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CHARACTERED PIECES preorder open!

A few of you know how unbelievably happy I am to say this. The rest of you will likely get tired of me saying this: my story chapbook is now officially available for preorder! Books will ship around November 16th. All preorders will receive a copy of the book, along with the following: A (very) personal inscription. Note the specific name you would like the inscription made out to in the PayPal comments area. Also, note my use of the word “very;” I warn you: you may be disturbed by what I write. If you would rather a flat-signed, or “clean” copy, note that in the PayPal comments area as well. A picture of me signing the book (so there are no Antiques Roadshow conflicts 90 years from now) As part of the made up LUNGS FOR READERS program, each preorder will smell of delicious ACID cigars. Trust me, even…

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Reclaim The Bar!

There still exists a romanticized version of The Bar, one whose sparse patrons restrain rich histories with liquor and silence. But by the aid of free rounds and a free ear, those histories spill. The romanticized bar is a smoky place of bonds melded by story. It has been my experience that more often the romantic bar mirage gives way to a sad reality, one of loud, obnoxious chatter with radio-friendly (re: conversationally-unfriendly) music pumped in to dilute any intellectual connection in favor of the visual/physical. Here, women dress as disco balls in hopes of MySpace photo ops. The real bar is a smokeless place of subverted and repressed stories. This isn’t a case of Norman Rockwell nostalgia; it cannot be. I am not ready to quit the dream. How to make a bar better, while maintaining profit (warning: to make this happen, compromises have been made): 1. The jukebox…

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Writer Help: RSS & Really Sexy Spreadsheet

Recently, I mentioned my obsession with RSS to a writer friend, and he was surprised by its capabilities. Maybe I’m too much of a salesman when it comes to nerdy tech things, but nonetheless, I piqued his interest. That got me thinking: what writer tools do I use and unintentionally keep to myself? Selfishly-kept secret #1: RSS. You’ve likely seen this icon: This represents a link to a specific RSS feed. I won’t go over what RSS is (for that, see here). Instead, how do I use it? Simply put, I use RSS to keep updated with the many, many lit sites whose perusal would otherwise clog my day. Instead of checking each individual site for new posts, I log into one feed aggregator site (I use Google Reader) and see a list of every new post from each of my RSS subscriptions (flip through the screenshots below for a…

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CHARACTERED PIECES, given the Bosworth treatment

Mel Bosworth, skullcap connoisseur and Pushcart nominee, has a burgeoning series of youtube videos in which he reads stories by other writers. The short videos (usually less than a minute or so) work well to break down a dull day. And if you are too busy to watch, you can at least listen – Mel’s got a great reading voice. His latest, him reading the opening section of CHARACTERED PIECES. I’m thrilled and honored. One of my first intros to Mel’s work was via Folded Word’s single story “mini-mags.” The story: Leave Me as I Lessen. The reaction: floored. I meant to post about this great story before, but my goddamn life got in the way. So, I say, read it now, here. It is only downloadable for free until December 15.

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CHARACTERED PIECES is coming!

Coming soon(ish): CHARACTERED PIECES by Caleb J Ross. Neat! I’ve done a lot of work for Outsider Writers Collective over the past year, so I can vouch for all of the energy that goes into their chapbooks. Well, into their first chapbook, anyway (CHARACTERED PIECES is only the second OW Press book). I did some editing and the cover design for the first book, ANTISOCIAL by David Blaine. Now, it's my name on the cover. A chapbook, for all who may not know, is the e.p album of the writing world, acting as a taste medium of things to come. CHARACTERED PIECES will consist of eight stories, four of which have been previously published (in print journals, so not many people have read them). More than most things in my life, I am damn proud of this collection. The print-run will be small (likely, beginning with 100 copies). I beg…

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Solid Gold perspective

There is little inherent meaning in things. Objects are defined by their context. For example, in the African savanna, an elephant keeps an eye out for lions and crocodiles. In a circus, an elephant had better do some tricks. In both scenes, the elephant itself does not change. But the way it is described would change dramatically. Context defines everything. So went the impetus for my story “Vertigo Unbalanced,” which has been recently reprinted in the Gold Dust Magazine anthology, Solid Gold (Merilang Press). Strangely, so to went my personal reacceptance of this piece. Once a story is physically printed (a form of context) the new medium has a way of changing a story. Every detail suddenly becomes striking, flaws and strengths alike. But of course, from the author’s perspective the flaws stand out more. So when “Vertigo Unbalanced” was first published in Gold Dust Magazine late last year, I…

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