex system of earth and air and water, thriving from it and dependent upon it and utterly lacking any power to shield ourselves from our own scientific misadventures.Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-73441121942309660472011-03-07T17:59:00.000-06:002011-03-07T17:59:59.057-06:00Lee Martin's new blog<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://leemartinauthor.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/martin-blog-header2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="82" src="http://leemartinauthor.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/martin-blog-header2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>My good friend <a href="http://leemartinauthor.com/blog/">Lee Martin has a new blog</a> (as well as a Twitter account: <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/LeeMartinAuthor">@LeeMartinAuthor</a>), and knowing Lee, he'll put real time and effort into both, posting material well worth reading. He's already begun with his first post, on the importance of silence to writing. Lee's new novel, BREAK THE SKIN, will arrive in stores on June 13.Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-85899773027913760902011-02-13T21:38:00.001-06:002011-02-14T15:56:22.037-06:00Edward Abbey's letters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHBNI3Cs5kCFxhHwv0LVqza9W02JCYBV6aKX6eIyBKdRbVIZuOs-bPjy5S90seb8UPdK1_eOJY68LAAWUHdMPgETEKYfS1NLRbU1fHtpNJ78Dj9xKC8Ilfedng3xKKOit9RFm3ldNq9qCu/s1600/abbey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHBNI3Cs5kCFxhHwv0LVqza9W02JCYBV6aKX6eIyBKdRbVIZuOs-bPjy5S90seb8UPdK1_eOJY68LAAWUHdMPgETEKYfS1NLRbU1fHtpNJ78Dj9xKC8Ilfedng3xKKOit9RFm3ldNq9qCu/s320/abbey.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I'm posting this mainly so I won't lose track of it myself, but also to spread around this great little <a href="http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/173">cache of Abbey letters</a> published by <a href="http://www.orionmagazine.org/">Orion </a>in their July/August 2006 issue. Glad I caught this!Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-26688738890976045892011-01-26T11:08:00.001-06:002011-01-26T11:09:53.352-06:00textBOX by The Missouri Review & an updateThe Missouri Review launched their new online anthology last week, <a href="http://www.missourireview.com/anthology/">textBOX</a>, a sort of greatest hits collection of fiction, poetry, and essays from the long history of that journal, available in their entirety, which is great news for readers, writers, and teachers all. A lot of great stuff has appeared in those pages since 1978. Also TMR's <a href="http://www.missourireview.com/">new main website</a> is live now, too, and incorporates their blog, co-written by several of the editors. This is one of the few writing/publishing blogs I find worth reading.<br />
<br />
As for my doings, I have my usual course load this spring, four classes total with three of those writing workshops. I have a nonfiction workshop for the first time, as well, which is great, and challenges me to reach beyond the normal copia of answers I use in fiction workshops. While both courses are concerned with story-telling, and there are more similarities than differences, the shift away from an emphasis on scene and new conversations about the nature of "truth" in essay form brings moments when I really have to think about my response. It's exciting.<br />
<br />
It also jives with the work I'm doing now. Most of my friends know that I'm all-in on the storm chasing memoir at this point. The tentative title is WHEN THE WIND TURNS TRAVELER, (from a Li-Young Lee poem), and essentially covers everything that happened in 2007, but with material from before and after as well. One thing I've discovered already is that my "research" is more or less complete; after fifteen years of chasing I don't have to do much fact-checking. I'm not a writer coming from some distant place to describe storm chasing. I <b>am </b>a storm chaser. The words, happily, appear without much struggle. Of course the subject matter won't be as easy to live with again for such time as it takes to write a book. But what I've come to realize is that while we typically choose our stories, sometimes the stories choose us.Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-34794604838130375362011-01-22T20:23:00.003-06:002011-01-24T23:28:20.742-06:00New year, new story<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Emerson journal <i><a href="http://www.redividerjournal.org/">Redivider</a></i><a href="http://www.redividerjournal.org/"> </a>has accepted my short story, "Saturday Children." </span>The staff asked me to help spread the word about their new fiction contest. Here's a blurb from Boston:<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;">"</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><i>Redivider, </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;">a journal of new literature and art,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><i> </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;">is having its first annual fiction competition, with a submission deadline set for March 1st, 2011. The winner will receive $1000 and publication, second place receives $250 and possible publication, and third place receives $100 and possible publication. The contest deadline is</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px;">March 1</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;">, and full details can be found at</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><a href="http://www.redividerjournal.org/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0000cc;" target="_blank">www.redividerjournal.org</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;">.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><i><br />
