ANNOUNCEMENTS

In response to the Lewiston-Auburn mass shooting that rocked the Maine community in October, Rogue Owl Press—helmed by Stonecoast alums Frank Ard, Popular Fiction (S’14); Joseph Carro, Popular Fiction (W’15); and Rebecca McKenna, Fiction (S’14)—is publishing a charity collection with 100% of proceeds benefiting Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit organization which advocates for gun control legislation and education. Maine Character Energy, edited by Sarah (Flynn) Parke (Popular Fiction, W’15), is seeking short-story submissions (up to 8,000 words) in all genres (creative nonfiction, literary, popular fiction) that feature a strong Maine setting and celebrate Maine characters. NOTE: Given the charitable nature of the anthology, we will not consider stories with gratuitous violence and/or guns.

The submission deadline is Friday, November 24, 2023, at midnight.

Submissions should be emailed as separate Word doc to submissions@rogueowlpress.com with the subject line “[YOUR NAME] Maine anthology”

ALUMS 

“Roommates,” a short film written and co-directed by J Brooke (They/e; Poetry, S’19) will screen November 1 as part of Raindance New York Film Festival. The film explores the lives of two roommates at the only nursing home catering exclusively to the formerly incarcerated. J graduated Stonecoast Summer 2019 and is 2023/24 guest faculty there.

Libby Cudmore (Popular Fiction/Creative Nonfiction, S’10) is thrilled to announce her first Wade & Jacks novel Negative Girl will be published by Datura Books in September 2024. The novel is a continuation of the Shamus-award winning series published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Tough, and the Anthony-nominated anthology Lawyers, Guns & Money: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Warren Zevon (co-edited with Art Taylor).

Deborah Daughetee (Popular Fiction, S’06) sold several short stories and one audio drama this year. First, her story “The Black Door” appeared in Castle of Horror Anthology, Volume 9: Young Adult. Double Trouble: An Anthology of Two-Fisted Team-Ups included her story “The Shape of Fury.” Finally, her novella Touch of Silk, a Kolchak: The Nightstalker story, will be published in February 2024. In addition, Debbie adapted her short story “Summer Chills” into an audio drama for the Fever Dreams Podcast.

Aimee Degroat‘s (Fiction, S’21, publishing under AJ Newsom) short story “The Women in This Town” was published in Issue 7 of Pile Press and is available for pre-order. Her short story “Big Big Love” (forthcoming in the Raleigh Review) was a finalist in the Winning Writers Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction Contest.

David A. Hewitt‘s (Popular Fiction, S’09) latest short story, “The Breadships,” is now available, free to read, on Amazing Stories. Note that the audio version is also read by the author, and includes a special musical surprise near the end!

Veda Boyd Jones (Fiction, S’17) sold a short story to Woman’s World, which will be in the November 20th issue.

Jeff Kass (Fiction, S’09) has had his third full-length poetry manuscript, True Believer, accepted for publication by Dzanc Books, AWP’s 2023 Small Press of the Year. True Believer is a collection of poems that spin around and through Marvel Comics and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Look for it in December 2024!

Nina B. Lichtenstein (Creative Nonfiction, S’20) is thrilled to share the news that her memoir Body: My Life in Parts is under contract and forthcoming from Vine Leaves Press in May 2025. She is also happy to be hosting another Stonecoast alum, Clif Travers, at the Third Brunswick Literary Salon & Open Mic, on December 13th. Please join us to talk shop, celebrate Clif’s book release, schmooze, and share stories at the mic. Finally, Maine Writers Studio, which Nina founded in May, will soon be accepting applications for a one-week free writing retreat in this heavenly spot in Brunswick, Maine, in June 2024, to be awarded to a writer working on their first book. So sign up for their newsletter so you can be notified about the application process and deadline. 

Jeanette Lynes (Poetry/Fiction, S’05) won the John V Hicks Non-Fiction Manuscript competition for her essay collection Apron Apocalypse: Lyric Essays. This competition is sponsored by the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild. Jeanette’s novel, The Apothecary’s Garden (HarperCollins Canada), was a Finalist at the 2023 High Plains Book Awards in Billings, Montana.

