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The Skull House in Midwestern Gothic
Very excited to be in the summer 2014 issue of Midwestern Gothic, a great journal based out of Ann Arbor. First paragraphs: Lillie Korpela collected skulls. She disappeared deep into the federal forest behind her family’s old dairy farm in northern Michigan’s Bear County during all seasons for sixty years, trudging through knee-high snow in the winter…
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Greektown 1983 in A Detroit Anthology
My contribution to “A Detroit Anthology” is the short essay “Greektown 1983.” First paragraphs: Stella waited for me in Greektown. She scurried down Monroe Street in her army coat covered in patches, a dozen bright-colored barrettes in her matted grey hair, crooked face leading the way. She carried dozens of shopping bags filled with what…
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The Final Voyage in The Great Lakes Review
My contributions to the Great Lakes Review aren’t limited to this Bear County story, I also coordinate the online Narrative Map for the journal. First paragraphs: Captain Frank Bjorklund stared at the silver Samsonite emblem swimming on the black suitcase like a beacon in the dark and knew it was time to flee. Age and…
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Excerpts from L-Town Elegy in Wayne Literary Review
I contributed to the Wayne Literary Review from the memoir L-Town Elegy: First paragraphs: I offer this as memoir but with necessary adjustments and embellishments as memory is fluid, a living thing, until we die and take it with us. Mostly, however, it’s an elegy, which implies the author learns something about the mysteries of life…
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Jerry Darn Nation in the Chicago Reader
Here’s my contribution to the 2010 Chicago Reader Pure Fiction issue: First paragraphs: This is how my drinking binge begins. Not with booze—not yet—but in my girlfriend’s bed with another girl ten years younger than me. My tortured, pussy-juice-glazed face pops up above her muff and I look up the length of her body, past…
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The Bonecutters of Bear County in Kneejerk
The Bonecutters of Bear County in Knee-jerk First paragraphs: Todd Bonecutter began acting out his dreams, making them true. Last night, he dreamed about a video game machine filled with oil, the kind that lubes cars, makes them slick inside. Todd was nineteen and loved video games and hated to do it, but he took…
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Monkey Boy in Monkeybicycle
Here is a shorty short: Monkey Boy in Monkeybicycle: First paragraphs: They ride and ride through the woods, Monkey-Boy in the backseat investigating and comparing the downy hair on his arms with the plush brown seat cushions, believing he may really be an authentic monkey boy instead of a regular boy pretending to be monkey.…
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