Book Review in Mid-American Review

I've got a book review in the current issue of Mid-American Review. I reviewed Fires of Our Choosing, an excellent debut collection of stories from Eugene Cross, out now from Dzanc Books. I can't recommend Fires of Our Choosing enough. The stories and writing are simply stunning.

Thanks again to Mid-American Review editor Michael Czyzniejewski for assigning this book for review. You can get a copy of the new issue of Mid-American Review here and a copy of Fires of Our Choosing here. Both are well worth the price of admission.

New Fiction in Keyhole 12

You can now order Keyhole 12, which contains my story "Ricky Jensen Goes to Work," along with great fiction from James Brubaker, Adam Moorad, and Simon A. Smith.

I just read the issue in proof format and it is really great. I'm happy to have my work featured next to stories by James, Adam, and Simon. Thanks again to editor Peter Cole for including my work in this issue. Keyhole is an imprint of the great Dzanc Books and at only $7.99, this issue is a total steal.

It'll ship on 12/12/12. Get your copy here.

"Dirty Birds" in Monkeybicycle

Thanks to editor J. Bradley and the guys at Monkeybicycle. They published my story "Dirty Birds" today, which you can read here.

Fall 2012

I'm in my second year of graduate school at UC-Irvine. Last year was a blur. Made great friends and snagged some readers for life. I'm also teaching creative writing this year, the excitement of which cannot be put into words.

I love the fall. Lots of good things happening, most importantly the arrival of our daughter in December. Can't wait to watch Danielle be a mom; she was visiting faculty at Knox College earlier this fall making a bit of public art with her students, and getting a little creative help from her assistant in the womb. Check out Danielle's project here.

And one day soon I'll start writing things my little girl can read, but for now, this:

"The Lanes" was recently published at Juked. You can read the story here. Many thanks to editor J.W. Wang for taking this story.

My story "The Best Man" appears in Issue 12 of The Los Angeles Review. This issue happens to be dedicated to Ron Calrson, the co-director of the MFA fiction program here at UCI. I'm beyond excited Stefanie Freele loved my story enough to put it in print. You can order the issue by clicking here.

My story "Ricky Jensen Goes to Work" will be published in Issue 12 of Keyhole Magazine, which you can pre-order here. Happy Peter Cole finally took a chance on a story of mine.

And later this fall I'll have my first book review appear in the pages of Mid-American Review. Thanks to departing editor Michael Czyzniejewski. 

Thanks for reading!

storySouth Million Writers Award

Thanks to Dark Sky Magazine Editor Gabe Durham for letting me know my story "A Family Among Us" was included in the 2012 Million Writers Award Notable Stories, which are the collected best online short stories published during 2011.

I'm very happy to be included on this list. I can't thank Dark Sky Magazine enough for publishing this story in the first place! You can read "A Family Among Us" here, or listen to it adapted for broadcast on NPR here.

New Fiction in Her Royal Majesty

Along with fiction from Alice Munro and poetry from Pulitzer-winner Carl Dennis, my short story "Tunneling" will appear in the Paris-based literary and arts journal Her Royal Majesty, Issue 12; this issue has already gotten great endorsements from the Paris Review and Tin House. You can order the "Exotic" themed issue by clicking here. Copies of this issue will go fast, so get one before they're gone (you can buy online, or in bookstores in Paris, Berlin, Santorini, Toronto, New York, Montreal, and Halifax).

I want to thank founder/editor Harriet Alida Lye for publishing my work; she is an amazing editor who took such great care with my writing. I am thrilled to be part of this issue, which also contains visual art by Matthew Rose, Sydney Smith, and Melchior Tersen; poetry by Giller-winner Anne Simpson, and fiction from Aaron Akira and Amanda Dennis, plus so much more. You can also buy a digital copy of the issue for your e-reader.

"Tunneling" is a new story in a series of surreal, Kafka-inspired stories I am writing. You can find other pieces from this series published online: "A Family Among Us" in Dark Sky Magazine, and "Up and Away" in PANK. Thanks for reading!

