The Brothel: A Whoring Thread for Writers

My first installation of Storyville, my new column up at Litreactor.com is now live. It's on finding your voice. Hope you dig it.

http://litreactor.com/columns/storyville-finding-your-voice

My newest flash fiction piece, "No Fly Zone," went live today at InfectiveINk.com.

http://infectiveink.com/

To say thanks to everyone that has supported my work, FREE today only, is my 8,000 word short story "Victimized"

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/51495

The code is YQ37B.

"As tough, ass-kicking and twisted as fiction gets."—Donald Ray Pollock. "One of the best pieces of bad-ass, hard-core apocalyptic noir I've read in a while."—Scott Phillips "A brutal little ass-kick of a story."—Craig Davidson "A horrifying vision. It isn't pretty and it isn't for everyone, but the best work never is."—Rob Roberge

(A shorter version originally ran in Murky Depths #14).

An excellent review of Warmed and Bound up at The Rumpus, by Antonia Crane.

http://therumpus.net/2011/10/what-began-as-a-love-letter%E2%80%A6/

http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/btietz/2011/10/gourmet/

I've joined Solarcide as an editor and featured author—meaning Martin Garrity and I are now official partners in crime. In Martin’s words, I’ll be joining him “in the quest to make the site an awesome hideout for writers. We have some cool plans for special guest content for the future.”

We're also rebuilding the links page to feature some great places for readers and writers of short fiction to check out. Martin's conducted some great interviews this year and we plan on posting some more of those as well.

It’s a cool thing. Check it out http://solarcide.com/

^awesome, congrats! keep us posted

Thanks! We absolutely will -and hey we conduct interviews too. If you ever want to give us one, or have something to promote, just say the word. We'll provide links to your stories and where to buy them, too. Fred Venturini and Michael Sonbert gave Solarcide some good interviews this year (as did a few others), and we would like to see that element of the website continue.

^for sure, sounds great. i don't have much to push right now, aside from the whole W&B thing (i mean, nothing new) but when i do have some news, i'd be happy to sit down anytime. thanks for the offer.

Our newest guest story went live today at Solarcide -some of you may know Dakota Taylor from around the forums -Dakota is a freelance writer from Louisville, Kentucky, who workshops his fiction at LitReactor. http://litreactor.com/

This particular story turned out to be a great piece -it's called "20% Off" and you can check it out here: http://solarcide.com/special-guest-content/guest-stories/20-off-by-dakot...

The third essay in my current series has gone live over at An American Atheist. Check it out.

I Might Be Wrong | An American Atheist

My review of The Necessity of Certain Behaviors by Shannon Cain is now live at The Nervous Breakdown. Excellent collection of funny, dark, sexy stories. Winner of the 2011 Drue Heinz Prize.

http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/rthomas/2011/11/review-of-the-necessi...

If you liked Slut Lullabies by Gina Frangello and/or Daddy's by Lindsay Hunter, then pick this one up.

I have a new Storyville column

http://litreactor.com/columns/storyville-cover-letters-and-bridging-the-...

up at LitReactor about cover letters and sending out your work. Enjoy!

Thrilled to announce that I'll have a short story collection coming out with Snubnose Press in 2012. Still working on the title, but it will definitely be my noir and neo-noir leaning work. Maybe even a story you've never seen before. SP is doing great work with Sandra Ruttan, Keith Rawson, Nik Korpon, Craig Wallwork and others. This will be an eBook only, no print.

To celebrate my upcoming birthday and my big announcement about Snubnose Press, I'm giving away 1 copy of the hardcover signed, limited edition of Transubstantiate. It comes with lots of extras. Spread the word. Ends December 11th, so you'll get this in time for Christmas!

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/17003-transubstantiate

Thrilled to announce that I'll have a short story collection coming out with Snubnose Press in 2012. Still working on the title, but it will definitely be my noir and neo-noir leaning work. Maybe even a story you've never seen before. SP is doing great work with Sandra Ruttan, Keith Rawson, Nik Korpon, Craig Wallwork and others. This will be an eBook only, no print.

