Anthologies

Every Animal Project Anthology: Kneading Rascal

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“I’ve always liked those short-legged dogs,” a neighbor said years ago while I was walking Rascal, our vertically-challenged mutt. “What kind of dog is he?”

I explained that Rascal was a combination of either corgi/German shepherd or black lab/basset hound, depending on the veterinarian consulted. The neighbor and I chuckled at the unusual mixture of breeds, commenting that numerous other genes must have collided to create a dog like Rascal with his stubby legs, luxurious black fur, and thick, long torso.

But what I really should have said was, “He’s a bread-obsessed dog. Is there a breed for that?”

And so begins my essay about an incorrigible little dog who entertained me with his antics and offered me solace during one of the darkest periods of my life. His story will appear in the forthcoming anthology, The Dog Who Wooed at the World, from Every Animal Project.

The book will be available on Amazon May 30th with a launch party taking place via Facebook and Zoom. So please join me in celebrating all animal companions, whether they walk, fly, slither, or crawl, and the awe and joy that they bring into our lives.

As I ended my essay about Rascal, I thought about what he had really meant to me, that he was so much more than an eccentric dog who had somehow stumbled into my life. This is what I wrote:

He witnessed some of my life’s greatest sorrows, unknowingly consoling me and imparting crucial lessons. “Slow down and smell the bread,” he would have said if he could have spoken. “There’s always time for a bagel.” And he was right.

I often think about my neighbor’s question years ago, “What kind of dog is he?”

“He’s simply the best kind of dog,” I should have said. “And there’ll never be another like him.”

Feast or Famine: The ups and downs of a writing life

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Over the past few months, my writing has received a flurry of interest:

-The June issue of Silent Sports features my article Paddle and Pedal Serenade.

– The Quinceañera Text caught the attention of the editors at CommonLit.org, and they are now licensing the short story on their website. This 1,000-word story is by far the most successful thing I’ve written, and the interest it has generated over the years continues to surprise me.

-Keith and I have created a free online guide to biking and kayaking in Northern Michigan: michiganbiyaking.com.

-The editor of Birdwatching Magazine called my essay Raven’s Watch, “Lovely,” and will hopefully schedule its publication soon.

–Soloist: The Legacy of Margaret Valentine Le Long should be published in Adventure Cyclist Online this summer. Margaret’s 1897 solo-biking tour from Chicago to San Francisco has fascinated me for years, and I was glad to finally get a chance to write about it.

-I’m now a contributing writer for Awesome Mitten, a Michigan travel site.

Rascal, the best dog ever!

-Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, my essay Kneading Rascal has been selected for an anthology to be published by The Every Animal Project in December. This will be the second anthology to feature Rascal, and I’m thrilled that his message of companionship and inspiration will find another audience.

I’m not sharing all this to be self-congratulatory, but rather to stress the ebb and flow of life. I continue to receive far more rejection notices than acceptance, and dozens of agents and publishers have politely said, “No,” to my novel The Snake Wrangler and Scorpion Kid.

My point is this: ignore the naysayers and find joy in whatever you love to do, whether it’s stringing sentences together, baking soufflés, skiing moguls, or stitching quilts. It’s important, of course, to acknowledge setbacks, but don’t allow them to destroy your passion. You can learn from failure and then promptly move on, focusing on success, no matter how small.

Bottom line: enjoy the process of creating and learning. As W. Somerset Maugham wrote, “The moral I draw is that the writer should see his reward in the pleasure of his work and in release from the burden of his thought; and, indifferent to aught else, care nothing for praise or censure, failure or success.”

Now get out there and enjoy life! Happy summer!

Christmas Greetings from Rascal

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Rascal’s Coat of Many Needles, my essay (blog posting) from last December, has been published in this collection of winter essays, poems, and short stories. I hope others will find as much joy and inspiration in Rascal’s goofy charm and antics that I did. He will be missed forever, but his lessons of patience and grace will never be forgotten. Merry Christmas!

The Cowboy and Miss Austen

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I just found out that my short story, The Cowboy and Miss Austen, has been accepted for publication by Inwood Press for its Small Hours anthology. I wrote this story years ago but it’s one of my favorites (a dude-ranch cowboy finds solace in Jane Austen’s books when a guest at the ranch dumps him), so I’m thrilled that it has finally found a home. Yay! It goes to show that perseverance often pays off!

The Demon Inches: Finding comfort in the written word

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The email arrived on February 22, 2016—a time of sickness and worry; fear and hospital visits.

“Erin,” the message read, “I have to say, I profoundly enjoyed your story: your style, vision, and command of atmosphere, irony, and character are tremendously effective. It would be an honor to showcase your enormous literary talent in this year’s journal.”

CoverYellowBookeThe email, from Michael G. Kellermeyer, Editor of Oldstyle Tales Press, went on to say that my short story, The Demon Inches, had been accepted for The Yellow Booke, an annual journal of original horror, ghost stories, and weird fiction.

I was flattered, of course, by Mr. Kellermeyer’s generous words. He certainly knew how to find his way into a writer’s affections; particularly when most authors receive many, many (get the idea?) more rejections than acceptances.

But what Mr. Kellermeyer didn’t realize, had no way of knowing, was that his email would become a beacon, guiding me through a bleak landscape. It reminded me of literature’s unique power, how healing can be found through emptying oneself onto paper. And that by getting lost between the pages of a story, one might emerge a better person at the end. Books can be both escape and redemption, lifeboats for navigating the restless seas of time.

It also made me think of the unknown effect we can have on others. A smile or compliment, sincere at the time then forgotten, often imprints on another’s psyche. Or, as in my case, a particularly kind acceptance letter, despite the writer suspecting the editor of exaggeration, arrives at the perfect moment.

