Rea

i'm obsessed with shorts. short. stories.

leon

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here’s a podcast of a story that published in The Fiddlehead a couple of years ago.

dear alice

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congratulations on winning the Nobel Prize for Literature. what an accomplishment. when i think of all those stories, all those characters, all those details. it’s mind boggling. you’ve worked so hard, Alice. i don’t know why but i keep thinking about your husband. i wish he was here to celebrate with you. please know that … Read more

how fiction works

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i’m reading HOW FICTION WORKS by James Wood, a great little book that functions as a discussion of what this literary critic thinks is important to writing stories. i’m struck by the identification of several tactics i’ve gravitated towards in my own work.  it’s good to know intuition takes me down narrow backstreets in the … Read more

the publishing world

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nepotism. i try not to care. most of the time i can stay true to myself but it’s hard. when you hear that the publishing house is only accepting manuscripts “on referral”. when the same writers appear, time and time again, in literary magazines. when it’s clear it’s who you know not what you write. … Read more

divine fits

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu08CxbunGM  

hair in place

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Mitzi hated the breakfast shift at the hospital, staring into vats of lumpy oatmeal.  and scrambled eggs, congealing, then crusting on the underside of the ladle.  disgusting.  she adjusted the net that kept her hair in place and hauled the metal vat of oatmeal onto a rolling cart. “Need a hand?”  a male voice.  a … Read more

caught in the rye

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i’m posting a podcast of a short short i wrote in honour of JD Salinger.  i hope you imaginary readers of this blog like it.

a playlist from the globe

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Head Above Water by Hunters & Collectors Disorder by Joy Division This is not a Love Song by PIL Temptation by New Order Pacific Theme by Broken Social Scene The Fairytale of New York by The Pogues (with Kirsty McColl) Ever Fallen in Love by The Buzzcocks Ceremony by New Order Stranded by The Saints … Read more

born with a tooth

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i’m reading Joseph Boyden’s collection titled BOTH WITH A TOOTH and it’s fucking fine writing. the forward propulsion, sentence by sentence, is engrossing. here’s a sample from a story titled “Born With a Tooth”: It was three months, close to the ice breakup that first winter, before my wolf finally trusted me enough to stay … Read more