Matt Bellhttp://www.mdbell.com/blog/The personal website of Matt Bell, a fiction writer from Saginaw, MI.en-US2008-05-14T13:07:36ZSquarespace Site Server v4.1.2 (http://www.squarespace.com/)Elizabeth Ellen's "Fistful"http://www.mdbell.com/blog/2008/5/14/elizabeth-ellens-fistful.htmlMatt Bell2008-05-14T12:28:37ZLiterary MagazinesElizabeth Ellen has a story called "Fistful" in the new issue of Dogzplot, and it's one of her darkest stories yet. The story is narrated by a pregnant girl named Shannon who lives in a drug house with her abusive boyfriend and a supporting cast of similarly rough characters. It's rare to see a pregnant character callously disregarding the health of her baby, yet Shannon chain smokes throughout the story, moving between accusatory arguments and multiple sexual partners in a downward spiral of degradation. A faint glimmer of hope eventually emerges, only to be crushed as thoroughly as I've ever seen done in fiction. In a favorite passage, Shannon steals her lover's gun as she prepares to leave the house with a different man:

Are we going to need that? Matty said.
You never know, I said. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. I guess, he said.
He sounded unconvinced. I wrapped the gun in a towel and shoved it in the bag with the drugs and my makeup. I wasn’t interested in convincing anyone of anything anymore. I figured one man was as good as another, a car as good as a father, a womb full of rage as good as a baby for keeping you warm at night. I sat down on the arm of the couch and laced up my boots. I took a last drag off my cigarette and ground it into the carpet.

At this point, I figured Shannon would escape from that place pretty well destroyed, and although I wasn't exactly wrong, I also had no idea what was coming next. The ending of this story is as dark and terrible as anything I've read lately, a denouement that stunned me when I first read it and upsets me to think about now.

Read "Fistful" in the new Dogzplot, as well as a new Steven McDermott story ("Sisyphus, the Snowball, and Hell," something different from his usual offerings), plus fiction and poetry from many other writers. So far, this is the best issue of the magazine I've read.

]]>New Literary Magazine Reviews at NewPageshttp://www.mdbell.com/blog/2008/5/14/new-literary-magazine-reviews-at-newpages.htmlMatt Bell2008-05-14T03:25:54ZNewPages I'm a couple of days late with the news, but new literary magazine reviews are now up at NewPages, including reviews of the following magazines:

Alice Blue :: Big Muddy :: Blood Lotus :: The Cimarron Review :: Columbia Poetry Review :: Connecticut Review :: Diode :: The Dirty Goat :: Earthshine :: Gargoyle :: Glimmer Train :: The Greensboro Review :: Manoa :: Natural Bridge :: Paradigm :: The Sewanee Review :: SUB-LIT :: Virginia Quarterly Review

]]>An Evening with Kevin Sampsell and Hobart on May 22http://www.mdbell.com/blog/2008/5/14/an-evening-with-kevin-sampsell-and-hobart-on-may-22.htmlMatt Bell2008-05-14T02:10:52ZReadings/SigningsNext Thursday at 7pm, Future Tense Books publisher and writer Kevin Sampsell is coming to town reading in support of his new collection Creamy Bullets, and will be reading at Shaman Drum Bookshop, along with myself, Aaron Burch, and Barry Graham, all of whom will be representing the Hobart side of the evening. You can read what I had to say about one of the stories from his collection, or head over to Shaman Drum's website for more info about the reading. Hopefully we'll see some of you local folks at the reading or at the dinner/drinks portion of the evening at Ashley's afterwards. Should be a great time.

]]>Absinthe Hosts Festival of New European Film and Writinghttp://www.mdbell.com/blog/2008/5/8/absinthe-hosts-festival-of-new-european-film-and-writing.htmlMatt Bell2008-05-08T18:45:06ZEventsThis weekend (May 9-10, 2008), local literary magazine Absinthe: New European Writing is hosting a Festival of New European Film and Writing at Oakland University in Rochester, MI. If you're in Michigan and free this weekend, there are a lot of interesting readings and screenings available, all of which are free and open to the public. More information is available here.

Also, Absinthe 9 just came out, and I got my copy yesterday. I can't wait to read it.

