ALUMS

Karen Bovenmyer (Popular Fiction, S’13) is ecstatic to announce she has signed a contract with a small press for her 26k word novella “Swift for the Sun” (historical pirate adventure/romance) which will be released under a pseudonym in the first quarter of 2017. It’s the biggest advance and largest royalties percentage she’s ever signed for and she’s very excited. Furthermore, Karen’s poem “NeverNever Holes,” originally published on Zingara Poet, will be reprinted in a forthcoming Love Poems anthology edited by Johnny M. Tucker, Jr. Also, the second issue of Mothership Zeta Magazine, featuring nonfiction by Stonecoast alumnus Adam Gallardo and faculty James Patrick Kelly is now available for download! Karen is the Assistant Editor, Nonfiction, for this magazine, which is led by Stonecoast alumna Mur Lafferty, Editor in Chief.

“Space Heart,” an essay by Linda Buckmaster (Creative Nonfiction, ‘11), appeared in the Winter 2015 issue of Solstice Literary Magazine. Her poem “Flowering” was re-published in A Year of Being Here. In February, she will be an Associate Artist under writer David Shields at the residency program of the Atlantic Center for the Arts. From there, she will go to Foundation Obras in Portugal for a three-week residency.

Julie C. Day‘s (Popular Fiction, S’12) “Holes in Heaven”—a story that concerns itself with sibling rivalry, stellar nurseries, and exiled children—can be found in the print journal Isthmus; an excerpt is available online. Issue 21 of the Small Beer podcast also came out in January and features Julie’s narration of Mary Rickert’s story “Cold Fires.”

Nikki Flionis (Fiction, ’10) is among many long-time Bostonians reflecting on their lives in Streets of Echoes, the latest volume in the City of Boston’s memoir project series. Developed in collaboration with Grubstreet, this volume includes residents of Back Bay, Fenway, Beacon Hill-West End, and Dorchester. Flionis’ essay, “Rooms with Adieu,” focuses on the old rooming house culture, wiped out with stunning speed by the advent of the residential condominium in the 1980’s.

Penny Guisinger’s (Creative Nonfiction, S’13) essay “The Sound of Galton’s Whistle” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Maine author and former Pushcart winner Jennifer Lunden in December 2015. And 2016 is off to a grand start: Penny’s book Postcards from Here is now available for order.

Cindy Williams Gutiérrez (Poetry/Artistic Collaboration, W’08) was awarded the first Oregon Literary Fellowship for Writers of Color in 2016. Her debut poetry collection, the small claim of bones, placed second in the 2015 International Latino Book Awards, and she was selected by Poets & Writers Magazine as a 2014 Notable Debut Poet.

Joe M McDermott‘s (Popular Fiction, S’11) short story “Snowbird” appears in the March 2016 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact.

Mary Heather Noble (Creative Nonfiction, W’14) is pleased to have her essay “Seduction” included in Fracture: Essays, Poems, and Stories on Fracking in America, an anthology to be released by Ice Cube Press later this month. Fracture explores the well-known and little-known complexities of fracking through first-hand experience, investigative journalism, storytelling, and verse. The collection will also feature the work of Stonecoast faculty Debra Marquart, former Stonecoast faculty Barbara Hurd, and several other acclaimed environmental writers. The book can be pre-ordered here.

Lisa Romeo’s (Creative Nonfiction, S’08) essay “Sound and Fury, Signifying” appeared in Synaesthesia Magazine in January. Another CNF piece, “​Gray,” received honorable mention in the 2015​ Our Past Loves contest and is now posted online (scroll down). ​Lisa has ​been invited to present a craft seminar at HippoCamp 2016​: A Conference for Creative Nonfiction Writers in Lancaster, PA, in August​. ​Conference registration is now open.​ Lisa’s humor essay, “The Long Pink Line,” has been accepted for Flash Nonfiction Funny.

