Holy overpriced chapbook, Batman!

I was on Amazon the other day and was looking at the page for Shorter Than Fiction, the chapbook John and I put out a couple years ago. Remember that one? It’s still around.

The reason I mention it is because Amazon isn’t the only one selling it. It is also for sale from some third-party seller. For $25. I repeat, $25.

Keep in mind that this isn’t some rare, out-of-print book. It’s still for sale like any other book on Amazon. It even qualifies for their free shipping deal.

Oh, and it’s $7, which I already thought was kinda steep. In fact, I’ve always given the books out for nothing at readings, and the offer still stands that if you actually want a copy of it (or the newer one, Lemons), let me know and I’ll just mail you one.

So I was a little taken aback by the $25 price tag this sketchy bookseller is putting on it. But then I realized, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the book is worth that much. Maybe this seller read it and recognized the brilliance behind it, the shining literary genius John and I both possess, and are charging what they think it’s truly worth.

So: Thank you, to the people behind the “any-book” seller on Amazon. You are not sketchy or weird or greedy, as I may have once thought. Rather, you are true arbiters of good taste. Your belief in me is inspiring.

Sorry, wrong number

I’ve got a new flash-fiction piece up on the Interwebs that you might like to check out.

Keepgoing.org just published “The Other End” in their 38th online issue.

It’s a short story about a phone call, with characters named Jacob and Mary, because I apparently get all my character names from the Bible.

Once again, I’m in good company, and you should check out the other stuff in the issue too. After you’ve poured over my shining work of brilliance, of course.

Happy new year.

Me, Raymond Chandler, and a metaphor

As promised, I’ve got some news about a fiction publication.

The Catalonian Review, a pretty neat online lit journal, just posted a flash-fiction piece of mine in their newest edition.

You should go read it. It’s called “A Metaphor,” and opens with a quotation I love from Raymond Chandler, master of the detective novel.

You might like it. At the very least, it’s short.

The zygote has landed

Remember a while back I mentioned that Zygote in my Coffee was printing a couple of my poems in their next print issue? I received my copy of the mag this week and, sure enough, I’m in there. They even spelled my name right!

You should probably buy it. It’s still only six bucks, shipping included.

As an added bonus, I was happy to see a couple of pieces in this issue from this great writer Alan Catlin. I’ve heard Alan read at various open-mics over the years, and really like his stuff.

So go buy it.

And check back here later in the month. It looks like I’ve got some fiction pieces getting published sometime soon.

Zygote in my Coffee

I’ve got two poems published in the most recent print edition of Zygote in my Coffee, a lit journal with a great name.

I haven’t actually received my copy yet, but here’s the link to order your own. It’s just $6, shipping included. Buy it!

This is apparently a special flipbook edition, one side being Zygote in my Coffee #7, featuring yours truly and a bunch of other writers, and the other side being a chapbook by somebody named Ross Vassilev.

Sounds like it might be cool, eh? You should probably buy it.

Reading this Saturday

I’m headed back to Long Island this Saturday for one last reading as part of that Young Poets project that I got involved in a while back. Live on Long Island? You should come.

It’s the release party for the last chapbook in the series; there will be a reading with that guy and the other “young poets,” me included. All the books will be available, I assume. I’ll bring a bunch of copies of Lemons and see if I can’t pawn off a copy or two.

The reading will be held this Saturday afternoon at Best Bargain Books in Centereach, NY. Here’s the easy-to-digest version of things:

Saturday, July 11, 2008
2 – 4 pm
Best Bargain Books
Walmart Shopping Center
217 Middle Country Road
Centereach, NY 11720

Should be interesting. At the very least, the bookstore is supposed to have pretty good prices (with a name like that it had better). Swing by if you can.

Also, at the last reading at Suffolk a few months ago, I cursed in a few poems and got the feeling it wasn’t too appreciated. I’ll try to clean up my act this time around.

Asinine Poetry

I’ve got a new poem published in the June edition of Asinine Poetry. Yes, Asinine Poetry. An online poetry mag for all things…asinine. Their definition of asinine: “Not necessarily bad; mostly kinda funny.” Sounds like a lot of my stuff, no?

Anyway, the poem is “Snakes on a Poet” which, if you’ve heard me do it at readings, you know fits the bill.

Go check it out, either by clicking here for the site, here to go directly to the poem, or here to read the “asinine bio” they put together about me. Do it now!