Ask the Author: Stace Budzko

Stace Budzko’s Beautiful Retards is a fine inclusion in the July issue. Stace talks with us about safety equipment, swimming style, and language choices. 1. Do you use the word “retard” when describing mentally handicapped people in real life? Man, … Continue reading →

Literary Los Angeles: Working from Home

I recently read a statistic (from a source I have since misplaced and so can’t cite here) stating that Los Angeles has the highest percentage of freelance, temporary, and contract workers of any city in the country.   While this … Continue reading →

Breeding and Writing: Awesomely disturbing kids’ books

There are lots of publishers out there with some nauseating stuff, but we’re not talking about Elmo or (god forbid) Spongebob paperbacks and coloring books.

So sick of those. Ugh.

Anyhow, not them.

No, what we’re discussing today, boys and girls, are some supremely messed up, real-life books for kids. These books exist. They are not photoshopped gags–I checked. Continue reading →

Ask the Author: Johnny Peters

‘In the June issue, Johnny Peters makes his fiction debut with an elegant story, “Science.” He talks with us about some theories, choreography, Bill Nye the Science Guy and more. 1. When you got the acceptance letter, what was your … Continue reading →

Books You Should Buy

Click on the covers to buy.

News News Big Big News

Congratulations to Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz who is the recipient of the 2010-2011 ArtsEdge Residency at the Kelly Writer’s House at the University of Pennsylvania. Aptowicz plans to use the ArtsEdge residency to work on a non-fiction book about the life … Continue reading →

Ask the Author: Rachel Adams

Rachel Adams writes of Sex and the American Rabbit in the July issue and talks with us about mythical voyeuristic beasts, Hemingway’s safeword and other curiosities. 1. What mythical beasts would you watch have sex? Unicorns. The loudest prudes always … Continue reading →

This Modern Writer: A Day as An Extra An On Set Dispatch From Vallie Lynn Watson

Ed: Vallie Lynn Watson recently edited the fine, fine, Writing, Place and Film issue of Rick Magazine and she was kind enough to write a dispatch about her day as an extra on the set of MY FAVORITE TEENAGE SOAP … Continue reading →

the unfirm line – Peter Schwartz

“Tell me there will be beaches in my future.” Peter Schwartz, “Tell Me” There are so many ideas that come to mind with this line. Some linear, some not so much. – my wife and I will have out beach … Continue reading →

Electric Parade: The iPad and i (three months later…)

It’s been three months since I bought the iPad. For me, that’s plenty of time to fit a new gadget into my life or, rather, realize it’s taking up space, like so many USB cords and cheap earbuds and travel … Continue reading →

Rob Sherman’s Valve Works: A Review by Dan Holloway

I read a tweet a few weeks ago that “most people who claim to be at the cutting edge have no idea where the cutting edge even is”, so it’s always interesting to check out things that claim to be … Continue reading →

Ask the Author: xTx

xTx’s poetry is a real standout in the June issue and she talks with us about vowels, noms de plume, and becoming fluent in her. What would be my nom de plume that I should hide behind? What would the … Continue reading →

Breeding and Writing: Giving away your baby

We know our writing better than anyone else ever could.

We were there the day it came into being, and we know the thousand other ways the ending could have gone, the phrase we didn’t pick but almost did, the names and where they came from, why they mattered. We want to qualify our decisions, so the editor will see things our way and make them the way we would.

It takes an editor two seconds to delete a line you made with your blood. Continue reading →

Ask the Author: Ocean Vuong

Ocean Vuong’s intense poems grace the June issue and he talks to us about sound and rhythm, the influence of sexuality, and great pickup lines. 1. I listened to your reading of your poems. How important is the sound and … Continue reading →

Like Winning at Roulette : A Review of Jessalyn Wakefield’s Unsleep’s Village by J. A. Tyler

I went on cruise and in the stateroom there was a closed-circuit feature about how to bet on roulette and how, if you place those bets just right, you can win big. My wife and I watched the video. We … Continue reading →

What I Read On My Summer Vacation

The hot July issue of Word Riot includes Kirsty Logan, Adam Moorad, Michelle Reale, Greg Gerke, and others. Aaron Burch is interviewed by Timmy Waldron in the same issue and talks about How to Take Yourself Apart, How to Make … Continue reading →

