Happy Halloween! From issues past...

We thought you'd appreciate a little Halloween themed prose! This piece was featured in HFR issue #40. Enjoy!

Loom

-B.J. Best

The 1983 Halloween, I was the red Pac-Man ghost. My mom made the costume, dyed it a color named Wine and stitched the squiggles of its agitated face like railroad tracks all akimbo.

In 1986, she stood ironing in our brown living room. The TV was on. The Challenger had exploded. They kept showing it again and again, a perennial flowering of fire.

I took pictures of swans on her camera during the spring of 1992. It was as if they had risen from ice, bobbed for a while, then flew away.

In 1972, she and my dad smoked dope they called Wauwatosa Wacko.

Tonight, she invited Erin and me to dinner. Erin was going to aerobics. I was going to drink and write with my friends. We had already eaten dinner. Erin is at aerobics. I am writing and drinking with my friends.

In 1997, I told her the quarter moon cut me like a scythe. It was the one thing she wished she had told me sooner.

Arm Yourself. The NaNoWriMo Battle is About to Begin.

If you have any inkling of what NaNoWriMo might mean, you may be among the many preparing to take on the challenge that comes with each November: writing a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. You might also know that participating in NaNoWriMo can, at times, be equated with going to battle. You know your opponent is coming. You prepare. You lay out tactics and strategies and time your blitzkriegs with care. And most importantly, you arm yourself with the tools and weapons necessary to take down the beast and emerge in magnificent, stinking victory. But if you’re new to this quest for glory, you might think your laptop or notebook and a few thermoses of coffee are the only things you’re going to need. Those, and your lovely lil' imagination. Right? And for veterans, we might be thinking that there are no more appropriable poisons rattling in Pandora’s box. So as we enter into the season of self-flagellation (otherwise known as National Novel Writing Month) take stock of the weaponry below. NaNoWriMo winner? Thy name is conquerer.


Scrivener
Tons of people use and love Scrivener. The bonus to this, versus a traditional writing program, is that you have multiple, combined tools to outline, storyboard, and collect notes and miscellaneous research into a single, searchable location, among tons of other useful stuff. Try downloading the FREE NaNoWriMo trial version, which is good from whenever you start using it until December 7th. After that, winners are rewarded with 50% off the regular price, and if you don’t quite make it, you still get 20% off.

Ommwriter
This writing environment is the king of calm. Ommwriter doesn’t even give you the chance to be distracted—it opens in fullscreen mode and there are several backgrounds and audio options to choose from to make your writing environment as good as it can be. The program is available for Mac, PC, and iPad, and their Dana I version is free.

Dropbox
There’s not much worse than being 20,000 words in and losing everything you’ve written. (Trust me. I’ve done this.) To save yourself a heart attack, keep your novel in Dropbox. With 2GB of free storage space, you’ll have plenty of room to let your novel sprawl. The second-worst thing to happen to your writing is saving a crappy version over a version you were happy with. The good news is that you’ve got the failsafe option of retrieving any past versions made in the past 30 days. (These guys. They’re totally on NaNo time.) The other bonus of entrusting your creative genius with these guys is that any time you forget your laptop, you can use any computer or mobile device to access your Dropbox account and keep working without losing a day in your 30-day quest. Want an extra 250MB? Heck yes!

Google+ hangout
Love it or hate it, Google+ has one feature that could be any writer’s saving grace: hangouts. Sure, NaNoWriMo has groups and forums throughout the site, but can you get realtime interaction and reactions to your writing? Try Google+ hangouts to chat with fellow writers all over the globe about plot troubles, dialogue minutiae, and everything else we writers obsess over. Even if you don’t get much productive writing talking done, you just might come up with the next “in your pants” joke.

Your Local Library
Not only could your local library use some love, but many libraries host events for NaNoWriMo. Check this list for Come Write In! events. And if you’re a library staff member, find out more about holding Come Write In! events at your library. Being surrounded by books while writing your own? YEP. I’ll bring the Swedish fish. You bring the coffee.

Piper Writers’ House (Come write with us!)
If you live in Tempe or are passing through, stop in to the Piper house on ASU’s campus for a quiet place to write. Our historical house is full of comfortable couches, tables, and chairs, and if you’re in need of some inspiration, you can wander our resource library or step outside to the writers’ garden. Come write with us Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. We might not have the answers to what your main character should do next, but we love a good story.