Redivider</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;">is ranked in the top ten literary journals in</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat repeat;">New England</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;">by the</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><i>Boston Globe</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;">, and takes pride in having published renowned authors such as </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;">Sherman Alexie</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;">,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat repeat;">Robert Olen Butler,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;">and</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;">Ron Carlson,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;">alongside many promising new voices in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction."</span></span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">That's a nice haul for would-be first place winners. Send them your work!</span></span></div>Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-33501922693937833182010-11-06T19:12:00.002-05:002011-01-22T20:15:45.854-06:00"How to be a Poet" by Wendell Berry<div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 19px;"><i>(to remind myself)</i></div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">i </div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><br />
<div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">Make a place to sit down. </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">Sit down. Be quiet. </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">You must depend upon </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">affection, reading, knowledge, </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">skill—more of each </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">than you have—inspiration, </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">work, growing older, patience, </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">for patience joins time </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">to eternity. Any readers </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">who like your poems, </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">doubt their judgment. </div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><br />
<div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">ii </div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><br />
<div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">Breathe with unconditional breath </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">the unconditioned air. </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">Shun electric wire. </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">Communicate slowly. Live </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">a three-dimensioned life; </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">stay away from screens. </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">Stay away from anything </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">that obscures the place it is in. </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">There are no unsacred places; </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">there are only sacred places </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">and desecrated places. </div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><br />
<div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">iii </div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><br />
<div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">Accept what comes from silence. </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">Make the best you can of it. </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">Of the little words that come </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">out of the silence, like prayers </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">prayed back to the one who prays, </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">make a poem that does not disturb </div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 1em;">the silence from which it came.</div>Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-58324724477264735672010-08-28T12:10:00.000-05:002010-08-28T12:10:27.793-05:00GSEA Presents: Back To School Reading<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #555555; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Denton peeps: Tonight, fiction, poetry, and nonfiction by new grad students Chelsea Woodard, Nathan Logan, Tim Boswell, Jessica Hindman, Jaclyn Thies, and Zach VandeZande. 7 pm @Jupiter House Europa (503 West University Drive, corner of University and Carroll)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #555555; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #555555; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span>Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-80020675622155150472010-08-28T11:50:00.000-05:002010-08-28T11:50:43.694-05:0020th Annual Jeffrey E. Smith Editor's Prize Competition.