ALUMNI

Patricia Barletta (Popular Fiction, W’12) has just signed a contract with Lachesis Publishing for her Stonecoast thesis, Moon Dark, a paranormal historical romance. The novel will be released in 2015.

Eric M. Bosarge (Popular Fiction, W’12) is pleased to announce his short story Adytum appeared in volume two of The Darkness Internal published by Voluted Tales.

Karen Bovenmyer (Popular Fiction, S’13) is thrilled to announce her space zombies story “Failsafe” (The Crimson Pact Volume 5, Iron Dragon Press, July 2013) earned enough votes to appear on the Hugo ballot for best short story. Though it did not receive enough votes to be nominated for this prestigious award, she’s extremely honored to have been on the list. This was the story she read from for her graduate reading.

Jennifer Marie Brissett (Popular Fiction, S’11) will be reading from Elysium, her debut science fiction/science fantasy novel (also her Stonecoast thesis!), at the Franklin Park Reading Series in Brooklyn, Sept 8th, 8:00-10:00 p.m.—FREE ADMISSION, plus $4 drafts and a book raffle! Here’s the Facebook Invite.

Libby Cudmore (Popular Fiction/Creative Nonfiction, S’10) has joined the staff of Something Awful‘s Current Releases as a film critic, covering Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, Let’s Be Cops, Get On Up, and others. Additionally, her ekphrastic poem “Out There” was selected for issue six of Paper Darts. And finally, a panel she curated with Matthew Quinn Martin, “You’ve Been Telling Me You Were a Genius Since You Were 17: Five Writers Reel in Their Earliest (and often Embarrassing) Efforts,” has been accepted for the 2015 AWP conference in St Paul, MN. The panel will also include Stonecoast faculty Suzanne Strempek Shea and Elizabeth Searle, as well as author Donna Minkowtz.

Julie Day‘s (Popular Fiction, S’12) story “Faerie Medicine,” part of the Summer 2014 issue of Flapperhouse, is now available for free on their website alongside some very pretty artwork (seen at right).

The sequel to Adam Gallardo‘s (Popular Fiction, S’12) Zomburbia, Zombified, has been accepted by his publisher, Kensington, and is now in the hands of the copy editor. Zombified will be published on January 27, 2015. More information about both books may be found at Adam’s website, www.adamgallardo.com.

Cindy Williams Gutiérrez’s (Poetry) poetry collection, the small claim of bones, was published by Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingüe (Arizona State University). The book is based on Cindy’s MFA thesis at Stonecoast. Copies are available through Amazon and directly from the publisher.

Marie Hannan-Mandel (Popular Fiction, ’07) was longlisted for the 2014 RTE Guide/Penguin Short Story Competition.

Tamie Fields Harkins (Creative Nonfiction, S’12) has one poem and one short essay published in Connotations, the journal published by The Island Institute in Sitka, AK, where she was a writer-in-residence this past April. She’ll also be spending September and October in Sitka for a private writing residency.

Matthew Quinn Martin‘s (Popular Fiction, S’10) second novel, Nightlife: As the Worm Turns (Simon & Schuster/PocketStar), has been given an official release date of July 1, 2015. He will also be participating in a reading/panel with other thriller and mystery writers at The Doylestown Bookshop in Doylestown, PA, on November 1, 2014.

Alison McMahan‘s (Popular Fiction, W ’10) first (non-fiction) book, Alice Guy Blaché: Lost Visionary of the Cinema, has finally come out in e-book form after eleven years as print only. The rights to this book were sold in July to the Pic Agency, who are producing a theatrical documentary entitled Be Natural; Robert Redford is executive producing and Jodie Foster will narrate. Alison sold her first novel, the prize-winning young adult historical mystery entitled The Saffron Crocus, to Black Opal Books. The tagline: “Murder, Mayhem and Romance in 17th-Century Venice.” The book will come out in December 2014.

Lisa Romeo (Creative Nonfiction, S’08) is excited to be teaching in Bay Path University’s new online creative nonfiction MFA program (among faculty with various Stonecoast ties). Lisa’s essay, “Mom, Me, and the Shirley Temple Room,” appeared in the June 2014 issue of Inside Jersey Magazine.

Robert E. Stutts‘s (Popular Fiction, S’10) short story “Hungry” (one of his Stonecoast thesis stories and published originally in 2013 in Daily Science Fiction) was reprinted in Heiresses of Russ 2014: The Year’s Best Lesbian Speculative Fiction, edited by Melissa Scott and Steve Berman (Lethe Press). Another of his thesis stories, “With His Head in His Hand,” was published this month in Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet.