]]>"5:25" at Isakhttp://www.mdbell.com/blog/2008/5/7/525-at-isak.htmlMatt Bell2008-05-07T04:23:06ZElsewhere on the Web...I don't generally write much here on topics other than writing and reading and music, but maybe I should. Anna Clark has taken some time out of her own literary coverage over at Isak to provide "5:25," a great post about the state of our prison system, and I think it's a must read post on a blog I already read every day. Go now and read it.

]]>No Posit Vol. 2 Publishedhttp://www.mdbell.com/blog/2008/5/7/no-posit-vol-2-published.htmlMatt Bell2008-05-07T01:43:44ZLiterary MagazinesNo Posit has just posted its second volume. I'm off to check it out.
]]>New Blog: Five Star Literary Storieshttp://www.mdbell.com/blog/2008/5/4/new-blog-five-star-literary-stories.htmlMatt Bell2008-05-04T12:46:12ZElsewhere on the Web...T.J. Forrester has just started a new blog called Five Star Literary Stories, where he invites literary magazine editors to nominate one of their stories available on the web to be reviewed by another writer, combining (in Forrester's words) "three integral facets of the writing life: publisher, story, and reviewer." It's an interesting project, and the first three magazines to participate are Hobart, Night Train, and Summerset Review, all excellent magazines. It's an interesting project, and I'll be reading more as it goes forward.

Thanks to Aaron Burch for pointing this one out.

]]>FRiGG: Issue 20, Spring 2008http://www.mdbell.com/blog/2008/5/3/frigg-issue-20-spring-2008.htmlMatt Bell2008-05-03T00:50:57ZLiterary MagazinesFRiGG's Issue 20 went up recently, and its a stunner. Issue after issue, the artwork is among the best of any magazine on the web, and I think this issue is particularly beautiful. As for the writing, I've only had a chance to read Scott Garson's stories so far (his "Diversion" is particularly haunting), but I'm diving right back in to read more.

Also, I believe this is FRiGG's fifth anniversary issue, if I'm doing my math right. Congrats to Editor Ellen Parker and her staff on keeping it going this long, and at such a high level of quality (and I'm not just saying that because I was in it years ago). I'm looking forward to reading FRiGG for years to come.

]]>May Book Reviews Posted at NewPageshttp://www.mdbell.com/blog/2008/5/1/may-book-reviews-posted-at-newpages.htmlMatt Bell2008-05-01T17:59:43ZBook Reviews NewPagesThe May Book Reviews are now up at NewPages, including my own reviews of books by John Brandon, Charles Jensen, Elizabeth Crane, Sloane Crosley, and Alex Rose. Here are quick links to the reviews:

Arkansas by John Brandon :: Sensational Spectacular by Nate Pritts :: Oh Baby by Kim Chinquee:: The Strange Case of Maribel Dixon by Charles Jensen :: Behind My Eyes by Li-Young Lee :: You Must Be This Happy to Enter by Elizabeth Crane :: City of Regret by Andrew Kozma :: Spring Wind Brings the Fireworks by Christopher Kelen and Agnes Vong :: I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley :: The Musical Illusionist by Alex Rose

Enjoy!]]>"Alex Trebek Never Eats Fried Chicken" is a Million Writers Award Notable Storyhttp://www.mdbell.com/blog/2008/5/1/alex-trebek-never-eats-fried-chicken-is-a-million-writers-aw.htmlMatt Bell2008-05-01T01:46:23ZElsewhere on the Web...My story "Alex Trebek Never Eats Fried Chicken" is on the long list for the Million Writers Award, along with other great writers like Brian Evenson, Michael Martone, Steven Gillis, Ander Monson, Anne Elliot, Randall Brown, Elizabeth Crane, Blake Butler, Mary Miller, and many many more. I'm looking forward to reading some of the other stories that were listed, and I hope you'll check them out too.

Storyglossia, the magazine my story was originally published in, had three other Notable Stories as well, by Michael J. Davis, Stephanie Dickinson, and Anthony Neil Smith, who also guest-edited the just released Storyglossia 28, the Crime/Noir Issue (which includes a story by writing group partner Barry Graham).

Congratulations to everyone involved, and thanks again to Storyglossia and Steven McDermott for publishing all of us. It's my favorite online magazine for full-length fiction, and I'm glad to have been a part of it over the last two years.

Other good news: I just had a short story ("Ten Scenes From a Movie Called Mercy") accepted for the first issue of No Colony, a print collaboration between the web journals Lamination Colony and No Posit. Judging by their respective web presences, it should be a pretty cool issue.

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