Museum Appetite 6: Getting To Know You

Last weekend, I visited the Museum of Jurassic Technology again.   I live only a few miles from the museum, and I absolutely love it, so I usually end up visiting once a month.   My first visit lasted three … Continue reading →

Ask the Author: Tim Tomlinson

Tim Tomlinson’s poetry appears in the June issue and he has a nice chat with us about his favorite newspaper section, safewords and more. 1. What is your safe word? If you don’t have one, what would it be? Music … Continue reading →

the unfirm line – The Dears

Most people are saying you’re wrong,  I know you’re on to something. I think the world of you. The Dears, Meltdown in A Major There is a piano solo intro that I try on my piano. It sounds similar but … Continue reading →

We Do Not Demand You Write To Our Aesthetic

I’ve seen a number of cover letters lately alluding to our “edgy aesthetic,” and how stories are a good fit for that “edgy aesthetic.” You don’t have to write edgy stories for us to love your writing. My love of … Continue reading →

Electric Parade: Ghosts In The Machine

It”â„¢s Christmas Eve. My family’s generations are delineated by the spaces we fill inside my aunt’s home: teenagers whisper in the back room, the young adults chuckle on the sofa set in the living room, the elders drag forks over … Continue reading →

Matt Bell’s How They Were Found: A Review by Troy Urquhart

No matter what I write here, I cannot tell you how great this book is. In fact, I’m not even sure I know how to write a review that will  do it justice. So let’s just agree on this point … Continue reading →

Dawn Potter the Frank Zappa of Poetry: A Review of How The Crimes Happen

               

Ask the Author: Joseph Riippi

Joseph Riippi writes about various somethings in the June issue and talks with us about this sequence of work, writing soundtracks, forthcoming projects and a DVD bonus extra. 1. What would the first sentences of “Something About Thundercats” look like? … Continue reading →

Literary Los Angeles: Choosing L.A.

I’ve spent a lot of time this week thinking about that article from New York Magazine.   This one, if you haven’t read it, but it’s likely you have.   It’s called “All Joy and No Fun: Why parents hate … Continue reading →

A Cover Speaks 1,000 Words

The cover art for Our Island of Epidemics and PANK 5 are both being done by the amazing Luca DiPierro. Both PANK 5 and Our Island of Epidemics are available for pre-order. Feast your eyes:

Breeding and Writing: Mother-friendly places to submit

Parenthood takes a lot out of you. (Today, for example, it took most of my time today, so I’m just now writing this.)

Between cooking, feeding, the subsequent and never-ending cleaning, bathing, reading, Band-Aiding, diapering–and oh yeah, squeezing the suckers out in the first place–there’s not a lot left at the end of the evening for mom and dad, of energy, nookie, or anything else.

It’s rather all-consuming.

But in that consumption, those of us who were writers before engaging our wombs in the “on” position have found whole new worlds of emotional and personal pleasure and baggage (yes, both) to be blessed and/or plagued with.

Add to that, motherhood can be rather isolating. Very few moms ever say what they really feel, because quite a lot of it is frightening, truth be known. Commiseration is a beautiful thing; thus the major-dollar, let’s-parent-together, hive mind sites like BabyCenter and CafeMom.

It makes more than a little sense, then, that mama-magazines would pop up to publish the diatribes of those who feel a little more literary.

Here are some of those, for anyone inclined, and what they want: Continue reading →

Ask the Author: David Frederick Thomas

David Frederick Thomas’s story with an exceptionally long title is one of our favorites from the June issue. Today, he talks with us about the new hugging, special utensils, and living in two different places. 1. What else is the … Continue reading →

PANK Writers Bring It and Bring it and BRING IT

Paula Bomer is a writer you should know about because she has fierce talent and style. You really should order her book, Baby, which is available for pre-order from Word Riot. Go here. Janey Janey Janey Smith BRINGS IT to … Continue reading →

the unfirm line – T.S. Eliot

“I will show you fear in a handful of dust.” T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land One of the hardest books I have ever read illustrated testimonies of men, women and children during the dust bowl. Horribly sad, dust pneumonia. I’ll … Continue reading →