Lisa C. Taylor’s (Poetry, ’04) short story, “Visible Wounds” (which is an excerpt from a novel in progress) is forthcoming in Map Literary. Her short story “Immersion” appeared in the summer edition of Crannog. Lisa will also be hosting writers in September and October. On September 17, Krista Bremer (associate publisher of The Sun magazine and well-known speaker on NPR and essayist) will read at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic from 3:00-4:00 p.m. in the Science Building, Room 104.  Krista is the author of the memoir My Accidental Jihad: A Love Story. That night Krista will read at the University of Connecticut Co-op in Storrs Center at 6:00. Lisa will host Irish writer Martin Dyar in October.  There are planned readings in Connecticut and New Hampshire. Check out Lisa’s web site www.lisactaylor.com or Facebook Events for details. Both Martin and Lisa are scheduled to read at the University of Connecticut Co-op in Storrs Center at 7:00 p.m. on October 14th. Martin is the author of Maiden Names, which won the Patrick Kavanagh Award and the Strokestown International Poetry Award. Contact Lisa for more details of Martin’s tour in New England. This tour will include a literary salon at her house on October 12 from 3:00-5:00 pm. If you are in the area, email for details. And Lisa will be conducting a writing workshop called Death Riding Shotgun: How Our Mortality Shapes Our Writing, sponsored by the Riverwood Poetry Series and held at the Mark Twain House 351 Farmington Avenue in Hartford on November 15 from 2:00-3:00 p.m. Registration is required.

Julie L. Vandekreke‘s (formerly Julie L. Scharf; Creative Nonfiction, S’10) short Creative nonfiction piece “Off The Line” is forthcoming in the anthology Pranked: Women Unfriending Women.

Since 2012, Anne Witty (Poetry W‘12) has worked freelance with a Mystic Seaport team of exhibition designers and educators to develop a major exhibition on the cultural and economic impact of the American whaling industry. In August, Anne sailed aboard the newly restored 1841 square-rigged whaleship Charles W. Morgan, the last sailing whaleship in the world. This experiential research informs her writing for “Voyaging in the Wake of the Whalers.” Within the highly disciplined word counts specified by design, she is trying to slip in as many whaling-inspired poems and songs as possible. The exhibition is scheduled to open in 2015.

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STUDENTS

Danielle Rose (Popular Fiction, W’15) joins the University of Wisconsin-Parkside’s English faculty as their newest adjunct professor. She will be teaching Fundamentals of English and Composition and Reading, as well as other composition and editing courses.

FACULTY

The fifth installment in the Portuguese editions of David Anthony Durham‘s (Fiction, Popular Fiction) epic fantasy series comes out this month in Portugal. It’s called Acácia – A União Sagrada. For comparison to the English version, it’s the first half of The Sacred Band.

Nancy Holder (Popular Fiction) will make three Southern California appearances during September:

September 20: Shades and Shadows Birthday Party: Reading and partying at the California Institute for the Abnormal Arts.

September 27: H.P. Lovecraft and Cthulhu Con, San Pedro, California: Beginning at 1 PM, Lovecraft reading, panel, and autographing, also judging the film competition.

 

September 28: Long Beach Comic-Con, Long Beach, California: On a panel entitled “What is Modern Horror” at noon and signing in the Horror Writers Association booth.

Jim Kelly (Popular Fiction) has a new story in the October/November issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. Of note to the Stonecoast community: this is a (slight) expansion of the story he wrote for his Flash Fiction Challenge at the Summer 2013 residency. It is now called “Uncanny”; he thanks the workshop for their helpful comments. Also appearing in that issue is an essay Jim wrote on the history and future or space stations.

Three of Mike Kimball’s (Popular Fiction, Scriptwriting) 10-minute comedies will be staged in September.

Plumbing the Depths at the King of Crows Show, September 25-27, 7:30 p.m., Mayo St. Arts, Portland, ME.

Houston and Disagreement at Dead Boot Saloon, at the Grade A Group Show, September 12-14, Friday & Saturday at 8:00 p.m., Sunday at 5:00 p.m., The Actors Studio of Newburyport, 50 Water Street, Mill #1, Suite #5, Newburyport, MA 01950

Suzanne Strempek Shea (Creative Nonfiction, Fiction) had a fabulous time teaching alongside Barbara Hurd and Cambridge poet Charles Coe in late August at Iota: the Conference of Short Prose, a project created and run by Stonecoast grad Penny Guisinger. The four-day event took place on New Brunswick’s beautiful and historic Campobello Island, included several Stonecoast alums, and drew participants from as far away as Chicago and the Carolinas; The Bangor Daily News also ran an article on the conference. Suzanne is headed to Ireland this month for several readings of This Is Paradise, the story of Kerrywoman Mags Riordan and the medical clinic she founded in Malawi in memory of a son who died there. Her September 26th reading at Charlie Byrne’s in Galway will be shared with Stonecoast Ireland’s Ted Deppe and Annie Deppe. Ted and Suzanne also will be reading that week at the Clifden Arts Festival. Mags Riordan will be in New England in late October to do a series of promotional events with Suzanne. Some open dates remain; anyone interested in having Mags speak in their city or town should contact Suzanne at sess7@comcast.net. Suzanne’s return will be just before the October 5th publication of her eleventh book, Make a Wish But Not For Money, a novel about a palm reader in a dead mall.