So now Demon Inches, my own form of speculative fiction, has been published. It’s a genre I return to again and again. My mind explores the remote lakes, woods, and mountains of central Idaho and northern Michigan, the two states I call home.

I wonder what waits at the end of twisting two-tracks, disappearing into dusk, or the secrets contained within the walls of an abandoned cabin. And, like in Demon Inches, I question what resides within the shadows of our minds, and where the line between reality and imagination splits.

DemonInchesMy stories may be speculative, exploring a world of fantasy, but I never speculate about two characteristics—bravery and hope, inspired by the people who surround me and embedded in everything I write. Horror creeps up on us, in novels but also in life, and without these core traits, we might find ourselves blinded by darkness.

The literary landscape in which I navigate also reinforces my optimism, finding endless comfort in the written word. It illuminates everything I do and has become a lifelong travel companion, as a well-timed email from a kind editor reminded me not so long ago.

Read

The Yellow Booke: Demon Inches, The Old House, The Little Madness: and Other Terrors

Find

Amazon ~ Old Style Tales Press

About

A compendium of original horror stories (some written in the vein of classic supernaturalists such as M. R. James, J. S. Le Fanu, H. P. Lovecraft, Ambrose Bierce, and William Hope Hodgson, others written to push, test, and redefine the boundaries of the postmodern horror tale) “The Yellow Booke” is an original publication from Oldstyle Tales Press, whose annotated and illustrated critical editions of classic horror have piqued international interest from fans and scholars alike. “The Yellow Booke” contributes to Oldstyle Tales’ mission of invigorating interest in the classial past of the horror genre, while inspiring and encouraging those who would participate directly in its future. In these pages you will find mystery, weird fiction, body horror, science fictions, ghost stories, dark fantasies, and other strange tales written by living authors — some professional, some amateur, and all deeply talented in conveying what Monty James called “a pleasing terror…” Featuring the imaginative, powerful talent of Ever Dundas, G. L. McDorman, Joseph Burt, Silvia Barlaam, Columbkill Noonan, David Groveman, Erin Fanning, Greg Howes, Thomas Olivieri, M. Grant Kellermeyer, Daniel Pietersen

A Souvenir of My Reading Self

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FiftyBestFifty Best American Short Stories 1915-1965 sits on my bedside table. It’s an unusually heavy book and has burst from its spine, as if weighed down by the importance of the stories and authors contained in its covers. Pages tumble from the book like leaves falling from a tree or perhaps a branch, when a larger chunk of papers breaks apart from the binding.

But I have no intention of discarding it.

I keep it because I admire Editor Martha Foley’s confidence, no equivocation–so sure of herself.  “These are the best short stories spanning fifty years,” she seems to say, “and I dare you to disagree.”

It’s also a reminder of forgotten authors—Elsie Singmaster, Morley Callaghan—along with familiar ones—Ernest Hemingway, John Updike: a symbol of both the transitory and permanent nature of literature. But, most importantly, the book was a gift from my sister Kelly, which she rescued from a used book sale, knowing my love for unusual collections of short stories.

It also joined me one summer while traveling along the north shore of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It became my literary companion, as dark and somber as the depths of Lake Superior, which were always in view.

The collection began to disintegrate during that trip. At night, I’d grasp several pages and read Flannery O’Connor, James Thurber, or Bernard Malamud. I considered scattering pieces of these great stories across the U.P.–John Cheever in Grand Marais, a few pages of Dorothy Parker for Munising, and a smattering of Lionel Trilling in Marquette.

And now I wish I had… a souvenir of my reading self everywhere I went, to be picked up by a walker strolling next to a park bench or a waiter bussing a table, creating an endless cycle of reading and sharing, just as Martha Foley intended.

Monday Markets: From Filipino fiction to travel writing

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Filipino Fiction For Young Adults: “Open Call For Submissions–Science Fiction: Filipino Fiction For Young Adults – Editors Dean Francis Alfar (publisher of the Philippine Speculative Fiction anthologies) and Kenneth Yu (publisher of Philippine Genre Stories), and co-editors for Horror: Filipino Fiction For Young Adults, announce an open call for short fiction submissions for Science Fiction: Filipino Fiction for Young Adults.”

Till Death Do Us Part: “Burnt Offerings Books is planning on publishing a series of monthly anthologies in 2014. The tentative title and theme of the anthology will be Till Death Do Us Part.”

Thirteen Press Anthologies (scroll down to Feb. 6 entry) – Accepting submissions for three anthologies – War, Wildwood, and Pyromania.

Dark Heart Volume Two: “With the theme of ‘Mirrors and Tears’ writers (both new and established) are invited to write a short story from 1,000-10,000 words for this anthology. The theme is open to interpretation and we look forward to reading a diverse range of YA tales.”

The Best Women’s Travel Writing: “Women writers, please send us your best stories about travel throughout the world for our annual series, The Best Women’s Travel Writing. We’re looking for the full range of experience: adventurous, mystical, funny, poignant, cuisine-related, cross-cultural, transformational, funny, illuminating, frightening, or grim-as well as solo travel and travel with friends, partners, and families.”

 

 

 

“The universe is not made of atoms; it’s made of tiny stories.”-The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories

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Finally confirmation for what I’ve always believed: “The universe is not made of atoms; it’s made of tiny stories.”

The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 1

” To create The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 1, Joseph Gordon-Levitt — known within the hitRECord community as RegularJOE — directed thousands of collaborators to tell tiny stories through words and art. With the help of the entire creative collective, Gordon-Levitt culled, edited and curated over 8,500 contributions into this finely tuned collection of original art from 67 contributors. Reminiscent of the 6-Word Memoir series, The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 1 brings together art and voices from around the world to unite and tell stories that defy size.”