If you’ve got some secret weapon stashed away, why not share? After all, strength in numbers, right?

News Around the Net

Living in the future is so awesome.

The new class of Whiting Writers' Award winners were announced. Congrats to all on your new publicity and giant stack of cash.

The best time for writers to write. I would vote for never.

A slideshow of Sylvia Plath's very domestic drawings of houses, Ted Hughes, and a cow. The Ted Hughes one is actually very good.

Authors and their hobbies. From Franz Kafka's enormous collection of porn to Mark Twain's inventing a device to replace suspenders. Jonathan Franzen's bird watching obsession not mentioned, although it should be.

It's that time of year again. Get your caffeine ready.

Video Project Complete

Hello all,

We've finished the first video of the blog video project. You might recall us asking for your help by sending in images, sound clips, and suggestions for a video based on the prose poem "Modern Medicine" by Michael Brooks Cryer in HFR #48. This is the result. We look forward to working on the next one. (Click here to watch the video)

Enjoy!

Modern Medicine

-for JA

To be of help to its contemporaries, an artificial heart learned to sing during the last desperate moments before a transplant operation. The heart explained, before being placed into the human's chest, why fake hearts can sing and real hearts can only pump blood. "Real hearts have trouble singing because of their muscles don't form good acoustics. Artificial hearts, like myself, made of plastic and exotic metals, nurture sound like a cathedral or the Albert Hall. I think all fake organs should sing, especially the shy ones." A beautifully crafted pseudo-kidney sat at the back of the operating room listening to this. It had heard earlier that day a chorus of hearts practicing "America the Beautiful" in a utility closet. The kidney turned to the organ at its left and said, "This is ridiculous. I can sing. Listen to this." The testicle was astounded the kidney could talk, let alone carry a tune, so it threw itself into a bedpan and took a nap. "Will somebody shut that heart up," an anonymous organ pleaded. "Good god!" a small intestine exclaimed as a large one clapped. "I heard the eyes are learning to juggle," whispered a pancreas. "America, America..." sang the hearts.

For our next project, we've decided on "Goodbye, My Chickens, Goodbye" by Anne Earney, also in HFR #48. It came down to either "Surfer Girl," or "Goodbye, My Chickens, Goodbye," and we decided that chickens are easier to find and photograph than oceans are. However, if anyone has any other suggestions as to which story or poem we should turn into a video next, we'll gladly accept your ideas through email (hfr@asu.edu).

News Around the Net

Awards season is coming around. The finalists for the National Book Award have been announced, and as per usual, they've nominated a lot of people I've never heard of.

On to someone I have heard of, the favorite for the award, Julian Barnes finally won the Booker for his novel The Sense of an Ending. It was his fourth time nominated.

This is a study about the dangers of reading on the toilet. Entertaining enough, but I'd like you to draw your attention to the section about Henry Miller, crapper reading connoisseur.

Amazon apparently likes the iPad way more than any of their Kindles.

NPR has a flow chart to navigate the 100 best scifi and fantasy books.

Baltic Writing Residency

Accepting applications for the 2012 Baltic Writing Residency through December 15th, 2011. Applications can be sent via submishmash or through the post.

The BWR is a funded month-long, annual summer residency in Riga, Latvia for poets, playwrights, and writers of fiction working in English. Though, neither the writer nor their project need be connected with Latvia.

Both emerging and established writers are encouraged to apply. Recent finalists and winners range from those who have yet to conceive of their first manuscripts, to writers who have been finalists for the National Book Award and numbered in the New Yorker's "20 Under 40".

Joshua Cohen, last year's resident, is author of the trio of novellas, Emission, which will be published by Graywolf in 2012. He is the author of the 800-page story of the Last Jew, Witz, named one of the 10 best books of 2010 by the Village Voice. Previous winners include Salvatore Scibona, Emma Jones, and Amity Gaige.

Spouses and partners are welcome to accompany the winning writer on the residency. Details about the residency, about Riga, and about the application process can be found on the website.

