Category Archives: fiction

web exclusive

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Yippee! My short story “Paper Planes” is the first web exclusive in American Short Fiction. I’m super excited and so thrilled the editor of ASF, Stacey Swann, accepted my piece. Last summer I wrote five of these short stories,  in a sort of fugue, one right after another, all of which stretching beyond the normal constraints of the real world. Though I left a couple of them in a drawer, the three I revised have all found homes. One couldn’t be more happy with such a bewitching bunch. Here’s the ASF newsletter:

We are thrilled to announce our first Web exclusive is up online. “Paper Planes,” by Laura Madeline Wiseman, is a story of death, dislocation, and cheese curls. This story was much loved among our staff of readers; we’re excited to share it with you.

This was the short story I had tucked and ready in a folder to read at my no name last month, but, alas a late afternoon snow storm put city buses an hour behind schedule and though I did attempt to make it by  car, the roads were slippery, snow filled, and scary.  Luckily, I’ll be reading on March 27th, so I hope to see you there.

The new ASF spring 2009 issue contains the likes of Joyce Carol Oates, Paul Yoon, Smith Henderson, Rachel B. Glaser, Amelia Gray, and Joe Wenderoth, among others. I must say, I’m a bit of a fan of Joyce Carol Oates. I first read her story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” in a fiction class I took at Iowa State. Of all the short stories we read, this one stuck with me–the coiling phone cord, the pull to darkness, weird lines like, “Yes, I’m your lover. You don’t know what that is but you will.”  Later when I lived in Tucson, it was a bit unnerving to learn the short story was based on murders there. Another chilling text is We Were the Mulvaneys. On the more classic side of things, I taught The Best American Essays of the Century, which she edited, in a composition class. I wonder what book of hers I should read next….

New Issues!

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The new issues are out of Barn Owl Review. Margie‘s has some great poems by Allison Joseph, Alicia Ostriker, Marge Piercy, and soon to be released are: My Litte Red book, among others. As a small side note, while working on my thesis I researched many of Piercy’s books. She’s definitely one of my favorite feminist authors. My beloved books from that work include: the bread riot City of Darkness City of  Light,  the meditation on open marriage in Summer People, and the utopia or dystopia or some type of gender fluid topia Woman on the Edge of Time. At the NWSA conference this summer, there was some talk about Sex Wars (2006), a book on post-Civil War NYC starring Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Margaret Sanger. I may have to add this to my reading list.

top audio books 2008

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i will admit it. i’m kinda a slut for audio books most of the year. Here’s why:

  • i read and write much of the time which causes my eyes to be tired, my brain to hurt, and the cats to feel neglected
  • audio books tend to publish classics (which i haven’t read all of) or books doing very well in the literary and popular world (which keeps me up to date on what other people read, i.e. those not in grad school)
  • car trips
  • when one can’t sleep, one can read
  • making x-mas presents or cleaning
  • candle lit baths
  • because i like people who can do voices like Jim Dale in the harry potter novels

Here, then, is my top audio books for 2008:

1. Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, read by Sarita Choudhury
2. Fight Club and Rant:The Oral Biography of Buster Casey by Chuck Palahniuk, the former read by Jim Colby, the latter read by large cast (these were both luscious. i felt like i was getting away with something, reading something so fun.)
3. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
4. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
5. When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris, read by the author
6. The Road by Cormac Mccarthy, read by Tom Stechschulte
7. The Philip Pullman trilogy His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass, read by the author
8. Twilight by Stephenie Meyers, read by Ilyana Kadushin (and I’ll add here New Moon, the next book in the series, which I’ve started)

    Honorable mentions includes the Philippa Gregory novels: The Constant Princess, The Boleyn Inheretance, The Virgin’s Lover, and The Queen’s Fool.

    writers here

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    here in my homeland, many, many wonderful writers have visited over the last few weeks. Poets and editor jim cihlar read from his collection, as did william reichard. Another poet paul guest is up to visit wednesday. Tayari Jones read from her novel The Untelling. And, Dorothy Allison spoke at the lgtbqa history month banquet and gave a public reading the next night. Amazing! And, Naomi Shihab Nye, who I saw read in DC at split this rock in March, will visit next semester. Wow.