Archive for December, 2010
Breeding and Writing: Suck it up and change anyway
We’re rearranging my kid’s room in the aftermath of that which is Christmas. Among the haul, he got a play kitchen, a talking truck as big as he is, a train set with eight feet of track, and half a … Continue reading
Ask the Author: Marcus Wicker
Marcus Wicker’s poetry appears both in the November issue of PANK and PANK 5. He talks with us about guilt, the last piece advice he received from a duck, his favorite season and more. 1. What was the last piece … Continue reading
The Week Between Is Really the Worst Week. These Words Will Make It Better
Tim Jones-Yelvington’s Conference Room is a great round up to some of the best writing from 2010. Necessary Fiction this week features Nick Ripatrazone. Janey Smith reads “Circus Tricks.” A poem from Amber Sparks appears at Used Furniture Review. The … Continue reading
First Words/Last Words: Hiromi Goto, “Stinky Girl”
This week’s First Words/Last Words feature comes as a total accident. I was researching the poet Hiromi Ito, and came across the Japanese-Canadian writer Hiromi Goto, whose work strangely enough has a lot of crossover with Ito’s, and with my … Continue reading
Huckster: Regarding The Advertising Agency Media Department, Did You Know?
1,024 is the average number of words per minute a media buyer can speak? Ron Jeremy was a media buyer before he was an accountant? (This is a different Ron Jeremy.) Media buyers are born with three kidneys? After a … Continue reading
Still Alive
When I was three, my mother abandoned me. She  gave me up to become  a stripper at the Clown’s Den in Denver, and then she became a hooker.  When I was five, she  went to prison for solicitation.  That … Continue reading
Joseph Riippi’s The Orange Suitcase: A Review by P. Jonas Bekker
Do Something! Do Something! Do Something!, Joseph Riippi‘s debut novel, received some harsh criticism (here, for example). Part of that was due to the fact that, due to its fragmented nature, it apparently lacked character definition and conflict. Another part … Continue reading
Greetings From Sunny Florida Where My Parents’ House is NINETY DEGREES
Paula Bomer is interviewed by Gian DiTrapano for Vice. Go buy her book, Baby, which is a must read book. J. Bradley has words in Camroc Press Review. Spork features fiction from Jac Jemc. Aaron Burch offers up A Prayer … Continue reading
Last Words: Jalal Toufic, THE WITHDRAWAL OF TRADITION PAST A SURPASSING DISASTER and GRAZIELLA
This week’s Last Words comes a couple days earlier and is a holiday double feature! Here are two endings from Jalal Toufic; one from The Withdrawal of Tradition Past a Surpassing Disaster, the other from Graziella, both of which are … Continue reading
Ask the Author: Letitia Moffit
Letitia Moffitt’s mournful but wonderful Incognito appears in the November issue and she talks with us about dyeing her hair plaid, the second person, and hopes for garage sales. 1. What do you wish you could color your hair? Plaid. … Continue reading
A Metazen Christmas E-Book
Metazen is releasing a Christmas e-book to microfinance a small business through Kiva. Consider making a donation and on Christmas Day, you’ll receive this awesome e-book with writing from all the writers listed above.
The Perfect Writing Chair
One of the joys of being a writer is buying things to make us better writers. For some this involves treating themselves to a latte, an iPad, or—in my current case—a writing chair. The couch and bed have trumped my … Continue reading
E-Books: A Vignette
* A Little Joke (Voila) To paraphrase news anchor Kent Brockman, “I for one welcome our new e-book overlords.” ** The Aesthetic While I love the feel, the smell, the heft of a physical book, I just want the story—a … Continue reading
Darlin’ Neal’s Rattlesnakes & the Moon: A Review by Robyn Oxborrow
Great stories can make us see our lives in a new way, pulling us in, taking the time to make us feel welcome so we step alongside the main character. In Rattlesnakes & the Moon, Darlin’ Neal creates this atmosphere … Continue reading
Brittany Murphy, an Elegy in X
Amber Tamblyn wrote she died like a spider in the shower. Where does a soul go? Up the wall on eight legs, down the drain? My son asked me a long time ago  not to kill spiders, so I scoop … Continue reading
Last Words: Yoneda Kou, TADAYOEDO SHIZUMAZU, SAREDO NAKI MO SEZU
This week’s Last Words feature comes from a yaoi manga by Japanese manga artist, or mangaka, Yoneda Kou. The full manga (it’s a one-shot) can be read for free online here, scanlated (scanned + translated) by the fan group DP … Continue reading
Something Meaningful and Poetic Belongs Here
We recently received the sad news that Cami Park passed away. While we did not know her, we are fans of her work and this community will feel her loss for some time to come. Two stories of Cami’s, The … Continue reading
Ask the Author: Jess Upshaw Glass
Jess’s imaginative The Baby in the Bedroom appears in the November issue. She talks with us about babies in peril, nursing wounds, being the butt of a bar joke and more. 1. Why must the baby always be in peril … Continue reading
Christmas, Early, By Way of December PANK