5/2/2012: Cool to see this story receive a kind review in a foreign language, and compared to Joyce Carol Oates, no less:  

Le texte qui a ma préférence est une nouvelle, “Tunnelling”, écrite par Blake Kimzey, dans laquelle l’auteur, en très peu de pages, et dans la suite de ce qu’a pu faire quelqu’un comme Joyce Carol Oates, parvient à créer une ambiance étrange autour de l’histoire d’un nouveau-né un peu spécial – la nouvelle se fonde sur l’alliance de ces deux choses attirance/répulsion, deux choses qu’elle exploite sous le point de vue du regard : ce qui est exotique, c’est désormais cet être, cet individu qui vient de naître et qui n’évolue pas comme on l’attendait.

You can read the full review, in French, here. 

5/10/2012: The Paris Review devotes a great post to this issue of Her Royal Majesty; you can check it out here.

5/22/2012: You can also read about this issue of Her Royal Majesty over at Tin House.

"A Family Among Us" Recorded for Broadcast

Last month Brian Bahouth, the radio producer for My Audio Universe, sent me an e-mail asking if he could produce my story "A Family Among Us" for broadcast on California Public Radio and NPR affiliates. Brian said he read my story in Dark Sky Magazine and loved it. I of course said yes, please adapt it for broadcast!

I'm really excited about this. You can listen to the audio production of "A Family Among Us" here. It is over 8 minutes long, and I think it sounds great. It's my first adaptation, and I can't thank Brian and Jill Marlene (who reads the story) enough for bringing this story to life.

Additionally, the spring broadcast of MAU (an hour long literary magazine produced for radio) also includes stories by Andrea Kneeland, Wayne Conti, Majnun Ben-David, and Michael Pacheco. Give it a listen! You can listen to the entire hour-long broadcast here, and I'm thrilled to be a part of it!

Thanks again to Brian Bahouth of MAU, and also to Gabe Durham and the fine folks at Dark Sky Magazine for originally publishing "A Family Among Us," which they nominated this year for a 2012 storySouth Million Writers Award. 

Three Exciting Bits of Writing News

I'm very happy to announce that Rust Belt Bindery has produced a limited edition, illustrated chapbook of my short story "Up and Away." It is accompanied by three original paintings by Danielle Huey Kimzey, all inspired by the story. It will be a first edition of 75 and is being hand bound at Rust Belt. What some people are saying about "Up and Away":

"This is really fresh and interesting and quite moving." -Roxane Gay, author of Ayiti

"Wonderful." -PANK

"Up and Away" even got some love from Dark Sky Magazine and the French literary/arts magazine Her Royal Majesty! As of 2/4/2012, after just five days, it is SOLD OUT! Thank you to everyone who supported this project! I can't thank you enough! If you didn't get one, and would like one, e-mail rustbeltbindery@gmail.com; they are considering a second edition if their is enough interest.


I'm also one of six finalists in the Unstuck Magazine fiction launch contest. Nam Le, Fiction Editor at the Harvard Review and author of The Boat, will choose the winner at the end of February. In the meantime, Unstuck will feature my story on their website in the coming weeks. I'm really excited about this. Winning would mean money and publication in the next print issue of Unstuck, which featured Aimee Bender, J. Robert Lennon, Amelia Gray, Lindsay Hunter and Kiki Petrosino, among others, in their last issue. Update 3/6/12: I came in second place, which means I win a bunch of awesome books written by Amelia Gray, Lindsay Hunter, Marisa Matarazzo, Helen Phillips, Rachel Swirsky, Leslie What, Rachel B. Glaser, as well as Matthew Derby's chapbook! Big thanks to Matt Williamson and the rest of the gang at Unstuck!

My story "Ricky Jensen Goes to Work" will be featured in the next issue of Keyhole Magazine, due out next month. Big thanks to Peter Cole for selecting this story for publication. I've been trying to get into Keyhole for the last few years and finally cracked the code with this story. I think you're going to like it. I'll post a link when the next issue of Keyhole is available to order.