For the month of August, Michael Kimball guest-edited the online arm of Publishing Genius' literary empire, Everyday Genius, putting together one of the most impressive months of reading I've seen lately. As far as I can tell, he still hasn't given up the reins completely, and September continues the excellence of last month, perhaps even escalating it, as some of the recent works have hit me harder than I can properly say.

Below are a few choice lines from each piece published in September so far, but first, a warning: If these sentences don't immediately wake you up, then you're probably dead. Check your pulse.

Later I will braid the hair from where it falls and cut each braid from the hank of its root. The garments I will burn after unpocketing any overlooked possessions. I will scalpel each face from its undercarriage and mark the feet of each body with my colors. I will carry or drag or swaddle each body into the garden for its final ungristling. These are my duties. These are my evening chores.

--"Penumbra" by David McLendon

Contact Seller: If that’s your wife in the photo, your wife is hot. We should go to Japan, tomorrow. I’ll buy the fucking tickets right now. My balls are big as oranges. You want to see my calves?

--"Drink & EBay: Bore Butter, $7 ($2.50 shipping and handling), Tuscaloosa, AL" by Sean Lovelace

Bury us brothers here. Cover us up with the mud of this river. Let this muddy river run up and over us brothers, let it run its muddy waters up into the insides of our mouths.

--"What We Tell Girl to Do with Us Brothers If We Ever Stop Making Mud" by Peter Markus

An anthill has a floor
and a hole in the top
a beehive the same
only in reverse
yet there is an inexhaustible
supply of ants and bees.

--"Finite" by Gregory Luce

Picture this: a man sits in a bar after his father’s funeral, and though he’s hunched protectively over his beer, still, the fight raging around him slings a dollop of blood into his mug.

--"Modern Love" by Stephen Graham Jones

The old man lived downstairs. He lived on and on and on as the house tumbled apart in chinks and chunks—first this light, then that one, the door handle, the latch.

--"Arlene" by Sherrie Flick

If the mind is a terror gift, he is an opener.

--"Opener" by Giancarlo DiTrapano

 A hawk flew over the Fiero today. I didn't know it was there above me until it cut out the sun.

--"Invasion and Retreat" by Stacy Muszynski

And that's just the people published in the ten days of September so far! August saw work by Gena Mohwish, Elizabeth Ellen, Blake Butler, Ingrid Burrington, Adam Robison, Barry Graham, Jane Hammons, Luca Dipierro, Ingrid Burrington (again), Sasha Fletcher, myself, Kim Chinquee, Catherine Moran, Ingrid Burrington (again again), Andy Devine, J.A. Pak, Tria Andrews, Aaron Burch, Ingrid Burrington (again again again), Amelia Gray, and Sam Pink. Together, these stories, poems, and Venn diagrams comprise what is certainly one of the best stretches of publication by any magazine, online or off. Michael Kimball and publisher Adam Robinson have impressed me beyond belief with the last forty days of work they've published, to the point where the first thing I do when I sit down at the computer each morning is run to the Everyday Genius site and see what's new. If you haven't been keeping up, you owe it to yourself to hit the links above and start reading. I can guarantee you'll find dozens of writers and works to love, and that you'll be blown away far more often that not.

Congratulations to Michael and Adam for putting together such a great group of writers. I'm thankful for being included, but even more thankful for the truly great reading they've given me the last several weeks. I can't wait to see what comes out tomorrow.