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx20bhJR7TylJe7TkcWz_Y0MkLUXn5TLP3oFzRUn9ajpdxD3ZNHyjY_rIowHANCC5tkIbb3XModllrraJjsXXd-kSg2WbqTEAyqOs8twiA8yzub2FCrTVnuj4k6bl-HZjJWA0mac9m3xZs/s1600/web+button.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx20bhJR7TylJe7TkcWz_Y0MkLUXn5TLP3oFzRUn9ajpdxD3ZNHyjY_rIowHANCC5tkIbb3XModllrraJjsXXd-kSg2WbqTEAyqOs8twiA8yzub2FCrTVnuj4k6bl-HZjJWA0mac9m3xZs/s320/web+button.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Wake up blog! The editors of The Missouri Review asked me to pass along information regarding their 20th Annual Jeffrey E. Smith Editor's Prize Competition. Here's their pitch:<br />
<br />
"We offer $5,000 each, plus a featured publication, to winners in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Finalists also receive cash prizes and have their work considered for publication. The contest's postmark deadline is October 1, 2010, and winners will be announced in early 2011. The $20 submission fee includes a year's subscription to the journal. Submissions can be sent to our mailing address or <a href="http://www.missourireview.com/contest/editors_prize.php">entered online.</a><br />
<br />
For complete guidelines, <a href="http://www.missourireview.com/contest/editors_prize.php">visit our website</a>."Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-27483125497189537502010-03-02T11:24:00.000-06:002010-03-02T11:24:11.378-06:00"For a Philosopher" by Jennie WrisleyThe poet Jennie Wrisley took her own life a few days ago. Jennie was a cherished friend to many in Iowa City for several years and lately in San Marcos, Texas, where she attended the MFA program at Texas State. The few times I met her in person or communicated via email left the indelible impression of a warm and open spirit. <br />
<br />
Jennie shared a poem with me many months ago, "For a Philosopher," which I admired very much and will post below. Jennie's first published work is forthcoming from Copper Nickel and her closest friends will send out others, including "For a Philosopher," in the months ahead.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=356255732742&ref=ts">A Facebook memorial page for Jennie is online here.</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
For a Philosopher<br />
<br />
1.<br />
<br />
When I first said I love you,<br />
you said, What is love?<br />
and told me what Wittgenstein wrote<br />
about definitions and distinctions.<br />
Your heavy brows convened<br />
in that same conversation<br />
when I groped for the distinction<br />
between sexual and spiritual longing.<br />
The object, of course, you said.<br />
But, I said, swooping my hand to signify <br />
the prairie we were walking through.<br />
<br />
2.<br />
<br />
What I meant but did not say, my intellectual, <br />
was Let’s pretend we’re flowers.<br />
I’m the purple coneflower <br />
and you’re the aromatic aster,<br />
which is also a shade of violet.<br />
We were grappling in the snags<br />
of language but now we’re simplified:<br />
color is our only voice. <br />
Being blooms, we’re sun worshippers,<br />
and our purple is praise.<br />
We’re nothing but alleluias <br />
in a small country of dainty heathens <br />
singing for the god of blaze.<br />
<br />
But our violet petals<br />
also cry, Come to me, bees!—<br />
the intensity of hue an indication<br />
of intensity of yearning, <br />
the desire to hold our dusty lovers<br />
in folds of bright and supple flesh.<br />
<br />
Here, the language of prayer <br />
is also the language of seduction, <br />
and the body is a song, or rather,<br />
two throbbings harmonized.<br />
<br />
3.<br />
<br />
You are afraid of death because <br />
no one has given you reason to think<br />
that mind is more than brain.<br />
And, of course, you do not want <br />
your self to perish with your body.<br />
You say anything, please, anything, <br />
but the loss of self.<br />
<br />
4.<br />
<br />
Once, I walked through that field<br />
on a new moon night:<br />
empty space fills with dark substance<br />
on a monthly basis, that ghastly blackness <br />
loosed from some abyss<br />
to annihilate all form. My self <br />
was stranded in the thick of it.<br />
<br />
I was alone but not quite alone--<br />
there were beasts invisible to me<br />
humming and buzzing and chirping,<br />
their wild thrum sounding<br />
from every niche of the obscurity.<br />
<br />
At first I thought their call <br />
was assertion or celebration<br />
of self and existence<br />
against the brutal dark: I am! I am! I am!<br />
I chanted the same and found it <br />
a hollow declaration.<br />
If the preservation of self is all you want,<br />
let me tell you, it’s not enough.<br />
<br />
I think the beasts were only<br />
whimpering to one another: <br />
Where are you?<br />
which is exactly<br />
what I was crying out <br />
(for you or for your body, <br />
or for something unworldly,<br />
or for all of those)<br />
and for a moment the cry became bone,<br />
became white, became<br />
everything I was.<br />
<br />
5.<br />
<br />
Religions do not agree with you<br />
because they all require<br />
a sacrifice of logic.<br />
I once said that you <br />
were too much sharpness,<br />
