Tag Archives: Wilde Oats

“In a Wine Phase” Re-Running in Retrospective “Best of Wilde Oats”

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My short story “In a Wine Phase” was chosen to be published in Wilde Oats Issue 14. The issue features the editors’ favorite submissions over the e-zine’s past six years.

Many thanks to Stanley Ridge and his editorial staff!

“In a Wine Phase” is a contemporary, realistic story (yeah, I write realistic stories every now and again). It’s a quick peek into the life of thirty-something Ryan who has a surprise encounter at a cruisy bar that rattles his notions of loyalty and family. The story is really short so saying more would give it all away. You can read it on-line for free here, and check out the entire issue. There are stories ranging from historical fiction, sci fi,, romance and plenty of contemporary fiction.

Artwork from Wilde Oats #14

Artwork from Wilde Oats #14 by Rowan Plantagenet

Short Story MIKE’S POND is Live

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Cool news this week:  my short story MIKE’S POND is live on Wilde Oats Issue 9.

You can check it out here.

Odd story about how MIKE’S POND came to be.

It started as an experimental piece while I was participating in a writers critique group back in 2009.  We decided to all try writing horror stories for a change of pace, and it got me thinking about the stories that scared me as a child.

I have an older brother so the source material was considerable.  He used to tell me all kinds of frightening things about the world, bizarre suburban legends, in addition to disturbing “truths” of anatomy.  Did you know that, instead of blood, your butt is full of green juice?

We grew up in a suburb north of Buffalo, New York, where there were many plots of undeveloped, wooded land, tempting exploration grounds for pre-teen boys, especially in the summer when we were largely unattended by our working parents.  There was an overgrown place called ‘Shotgun,’ where supposedly a boy got killed by the father of a girl he got pregnant.  Then there was Mike’s Pond.

Without giving too much of the story away, since I’d really love people to read it, Mike’s Pond evoked the most imaginative tales from my youth.  It was an acre or two of swampy land between the buzzing thruway and our handsome suburban enclave, and it was cordoned off by a fence.

All the legends about the place are true.  Well, at least I heard them at some point.  The characters are fictionalized, and the narrator is more of an amalgamation of me at different points during my teenage years than me as a twelve-year old boy.  The story turned out to be more coming-of-age than horror.  I guess I can’t help myself.

Short Story Publication News, and Other Stuff

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Gotta say, I’ve had a patch of good stuff happening lately.  From my videotaped reading coming out earlier this week to getting an acceptance from Wilde Oats for my short story Mike’s Pond, I’m feeling pretty proud of meself, and lucky.

Wilde Oats Issue Nine will include my short, fictionalized memoir Mike’s Pond about growing up in suburban Western New York.  The issue comes out in December, and I’ll be sure to do a major blast on the release.

I also have a guest blog up today about working with LGBT teens in the suburbs.  It was a great opportunity offered to me by author/blogger Brandon Shire.  Brandon recently published The Value of Rain, a novel about a gay teen who gets sent to an institution to turn him straight.  He’s donating half of his book sales to LGBT youth agencies, and he was kind enough to do a plug for Pride for Youth, where I work.

I’m still following Yes Gay Ya, and working on an article about diversifying young adult literature.  Since Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith put out their testimonial on censorship, Colleen Lindsay leant her platform The Swivet to Joanna Stampfel-Volpe of Nancy Coffey Literary Agency to tell a different side of the story.

Stampfel-Volpe writes that the authors leaked the name of the agent they accuse (from Nancy Coffey); the agent never offered representation on the condition of cutting out a gay character or making him straight; and the Genreville article is a mean-spirited publicity stunt.

Only a fly on the wall knows the truth.

But out of the kerfuffle, there’s an opportunity to look critically at the status of LGBT YA, and how we can get more and better representation of LGBTs in literature.  That’s what I’m writing about.  Deep stuff.

Wilde Oats Publication!!

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Wilde Oats Issue Five is out and includes my short story “In A Wine Phase.”

Finally, I have an answer to the question:  Where can I read your stuff (without having to pay for it)? You can check it out here.

Wilde Oats is a gay and bisexual fiction e-zine.  Here’s a link to the entire August issue.

So what else have I been doing?

Just finished a guest column for La Bloga on Charlie Vazquez’ PANIC! reading series.  It should be out either later today or next Sunday.

And I’ve been networking on Absolute Write, GayWriters.org and Queer Magazine Online.  Doing some beta reading and sharing triumphs and tribulations with other writers.

The revised manuscript is cranking along.  Happy Sunday to all.

Short Story Acceptance!!

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After a bit of a publishing drought, I just got notified that my short story “In A Wine Phase” was accepted by the quarterly e-zine Wilde Oats.  The issue is slated to come out in August.

I wrote “In A Wine Phase” about a year ago.   It’s a quick look at a relationship in trouble, a 7-year itch kind of story, and it also deals with the meaning of family for gay men.  The story got a pass from another journal with some feedback from the editor, so I took another shot at it recently.  Really cool that sometimes when you put the extra work in, it pays off.

All in all, this is a pretty damn exciting time as I also have a column coming out shortly in La Bloga featuring an interview with YA author Alex Sanchez.  The article should be out this coming Sunday or the next.

So tonight:  a glass of champagne, a cigarette and feet up on the couch.