The July Issue of PANK is Explosive

The writers in the July issue are blowing things up. They are shooting fire into the sky. Get down with Rachel Adams, Stace Budzko, Sara Crowley, Alana Dakin, Tim Dicks, Chris Erickson, Jen Gann, Kyle Minor, Ansley Moon, Gena Mohwish, … Continue reading →

Electric Parade: Painful Writing (Or Never Learning How To Hold A Pencil)

In first grade, my teacher, disgusted with my penmanship, watched as I held a pencil to jot down—something: a math problem or the year Abraham Lincoln “freed” the slaves. No one taught me how to hold a pencil. It’s one … Continue reading →

Jason Floyd Williams’ Inheritance Tax: A Review by Adam Palumbo

Last week, my grandfather’s health deteriorated rapidly while traveling to my cousin’s wedding in Houston, Texas. He is 82. He has led a full and adventurous life, serving in both the Second World and Korean wars. He raised five children … Continue reading →

Museum Appetite 5: Going Inside

Every time I’ve visited the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), I’ve wandered through the first floor of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum like a weird moth to a weird flame.   The flame, in this case, is two … Continue reading →

Ask the Author: Anne Leigh Parrish

Anne Leigh Parrish’s moving Snow Angels is included in the June issue and she talks with us about drinking on planes, childhood habits and familial expectations. 1. What do you like to drink while on an airplane? Do you pregame? … Continue reading →

This Modern Writer: The Backup Plan

At the rate I fail at relationships, I’m thinking I may not have children.  Yes, I am 31, which makes me technically young.  However, the older I get, the quality of my sperm degrades, unlike wine and cheese.  Also, I’m … Continue reading →

This Modern Writer: Genre

I’ve never done a how-to-write blog post before. This is because a)         PANKsters know how to write already; and b)         I’m not entirely sure how to write. But I realised that I … Continue reading →

Ask the Author: Traci O’Connor

Traci O’Connor has two short fictions in the June issue and talks with us about cicadas, trespasses, and her contributions to the June issue. How would you classify your contributions to this issue? Are they fiction? Poetry? Does the classification … Continue reading →

Literary Los Angeles: 826LA

This week’s edition of Literary Los Angeles is also a shameless plug for one of L.A.’s most versatile, energetic, creative, and necessary literary non-profits, 826LA. 826LA is the Southern California outlet of 826 National, an organization dedicated to helping students … Continue reading →

2010 1,001 Awesome Words Contest

We are now accepting entries for our second annual writing competition, 1,001 Awesome Words. We think it suits the PANK ethos to leave it at that. Not enough, you say? Need key words, you say? Explode. Excite. Intrigue. Surprise. Blow. … Continue reading →

Our Island of Epidemics by Matthew Salesses is Available for Pre-Order

M. Bartley and I are pleased to announce that our second little book, Our Island of Epidemics, by Matthew Salesses, is now available for pre-order. You can buy Our Island of Epidemcis for $10, or bundled with PANK 5 for … Continue reading →

Breeding and Writing: Sally Mann and the ethics of being a parent artist

Many accused photographer Sally Mann of either choosing her craft to the exclusion of her kids or her kids over her artistic credibility.

Tough place to be.

Mann’s most controversial work was Immediate Family, a book comprised of pictures of her kids in the twilight of their childhoods as each teetered between innocence and adolescence.

The alarming bit? Many of the photos are nude shots. Yes, they are all breathtaking, arresting pictures. Does that make it right to publish them?

As artists, shouldn’t we document life as it really happens? Are all things to be filtered for political correctness? Does that change when we become someone’s parent, or are our lives still our own? Continue reading →

July Is Almost As Hot As PANK Writers

Congratulations to Jen Michalski whose novella MAY-SEPTEMBER has been chosen as the co-winner (a first) of the  Press 53 Open Awards Contest and will be published in October 2010 by Press 53. Her novel, THE SUMMER SHE WAS UNDER WATER, … Continue reading →

Review: The Fox’s Window and Other Stories by Naoko Awa

Each one of the stories in The Fox’s Window takes your hand and leads you out of the safety of your home, to the deepest, darkest part of the woods or right down to the bottom of the sea or … Continue reading →

