I wrote a story about a strange little town and a weird book; it’s called “The Magic Mountain” and it’s in the new issue of A Public Space (No. 28), alongside work by Jamel Brinkley, Elisa Gabbert, Kelly Link, and Matthew Zapruder, among others. Find a copy at your local newsstand, or pick up a digital or print subscription here.

Many thanks to Antoine Wilson, Brigid Hughes, and Megan Cummins for making this happen—A Public Space is a truly wonderful journal and this was a dream come true!

 

 

I have a story called “Joan of Arc” in the new issue of The Adroit Journal, alongside work by Oliver de la Paz, Kimberly Grey, and Noor Hindi, and interviews with Mary Ruefle and Heather Christle. You can read it here:

In other news, my story “The Trespassing Forest,” which appeared earlier this year in Issue 5 of Cherry Tree, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize! The issue is only available in print, but you can pick up a copy here if you like.

And lastly, I just learned that Year’s Best Weird Fiction, Vol. 5, which contained my story “The Rock Eater,” just won the 2019 British Fantasy Award for Best Anthology! Congratulations to the editors, Robert Shearman and Michael Kelly, and many thanks again for including my story! It was a thrill and an honor.

I’ll be in San Francisco this weekend, reading a few stories as part of Just Ahead is Darkness, a show featuring live music and dance curated by my friends Megan and Shannon Kurashige at Sharp & Fine. It’s at Counterpulse at 8pm on Saturday, Oct 26. $20

Some other news: My story “The Monster” (from Tales of Falling and Flying) is up on the Selected Shorts Podcast now, read by John Cameron Mitchell (of Hedwig fame!). The episode (Episode 3: “Fables and Fairy Tales”) also features Maulik Pancholy reading Somerset Maugham’s “Appointment in Samarra”—one of my favorite stories—and Kirsten Vangsness reading “The Fairy Handbag” by Kelly Link.

Other story news: I wrote a story called “Pictures of Heaven,” which will be out next year in the Catapult anthology Tiny Nightmares (a spooky sequel-of-sorts to last year’s Tiny Crimes). I’ll also have stories out soon in Adroit and A Public Space.

On Friday, Nov 1, I’ll be reading a story at the book launch for Cathy Ulrich’s Ghosts of You, the first release from Okay Donkey‘s new publishing arm. Other readers include Anna Vangala Jones and Marisa Crane. Stories Books and Cafe in Echo Park — 8pm and it’s free!

 

 

My story “The Cape,” from Tales of Falling and Flying, is on the Selected Shorts podcast right now. It’s Episode 35: Dance in America, as read by Broadway stage actor Tony Yazbeck, and begins around the 21:00 mark.

If you’re interested, there’s also a dance based on the story which Selected Shorts commissioned from Gabrielle Lamb of Pigeonwing Dance, and which was performed at Symphony Space in New York last December. You can watch that here if you like (it’s amazing).

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In other news, I have a story called “It is Illegal to Enter the Graveyard” in the new issue of Post Road magazine (Issue 35), which should be available for purchase soon.

My story “James K. Polk,” from Tales of Falling and Flying, has been reprinted in Making History: Classic Alternate History Stories, edited by Rick Wilber. It’s a great anthology and a real pleasure to be included alongside Karen Joy Fowler, Harry Turtledove, and Michael Bishop, among others.

I also have a story called “Carla” in Writers of Mystery and Imagination, an anthology put together by some friends and fellow writers as a tribute to the wondrous and magical Bookfellows Bookshop of Glendale, California (1988-2016). My favorite place in the world, while it lasted (and even now).

In other news, I went on a brief whirlwind trip to New Orleans to do a reading at the second ever Disorder Salon at The International House Hotel. I had a great time, drank a lot of French 75s, made a pilgrimage to Congo Square, ate a delicious Shrimp Po’ Boy, and got to meet the amazing Kristen Iskandrian, author of Motherest, and someday-soon proprietor of the very best bookstore in Birmingham, Alabama. I also failed to take any photos, except this one (that guy on the horse was some asshole):

I have two stories in the new issue of Cherry Tree; one’s about a forest that walks around and the other’s about Richard Brautigan. You can pick up a copy here if you like.

Also here’s an artistic photo I took all by myself:

It’s happening again! My story “The Duck,” from Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day, will be on This American Life this weekend—airing on Friday, Feb. 8th, and appearing on the podcast Sunday the 10th. This will be the fourth time the story has appeared on TAL’s Valentine’s Day episode. Not bad for a duck!

To mark the occasion, here’s the portrait that animator Simon Cottee made of me as a duck (I’m not usually a duck) back when he was making an animated short from the story. You can watch that short here if you like (it’s pretty great and I especially enjoy how all the ducks speak with Australian accents). You can also hear the story adapted to chamber orchestra (!) by the incredible Nathan Hudson over here. Or, of course, you can buy the book!

(I like to think I’m a little more dashing, but hey.)