Suri Parmar’s (Popular Fiction, W’17) experimental short film You’re Smart celebrated its world premiere at Reykjavík International Film Festival in early October this year, where it received a nomination for a Golden Egg award. This marks the first time one of her directed films has screened at a major international exhibition, alongside new works from acclaimed directors Wim Wenders and Yorgos Lanthinos. Suri traveled to Iceland to attend the festival and participated in filmmaking initiatives, including a master class with Academy Award-nominated actress Isabelle Huppert as well as a pitch competition, during which she presented her feature film concept Sickie to a panel of industry professionals. 

Marisca Pichette (Popular Fiction, S’21) had a wonderful time at Can*Con in Ottawa this October! She was pleased to see fellow alum KT Bryski there. At the con, Marisca moderated a panel on the short-fiction industry, signed copies of her collection, and sat on two more panels: one about speculative poetry, and another on reader expectations. In November, she will be participating in the Virtual International Conference of the Fantastic Arts as an invited creative guest.

Sean Robinson (Popular Fiction, W’14) had two projects out in October. The first was a Patreon exclusive of his Halloween story “Peter Price the Pumpkin Prince,” which was written a section at a time on Halloween for the past thirteen years, concluding this year. He also had a short story, “Those Who Search,” appear in We Are the Quiet Ones. This short story was written at a long-ago Stonecoast residency in Howth with Liz Hand and Ted Deppe and appeared in an exhibition of Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam‘s (Popular Fiction, S’13) Art and Words. 

Richard Squires (Fiction, S’14) recently published his second book review in American Book Review. Titled Save the Village, the novel is about New York City’s awesome Greenwich Village. You can read part of the review and purchase the journal here. 

Kevin St. Jarre (Popular Fiction, S’10) is pleased to announce that the audio versions of his novels The Twin and Absence of Grace are now available from Audible. 

Lisa C. Taylor (Poetry, S’04) is excited to announce that her first novel, The Shape of What Remains, has received an offer of publication from the indie press Between the Lines. More details will be forthcoming. Stay tuned for a book tour in 2024 or later! She has new poetry in Live Encounters, an online journal from Indonesia, and she was invited to be at an author’s fair in Farmington New Mexico on November 11 from 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Lisa was unanimously voted to serve on the Mancos Creative District Board. She will be helping to fundraise, pursue youth scholarships, and hopefully bring more awareness and opportunity for writers in this small part of Southwestern Colorado. And finally: the Mesa Verde Writers Conference (Lisa is a co-director) is planning for next year. The dates are July 11-14, 2024 and it will be held again in Mancos, Colorado, at the gorgeous Tin Burro/Harmony Barn (panoramic mountain views). Once again, the price is very reasonable and delicious local food is included. Because this conference is limited to 26 people, it fills very quickly. Email mesaverdewriters@gmail.com or visit the web site.  They will be hiring two new faculty members, a poet and a fiction writer.

Rhiannon J. Taylor/R. J. Howell’s (Popular Fiction, S’19) dark fantasy short story “Of Brittle Heart and Bleeding Bone” was published in Space Cat Press’ Bark & Bone. The anthology is currently available in e-book, with the print release slated for November 25th, 2023. 

Paula Treick DeBoard (Fiction, S‘10) and her husband Will are opening a new/used independent bookstore, café, and gathering space in Modesto, CA, in 2024. Bookish Modesto will be the city’s only independent bookstore (and the only new/used independent bookstore within an hour’s radius). To connect with Bookish on social media, or to support the crowdfunding campaign ending on 11/3/23, visit www.bookishmodesto.com. Paula is the author of four novels, most recently Here We Lie (Park Row Books, 2018), and currently teaches writing at the University of California, Merced.  

Sean Ulman (Fiction, S’05) hosts a radio show on the public station in Seward, Alaska. Seward Sound Words features AK writers reading their work Live on the air. Shows are archived on YouTube. Sean is the editor of a new project, Trail Mix Journal, in partnership with Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area. Creative essays about favorite hiking trails.  