Miami Book Fair International: A Week of All Things Literary

From November 13^th through the 20^th the city of Miami will be playing host to its annual Book Fair, which features over 350 authors and activities such as:

• Ibero-American Authors Program: a full program in Spanish
• Children’s Alley: fun, interactive activities for young readers
• Student Literary Encounters: sessions with students, on campus and outreach locations
• Antiquarian Annex: a rare books showcase.

 

Each evening will feature selected readings and discussions with authors from around the world. Also more than 250 publishers and book sellers will be in attendance with a plethora of books. So if your like me, and have a ongoing list of books to read you'll be sure to find those and so much more.  

For more information about the fair look here, and if you'd like to watch footage from the 2010 fair take a look here. So if you live close, or can take the time I'd say a jaunt to Miami will be the perfect trip for November.

Thanks to The Review Review for This Write-Up!

We're happy to accept "often odd, but always interesting" and--from their weekly newsletter-- "ever-surprising, ever-delightful" from the folks at The Review Review. Check out the full interview of issue #48 here.

And, if you don't already, follow Becky Tuch and the gang through their various social media outlets. In addition to publishing fine lit journal reviews (cough, cough) they're a great resource for publishing tips, interviews, and other things lit journal.

This Week in Literary History: Cummings, The Pen and the Brush

Graduation photo, 1911

For our trip into literary history let’s give E.E Cummings, born Edward Estlin Cummings on October 14^th 1894, belated birthday wishes. Cummings was of course a poet, who was well known for his experimental forms, but what he is not as well know for is his paintings. He worked primarily in oils on many different surfaces, even burlap. And just as he did with his poetry Cummings was willing to be open and experimental with his art. During his life his paintings were criticized as being simple, but in looking at his collection, which can be found here, one can see the beauty of landscape, shape and form expressed sometimes exuberantly sometimes softly. And while Cummings sought popularity with his poetry he did not with his paintings, choosing instead to explore color, form and feeling without the pressures of critics.

So in honor of Cummings let’s take a look at some poetry, as I think he would have been excited by what he would have read in the HFR Fall/Winter 2008-2009 issue. Begin with Dorothea Grunzweig’s poem, translated by Derek Wynand, ”Twins Are Bound by an Invisible Twill”:

                                   

                                 the deadanddeadlikeness

                                 the paired fate moves the whole nation

                                 for many think not only of twins

                                 but also of siblings

                                 loved ones      parent and child

Once you’ve finished, continue both forward and back to discover many wonderful pieces of poetry, and of course stop for a piece of fiction or two.

Next move on to the Paterson Literary Review, number 39, 2011-2012. Start with John Barrale’s “That Once You Were Mine”:

                                   

                                    and memory joking

                                                takes the cane

                                    and walks up the stairs

                                                laughing

Don’t stop there. Pages upon pages of poetry and prose await your reading pleasure. And I’m certain that you won’t be disappointed.  

A Celebration Honoring Czeslaw Milosz

Milosz & the Future: October 19-21

The Family of Benjamin Z. Gould Center for Humanistic Studies invites you to join in a celebration of one of the most important literary figures of the twentieth century, Nobel Laureate Czeslaw Milosz.

Poets, translators and writers will gather to discuss Milosz's impact in both the United States, of which he was a citizen for decades, and in Poland, his native realm and mother tongue. Our festival participants will read the Milosz pieces that touched them most deeply, and their own work that his writing inspired.

Writers in exile, people living under conditions hostile to creative expression, translators, poets, and all those struggling to find connections between disparate places will speak about the particular bridges—to another language, to inner freedom, to their own heart—the Polish poet's words built for them.

Registration for the festival speaker events are free. Meals during the festival are provided at no charge to students, faculty and staff of The Claremont Colleges and at a nominal cost to the general public. Find more information and register here.

Unusual Call For Submissions

The Tara L. Masih Intercultural Essay Prize is looking for essays (up to 6,000 words) dealing with matters of culture, race, and a sense of place, either within the smaller microcosm of self-identity or within the larger environment of family, society and world interactions. In E. B. White's words, you will be putting your "finger on a little capsule of truth," using reality to point to your truth, not fiction. Cash awards, low entry fee. Deadline Nov. 30. Winners and honorable mentions are invited but not required to read in San Francisco on May 25, 2012. More info here.