The December issue brings our year to a close in a remarkable fashion with writing from Rae Bryant, Alan Stewart Carl, Kristina Marie Darling, Tyler Flynn Dorholt, Sean Doyle, Noah Falck, Raina Lauren Fields, Nate Innomi, Jeffrey Carl Jefferis, Annam … Continue reading
Huckster: Two-Page, Annotated Introduction In The Creative Department Employee Manual
PAGE 1 Hello and welcome, new employee in the creative department! Congratulations on getting the new job. Whether you’re an art director, copywriter, designer—whatever—your time here will be quite fruitful.1 Consider this an executive summary of the 1,235-page manual you’re … Continue reading
PANK 5 to press
PANK 5 is to press, peoples. We should have it in hand toward early January and to you shortly thereafter. It’s so awesome that when we hit send on those files, we jumped up and did this: Seriously, it’s that … Continue reading
Dirty Laundry
Washing bedding is stupid when you’re tired because stretching a fitted sheet over a mattress takes effort. I considered sleeping on an unmade bed, but I’m not thirteen. I waited for my sheets to dry like an adult, ate blue … Continue reading
Ask the Authors: Molly Gaudry and Lily Hoang
Molly Gaudry and Lily Hoang’s collaborative hybrid piece, The Fan Dancers, appears in the November issue. They talk with us about their collaboration, dancing with objects, and who’d they’d like to change into. 1. Describe your collaborative process for “The … Continue reading
Review: Room by Emma Donoghue
I am in love with Emma Donoghue. Not in a naked babymaking sort of way (well, maybe a little), in the sort of way that I want to be like her when I grow up. I first read her when … Continue reading
This Modern Writer: Mice, Men, Me by Alan Gillespie
Every now and then I take time off from real life with the specific intention of dedicating myself to a period of writing. It might only be a day out the office, it might be a week; either way, I … Continue reading
The MFA: A Parade of Paper Tigers
I have no vested interest in the MFA degree’s legitimacy as seen through the eyes of proponents and opponents alike. I’m a 29-year-old man still looking to complete his Bachelor’s degree; fretting over the MFA is a little hasty. But … Continue reading
Ask the Author: B.G. Will
There is Room for Two in B.G. Will’s story in the October issue. He talks with us about his take on sexting, fueling a dadbot, and figuring out his dreams among other things. 1. What is your take on sexting? … Continue reading
5 Reasons You Should Buy Fractured West
#1. It’s crammed full of eerie, sexy, sweet, bizarre, and truthful short-short stories. #2. It’s written by twenty-two of the most shamefully talented writers around today—you wouldn’t want to be the last person to be aware of the next wave … Continue reading
Ask the Author: Rickey Laurentiis
Rickey Laurentiis’s poem Mood Indigo appears in the October issue and today, the poet talks with us about life in the Big Easy, the best New Orleans cocktail, danger in love and home and more. 1. What is the  significance … Continue reading
Last Words: Heriberto Yépez, “Re-reading Maria Sabina”
This week’s Last Words feature comes from an article written by Heriberto Yépez, about the indigenous Mexican poet and curandera Maria Sabina. You can find the full article here, and another Yépez article that explains Maria Sabina in more depth … Continue reading
Wilderness
Yesterday I felt like I edged ever near a nervous breakdown. I had one of those in college, you know, a near-nervous-breakdown and began seeing a shrink and took meds, the whole thing. My primary fear, always, is I’ll become … Continue reading
Breeding and Writing: Mourning for a stranger
I can’t think of a parenting slant to this, but here are the words I want to say today. I just heard that Cami Park died. I didn’t know her. We never crossed paths even once. Apparently, she was a … Continue reading
Ask the Author: Christy Crutchfield
Christy Crutchfield’s three fictions are included in the November issue. She talks to us about how she likes her explosions, ideal tattoo real estate, sideshow attractions and more. 1. What was the significance of calling out the fireworks as “legal” … Continue reading
Huckster: Hello And Welcome To The Agency, New Account Executive
Oh, hi! I didn’t see you there. Just kidding. How could I miss you—you’re in our lobby, for Christ’s sake. Welcome to our ad agency, new account executive. Let me give you the dime tour one more time. Then I’ll … Continue reading
______ Shopping Days Remaining. Rejoice, the End Is Near
Joseph Owens thinks we’re one of the top ten literary magazines! Thank you Joseph! These folks also say nice things about us! We love compliments. We thank you. Molly Gaudry reviews Matthew Salesses’s Our Island of Epidemics which is on … Continue reading
Ask the Author: Sarah Rose Etter
Sarah Rose Etter’s The Tongue Party is at once discomfiting and entrancing. She talks with us about hosting a tongue party of her own, naming a boat, the torture of children and other pleasant topics. 1. Would you ever hold … Continue reading
Tis The Season: Metazen Christmas Anthology
Metazen is producing a Christmas Anthology for charity. They’re looking for writers and buyers and the details are here.