Anne K. Ross’s (Creative Nonfiction, W’07) book Beyond Rain Man: What One Psychologist Learned Raising a Son on the Autism Spectrum will be published on April 5, 2016, by Leatherback Press.

Kara Storti‘s (Fiction, S’06) debut young adult novel, Tripping Back Blue, will be released on April 1st by CarolRhoda Lab, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group. The book is about Finn, a 17-year-old full of paradoxes. He’s a drug dealer, but he’s scoring money to send his twin sister to Harvard. He’s desperate to shoot up even though he’s the most popular kid in Dammertown. He’s a philosopher and orator who’s failing all his classes. The only time he finds peace is when he’s bird-watching. Finn’s life begins to spiral out of control, until he discovers a miracle drug called indigo. Finn is convinced that the drug is the way out of everything broken in his life. But is it really as magical as it seems?

Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam‘s (Popular fiction, S’13) stories “Feeding the Skeleton Cats” and “Tornado Season” appeared in Eleven Eleven. Her story “The Damaged,” originally published in Interzone, appeared on the podcast StarShipSofa. “Skeletons,” originally in Room, was reprinted on the LGBTQ podcast Glittership.

Olive Sullivan (Fiction/Cross-Genre Poetry, S’15) is the editor of a new fine arts magazine produced by students in the Department of Communication at Missouri Southern State University, where Sullivan is an assistant professor. The magazine, Vivid, hosted a launch party January 22nd in downtown Joplin. The website is www.vividfinearts.com. Here is a link to a TV news feature about the launch.

Boskone 53, New England’s longest running science fiction and fantasy convention, will feature among their program participants Stonecoast faculty James Patrick Kelly and Theodora Goss as well as alumnae Julie C. Day and Erin Underwood (Popular Fiction, S’09). This year Erin Underwood is serving as Program Head for Boskone, and she was recently appointed as Chair for next year’s convention. Join us in Boston, MA from February 19-21, 2016, and visit the Boskone website for membership information. The Grimm Future, edited by popular fiction alumna Erin Underwood, will be released in February 2016 by NESFA Press and will be featured as this year’s Boskone book. The Grimm Future is a new science fiction anthology of reimagined Grimm fairy tales that features original fiction by 14 of today’s most exciting authors including Stonecoast faculty member Nancy Holder and alumna Sandra McDonald.

Christopher Watkins (Poetry, W’08) marks a return to songwriting with a new record deal and a new album! Preacher Boy – The National Blues is now available direct from Altco Recordings, or on iTunes and other digital music services

“An Unfinished Story about Eagles,” by Rick Wile (Creative Nonfiction, W’05), appears in the latest edition of Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices. His blog, The Geriatric Pilgrim, now comes out twice a month.

FACULTY

Aaron Hamburger‘s (Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, Popular Fiction) review of Garth Greenwell’s novel What Belongs to You appeared in the New York Times Book Review.

Nancy Holder (Popular Fiction) has a new story titled “Whatever Kills in Vegas” in Kolchak: Passages of the Macabre, published by Moonstone Books.

Debra Marquart’s (Creative Nonfiction, Poetry) poem “Lament” has been selected by guest editor, Edward Hirsch, for inclusion in The Best American Poetry 2016 anthology. The poem, “Lament,” a section of a long poem in Marquart’s recent collection, Small Buried Things, addresses the ravages of fracking in her home state of North Dakota. The poem was originally published by New Letters in 2014. The Best American Poetry 2016 anthology will be published by Scribner in September 2016.

CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS

By request of the editors, Lisa Romeo S’08 would like to pass along this opportunity:​  Flash Nonfiction Funny, a planned collection of humorous short-short nonfiction pieces. Editors Tom Hazuka and Dinty W. Moore are soliciting submissions, 750 words maximum; both unpublished and previously published selections are welcome. Email submissions as Microsoft Word documents to either tom@tomhazuka.com or moored4@ohio.edu (not both, please).