SmokeLong News

"Leaving Hope Ranch" by Meg Pokrass... Returns!

megpokrass@gmail.com (Meg Pokrass) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 20:15:00 +0000

Storyglossia republishes Leaving Hope Ranch by Meg Pokrass. Leaving Hope Ranch, which made the Wigleaf Top 50 2009 List, had been published in 971 Menu, which disappeared recently leaving no archive (and no access to the story).

Storyglossia gave it a shiny new home!!

"Feeding Strays" Short Stories by SmokeLong Submission Editor Stefanie Freele Released

noreply@blogger.com (Stefanie Freele) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 02:36:00 +0000

Back Cover:A woman hides from her husband in a fish tank and another absently bakes sponges inside her tarts. Appliances drop from the sky, men grapple with chainsaws, women struggle with hormonal violence, and abandoned boys beg on doorsteps. Enter into the territory of broken people and the folks that love them.

Sensitive and unruly, sincere and absurd, Stefanie Freele's "Feeding Strays" is a collection of fifty short stories, both slipstream and modern, about children, family, relationships, and oysters.

"These expert, graceful mini-portraits of the life-jostled, the uncallused, and all the others who struggle with familyhood, are moving, sensitive, funny, and true. Stefanie Freele is a writer with a grip on the human spirit."

-- Deb Olin Unferth, author of Vacation

To Order:

http://www.stefaniefreele.com/id25.html

or
http://www.losthorsepress.org/books/feedingstrays.html

Top Ten Page Views for May 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clapper) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:33:00 +0000

Once again, very late posting this, due to insane work schedules. Total traffic for the month was 86,341, which convinces me that, yes, I need to find time to pimp the site again. Samuel Lee's piece is yet another testament to the power of StumbleUpon, as his story garnered over 5,000 page views from Stumblers alone. One reviewer there commented, "Thanks for the braingasm."

1. (6) I Use Commas like Ninja Stars by Samuel Lee (3/18/09)
2. (4) Pornography by Steve Almond (6/15/05)
3. (3) Barista by Sarah Black (3/18/09)
4. (5) Night Vision by Edmond Caldwell (3/18/09)
5. (2) Ten Very Short Stories by John Leary (3/15/07)
6. (7) Star Man by Bill Cook (3/18/09)
7. (NR) The Folk Singer Dreams of Time Machines by Matt Bell (6/15/08)
8. (8) One Night at Crobar by Shane Goth (3/18/09)
9. (NR) Disease Relics by Blake Butler (6/15/08)
10. (9) Bluegills by Thomas Cooper (3/18/09)

Smoking With...Mary Yukari Waters

noreply@blogger.com (Randall Brown) — Wed, 27 May 2009 03:15:00 +0000

Davin Malasarn interviews Mary Yukari Waters (The Favorites) in the SLQ "Smoking With" Feature. Click here.

Top Ten Page Views for April 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clapper) — Fri, 01 May 2009 23:13:00 +0000

Updating this at the same time as March's stats, which shows just how far behind I got. 86,978 page views for the month. Hmmm. Might be time for me to figure out a way to get less busy at work and much busier pimping content.

1. (NR) Tenderoni by Kathy Fish (10/2/08)
2. (NR) Ten Very Short Stories by John Leary (3/15/07)
3. (7) Barista by Sarah Black (3/18/09)
4. (2) Pornography by Steve Almond (6/15/05)
5. (6) Night Vision by Edmond Caldwell (3/18/09)
6. (1) I Use Commas like Ninja Stars by Samuel Lee (3/18/09)
7. (10) Star Man by Bill Cook (3/18/09)
8. (NR) One Night at Crobar by Shane Goth (3/18/09)
9. (NR) Bluegills by Thomas Cooper (3/18/09)
10. (3) Toes by Darby Larson (3/18/09)

Top Ten Page Views for March 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clapper) — Fri, 01 May 2009 22:56:00 +0000

The last month at work has been crazy, so I'm way late posting these, and don't have much commentary. Lots of stuff from the newest issue. 99,091 total page views for the month, so we fell a bit behind the 100k pace we'd been setting.

