Guest on The Weekly Reader on Minnesota Public Radio

Last week I was a guest on The KMSU Weekly Reader, an author interview radio show that airs weekly on Minnesota Public Radio. Thanks so much to host Teagan Knoblich for having me on. We talked about my chapbook of short tales, Families Among Us, the writing process, what I'm working on now, and even how having kids has had a wonderful affect on my writing. It was a lot of fun, and I also read from a couple stories. You can check out the show archives for great interviews with Steve Almond, Kyle Minor, Daniel Handler/Lemony Snicket, Frank Bill, D.A Powell, Robert Boswell, and Kate Bernheimer, among others. And you can listen to the episode I'm on right here. Thanks for listening and for reading!

Author Interview with Lit Central O.C.

I was in the same workshop as Cynthia Romanowski at Squaw Valley. She wrote a story that had Steve Almond's jaw on the ground along with the rest of the table. Cynthia was kind enough to interview me for Lit Central O.C. when my chapbook Families Among Us came out. We talked for an hour and a half via Skype about a lot of things, including grad school, writing bad fiction, asking for blurbs, being okay with uncertainty, and the literary wilderness. You can read the whole interview here. Thanks for reading!

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!