Mobius, The Poetry Magazine, announces the 3rd Dr. Zylpha Mapp Robinson International Poetry Award now through October 20 for Mobius 2011. Contest theme: "Helping Your Fellow Man." First prize $200. Second prize $50. Five Honorable Mentions. This is Mobius's 29th year of continuous publication for this non-profit international magazine. For more information and submission guidelines, click here.

Blast Furnace is seeking submissions for publication consideration in their fourth issue (Volume 1, Issue 4) slated for a December 2011 release. The theme for Issue 4 is poetry inspired by a song, film, or work of art. However, as always, they are happy to consider poetry outside of this theme. Please submit no more than three (3) of your BEST poems via SUBMISHMASH or, if you prefer to create an audio recording of yourself reciting your poetry, send ONLY ONE (1) .mp3/.wav file attachment of NOT MORE THAN 2 MINUTES/120 seconds in total duration. Info and submission guidelines here. Deadline: November 15, 2011.

Main Street Rag Short Fiction Anthology is currently seeking submissions for two themed anthologies on "The List" and "Just Tattoos." The new deadline is November 15, 2011. Full guidelines can be found here.

Muzzle is currently taking submissions for the Winter 2012 issue. Submissions close for the Winter 2012 issue on December 15, 2011. Muzzle publishes poetry, visual art, poetry book reviews, poetry performance reviews, and interviews. Muzzle is also currently taking submissions for a special Spring 2012 issue centered around the theme of "Drink." Submissions will close for the Spring 2012 issue on March 15, 2012. For complete information on how to submit to Muzzle click here.

Final Piper Writers Studio Classes Focus on Reader Engagment, Dynamic Characters and Creating a Sense of Place

LAST CHANCE to register for a Piper Writers Studio class! One-day classes will be held on Saturday, October 22nd from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Piper Writers House on the ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY Tempe Campus.


1. Josh Rathkamp poetry course, "Engaging the Reader with Fact," will focus on fictional techniques and universal facts to explore new ideas to grasp the reader's attention. Josh is the author of Some Nights No Cars at All and the book of poems was published in Ausable Press in 2007. He is now the creative writing director at Mesa Community College.

"Once a woman and I made promises and love in every state between Michigan and Arizona. Once in the car, once in a patch of pines that grew crooked and out of place, once I thought I was romantic, taking her to the roof in the rain..."

-- Josh Rathkamp

2. Winner of the 2009 Hudson Prize and The Best American Short Stories in 2008, Patrick Michael Finn will be teaching a fiction writing course, "Tools for Writing Dynamic Characters." Patrick founded and currently directs the creative writing program at Chandler-Gilbert Community College. This course will focus on developing techniques that will bring the characters on paper to life.

3. "Are We There Yet? Yes We Are!" This writing course will be instructed by best-selling author Mary-Rose Hayes. The focus of this class is to describe in detail the fives senses, vision, touch, sound, taste, and smell all of which gives detail to the sense of place and creation.

For more information about registering for a Piper Writers Studio course, visit the Piper Center website.

Poetry and Prose at the Jersey Shore!

Several scholarships are being offered for first-time participants of the 19th Annual WINTER POETRY & PROSE GETAWAY, January 13-16, 2012, at the Jersey Shore.

+ The Toni Brown Memorial Scholarship, sponsored by the Getaway faculty and staff, is for a poet or writer age 31 or over. Deadline: Nov. 7, 2011.

+ The Jan-ai Scholarship will sponsor two poets, writers or song writers between the ages of 18 - 30 who are residents of NJ, NY or PA. Deadline: December 1, 2011.

Winners may choose from workshops in poetry, including a special advanced section with Stephen Dunn, Beginning Your Novel, Children's Market, Writing and Publishing Your Fiction, Memoir, Creative Nonfiction and more.

The conference also includes talks, receptions, open mics, optional tutorials, a bookstore café, sunrise yoga and dancing at the Getaway Disco. Learn more about the Getaway at www.wintergetaway.com Questions? Email Peter Murphy at peter(at)murphywriting.com (replace (at) with @)

ABOUT THE WINTER POETRY & PROSE GETAWAY
Not your typical writers’ conference. Join us at the 19th Annual Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway, January 13-16, 2012 at the Jersey Shore. Energize your writing with challenging and supportive workshops that focus on starting new material. Advance your craft with feedback from our award-winning faculty.

