Posts Tagged "Mark-Anthony Lewis"
Behind the Words: Lucas Burris
Flash fiction is a venture in extreme brevity, and no writer explores those treacherous depths (or is it shallows?) with greater gusto than Lucas Burris, author of “Blind Little Rain God” from our premiere issue. If you’re a fan of the micro-fiction of Russian surrealist Daniil Kharms or the disconcerting antics of Andy Kaufman then you’ll surely find Lucas as fascinating as I did. Mark-Anthony Lewis: According to your bio, you’ve been a surrealist writer since you were a little kid. What sent you down this path? Who were your early influences? Lucas Burris: It’s just what came naturally at the time. I didn’t really have any...
Read MoreBehind the Words: Kate Alexander-Kirk
“Reflections on My Parents’ Past” is a fictionalized recounting of the bizarre series of events leading up to the conception, birth and childhood of Kate Alexander-Kirk (well, technically the “narrator”). The story is surreal in the best sense of the word: you won’t have any idea where it’s going, but it will always feel right when it gets there. Mark-Anthony Lewis: Are your parents really a platypus-mermaid chimera and a recovering-minotaur primordial dwarf? If so, where you ever bullied in school for your nontraditional family? Kate Alexander-Kirk: You have no idea how long I have had to suffer with this unusual fact in...
Read MoreFeatured Interview: Michelle Disler
Michelle Disler has a Ph.D. in Creative Nonfiction from Ohio University, and teaches creative writing at Grand Valley State University. Her work has appeared in The Laurel Review, The Massachusetts Review, Fact-Simile, Hotel Amerika, Seneca Review, and Columbia among many others. Her first book, [BOND, JAMES]: alphabet, anatomy, [auto]biography, was released by Counterpath Press (2012). Michelle spoke with us about literature and writing—poetry/prose, creative/technical, and that fun space in between. Here’s what she had to say: Mark-Anthony: From your book [BOND, JAMES] to your shorter poetry and creative nonfiction, a lot of your work experiments with...
Read MoreWhat Sparked Your Passion for Literature?
December 31, 1999: The Matrix still had moviegoers reeling from futuristic special effects, the recently discontinued Beanie Babies were selling for hundreds of dollars eBay, and Y2K had the world bracing themselves for the computer apocalypse. This day also happened to be my 11th birthday, and I was more worried about a book report I had due by January 2nd than any computocalypse celebrations. I hated reading, and in my aversion, I left my assignment to be completed at the last moment. Unfortunately, I had no books in my house to read, and I was too afraid of my parents finding out about my delinquency to get a book from anywhere else. Families usually have their own...
Read MorePractical Creative Writing
I’ve been working with Spry for almost a year now, and it’s really starting to hit me what sheer mass of creative talent there is out there. I love reading your submissions (the damn near hundreds of them), and while some of them are weird, some are funny, and some heartbreaking, each submission seems to reserve a special attention for form and craft. At my school, the writing program focuses mostly on the more practical technical and business writing, or journalism (though I’ve certainly got that novel I’ve been workin’ on). But I’m finding that whether it be producing copy, drafting essays, developing user documents, or researching...
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