Very cool - there are a load of great RT shorts floating around so it should be nice to get a bunch collected together. Even better if there's new stuff in there too.

I look forward to it.

Solarcide has some great news—We conducted an interview with Caleb J. Ross, author of Stranger Will—a novel that shocked and impressed readers upon release in March of this year. Mr. Ross has since received a notable amount of attention and critical acclaim, and more importantly, he’s seen his reader base expand.

His new novel, I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin, is available this month, and the author behind "domestic grotesque" was gracious enough to discuss his work with us in great detail. You can read our interview right here.

My review of Kate Zambreno's GREEN GIRL is now live at The Nervous Breakdown.

http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/rthomas/2011/11/review-of-green-girl-...

Emergency Press and Kate Zambreno are doing great things. Just read with her and Joshua Mohr here in Chicago, great time. Funny, dark and sexy book—my favorite combination.

My review of 11/22/63 is now live at LitReactorand I think it's Stephen King's best book in awhile.

http://litreactor.com/reviews/112263-by-stephen-king

I'm thrilled to announce that I am the winner of the One Buck Horror and Cafe Doom fiction contest. Honored and humbled. My story "Wicker Park Pause" will be published with them in the near future and a little prize money goes in the coffers as well.

My review of Wild Life by Kathy Fish is now live at Outsider Writers Collective. Loved this slim volume of touching, bittersweet stories.

http://www.outsiderwriters.org/archives/8128

Jay SLayton-Joslin (Valmont as we know and love him here) is our newest guest over at Solarcide. Nicely timed to fit with his other big news about the Thunderdome anthology.

His flash/short story, Bordello, can be viewed here.

My newest book, As a Machine and Parts, is now available for preorder. This one is short (100 pages) and incredibly unique in that it plays with the layout of the text in cools (but pertinent) ways.

A couple cool deals make preordering even more worth your time and money:

• If you preorder As a Machine and Parts (or buy any of my books, actually) you will get a copy of my newest short story collection, Murmurs: Gathered Stories Vol. One for FREE! (those all-caps mean that I am super serious) Click here for details.
• Aqueous Books is currently running a Black Friday sale (not what you think, fans of slavery) where any 2 Aqueous Books titles can be had for a measly $20. Check out the Aqueous Books store page for details. My recommendation would be pair As a Machine and Parts with Aaron Polson’s The Saints are Dead. It’s a damn fine read.
• You can actually combine the two offers above and still get Murmurs for free.

If you don’t order the book, you are basically calling these people liars:

There was once a Marvel comic book called “What if…” and in it Uatu the Watcher, a bald sage-like character with an enormous head spun speculative tales of alternative versions of the Marvel Universe you thought you knew. With As a Machine & Parts Caleb J. Ross continues to stake his claim as his generation’s Watcher, which should not be construed as a commentary on his beautiful, yet clearly fake head of hair, but instead as an observation about the scope of his imagination and his ongoing vision of what the world can be, might be and just maybe will be if Ross has anything to say about it.

—Ben Tanzer, author of Most Likely You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine

As a Machine and Parts is equal parts hilarious, absurd and touching. It’s the kind of book that after reading makes you say, ‘Damn, why didn’t I think of that first?’ only to realize you couldn’t have done it so well. Wildly inventive without collapsing under the weight of its own genius, As a Machine and Parts proves that Caleb J. Ross is one of the most exciting young authors writing today.

—Nik Korpon, author of Stay God and Old Ghosts

Awesome.

thirstygerbil wrote:

This looks good! Buying it.

Yeah, Caleb's book looks great. While you've got your wallet out, why not pick this bad boy up too. Tons of Culties in here.

In Search of a City: Los Angeles in 1,000 words. It's a beautiful book. My story "The Jenny Store," is in here.

http://thundadome.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=143:thunderdo...