1. (NR) I Use Commas like Ninja Stars by Samuel Lee (3/18/09)
2. (4) Pornography by Steve Almond (6/15/05)
3. (NR) Toes by Darby Larson (3/18/09)
4. (NR) Seattle Gymnopédie by Scott Garson (3/18/09)
5. (NR) Dirtclouds by Charles Lennox (3/18/09)
6. (NR) Night Vision by Edmond Caldwell (3/18/09)
7. (NR) Barista by Sarah Black (3/18/09)
8. (NR) The Hamster by Tara Laskowski (3/18/09)
9. (3) Ants by David Aichenbaum (12/15/08)
10. (NR) Star Man by Bill Cook (3/18/09)

Smoking With...Dan Wickett

noreply@blogger.com (Randall Brown) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 02:30:00 +0000

Meg Pokrass interviews Dan Wickett (Emerging Writers Network, Dzanc Books, All Around Great Guy) in the SLQ "Smoking With" Feature. Click here.

Smoking with our Kathy Fish Fellow

noreply@blogger.com (Randall Brown) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 00:26:00 +0000

Find out all you'd want to know (and more!) about our new Kathy Fish Fellow, Tara Laskowski. Click here.

Issue 24 is live!

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clapper) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:25:00 +0000

Issue Twenty-Four (March 18, 2009): Barista by Sarah Black «» Night Vision by Edmond Caldwell «» Star Man by Bill Cook «» Bluegills by Thomas Cooper «» Seattle Gymnopédie by Scott Garson «» One Night at Crobar by Shane Goth «» Scrapple by Tiff Holland «» What If The Dungeon Closes by Tim Jones-Yelvington «» Toes by Darby Larson «» The Hamster by Tara Laskowski «» I Use Commas like Ninja Stars by Samuel Lee «» Dirtclouds by Charles Lennox «» Moat by Ravi Mangla «» A Witnessing at the K&W Cafeteria by Heather McDonald «» Roots by Jen Michalski «» Turtle Creek by Gregory Napp «» Prey by Susannah Pabot «» By Saturday, We'd Be Singing by John Riley «» At the Foot of the Mountain by Ania Vesenny «» Interviews: Sarah Black «» Edmond Caldwell «» Bill Cook «» Thomas Cooper «» Scott Garson «» Shane Goth «» Tiff Holland «» Tim Jones-Yelvington «» Darby Larson «» Tara Laskowski «» Samuel Lee «» Charles Lennox «» Ravi Mangla «» Heather McDonald «» Jen Michalski «» Gregory Napp «» Susannah Pabot «» John Riley «» Ania Vesenny «» Cover Art "No. 41 - 2007" by Marty D. Ison «» Letter From the Editor

stats for issue 23

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clapper) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:17:00 +0000

Issue Twenty-Three (live from 12/15/08-3/17/09)
12/15/2008-12/31/2008: 63272 page views
1/1/2009-1/31/2009: 107988 page views
2/1/2009-2/28/2009: 93384 page views
3/1/2009-3/17/2009: 46868 page views
TOTAL Page Views: 311,512 page views

That's pretty comparable to where we've been recently, and assuming page views only held steady from that for the year ahead rather than increasing (as I think they will), we'd end the year at over 1.2 million page views, about 20% higher than we saw in 2008.

Top Ten Page Views for February 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clapper) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:08:00 +0000

I waited a while to post stats, both because this has been a very busy month, but more because I wanted Bob's Howl to stay atop the page as long as possible. With a new issue coming out today, though, it's time to catch up a bit. February was another big month of StumbleUpon hits, as several people there really liked Kinsella's latest offering and sent a lot of traffic our way.

1. (2) Phoenix by W.P. Kinsella (12/15/08)
2. (7) Ten Very Short Stories by John Leary (3/15/07)
3. (5) Ants by David Aichenbaum (12/15/08)
4. (NR) Pornography by Steve Almond (6/15/05)
5. (8) The World Before This One by Jon Chopan (12/15/08)
6. (NR) Potatoes by Spencer Wise (12/15/08)
7. (9) Earthrise by Christopher Bundy (12/15/08)
8. (NR) She Doesn't Ask Where He Goes by Stefanie Freele (12/15/08)
9. (10) Ghost Bike by Thomas Cooper (12/15/08)
10. (NR) Shadows by Sherrie Flick (12/15/08)

Howl for Bob Arter

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clapper) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:54:00 +0000

Yesterday, I learned that the world lost one of its most beautiful people over the weekend. Bob Arter was, for me, a bit of a mentor, probably without his even realizing it. He was the guest editor of the 17th issue of SmokeLong. As a quadriplegic (due to a surfing accident in 1973), he had to write or type using an instrument held in his mouth. Despite that, he offered line by line edits on hundreds of the submissions that came in for that issue, making us see beauty in pieces we might have more easily passed over. I don't think the writers who submitted for that issue realize how much love Bob put into reading their submissions.