Contributor Spotlight: Tara L. Masih

How a Long Story Became a Short One

I’m often asked if I know—when I am ready to write a story—if it will be a flash fiction piece or a longer one. The answer is, in general, I do know ahead of time. I know that I have just enough of an idea to fill a page, or much more to say that will take up many pages. But that’s not always the case, as in the writing of “The Strongest Man in the World,” my flash piece that appeared in HFR #48.

I can never anticipate what will grab me and hold my attention enough to make me find time in my hectic life to explore it in story form. But news headlines often inspire me. When I saw the online headline about the death of Joseph Rollino, dubbed The Strongest Man in the World by some, I read on. And was intrigued. The setting, his hometown of Brooklyn. The accident, caused by a woman whose car horn malfunctioned. I loved the poignancy of the piece, and imagined the neighborhood congregating around the tragic scene in the middle of the road that day. And the irony of the century-old Strong Man being felled, not by poor health, but by technology, so to speak, and human error.

So, I delved into the research on this project. I read many books as background history, rented videos about Coney Island, and took copious notes, with every intention of having the piece be a long one.
Then I sat down to write it. And nothing happened. That’s one of the pitfalls of being a writer. You just never know if you have the story in you, in reality; if it will come out, after all, on the page. I just sat there with all these notes surrounding me, and got nothing. So, I walked away from it for a few days, and gradually, I began to realize I wanted to tell the point of view of the woman who caused the accident, as that seemed to me to be a second tragedy. And I am always conscious of the caregivers who have to come in on an accident scene, and experience on a daily basis what many of us may experience only once or twice in our lives.

And I came to the sad conclusion that I had to throw out most of my research. And that for me the story, as in many of the flashes I write, was contained within just a few intense moments. Another writer could choose to stretch out those moments into 20 pages, but my instinct is to condense.

So, condense I did. And condensed again. And again.

And in the end, I didn’t miss what I left out, but all the research I did made its way into the characters and into the tiny, unique, informed details that make a flash stand out. And I was happy with what remained. My tiny tribute to the legend of Mighty Joe, and an era long gone.

News Around the Net

The Nobel Prize in literature was awarded to a Swedish poet who is, again, decidedly not Philip Roth.

The eastern hemisphere is none too happy about the choice either. Rightly so, it seems the Nobel has become a European only party with a splash of South America now and then.

Check out this slideshow of Simpsons literary references. Pretty comprehensive, but they left off my favorite.

The National Book Foundation has announced their 5 under 35 for this year. I didn't make it this year, but I still have 11 years to get there. Also, I have to write something. Wish me luck.

The future! This seems sufficiently lazy to me. Now I won't have to decide which books to read, and I don't have to get off my couch to read them.

Here's a small tour of Lovecraftian locales around New England, apparently the creepiest place on Earth.

For fear of sounding like a total dick, congrats to Tomas Transtromer for being awarded the Nobel Prize, he's had a great career.

This Week in Literary History: The Bronte Legacy

For this week’s journey let’s go back to October 6^th 1847, when Jane Eyre was published under the name Currer Bell, a pseudonym for Charlotte Bronte. All three of the Bronte sisters used the name of Bell to publish under. In 1846, they published a book of poetry authored by Currer, Ellis, and Action Bell. Emily and Anne continued using their pseudonyms when they published Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey, respectively.

Their reason for hiding their identities was due to their sex, as Charlotte was worried that they would not be taken seriously if their prospective readers knew they were women. While Jane Eyre was widely accepted—although considered controversial—the book of poetry only sold two copies. And Charlotte’s first book, The Professor, was not published until after her death. But what is of most importance is that Charlotte and her sisters shared a dream together, to have books in publication, which is an inspiration to all. 

So, in honor of Charlotte Bronte and her sisters, let’s first revisit HFR's Fall/Winter2001-2002 issue for Susan Scheid’s story, “Thief.” This is the story of Millie, who paints magpies, the only reminder she has of her mother, Gethsemene. Her father, Jacob, tries to live beyond the death of his wife. “Millie held fast to her own dreaming thoughts. Each morning, with only her box of paints to guide her, she would go out into the fields around Adair and draw up from her memory the image of the magpie—the only image she had that connected her to her mother.”

