Author of St. Michael Poker & Drinking Club and Baxter's Friends
As I pointed out in an earlier blog post, creative writing programs have a virtual stranglehold on publication in literary reviews and journals. Moreover, spots in readings are doled out to those who either teach in a graduate writing program, or take a degree from a graduate writing program. As a tangible example I just received a listing of speakers/readers for the more...
creative writing programs, guild, MFA, poets, readings, River Styx Poetry
My 100 word story One Man's Patriot is available for reading online at 100 word story.org (100wordstory.org). It was a challenge to fit a coherent story into the 100 word more...
100 Word Story, George Washington, patriot, Statue of Liberty
My recent short story WILD BILL appears in the July, 2014 edition of Red Earth Review. WILD BILL is the story of a disabled Iraqi war vet and his relationship with his stodgy old neighbor. There is a lot of good work by other writers as well. Here is a link: more...
disabled veterans, Iraq war; veterans, Red Earth Review, University of Oklahoma City, Wild Bill
I've been asked to do a signing/reading at the Morrison-Talbott Library, Waterloo, Illinois on Saturday, September 6, 2014. I will have copies of BAXTER'S FRIENDS and RUNNING AT NIGHT to purchase. Hope to see some of you more...
Baxter's Friends, Library, Morrison-Talbott, readking, Running at Night, signing
Continuing my comments on books that influenced me most, I can truthfully say Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier contained the most beautiful use of language of any novel I've read. The book is lyrical, poetic. It is well known that Hemingway eschewed adjectives. Recently, I read a quote attributed to Twain, the essence of which was if a writer is unsure about the use of more...
adjectives, Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain, Hemingway, Twain
I will have two pieces published in July. The first, ONE MAN'S PATRIOT, will be published by 100 Word Story. It was an interesting exercise writing a complete, coherent story in 100 words. The second is WILD BILL, which will appear in Red Earth Review. WILD BILL is the story about the uneasy relationship between a retired, middle aged accountant and his neighbor, more...
100 Word Story, Iraq war, micro fiction, patriot, Red Earth Review, short story, Wild Bill
I had a curious experience today while reading Ned Randle's recent collection, Running at Night. The poems first came to me on kindle as I waited for the hard copy to arrive. In the electronic universe the words in Ned's poems were fleeing, much like the fleeting world of Facebook where everything grows old in an instant. The package opened, the paperback in my hands, more...
Dear ned, So many times since I read your wonderful novel I have wanted to write you, tell you how much the that book and your book of poetry has touched me where I am to help me know myself, a moving target. That’s, of course, what poignant novels do, seek fictive truth about ourselves too stark and personal to bear the light of self reflection. I’m at the age of more...
I included this book on my list of top ten books that influenced me because it was a quintessential book of the 1960s. It masked its depth of thought with playfulness. Brautigan's style was more free verse poetry than prose. His imagery was poetic, as well. Most of all, it was fun to read and made a good companion to his poetry collections. Next: Another Roadside more...
1960s, Another Roadside Attraction, poetry, Richard Brautigan, Tom Robbins, Trout Fishing In America
I've read a number of interviews and blog posts in which writers comment upon, or list, books you should read if you want to write. They are interesting, but I wouldn't be so presumptuous to prescribe a reading list for others, particularly a list of books you should read if you want to be a writer. Instead of offering a list of "must read" books, I prefer to list more...
Charles Frazier, F.Scott Fitzgerald, Hubert Selby Jr, Kenkesy, Kurt Vonnegut, Larry McMurtry, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Lonesome Dove, Richard Brautigan, Robertson Davies, The Great Gatsby, Tom Robbins, William Kennedy
Down Cemetery Road is the much-anticipated prequel to the unforgettable Baxter’s Friends. Ned Randle raises the curtain on the formative years of Billy Bright’s life, revealing a formula for his adult years that is at once both intoxicating and utterly sobering. Down Cemetery Road delves into the disillusionment of adolescence sadly often shot down by mid-life.
Read more.