He also NEVER talked about his condition. He wasn't embarrassed by it, but he just wasn't interested in calling attention to it. He was gregarious and met several folks from the Zoetrope community in person. It was only through those meetings that others of us ever learned of how he lived his life day to day.

Tonight, around the world, dozens of writers who loved Bob will be reading pieces of his outdoors, howling at the moon, drinking toasts to him. Maryanne Stahl came up with the idea, and folks immediately jumped on board. Won't you all join us in reading, howling, and drinking to Bob tonight? I'd like to think he'll hear us.

If you have your own favorite piece of Bob's, have at it. If not, here are links to several of his stories:

And the Sun Soared from the Sea, Oh Me! (Painted Moon Review)
Back Home (SmokeLong)
The Big Texan (FRiGG)
Chitlins (SmokeLong)
Dancing with Anthony (Pindeldyboz)
Grace (LitPot)
The Gown (Opium)
Holiday (Mississippi Review)
How I Came to Love the Godless Eskimo (Opium)
I Went to Barnes, I Went to Noble (LitPot)
Jenny Craig Confronts Lady Higgs-Boson (The God Particle)
L'Amour (Juked)
Mating (FRiGG)
My Mom's Prom (Pindeldyboz)
Nice Easy (Mad Hatters Review)
The Old Folks (Juked)
Paper Mouse (SmokeLong)
Pictures of You (FRiGG)
Psyche Asea (Gator Springs Gazette)
Remembering Elizabeth (SmokeLong)
Riley's Shoes (Gator Springs Gazette)
Sinker in the Hole (Hobart)
The Spaceman (Night Train)
The Star (Hobart)
Survivor's Assistance (Zoetrope All-Story Extra)
That Gladrag Razzmatazz (Absinthe Literary Review)
The Trouble with Fishing (Quintessence... you can't see the text unless you highlight it all, as this is an archived page that has lost its original dark background)
The Wind (Juked)

We love you, Bob. May you rest in peace, finally free of pain.

It's Almost Spring Prompt

megpokrass@gmail.com (Meg Pokrass) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 07:35:00 +0000

See if you can wind around a difficult situation w/ your main character using these words to escape some emotional danger. Whatever that means to you. Write fast - 10 minutes - time yourself.

Include a list in the piece - like a short shopping list if possible. -Meg Pokrass

linoleum
ass
elementary
brush
hold
sister
salt
"hey"
"nice"
tip
beard
wags
yoga
garbage disposal
Wal-Mart
plug
driving
towel
smooth
dim

Smoking With...Jürgen Fauth

noreply@blogger.com (Randall Brown) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:57:00 +0000

Editor Meg Pokrass and Editor-in-Chief Dave Clapper interview Jürgen Fauth, writer & film critic & editor & co-founder of the literary community Fictionaut. Read it here.

SLQ Contributor News - Barry Graham's The National Virginity Pledge

noreply@blogger.com (Stefanie Freele) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:28:00 +0000

Now available: The National Virginity Pledge—Short Stories and Other Lies by Barry Graham

http://www.anothersky.org/in-print/the-national-virginity-pledge-barry-graham/

Praise for The National Virginity Pledge!

"Barry Graham's heroes want to love, yet bigger than their love for people and things is their capacity to destroy the objects of their affection. He doesn't scorn them, though; he treats them with care and a loving tenderness. He turns grief, betrayal, and violence into something close to poetry, and finds beauty in places we should never wish to visit." Stefan Kiesbye, Next Door Lived a Girl (Low Fidelity Press)

"...with its clipped, achingly real dialogue, and its effortless and vivid description, it achieves a relentless undercurrent of: 'Look closer: there is more.'" Mary Lynn Reed, 5 Star Literary Stories

"Barry Graham's stories are little cries for help from way in the corners and deep in the cracks of contemporary fiction." Jeff Parker, Ovenman (Tin House)

"Barry Graham's writing hits hard because it is raw and honest. He will suck you in with equal parts everydayness and voyeurism." Aaron Burch, Hobart: Another Literary Journal

"...it remains a funny, reckless, fast paced, and edgy voice from beginning to end." Dan Wickett, Emerging Writers Network

Mid-winter blues prompt w/ jagged rhythm.

megpokrass@gmail.com (Meg Pokrass) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 01:57:00 +0000

Here are some prompt words. Try this. Use as many of them as possible. Vary line lengths regularly. Create a rhythm, a heartbeat. Write the piece about something that involves breath: fear, smoking, blowing a kid's balloon, swimming...