Museum Appetite 4: Doctor Who

In a recent episode of Doctor Who, the Doctor and his companion Amy Pond visited a museum.   For on the un-geeky, Doctor Who is a British, time-travel sci-fi series in which a man called the Doctor travels through space … Continue reading →

the unfirm line – MGMT

“I’ve got someone to make reports that tell me how my money’s spent.  To book my stays and draw my blinds  so I can’t tell what’s really there.” MGMT, “Congratulations” Purchased and purposeful self delusion. Sad, I guess there are … Continue reading →

Electric Parade: Blackberry Is King For Writers (Crap For Everyone Else)

I purchased my first smartphone in early 2009: a Blackberry Curve. At the time, it was the best phone Verizon offered, which only heightened my hate for AT&T for obvious reasons. That said, I needed a phone to make my … Continue reading →

Craig Sernotti’s Forked Tongue: A Review by Dan Holloway

Craig Sernotti’s Forked Tongue (Blue Room Publishing) is a strange mix of the lyrical and the minimal, and reading it has made me think long and hard about what a collection of poetry is. Which is a good thing. And … Continue reading →

Ask the Author: RD Parker

RD Parker’s innovative poetry graces the June issue and he talks with us about abstractions, madames and public transportation. 1. What if a motorcycle shop was next to the graveyard? How would you react then? I probably wouldn’t. Graveyards are … Continue reading →

Ask the Author: Alexandra Isacson

Alexandra Isacson’s gorgeous She Loved Things With Wings appears in the June issue and on the last day of the long weekend, she talks with us about wings, loving thyself, and her wort text message faux pas. 1. Where’s the … Continue reading →

Ask the Author: Teresa Milbrodt

Teresa Milbrodt’s Mr. Chicken appears in the June issue. She talks with us about guilty pleasures, dating a woman with a beard and more. 1. Would you date a woman with a beard? Funny you should ask. We met about … Continue reading →

Shane Jones’ Light Boxes: A Review By Salvatore Pane

It’s easy to see why Spike Jonze bought the film rights to Shane Jones‘  debut novel  Light Boxes. Jones is an image junkie and delivers  one imaginative set piece after another in this meta-fantasy about a town suffering through a … Continue reading →

This Modern Writer: Pork and Other Sins by C. Cohen

I worry that one day I will accidentally e-mail a potential sugar daddy my resume or a prospective employer a photo of my body dressed in fishnets, garter belt, and heels.   One of my fellow gold digger friends recommends … Continue reading →

Literary Los Angeles: Doing Theater in a Film Town

L.A.’s Chalk Repertory Theatre has been one of my go-to choices for theater in Los Angeles ever since I saw their remarkable performance of “Three Sisters” last year.   After watching the original play “Full Disclosure” last month (starring founding … Continue reading →

Breeding and Writing: Why nobody cares about your relevant crap

When you’re thirty, those younger than you don’t care because you’re not young. Those older than you don’t care because you’re not old. Those you are thirty with are your closest allies, your commiserators, your siblings through life.

The cruel reality of it is that when you’re seventy, then eighty, then ninety, there will be increasingly fewer of them left. The generational conspirators will die off and leave you in a swelling world of new children and younger-than-you adults who make no sense and don’t remember anything you do.

How do you write to and for a world of readers who are not you, haven’t lived your life, and eventually will find you totally outdated? How do you matter when it’s all so impermanent? Continue reading →

Things You Should Know About

[1]  The Sixth-Ever Black Warrior Review Contest has begun! Send us your dearest-beloved (stories/poems/essays)! Guest Judges are: Claudia Rankine (Poetry) Peter Markus (Fiction) Lia Purpura (Nonfiction) Payment must be made online (the Submission Manager will direct you to do so). … Continue reading →

Ask the Author: James Tadd Adcox

Tadd Adcox makes his second appearance in PANK with Diseases, Disorders and Breaks. He talks with us about macking, who he would like to bury and so much more. There are footnotes, even. 1. Is your way of macking it … Continue reading →

These Words Explode in Bright Showers of Light

Do you want to read for PANK in Chicago on October 1 at The Book Cellar? We’re doing a joint reading with Artifice Magazine and are looking for a few good readers. E-mail roxane at pankmagazine dot com if you’re … Continue reading →