CONTENTS

Ryan Wilson – “American Trash”
Stuart Gibbel – “Break on Through”
Craig Clevenger – “Obsolescence”
Nik Korpon - "South of Thirteen"
Dennis Cruz – “Smile Now, Cry Later”
Pela Via – “Bathhouse”
Stephen Conley – "Don't Feed the Animals"
Grigori Black – “This Was Heaven”
Doc O’Donnell – “Your Personal Apocalypse”
Nikki Guerlain – “Sick Ticket”
Patrick Verhagen – “Swim”
Craig Wallwork – “El Bordello Alexandra”
Nicholas Merlin Karpuk – “Ahm’s Bay”
Nik Houser – “Subtitles for a Silent Film”
H.R. Tardiff – “Walls in the Sand”
Richard Thomas – “The Jenny Store”
Bob Pastorella – “Alexandra”
Simon West-Bulford – “Project Asmodeus”
Jay Slayton-Joslin – “The Fantasy of California vs. The Reality of London”
Amanda Gowin – “Gilded Bones”
Chris Deal – “Padre Nuestro”
Boden Steiner – “Here”
Gordon Highland – "Fry Girl"
edward j rathke – “All the Dreams You Dreamt Retold”
Michael Paul Gonzalez – “Tidal”
Victor Bengtsson – “Venice, Forever”

Bradley Sands also has a new book out, titled Please Do Not Shoot Me In The Face, which he discusses in his killer interview with Solarcide: http://solarcide.com/special-guest-content/guest-interviews/into-the-biz...

And you can buy his book here http://www.amazon.com/Please-Do-Not-Shoot-Face/dp/1621050106/ref=sr_1_8?...

My very first micro/flash piece from a couple of months ago, "No Fly Zone," has been reposted on the Home Page at InfectiveINk.com: InfectiveINk.com. This originally went live in October and the headline today says "Reposted for awesomeness!"

Very happy about that. Not sure how long it's back up before they make way for the December stories, but you can check mine out here: http://infectiveink.com/?p=163 or check out the other stories either way. It's a great little place for fiction writers—they offer more than just micro/flash.

I'm honored to get my FOURTH Pushcart Prize nomination of the year from Metazen for my story "Twenty Reasons to Stay and One to Leave."

http://www.metazen.ca/?p=9026

Out of 260 total poems and stories, that's amazing. I'm humbled and thrilled, really glad to see it get some recognition.

My new Storyville column

http://litreactor.com/columns/storyville-the-journey

is now live at Lit Reactor so head on over. It's the tale of "Rudy Jenkins Buries His Fears" and how we all endure great amounts of suffering when we send our work out into the world. Hope you enjoy it.

My psychic vampire story will be in a Dark Moon Books anthology out later this year[/URL]. C. W. LaSart, Ken Cain, and many other fantastic authors. Yes, I did write a vampire story! But my twist is that they feed off of negative energy, energivores. Paperback print and Kindle.

http://www.darkmoonbooks.com/

We have a new guest story at Solarcide from a talented writer named David Bobis. He's from the land down under and his story "Child" went live today -it's actually a reprint from the Asian mag Ceriph (#3).

But this one's different for us. It's funny, and we're glad to mix up things with some humor. Check it out: http://solarcide.com/special-guest-content/guest-stories/child-by-david-bobis/

My review of Men Undressed (OV Books) is live at Bookslut.

Authors: Aimee Bender, Aimee Parkison, Alicia Erian, Allison Amend, A.M. Homes, Christine Zilka, Cris Mazza, Diane Williams, Elizabeth Benedict, Elizabeth Searle, Gina Frangello, Jennifer Egan, Jonis Agee, Kim Addonizio, Kristin Thiel, Lidia Yuknavitch, Nava Renek, Rachel Resnick, Rosebud Ben-Oni, Sheri Joseph, Su Avasthi, Susan Minot, Susan Solomon, Suzanne Hudson, Tawni O’Dell, Vanessa Carlisle, Vicki Hendricks, and Wanda Coleman. Introduction by Steve Almond.

http://www.bookslut.com/fiction/2011_12_018429.php

This evening, right now, is the last you'll be able to preorder As a Machine and Parts and get my name scribbled all over it (re: autograph). And what's better is that Aqueous Books is currently running a 2 for $20 deal through the end of the year. But wait, there's more. My offer to give my new story collection, Murmur: Gathered Stories Vol. One away for FREE still stands. That's potentially 3 books for $20. It helps that they are damn good books, too.

