SEX, POETRY, REVIEWS, and ROCK n ROLL

Now. Time I caught up on what else has been happening in my writing life.

SEX.

I am delighted to be a contributor to an anthology of sex-themed stories, the second anthology in a series published by Better Non Sequitur in California.


See You Next Tuesday: The Second Coming LINK HERE


As their own blurb says, See You Next Tuesday: The Second Coming is the second compilation of 50 sex-riddled (first-published) short fictions that try to transcend perhaps the most universal subject in existence.
Writing from across the globe, each 1,000-word text promises to evoke and provoke the existential and thoughtful corners of your most erotic of organs (namely the one in your head).
(This is a writer who finds erotica screamingly funny. I can’t take it seriously at all, let alone write it. And I loved the idea of transcending the mechanics, moving on past the lubricants and plumbing-manuals. Can’t wait to see what the other stories are like. I will report back when I get my copy…)

POETRY
I have two prose poems, Bone Magnet and Boys Will be Boys, online at Shadowtrain, alongside work by my poetry tutor David Grubb, among others.

SHADOWTRAIN LINK HERE

I’ve also has a poem accepted by the fabulous Ink Sweat and Tears, an online mag that cuts right through the ponderous and time-wasting submissions processes of so many. The editor often gives a response within hours.

INK SWEAT AND TEARS LINK HERE

I was delighted to see that the current issue of Mslexia was carrying a beautifully produced postcard to all subscribers from the editor of Ink, Sweat...… so if you write poetry and want to get a fast response, try them.

This from the editor, Charles Christian, on the site:

Ink Sweat & Tears is a new webzine that explores the borderline between poetry and prose in the digital age. In other words that point in creative writing where prose poetry (or free verse) meets poetic prose.

Good examples include the works of Anne Michaels, Jim Crace, Michael Ondaatje and Ian Marchant (see his 2006 book The Longest Crawl). However IS&T's brief also includes modern haibun (and haiku sequences) - and by this we mean the American influenced approach to semi-autobiographical haibun pioneered by Gary Snyder and even non-traditional fiction, such as Jack Kerouac's Trip Trap.


and now a special bit:

REVIEWS

The wonderful Short Review, edited by Tania Hershman, carries a review of Words from a Glass Bubble in the current issue :

Niki Aguirre says:

The author's prose is lyrical, poetic and appeals to the senses. Colours, sounds and descriptions are told in shades of light and dark. Sometimes bold, sometimes ethereal, the characters -- an Innuit family, a Serbian irrigation specialist, an Irish postal carrier, a young man who cleans shoes for a living, a kind-hearted priest who is not a priest -- all share a commonality of loss, dejection and hopelessness. What is comforting however is that in these tales the grave predicaments go hand in hand with introspection, love and the search for answers. …

COMPLETE REVIEW HERE

In the same issue, Niki Aguirre’s own collection, 29 Ways to Drown, also longlisted recently for the Frank O Connor Award, is reviewed by Sarah Salway:

29 Ways To Drown Review HERE

Niki Aguirre has a great voice for a short story writer.


ROCK n ROLL…
Onwards n upwards. I am looking after my father this week, he’s had surgery on an eye, and needs caring for. He’s 93, and as sharp as mustard. But no writing is getting done!

Looking forward to reading in Brighton on Thursday evening, at Short Fuse…