Ask the Author: Robert Warwick
Robert Warwick’s fiction is included in the October issue and he has a few things to tell us in today’s interview about things he has drowned in, the parts of himself in his writing and more. 1. Why can’t the … Continue reading
Jo Cannon’s Insignificant Gestures: A Review by Sara Lippmann
No matter who we are or what we look like or where we’ve been or why  we’re here, if we have a human heart it’s going to break—if it’s not already broken. Anguish permeates the twenty-five stories in PANK contributor … Continue reading
Bending of Spines: A Consideration on “Truth” In Literature
Over the weekend, I purchased a copy of Granta, the splendid UK literary magazine. I was elated to see a copy lying there on its back, next to Tin House and The Paris Review, though I wondered how it got … Continue reading
Childhood Tastes Like a 9-Volt Battery
I used a found Collective Soul CD to scrape dried cat vomit off my dresser. When’s the last time you bought a CD? I don’t miss them. There isn’t much romance to them. They don’t crackle and warm like vinyl. … Continue reading
Ask The Publisher: Matt DeBenedictis
Matt DeBenedictis is the mad genius behind Safety Third Enterprises, publisher of such fine chapbooks at The Serial Rapist Sitting Behind You is a Robot and He Is Talking To The Fat Lady. He’s also a tremendously talented writer and … Continue reading
Ask the Translator: Lawrence Schimel
Lawrence Schimel translated the lovely work of Sofia Rhei in the October issue. He talks with us about why he translated Cinderella, fictional languages he’d like to speak, and who’d play him in the movie. 1. What compelled you to … Continue reading
Ask the Author: Elaine Castillo
Elaine Castillo is one of our favorite writers and in the October issue she tells a story in a series of Figures. Today, she talks with us about dangerous drinking water, things she’d like to be dipped in, Greek mythology … Continue reading
Last Words: Park Chan-wook, SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE
This Friday’s Last Words feature is a last scene, one of my favorite last scenes in film. (This is an understatement; better to say, one of the scenes that crushes me the most, in the places that need to be … Continue reading
Breeding and Writing: The only two things I want
Anytime I see this question in one of those legacy journals  at the bookstore or philosophical posts on a “mommy forum” (gag), I have the same answer. What do you want for your children? Personally, I want them to be: … Continue reading
Not the Slab; A Microscope
“If I had to give young writers advice, I would say  don’t listen to writers talk about writing or themselves.” Lillian Hellman Whoops. I transmit from a cottage in Republican country. Today is Thursday.  Outside the cold could sink deeper … Continue reading
The Inner Sanctum Of A Traditional Advertising Agency
There are many departments within an advertising agency, and each has its annoying (yet adorable!) habits. Here is a brief overview of the departments for a traditional agency structure. I should be clear that every agency is different and, these … Continue reading
What Happened to the Past Year, Though?
Ethel Rohan’s gorgeous Cut Through the Bone is now available from Dark Sky. This book is just lovely and emotional in so many ways and I strongly encourage you to get a copy. Her story Treacherous, is live at Pif … Continue reading
Rejection Response OTD, Unadultered
Dear Roxanne, Thanks for your thoughtful response. I agree the work is one of my weaker efforts, but I had the idea that I might find a place for it if only I set my sites low enough. Thanks again, … Continue reading
Ask the Author: Matthew Burnside
Matthew Burnside’s partially elided text appears in the November issue and he talks with us about fox face girls, the format of his work in the November issue, the bleeding of brave birds, and more. 1. Would you make out … Continue reading
Gray day, everything is gray
and I’m listening to these kids (not kids, really, but…) from PANK’s neck of the woods. Check them out here. Good music to compose by on the first cold day of December.
We Need to Talk about Beside the Sea: by Dan Holloway
Sometimes, without you even noticing it, a book will wander out of the media’s review pages and plant its bum firmly on the features seat. It’s impossible to unravel the vagaries of the process by which some cheeky little volumes … Continue reading