2005 Fiction alum Eugenio Volpe has published a debut novel, I, Caravaggio (Clash Books). The novel is historically accurate but narrated in a contemporary voice as it dramatizes the superstar artist’s psychological unraveling under the sexual and political pressures of the Catholic Reformation.

FACULTY  

Tobias S. Buckell’s novel A Stranger in the Citadel launched in print from Tachyon Press this Oct 17th. “Inspired by Fahrenheit 451, Buckell masterfully crafts this coming-of-age story for a strong, compassionate heroine,” Booklist says, in a starred review. Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Locus Magazine also reviewed the book positively, which is now available from bookstores. Tobias gave a keynote address this year’s Surrey International Writers Conference in Vancouver, BC, speaking about the power of storytelling and harnessing our individual experiences. He also gave a lecture to creative writing students at the University of British Columbia. Tobias has sold the French translation rights for his story “Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance,” which will appear in an upcoming issue of the French magazine Bifrost.

Tom Coash‘s (Scriptwriting) play Flat Meat Society will be included in The Best Ten-Minute Plays 2023 anthology published by Smith and Kraus, available December 1st. His new play, Between the Sheets, was recently produced in London as part of the Gi60 Festival UK.

Fiction faculty Ron Currie published essays with the Boston Globe (about Paul LePage and Donald Trump) and the New York Times (about the soothing futility of picking up trash) in October.

Theodore Deppe‘s “Lullaby Before Leaving” is one of four poems shortlisted for the Irish Poem of the Year in the 2023 Irish Book Awards. Anyone over 16 can vote until November 9th; here’s the link. (You’ll have to scroll down to the bottom to find where poets and short story writers dwell.) Ted also has a poem in the current Poetry Ireland Review and one coming out soon in The Irish Times.

Aaron Hamburger‘s Hotel Cuba road tour continues in November!

• Philadelphia friends, come see Aaron with author A. J. Sidransky as they talk about their Cuba-themed books at the Cherry Hill JCC Katz Art Festival, November 7 at 11:00 a.m.
• Are you a Detroiter? Have lunch with Aaron and author Nina Simon at the J on November 9 at noon.
• Austin, Texas folks! Aaron’s going to be appearing at the Texas Book Festival along with Luis Alberto Urrea as they discuss “Epic Stories of Women on the Fringe in Historical Fiction” from 1:45 p.m.-2:30 p.m. CT. 
• St. Louis, MO, November 13 at noon. Hear Aaron and author Weina Dai Randel discuss their fiction.

Elizabeth Hand‘s (Popular Fiction, Fiction) A Haunting on the Hill was on the cover of the Sunday New York Times Book Review and the subject of a feature in The New Yorker. The novel has received rave reviews from The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, The Guardian, Paste Magazine, Locus Magazine, Book Page, and Book Reporter, among others. Elizabeth’s essay on Shirley’s Jackson’s enduring influence and relevance was published in the Guardian, and she was a guest at the Cheltenham Literature Festival in UK. A Haunting on the Hill launched at Books Are Magic in New York City, where she was interviewed by critic Sarah Weinman, and later in the month she toured Sweden. On Halloween night, she appeared (via Zoom) in a live-streamed event at the Vancouver Public Library. Forthcoming reviews include Tananarive Due’s The Reformatory and Naomi Alderman’s The Future, both for The Washington Post.

Elizabeth Searle was interviewed by bestselling author Caroline Leavitt on the popular podcast A Mighty Blaze; the interview aired live on October 19th and is available for viewing on the Mighty Blaze website and on Facebook and more. The talk centers around “Book to Film” projects and includes discussion of Elizabeth’s feature film, I’ll Show You Mine, plus the adaptation of her novel A Four-Sided Bed into a short film, FourSided, screening in several 2023 festivals, as well as her new feminist thriller, Lock Her Up. The script for Lock Her Up has drawn recognition in seven competitions this year, most recently being named a Finalist at the Breaking Walls Thriller Script competition, as well as Open Gate Film Festival, and winning, at both Lonely Seal International Festival and ScreamingOstrichFest, Best Feature Film Script. Stay tuned at www.elizabethsearle.net.