Enjoy! -Meg Pokrass

Zoetrope Bloggers
Powered By Ringsurf

above
avoid
branches
push
roosting
climb
miles
skirt
stood
crow
friend
bite
washing machine
clammy
coffee
message
tuna
raw
teeth
radio

Top Ten Page Views for January 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clapper) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 01:34:00 +0000

Another month of big activity from StumbleUpon. The pieces by Pendarvis, Kinsella, Maltezos, Hunt, Leary, Chopan, Bundy, and Cooper all had higher referral rates from there than from any other site. Huai's hits came from her inteview, which in turn got its traffic from China Adopt Talk. AichenbaUm, Chopan, Bundy, and Cooper got most of their hits from the front page of SmokeLong (which makes me wonder if it's unfair to some authors to list the contents on the front page alphabetically... hmmm). Leary's hits are largely from people googling for very short stories.

1. (2) Taco Foot by Jack Pendarvis (12/15/07)
2. (NR) Phoenix by W.P. Kinsella (12/15/08)
3. (3) Beautiful by Antonios Maltezos (10/2/08)
4. (NR) Thirteen by Tai Dong Huai (12/15/08)
5. (5) Ants by David Aichenbaum (12/15/08)
6. (1) How 9) Strange by Laird Hunt (12/15/07)
7. (NR) Ten Very Short Stories by John Leary (3/15/07)
8. (NR) The World Before This One by Jon Chopan (12/15/08)
9. (10) Earthrise by Christopher Bundy (12/15/08)
10. (NR) Ghost Bike by Thomas Cooper (12/15/08)

In total, it was another good month, with 107,988 page views.

Edit: By the way, our total page views for last year (I just checked) was 1,108,463. How cool is that?!

Tara Laskowski Is 2009 Fish Fellow

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clapper) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 23:16:00 +0000

This year, we received and read 97 applications for the Kathy Fish Fellowship. After long hours reading and discussing the merits of the applicants, we're hugely excited to announce that Tara Laskowski is our 2009 Fish Fellow. We'd also like to recognize the outstanding work of the other writers on our shortlist. As we did last year, I'll post their #'s here as well, as that's how we knew the applicants during the reading process (all names were stripped from the materials before staff members could read them).

Winner
55: Tara Laskowski

Shortlist
3: Sara Levine
16: Megan Mayhew Bergman
23: Douglas Bruton
29: Foust

Many other applications were excellent as well. The five above represented those who completely blew us away.

We can't wait to begin working with Tara. Here's a little more information about her:

Tara Laskowski earned an MFA in Creative Writing from George Mason University and recently completed a manuscript of her first novel, set in her hometown in Pennsylvania. Her fiction and nonfiction have been published in several places, most recently The Rambler and Phoebe: A Journal of Literature and Art. Her short story "They" was published in Pindledyboz and was a storySouth Million Writers Award notable online story in 2004. Another story, "Hole to China," was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Tara lives and works in a suburb of Washington, D.C., and is learning how to play the piano.

Tara is the third Fish Fellow, following Beth Thomas in 2007 and Stefanie Freele in 2008.

Tina May Hall wins Caketrain chapbook contest

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clapper) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:06:00 +0000

Caketrain has announced the winner of their 2008 chapbook contest, as judged by Brian Evenson. Due to the quality of the finalists, they will be publishing both the winner and the runner up this summer. Here are the results:

Winner: All the Day's Sad Stories, by Tina May Hall
Runner-up: The Collectors, by Matt Bell
Also Notable: A State of Unbelief and Hawthorn BlossomsM, by Andrew Borgstrom; Personas, by J.C. Miller; Springtime and Important Things to Remember, by Ben Stein

Congratulations to all!

Meg's Prompt: disturbed character w/ insect

megpokrass@gmail.com (Meg Pokrass) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 07:13:00 +0000

Here are some words. Try and incorporate them.

Consider: A seemingly normal though disturbed main character. An insect buzzing, or crawling. The main character is very interested or terribly disgusted in the insect.

dentist
squint
mirror
grin
wrists
hiss
slam
falsetto
stiff
audible
furrow
emission
gesture
climate
squirt

Have fun! Always! -Meg Pokrass

"Less Shiny" by Mary Miller

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clapper) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:17:00 +0000

The print run on this is very short (75 copies), so it may already be too late to plug it, but... Mike Young's Magic Helicopter Press has released its first chapbook, Less Shiny by Mary Miller. Among the stories in the collection is A Blind Dog Named Killer and a Colony of Bees, first published here. Great reviews out there from Emerging Writers Network, Colin Bassett, and Matt Bell. Check it out, and buy a copy (if you still can).

