Guest on The Other Stories Podcast

I was a guest on Ilana Masad's podcast The Other Stories last month and the episode went up today. I read and we talked about my story “And Finally the Tragedy (originally published by Tin House), and about Donald Barthelme’s influence on this particular story and on my writing in general. I also bring up this great piece by Michael Byers in the Fiction Writers Review, which is totally worth your time if you're a fan of Barthelme. We also talk about the writing process in general and where stories come from. I had so much fun talking to Ilana and am so happy she invited me to come on the show! I think you'll really enjoy our conversation. Here is the link to listen if you’re interested.

Two Author Interviews

Thank you to Kim Winternheimer, fellow fiction writer and founding editor of The Masters Review, for interviewing me about my chapbook Families Among Us (Black Lawrence Press, 2014). Kim asked me some really thoughtful questions that I had a lot of fun thinking about and answering. Topics include putting a chapbook-length collection together, naming characters, transformation, and writing fully into setting. You can read it all here.

Jack Hill also interviewed me for American Microreviews & Interviews. Jack asked a lot of wonderful questions. We talk about forgotten weirdness, layered fiction, Barthelme, radio adaptation, loss and the Iraq War, and what's up next for me. You can read it all here.

New Fiction in Tin House

Tin House published my short story "And Finally the Tragedy." You can read it here. I wrote it after reading Donald Barthelme's "The School," a piece of fiction I've always loved. The title of my story (and its first line) comes directly from a line toward the end of "The School." It was one of those moments as a writer when I had to stop reading and start writing, something that happens for me when I read Denis Johnson, Cormac McCarthy, George Saunders, Thomas Berger, and Barry Hannah. 

I'm ever grateful to editor Masie Cochran for publishing my story as part of Tin House's Flash Friday fiction series. They've published a lot of great stories in this series, including personal favorites from Diane Williams, Steve Almond, Seth Fried, Mary Miller, Blake Butler, Lincoln Michel, Jaimie Quatro, James Yeh, Ryan Hume, Adam Peterson, and a collaborative effort from Ryan Ridge and Mel Bosworth, among many others. I'm happy to be included in this great company. As always, thanks for reading my work!