Video Games are Real

Author: Caleb J. Ross

  • ABNA: Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Semi-Finalist

    UPDATE AGAIN: The semi-finalist pages have been taken down. The final 10 will be announced on March 3rd.

    UPDATE: I received notice that my excerpt of Torch has survived another round of cuts, this time down to 100. The next round, down to 10, happens in early March.

    A few months ago I submitted a 5,000 word excerpt from my novel Torch, on a whim, to the Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel contest. I’ve been exposed to contests like these before, both in the form of warnings and depressing tales of stomped egos; never in the form of optimistic encouragement. Bookseller-sponsored writing contests have a certain stigma, not unwarranted, I’m sure.

    But, here’s hoping those warnings are just the foul remnants of those taken by less legitimate contests. I received notice today that Torch has survived the initial dwindling of 5,000 to less than 900.

    I’m happy. Despite the humility and caution that I should display, I instead embrace a smile. Nothing wrong with that, right?

    ABIA Torch Please, please, please head over to the Torch Amazon.com page, read the 16 page excerpt, and write a review. There are prizes on the behalf of Amazon.com for well written reviews; proof that I’m not being entirely selfish.EDIT: Some great people are leaving great comments already (most of which came through bribery, but praise is praise). Click here to go directly to the reviews. Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Semi-Finalist

  • absurdist flash

    bdtdaeatc_issue7cover.jpg
    The Bizarro journal, Bust Down the Door and Eat All the Chickens, has published my short-short piece “The Barber Who Calls Himself Ferguson” in their recently released Issue 7, available as a free .pdf download here.

    Other writers include John Edward Lawson, D. Harlan Wilson, Jason M. Heim, and others.

    “The Barber…” is quite a bit different than what I usually write, as my aesthetics since this story was originally written (2004) have changed. This is by no means a denouncement, just a way to say we change. I do love the story, though; I wouldn’t have okayed it for publication otherwise.

    Author’s Notes:

    My first attempt (of many) at being Brian Evenson. I hope that if I ever get to meet the man—more than the passing book signing plea—he doesn’t beat me for abusing his name like this. Luckily, though, most readers probably wouldn’t draw a comparison to Evenson because really, would you compare a Montana Mike’s Buffalo Burger to a McBurger? They’re both the same style, but one won’t make you vomit.

  • dodge some cars, read some fiction

    No Record Press has just posted my story, “Car Dodging.” More importantly, the editor for No Record Press, Miles Newbold Clark, has written a fantastic novel called None of This Will Do. Now What? which I called, in my Depraved Press review, “one of the best novels of 2007.” I know what you are thinking – favors, right? – but know that I didn’t even know about None of This Will Do. Now What? until Mr. Clark notified me that my story would appear at No Record.

    So, read None of This Will Do. Now What?, first. Then, if you have time and energy enough after taking in that true work of art, head over to No Record Press to read my story, “Car Dodging.”

    Here’s the author notes on the story:

    Easily one of the most polarizing intros I’ve ever written. I love this intro, and though it might be admittedly shock-driven, it still serves the greater story. A lot of people find this opening sexist. Those people probably stopped reading after the opening, and therefore, have no business commenting.

    This story is based on an actual game my friends a I played during our Junior High-ish years. There wasn’t a point system, and there was more furious drivers, but nonetheless the “real” game carried all the absurdity of the “story” game.

    Also, an early incarnation of this story won the Kay Alden Memorial Scholarship from Emporia State University. By that time I had stopped going car dodging, which is good because, though the scholarship money was quite helpful during my minimum wage college years it definitely wouldn’t have paid for the repair of a cracked skull.

    No Record Press

    No Record Press publishes the annual Red Anthology, which as been called by the Utne reader “wholly uninhibited–a refreshing change of pace”

  • Brian Evenson’s names

    I thought I’d do something different this time around. I recently read Jeremy Robert Johnson’s story collection “Angeldust Apocalypse” (which is absolutely amazing); with it JRJ does something unique. At the end of the collection he as a section called Author’s Notes, which are a series of anecdotal behind-the-scenes snippets on each story. Here’s hoping it catches on.

    So, with my newest publication I figure I would do the same. Present Magazine has just posted my story “Dry Dot.” Here’s the thoughts:

    At every rain I wonder—though the drop patterns are likely random—if there is a single spot somewhere within the downpour where no drop falls; where the concrete remains dry. Give water’s tendency to pool together, could there be an untouched dot? Further, how would we explain it? Science? Maybe, but wouldn’t that argument just be destroyed by politics? Global warming, anyone? It seems even the earth is subject to abiding by the party with the most supporters.

    Also, the strangeness of the name Durzenkya, I think satisfies both the parable-like nature of the story and my Evensonian obsession with crazy character names.

    Click here to read the story. Please enjoy.

    Present Magazine

    Present Magazine is a Kansas City area arts publication focused on bringing the area’s best creative talents to the forefront. Also, they bring people like me to the forefront.

  • Extinction Journals by Jeremy Robert Johnson

    When a man in a suit made of cockroaches meets a man in a suit made of Twinkies — well, that’s about as easy as subtraction gets.

    From Jeremy Robert Johnson’s Extinction Journals

    About a year ago I came across this novella, fell in love, then promptly forgot it in favor of my ever-increasing to-read stack. Shame, really. Recently (today, actually) I revisited the story, coming away from the experience with all the enthusiasm I had after the original read.Extinction Journals cover

    Extinction Journals manages the high-concept, visceral storytelling consistent with Bizarro literature, but delivers in addition, literary quality unfortunately uncommon with a lot of work in the same genre. The literal tale is of a man, the sole survivor of a nuclear cataclysm, searching the country for survivors in a suit made of cockroaches. The deeper tale explores survivor’s will, collective consciousness, and how the two working together can be an apt gateway to the primal instincts forgotten in a world that would destroy itself with it’s own creations (while also managing to touch on snark-less political commentary).

    Buy, read, enjoy.

  • …out of WordRiot

    Via the work of Stephen Graham Jones, author of tomes and short stories alike, I came upon Word Riot, an online literary magazine showcasing some of the best short fiction around. Diving further I came upon former fiction co-editor of Word Riot, David Barringer’s story collection “We Were Ugly So We Made Beautiful Things.” This brief work (68 pages) absolutely below me away. I knew, after reading that collection, that I had to be a part of whatever Barringer had his hands in.

     

    Luckily, Word Riot considered my words suitable. Appearing now is my short fiction piece, “Our Guy.” Skim it, then immediately buy “We Were Ugly…” (if not for the stories, do it for purposes of understanding what the title of this post means).

     

    Word Riot Banner

    Word Riot is a Monthly online literary magazine with a notable book catalog under the Word Riot Press imprint.
  • those of a life remembered

    those of a life remembered

    The interview is a rare opportunity to experience the inner workings of a person. Unless that person likes to call himself a writer, then the interview is just old news to those who’ve read his stories. Fiction can be the ultimate autobiography, though a structured and controlled autobiography it is. Fiction is makeup.So what’s a writer to do when he wants to wash away the mascara? He answers some questions in an attempt to categorize his life, similar to the desires of the protagonist in Jean-Paul Sartre’s Nausea:

    I wanted the moments of my life to follow and order themselves like those of a life remembered.

    And like this protagonist the writer understands that “You might as well try and catch time by the tail.”
    Oxyfication LinkJason Kane and Justin Holt, both writers themselves, were kind enough to pretend I had interesting things to say, to pretend I had a some thoughts worth organizing. I won’t try claim that this interview forced impromptu responses (I had plenty of time to think), but it is a bit further from fiction than I am used to.

     

    Click the Oxy icon to read interview