One of the neighbors’ rabbits—it’s unclear whether they’re pets or meat—escaped and has been living in our backyard. I feel like Elmer Fudd out there every morning chasing it out of the garden and trying to catch it as it leisurely hops away, totally unbothered.
Time totally expands when a long fly ball is headed toward your kid in the outfield. That ball was in the air forever and my heart was in my throat. I’m happy to report he caught it.
Screaming book cover
Can’t wait to delve into this @ruadanbooks.bsky.social anthology of dark fiction inspired by the alternative era and featuring stories by @chrislterry.bsky.social and a host of others.
Last night at the ballpark, a visiting coach of a team of 11-12 year-olds lost his shit, got tossed out of the game and escorted from the site for arguing with an ump.
Story prompt: Write an all-dialog story about the conversation that happened when he got home and his wife asked how the game went.
This Sheldon Birnie story is such a blast — some of the best voice I've read in a while. I picked up Where the Pavement Turns to Sand at AWP and it's so, so good.
You should pick it up & read it alongside me! And if you do, tell me, I'll gift ya an SSL subscription!
malarkeybooks.com/store/pavement
Watching my 12 year old play his first real baseball game was about the most nerve-wracking thing I’ve done.
My flash fiction story, Inauguration Day, is up at @frazzledlit.bsky.social
www.frazzledlit.com/p/inaugurati...
Listen to this.
Then check out CJ's tribute to Kinky's detective fiction from this past fall: www.cowboyjamboreemagazine.com/issue-101-a-...
I’m writing about the quest to read a book by a writer from every country in the world at my Bookmark Planet SubStack. Karina Sainz-Borgo’s It Would Be Night in Caracas was my Venezuelan pick: open.substack.com/pub/bookmark...
Surely there’s a band called Devour Feculence in the wake of Mr. Milchik’s moment by now, right?
I wrote about Nnedi Okorafor's Noor as part of the Bookmark Planet reading project. open.substack.com/pub/bookmark...
"Yes, David Lee Roth is best understood as camp." It strikes me that one might spend a lifetime categorizing 80s hard rock artists by the degree to which they are best understood as camp.
I used to say "dream publications" don't exist. Then Aaron brought Short Story Long into the world. This is a big deal for me.
You’d have to pay me a lot of money to listen to that cheese grater voice blow his own horn and blatantly lie to the to the American people, so we finally started Severance last night instead of watching the State of the Union. Both are chilling in different ways.
New Malarkey Public Radio episode: @ljabouttown.bsky.social talks with Itoro Bassey about writing and living, and who came before you, and who you come back to…
open.substack.com/pub/malarkey...
It's been a while since I wrote anything for the Bookmark Planet read-the-world project. Here's the entry for South Korea, Han Kang's The Vegetarian, which touched an unexpected nerve for me. bookmarkplanet.substack.com/p/by-bread-a...
Started a rewatch of my favorite popcorn franchise with the fam last night with the first Jurassic Park. I always cheer gleefully when Wayne Knight as Nedry gets eaten by the Dilophosaurus and can't help but yelling Hello Newman when the thing first pops up in front of him.
Great episode about one of the most interesting alien races is all of Trek. Y’all mentioned all my picks.
I'm halfway through Han Kang's The Vegetarian. It's good, but the first two sections so far are written from the most frustrating POVs possible given the story. It's a choice that works, but also one I'm sure a lot of readers found it off-putting. I'm trying to think of other books that do this.
I have a new short story out! It's a working class comedy about a box jockey trying to go straight
The story was taken a while back before I took on the column & interview series I'm doing for them. In case you are wondering why all the Frank Bull stuff of late.
mrbullbull.com/newbull/fict...
Joe Ely's into TEXAS WIND. You probably should be too.
bookshop.org/p/books/texa...
There must be no OSHA regulations in the Star Wars universe. All the architecture has skinny-ass catwalks with no handrails running out over empty spaces with thousand-foot drops.
Why are cave diver memes everywhere right now? Did something happen or do they just resonate because we’re all feeling a bit trapped?
I'm reading Han Kang's The Vegetarian for my read-around-the-world Bookmark Planet project, and I'm finding it maddening in a way I can't quite put my finger on yet.
I haven’t quite closed it down in the other place yet, but it’s coming.
Beyond thrilled and honored to have my next book coming out from @leftoverbooks.bsky.social next year. It’s the most creative yet restrained writing I’ve done and I’m excited for folks to read it. Many thanks @patricktrotti.bsky.social 🙏✊🖤
Will try to remember to make a note on our actual website after work this evening, but for the rest of this month every order from our site will come with a free book. If you contribute to the Kickstarter at $20+, also a free book.
Cover featuring Romy
I have a story inspired by Jacques Deray’s The Swimming Pool in this anthology edited by @ABPattersonAuth and @realVernonSmith coming out soon.
I was probably 14 or so when I read it. I think he’s ready for more grown-up stuff but not for the full-blown horror stuff quite yet.
I’m desperate to get my 12 year old, who reads well above his grade level, to fall in love with reading. He’s not digging The Hobbit, which he’s reading for school, and I’m thinking of reading Stephen King’s The Body along with him. Am I remembering the book well? It’s age-appropriate, right?
