About

Matt Bell is the author of a forthcoming fiction collection, How They Were Found (Keyhole, Fall 2010), as well as a novella, The Collectors, and a chapbook, How the Broken Lead the Blind. His fiction has appeared or is upcoming in magazines such as Conjunctions, Willow Springs, Unsaid, American Short Fiction, Redivider, Gulf Coast, Caketrain, Hayden's Ferry Review, Hobart, Barrelhouse, Monkeybicycle, and Gargoyle.

He is also the editor of The Collagist and the series editor of Dzanc's Best of the Web anthology series.

He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and can be reached via e-mail at mdbell79@gmail.com.

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The Collectors

How the Broken Lead the Blind

How They Were Found
The Collagist

A new literary magazine published by Dzanc Books, edited by Matt Bell with Poetry Editor Matthew Olzmann. Now available at www.thecollagist.com.

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    Vanishing Point: Not a Memoir
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Awards and Recognitions
  • 2009 Wigleaf Top 50 Very Short Fictions Selection, for "This Showroom Filled With Fabulous Prizes"
  • 2009 Dzanc Best of the Web Notable Story, for "The Folk Singer Dreams of Time Machines"
  • 2008 Caketrain Fiction Chapbook Contest Runner-Up, for The Collectors
  • 2008 Keyhole Fiction Chapbook Contest Finalist, for The Collectors
  • 2008 Million Writers Award Winner, for "Alex Trebek Never Eats Fried Chicken"
  • 2008 Dzanc Best of the Web Notable Story, for "Alex Trebek Never Eats Fried Chicken"
  • 2008 Pushcart Prize Nomination for "The Folk Singer Dreams of Time Machines"
  • 2008 Pushcart Prize Nomination for "Ken Sent Me: Lost in the Land of the Lounge Lizards"
  • 2007 Storyglossia Fiction Prize Finalist, for "Alex Trebek Never Eats Fried Chicken"
  • 2007 Pushcart Prize Nomination for "A Certain Number of Bedrooms, a Certain Number of Baths"
  • 2006 Pushcart Prize Nomination for "The Present"
  • 2006 Pushcart Prize Nomination for "White Lines and Headlights"
  • 2006 Pushcart Prize Nomination for "Rosemary Blooming"
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Monday
24Nov2008

"The Founder of this Town" in Twelve Stories

The first issue of Twelve Stories (edited by Molly Gaudry and Blythe Winslow) is now up, including my story "The Founder of this Town." I was glad they took this one, as it's in a voice I hadn't used in a while, but which I have fun writing-- It's sort of a doomed but well-meaning idiot voice, I think. I used something similar in this story and this one and this one, all published around the same time a year or two ago. It was fun to do it again, and I'm glad to have it published in what I'm sure is going to be a pretty cool online publication. They're certainly off to a good start, with stories from Rusty Barnes, Steve Almond, Jimmy Chen, and others, including my newest Facebook friend, J.R. Angelella.

Here's the beginning of "The Founder of this Town":

I sat eating my lunch on a bench beneath a statue of the town founder, an old dead guy who no one I knew knew the name of. My lunch was delicious—tuna fish sandwich and salt and vinegar potato chips—and even though it was the same thing I ate every day, it was still just as good as it had been the first time. Also, the sun was out and shining and bright without being too hot, which was good because the side of the statue I was sitting on didn't really offer any shade. What I'm saying—what I'm trying to say—is that I was quite happy, even though I only had a thirty-minute lunch break and then I had to go back to my job, which I hated, and even though I had seen on the television that there had been a new flood in Texas, or maybe an earthquake in Belize.

And here's the full lineup for the issue:

Steve Almond, "The Love Song of Piltdown Man"
J.R. Angelella, "The Saddening State of Sammy the Speechwriter"
Rusty Barnes, "No Light"
Matt Bell, "The Founder of this Town"
Jimmy Chen, "Rose Period"
Timothy Gager, "Your Vasectomy Journal"
Richard Garcia, "The Chair"
Kathryn Good-Schiff, "The Grand Monadnock"
Jim Hanas, "July 4: Easter"
Jeff Landon, "Creek Monster"
Jennifer Levin, "The Day You Were Sad"
Dan Moreau, "A Turn of Events"

Enjoy!

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Reader Comments (2)

Matt,

Enjoyed your story a lot.

November 26, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterTimothy Gager

Thanks, Timothy!

November 27, 2008 | Registered CommenterMatt Bell
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