Next, let’s visit Bayou Magazine, Issue 54, 2011 where you’ll find Christopher J. Hevey’s “Wu Fat Satori.” This is the story of a gambler who, after losing his fields, copes with hate and uncertainty as he comes to terms with what he has lost. “The gold sun still glittered in the blue western sky. Jade waters still flowed on to the sea. The red boat still bobbed on the surface of the river. Bulrushes still grew in great profusion on the bank of the river. His heart still pounded in his chest. Everything was the same.” 

Anywhere Near NYC? Support The Council of Literary Magazines and Publishers! Oh, and Have Fun...

Learn The Art of the Very Short Story, or the Essential Forces in Poetry, or even Bringing a Character to Life in just ONE day!

There's still time to register for the Piper Center's upcoming one-day classes. All Classes will be held on SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8th from 10 am to 3 pm in the Piper Writers House on the ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY Tempe Campus.


"The job of a poet who teaches is to be honest about the difficulty of the journey, how often it sinks into the many forms of failure, yet also to hand on that sustaining improbable faith, both by example and by instruction."

-- Gregory Donovan

1. Gregory Donovan's poetry course "Memory vs. Imagination: Essential Forces in Poetry" is all about using imagination to expand creativity. Donovan is the Senior Editor for the online journal Blackbird, he's also the author of the poetry collection Calling His Children Home (winner of the Denvins Award).

2. "The Art of a Very Short Story: Sudden-Fiction, Flash Fiction, and Short-Shorts"
This fiction course will be instructed by K.L Cook, winner of the Spokane Prize for his work Love Songs for the Quarantined. Other published--award winning--novels he wrote are Last Call and The Girl From Charnelle. Writers of all levels are welcome to learn or better enhance their skills in thematic development, plotting, suspense and characterization.

3. The best selling author of EIGHT novels, all in different genre's, Mary-Rose Hayes will be teaching "Action is Character," a course based on character driven stamina, creative thinking and relations to reality. Her most recent published work is called Blind Trust, a political thriller co-authored with US Senator Barbra Boxer.

Registration closes Friday, October 7. For more information about registering for a Piper Writers Studio course, visit the Piper Center website.

Notes from NJ — Hi Beth (# 4)

Chuck Tripi has lived a life of poetry and study since a medical catastrophe suddenly ended his flying career in 1998. After his poem "Crack-Up" was published in HFR's 47th issue, he struck up a correspondence with Managing Editor Beth Staples. His epistolary perspective on writing and the writing life has been so valuable to Beth, she wanted to share some of his notes here. He writes from Sussex County. See all of Chuck's letters here. 
*

Hi Beth,

I started writing poetry because of David Rosenthal, who won the Weekly Reader poetry contest in 1960 or ‘61 with his poem “Vicious Dog,” a poem so utterly significant and cool I still do it at readings.

And that’s the thing, poetry is cool, and you can take shelter in its eccentricities and social asymmetry; you can find a place in it.

I was in a pretty square business for most of my working life, and found divertissement, for instance, during a sort of extended poetry adolescence, in writing poems on cocktail napkins and setting them on fire, a kind of bar-trick exotica in the workaday world, like darts, maybe, pinball, a little nerdy flirtiness.

How they struck me, then, sitting on my zafu at Zen Mountain Monastery in another iteration of my life to come, these words of the abbot there, John Daido Loori Roshi:

I see your little half-smiles, the way you walk around here zombie-like, a thousand miles away from it, wake-up! Enlightenment is hard—you need to practice like your hair is on fire. Go deeper!

It’s hard to give up on a poem; it’s hard not to give up on a poem. Pictures of cake do not satisfy hunger—pictures of cake do. Poetry requires ease, poetry requires struggle; it’s pleasure and work, it’s going deeper.

Best,
CKT


Vicious Dog

Vicious dog, you squint
From behind a high lacy fence on Hudson Street,
And the moon is a pale bowl of exhaustion.
Your eyes glint with a wan, listless albumin.
What is meant by your muscular, angry pose?
In the liquid night, someone is playing Bach on a trumpet.
Hysterical at two cops passing your square domain:
You’re a million years too late.

— David Rosenthal, 1960