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After a handful of stimulating and mostly-collaborative reading events, from New York’s Hudson Valley down through the Southern Tier, I’m finally home and grounded enough to catch up on a few noteworthy updates. Please forgive my tardiness.

In late April/early May, “Cowboy” was published in the Manchester, UK-based journal NOUS, a gorgeous risographed compendium on the theme of play.

Above the water, the approaching clouds look like a wall built of prisons. Sometimes I pray this whole thing is a joke. Sometimes, it’s the opposite of praying.

In a year punctuated with some truly beautiful publications, this one might be my favorite yet. Absolutely worth the $12.

Meanwhile, in a continuation of my unlikely string of successes in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth nations, the Wales-based journal The Lonely Crowd has published “Thank Me Any Day,” the first printed piece in Regan’s multi-episode series of grim family life.

Dickhead always had to wrestle the pig to get it back in its pen and by the end they’d both be caked in shit and bloodied and bruised and Dickhead always acted like he’d taken that hill, but the pig every time eventually got loose again, so who was really the king?

In addition to the printed text, there is also a video narrative of the story (included below) and a brief essay on the making of “Thank Me Any Day,” which should appear on The Lonely Crowd‘s website…someday.

And as one final note: so far, this has been a year of longlists, shortlists, and runnings up. A trio of flash fictions made it to the final round of judging for Meridian‘s Border contest. “Get Bigger” (also a Regan narrative) took third-place in the OWT’s Short Fiction Competition, and was also longlisted for the Masters Review‘s annual fiction contest. “Heart’s Last Pass” was a finalist for the RA & Pin Drop Short Story Award (which might still come with some perks: hopefully more on that soon), as was my unpublished novel Our Shadows’ Voice with Barrelhouse. I’m hoping this means that I’m building toward something instead of slipping backward. I guess only time will tell.

[If you enjoy the mostly-free access to my short fiction that this site allows, please consider becoming a monthly patron or making a one-time “tip jar” donation. Without the support of readers like you, I’d be stooped in half under a load of shingles, ladder-marching eternally toward a roof that’ll never be complete.]

Without a whole lot of warning, three stories stepped out into the light yesterday. Two flash fiction pieces—“Swans (Elsewhere)” and “Settle/Return”—were published as a set in the Atticus Review, who previously published my story “Thieving in Foreign Countries.” Hours later, featherproof books began taking pre-orders for the anthology Make X: A Decade of Literary Arts, collecting a broad survey of the corpus published by Make: A Chicago Literary Magazine. In addition to featuring work by such hard-hitters as Jac Jemc and Tim Kinsella, my story “Our City in Wartime” (which originally appeared in the 12th issue of Make) sees new life in the pages of this gorgeous book.

I might very well have been the last person yesterday to know that any of these stories had been released.

What I did know was happening, though, was the fine-tuning of my new Patreon page. For those of you who don’t know, Patreon is a crowd-sourcing platform made exclusively for artists, wherein patrons can pledge a monthly donation in whatever amount they like, and in return get specific rewards. In this particular instance, donors of different levels will receive monthly postcards, single-story booklets, and—for the highest donors—a special edition of my first book, White Horses, featuring new artwork and design. So if you enjoy my work and would like to help ensure that it (and I) continue, please consider becoming a monthly patron or making a one-time gift.

Continuing a trend of mutual love between British and Commonwealth publications and me, the Australian journal Tincture this week included my story “Water Lily” (the first of this past year’s new crop of stories written at the Hewnoaks Artists Colony) in their new 17th Issue.

Elaine’s rule was defense. This was her home. No one else’s. When the striking time arrived, she’d strike to kill. But only after the intruder struck first. She could wait as long as she needed to wait. Annette would say just bag it and tag it but Annette wasn’t here. It wasn’t her call. Elaine could afford to be patient. She would not strike first. In her mind, she certainly would strike last.

Tincture also previously published my story “Arena” in their 14th Issue in 2014.

And also this week, as a result of weird circumstance and ninja-like reflexes, a new, very industrial version of One Thousand Owls Behind Your Chest now exists in the world. This alternate incarnation of the collection can be found at Longfellow Books in Portland, Maine, in the Beyond Repair online store, and (if you feel like contacting me directly) in an envelope mailed to you from me.

“There’s a second when I can’t really see and I think, sure enough, my uncle and I would make a great team, swooning and faint in a rush of too much. But the truth is, I can’t really ever lose my head the way I want to. Not again.”

Read “Boys’ Life / Rough Frontiers” for free in the Lascaux Review.

“Seriously, I do not think anyone would care to understand—and you have so eloquently demonstrated this point time and time again—no one cares about the way our westbound flight chased the setting sun so the world before us, for hours above the wet Pacific, was drenched in a sweet and syrupy red, a light and a color that for most people fixed firmly to the Earth only ever last for a few seconds each day, yet can sublime on and on in a movie or in a dream. Or, just this once, for me. And even then, staring out the window with my nose stinging beneath the pungency of your highball of Ardbeg that not once before we landed left your fist, yes, even then, gazing out the porthole glass, I couldn’t help but wonder: so is this a movie, or is it a dream?”

Read “Fandanguillo” in its entirety in The Stoneslide Corrective’s new AFTERMATH issue, available now.

While the final details of One Thousand Owls Behind Your Chest click together in advance of the book’s December 15^th release, a few other no-less-important events from these past couple weeks deserve a moment’s highlighting.

• Though not yet officially released (at least not according to their website), the 2017 edition of the Pushcart Prize anthology has begun to appear in libraries, bookstores, and—in the instance of one particular copy—my own mailbox. This year’s anthology includes some breathtaking work by Lydia Davis, Deb Olin Unferth, and Steve Almond, among others. It’s truly an honor to see my own story, “Blue of the World,” included among such amazing company. If you cannot find a copy of The Pushcart Prize Anthology XLI at your local bookseller, it is currently available online through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

• Matchbook, an online journal of flash fiction, this week published “Mandarini,” an experiment in pronouns involving love and fruit. The story is also accompanied by a brief essay, explaining the motivation behind, not just this story, but much of my creative narrative work.

•  Exhibits: A 67 Press Anthology, has just come out in digital formats (the print edition of the anthology is slated for release this coming December).
  

  Exhibits houses an eclectic group of characters featuring drug addicts, Gods, and fallen rock stars inhabiting the same space. There’s bedbugs, S&M, and a shape shifting dinosaur. There’s excess and poverty, love and hate, and a well-meaning apocalypse for good measure.

  Exhibits also features my short story “Dummy,” an excerpt of which can be read here.

• And in one more bit of anthology news, The Chart, an independent journal for art and art criticism with a focus on Maine and New England in general, has recently published its first anthology. Produced by Wing Club Press, The Chart 2015-2016 Anthology includes two of my essays as well as a review of one of the more gonzo performances I helped curate surrounding the release of last year’s Cream River. The anthology is gorgeous, and all proceeds will be used to continue paying contributors to The Chart for their work.

And finally, maybe now is as good a time as any to release the first book trailer for One Thousand Owls Behind Your Chest. Try not to get too creeped-out.