I just got back from a great weekend out of town and have a bit of catching up to do, but I wanted to be sure and post a couple links right away to some recent coverage of Monkeybicycle and The Collagist. First, Monkeybicycle #6 was reviewed at PANK's blog by editor Roxane Gay, who had kind words to say about my story "The Girls of Channel 2112" and some of the other works:

There is a lot to appreciate in this issue, much of it humor, very sly. Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz’s "The Mask Is What’s Holding My Face Up" is a poem that tells the story of what happens when drunken fathers take their kids trick or treating one Halloween. There are consquences. The consequences are funny. There are strange stories like Drew Jackson’s "After Spaulding," reminiscent of The Island of Dr. Moreau, but really a somewhat satirical look at what happens when someone is too smart for their own good. There are very emotional yet strange stories like Matt Bell’s "The Girls of Channel 2112" about conjoined twins, one of whom works for a porn site, the other who is a graduate student in evolutionary biology. That Bell can take this absurdist context and write a story that is ultimately heartbreaking and sincere is quite laudable. Ryan Boudinot’s "The Mine," a parable about the comforts of ignorance and enslavement is a contender for BASS recognition as is Sheila Ashdown’s "Sedimentary."

Roxane Gay ends her review by saying that "Monkeybicycle is a publication that knows its audience very well and does an excellent at job at assembling a range of writing that will appeal to that audience and still remain compelling to outliers." I couldn't agree more, and you can find out for yourself by buying the issue right here. It seems like this issue is getting a lot of attention, and deservedly so. I've read five or six stories in the issue so far, and they've all been great, especially Boudinot's, Laura van der Berg's, and Brandi Wells'.

Elsewhere on the web, American Short Fiction web editor Stacy Muszynski interviewed Dzanc publisher Dan Wickett about The Collagist, asking him lots of great questions about our upcoming literary journal.

When asked why we decided to start the magazine, Dan replied:

Dzanc Books was created to publish and promote literary writing and adding an online journal to our roster does both of these. While hearing that a nonprofit is set up for publishing probably initially lends one to think of books, there are still writers out there, in both the early and later stages of their writing, that have individual pieces looking for a home, and not full manuscripts.

We have also always paid close attention to the journal world, both print and online, and a fair amount of authors can affirm that we solicit work based on individual stories that we’ve read. What better way to continue being ahead of the game on authors, in this regard, than to have our own journal?

You can read the rest of the interview here.

Thanks again to Stacy and Roxane for helping to get the word out about both of these projects. I truly appreciate it, and I hope peopel reading this will consider subscribing to both PANK and American Short Fiction, if you haven't already. They're both great magazines, and worthy additions to your bookshelves.

Also-- Taking a cue from Anna Clark, who will be providing video book reviews for The Collagist, I wanted to point out that you can also follow the magazine's progress online at the usual social networking venues: