The “War, Literature and the Arts Literary Journal” has accepted what I consider to be my best story, “Convoy Home” for publication. It appears in Volume #25 which just came out. Here’s my discussion and review of the journal:
Short Story
On the Day of Calamity
A strange story from my workshop days has been republished on NHNovella. It originally appeared in the now defunct Steel City Review.
“2010. It was a warm November second or first. The clouds spent the day gathering and breaking apart and gathering again.
The Democrats were poised to take back Congress, and even though we didn’t know too much about politics, my friends and I were all jazzed. We were grad students, and smart enough to know the obvious — that Bush and friends had started a war for oil, that he was evil and/or stupid, and that things were about to change.
I think America felt guilty about our illegal war. I know I did, and a big Republican defeated would vindicate us all.
Anyway, I was en route to a belated Halloween party.” (Read more on NH Novella)
Fire and Forget: Short Stories from the Long War
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Fire and Forget — a discussion of soldiering, military culture, story telling, and my story in this anthology of military fiction
Reading at Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art
It was an honor to read this weekend at The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago, alongside Askold Melnychuk, Alexis Buryk and Virlana Tkacz.
I read my unpublished story, “Storyteller,” and a revision of my favorite essay from the NY Times, Homefires series, “Something Worth Fighting For.”
Listen to the reading Here!
Veteran Voices — literary reading at Iowa City’s “The Mill”
I read at the Mill alongside four other veterans.
I read the essays “Narrative and Memory at War” and “Something Worth Fighting For.” It was a great event all around. I had planned to record myself, but forgot.
The Daily Iowan published a review of the reading:
“My cynicism also shows in this one. So… sorry, believers,” he said before he began reading his second piece.
But even Skaskiw, a graduate of the Writers’ Workshop in 2007, agreed that Monday’s event was effective.
“Wars are important events regardless of what you think about them,” he said.
Home of the Brave – Stories in Uniform, edited by Jeffery Hess
This short fiction collection, edited by DD-214 Writers’ Workshop director Jeffery Hess, serves up a diverse offering of contemporary short stories set against the backdrop of the American military experience, from World War II to current conflicts in Iraq and elsewhere. Penned by some of the best writers of our time, many of whom have served in the military themselves.
Among these stories by writers, including Kurt Vonnegut, Tim O’Brien, James Salter, Tobias Wolff, Chris Offutt, Benjamin Percy and many others [like me!].
http://www.amazon.com/Home-Brave-Stories-Jeffery-Hess/dp/0982441606