and in loving you I was crashing<br />
through a field of reasonable thorns.<br />
<br />
The beauty of the naked you:<br />
you are stripped of all your reason<br />
momentarily, and I am alone <br />
with the wild of you, the soft <br />
of you, your body a pasture of skin<br />
stretched across the bed.<br />
<br />
And when I touch my fingers<br />
to your fallow chest, my curled<br />
and folded chromosomes<br />
only membranes <br />
away from yours, something <br />
blooms, purple and singing,<br />
in that place between. <br />
But I could not prove this <br />
as you require, because when I<br />
lift my hand, it’s gone.<br />
I am telling you, my philosopher,<br />
we were made in the image of fire.Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-42642007677538608382010-02-14T19:01:00.000-06:002010-02-14T19:01:57.094-06:00A note in the East Hampton StarA kind note about my essay, "Put on the Petty" appears in in the East Hampton Star's review of the 2010 Pushcart Prize anthology.<br />
<br />
http://www.easthamptonstar.com/dnn/Arts/Book/tabid/11269/Default.aspx<br />
<br />
In It for the Love of It<br />
<br />
By Evan Harris<br />
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"I took it as a challenge and a pleasure to read this year’s “Pushcart Prize XXXIV” cover to cover, starting with Bill Henderson’s heartfelt yet slightly sassy, deservedly proud, orienting introduction. He lets you know where the Pushcart Press stands on the current state of things..."Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-61259203603276754112009-12-24T22:08:00.001-06:002009-12-24T22:14:21.173-06:00White Christmas Eve, 2009. Denton, Texas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.cycloneroad.com/images/chase2009/CRW_2994.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.cycloneroad.com/images/chase2009/CRW_2994.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><a href="http://www.cycloneroad.com/images/chase2009/CRW_2985.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.cycloneroad.com/images/chase2009/CRW_2985.jpg" /></a>Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-31520881897707391792009-12-09T12:31:00.000-06:002009-12-09T12:31:58.658-06:00Review of 2666 on Bookpunch<div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbxVK8AVxAwU9R-HPqv3fq9vpGORMXAM_kBLKCiqCzro5_tH8lYbs-qNisOFk_UaEuwjVyCV-DAUYgnKGNJAR1_wP5r_Fi58WA9Yr1yppjtBYEd6udg65sh3QhLBoYaJnyBKFdYvsnvus/s1600-r/Bookpunch4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbxVK8AVxAwU9R-HPqv3fq9vpGORMXAM_kBLKCiqCzro5_tH8lYbs-qNisOFk_UaEuwjVyCV-DAUYgnKGNJAR1_wP5r_Fi58WA9Yr1yppjtBYEd6udg65sh3QhLBoYaJnyBKFdYvsnvus/s1600-r/Bookpunch4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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My <a href="http://bookpunch.blogspot.com/2009/12/2666-by-roberto-bolano-guest-punch-by.html">review of Roberto Bolano's 2666</a> is live on the cool site Bookpunch. Many thanks to Micah Ling for the invitation!Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6177577633831155788.post-7476255516642650742009-11-07T15:53:00.000-06:002009-11-07T15:53:36.714-06:00Pushcart Prize XXXIV in storesA few developments. I'm up to five agents now holding full manuscripts of <i>Remedy Wheel</i>. Surely one will offer representation, if only by accident. Fingers crossed.<br />
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</div>Also, the 2010 <a href="http://www.pushcartprize.com/comments.htm">Pushcart Prize</a> anthology has dropped, available now by <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pushcart-Prize-XXXIV-Small-Presses/dp/1888889543/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257629342&sr=8-1">Amazon </a>or, better yet, <a href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Pushcart-Prize-XXXIV/Bill-Henderson/e/9781888889543/?itm=1&USRI=pushcart+2010">your local bookstore</a>. This one includes my essay, "Put on the Petty," originally published in <a href="http://www.missourireview.com/content/dynamic/issue_detail.php?issue_id=3101">The Missouri Review</a>. It's available both in hardcover and trade paper and probably makes a fantastic companion text in a writing or short story lit class, too--not the original intention of the series by any means--but a good way to help keep it alive in difficult market conditions. In any case, you should go buy it. I can't say enough about how humbled I am to have work appear in this <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushcart_Prize">venerable series</a> and how grateful I am to those who encouraged me during the writing of that difficult essay, especially Jeff Doty, Scott Blair, Kristen Keckler, Speer Morgan, and Lee Martin, who picked the title out from a description I gave him over dinner in October 2008. Thanks, all.<br />
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On a side note, author Cliff Garstang has long maintained a ranking of those magazines whose fiction either appears or is cited for special mention in the Pushcart most frequently. It's an interesting exercise, not intended to be critical at all, but an arbitrary way to gauge the quality of fiction from the various "little magazines." <a href="http://perpetualfolly.blogspot.com/2009/11/2010-pushcart-prize-rankings.html">Here's his latest ranking</a> with the 2010 results included.Amos Maglioccohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003693837202697129noreply@blogger.com