My article

http://www.fantasy-matters.com/2011/12/fantasy-in-year-2012.html

FANTASY IN THE YEAR 2012 is up at Fantasy Matters. Just some rambling ideas and thoughts. Hope you enjoy it.

My most recent Editorial is live over at An American Atheist.

AIDS, the Catholic Church, and Non Surgical Circumcision.

The PrePex device is actually pretty awesome. Painless, non surgical male circumcision to help the fight against AIDS in Su-Saharan Africa. Brilliant.

My vampire story

http://www.darkmoonbooks.com/dark_moon_presents_vampires.htm

"Transmogrify" is now available in the anthology Dark Moon Presents: Vampires. Perfect for Xmas, right?! Thrilled to be in here with C.W. LaSart, Kenneth W. Cain and many other talented authors.

I'm just going to start writing under the pseudonym Richaard Thomas so maybe I can get some traction.

lol...too funny. only if i can use the name Stephen King

I'd recommend "Richard Bachman". A little controversy might help.

ha...even better

As my way of saying THANK YOU and HAPPY HOLIDAYS I'm giving away my neo-noir short story "Victimized."

Use code MW94J until 12/26. Originally published in Murky Depths #15 as a much shorter version.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/51495

I've already got it from a while back, but I just facebookpromo'ed the heck out of it.

thanks tuffy, really appreciate it!

Not sure how many of you may have seen this at The FB and The Twitter, but two cool pieces of news regarding two of my newest books.

1) As a Machine and Parts, which was officially released on December 15th, has been named the LitReactor book club pick for January. Now is a good time to order, so you can be sure to have it when the discussion gets going. Also, this book has a unique format, so it likely won't be available for ebooks. Better get the print version while it's here.

2) I Didn't Mean to be Kevin, which comes out in the middle of January, is currently available for preorder. With the preorder comes a signature (unfortunately, it's my signature) and a free t-shirt that has something to do with the book. I haven't seen the t-shirt yet, but I think it incorporates the book cover image in some way. Preorder here.

My latest essay is live over at An American Atheist:

Why I Don't Believe in Kim Jong Il or Jesus Christ

State textbooks claim the late Kim Jong Il did not produce urine or feces. The Bible says that Jesus walked on water and turned water into wine. Whether or not North Koreans actually believe their dear leader had a supernatural gastrointestinal tract is difficult to assess, as they would not be likely to admit a dissenting opinion publicly. Christians, for the most part, believe in these and many other biblical claims about their dear leader without a second thought. For a Christian to dissent on such claims is (only recently, mind you) much less likely to invite imprisonment, torture or death, yet these claims enjoy the same level of outward devotion.

Heh. Your hooks often amuse me.

I try. It's hard to get modern audiences to read essays unless you're already famous. And I'm clearly not. I haven't even heard of me.

My first article on whiskey is now live over at ManArchy Magazine. Check it out:

Stop Drinking and Start Tasting : The 21st century man's guide to whiskey.

Childhood doesn’t last forever, and though the memories may be fond, you probably haven’t sipped juice from a box in longer than you can remember. Why is it, then, that the average adult’s taste in alcohol rarely evolves beyond those first pivotal experiences in college?

If all you know about whiskey is that it can be either shot from a glass or drowned in dark cola, then it’s time for a reality check, because your taste in liquor is the grown-up equivalent of sippy-cups and safety-scissors.

It’s not that Jack and Coke isn’t a good drink for a certain kind of gathering where loud music and flashing lights set the mood, but there is a world of flavor even in that Jack Daniel’s bottle that is well worth the five minutes it takes to do it right.