Keyhole Press announces fiction chapbook finalists

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clapper) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:56:00 +0000

Another incredible group. Looking forward to hearing who the winner is, as judged by Michael Martone. Here are the finalists:

Jason Stout - Out Into Nothing
Thomas Cooper - Phantasmagoria
Randall Brown - Future Perfect Tense
Chauna Craig - Children, Gamblers, Drunks, and Saints
Adam Peterson - The Flasher
Stefanie Freele - Breathing Oysters
Matt Bell - The Collectors
Aaron Burch - How to Predict the Weather
Laura Loomis - Lost In Translation
Kathy Fish - It's Possible I'm Not Even Here

Congratulations to all. Keyhole's official announcement is here. Also, check out Keyhole's latest issue, their special handwritten issue. One of the coolest issues of a lit mag I've ever seen.

Sean Lovelace wins Rose Metal Press Chapbook contest

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clapper) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:43:00 +0000

This is an impressive list, to be sure. Many congratulations to the winner, Sean Lovelace, and all those short-listed, as chosen by judge Sherrie Flick.

Winner
Sean Lovelace for How Some People Like Their Eggs

Finalists
Aaron Burch for Birthmarks
Stefanie Freele for Breathing Oysters
Molly Gaudry for Come See the Monkey & Other Stories
Jac Jemc for This Stranger She'd Invited In
Erika Mikkalo for 26 Letters

Semi-Finalists
Lisa Buchanan for Artifacts from the American Century
Dawn Corrigan for Under the Power Lines
Roseanne Griffeth for Getting There Eventually
Tiff Holland for Straight Out of the Can
Kate McCorkle for The Last Parakeet and Other Stories

Full story, as announced by Rose Metal Press, is here. Again, congratulations to all of these excellent writers.

Top Ten Page Views for December 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Clapper) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:53:00 +0000

Well, that's a really interesting shakeup, huh? In looking at specific referrals, a ton of the traffic that propelled several of these into the top ten in page views was from StumbleUpon. Most of those were added to Stumble when we announced our Pushcart Prize nominees. One was an experiment on how to use StumbleUpon when I first set up the ShareThis links on stories. The pieces just outside the top ten had enough traffic than in any other month, they'd have fairly easily made the top ten. They're still getting the same page views, but pages that are Stumbled are getting that much more. In fact, without StumbleUpon, the top ten would have been largely comprised of stories from the December issue (which is what usually happens when a new issue is released).

All of which is to say: authors, if you want to vastly increase your number of readers, join StumbleUpon and start Stumbling your stories (and if you're published here, it's even easier—you can find a link at the end of your story that opens up abilities to share your story on several different sites). And readers, if you absolutely love a story, whether it's here or anywhere else, help spread the word about its greatness to tons of folks you've never met. The more this kind of technology evolves, the more readers will be able to control which authors are gaining the most notice (and, eventually, publishing deals). It's an exciting new world.

1. (NR) How 9) Strange by Laird Hunt (12/15/07)
2. (NR) Taco Foot by Jack Pendarvis (12/15/07)
3. (NR) Beautiful by Antonios Maltezos (10/2/08)
4. (6) Tenderoni by Kathy Fish (10/2/08)
5. (NR) Ants by David Aichenbaum (12/15/08)
6. (NR) Fatback by Jeff Landon (10/2/08)
7. (NR) Trestle by Matt Briggs (3/15/08)
8. (8) Asian Girl by W.P. Kinsella (10/2/08)
9. (3) Innocence, Briefly by Jenny Arnold (10/2/08)
10. (NR) Earthrise by Christopher Bundy (12/15/08)

All told, our page views for the month were 121,084, our highest ever, breaking the previous high of 111,740, set in October.

The annoying family Christmas letter prompt

megpokrass@gmail.com (Meg Pokrass) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 08:14:00 +0000

Imagine one of those annoying family Xmas letters you get too many of. Where everything seems incredible, unless you read between the colorful lines. Write your main character as a family members who feels cheated by the way it's worded about her/her. Maybe the mom writes the letter in a way that subtly puts her husband down (I'm just saying). Your narrator will be that person, the one who gets put down. Or your narrator can be someone observing this chronic seasonal abuse!

Here's some prompt words to get you going:

wide
Ann Landers
crazy
waving
renter
patch
baggy
fidgety
curb
growl
squeeze
numb
brows
big deal

-Meg Pokrass