The nine stories in Morgan Thomas’s shimmering debut collection, Manywhere (MCD), witness Southern queer and genderqueer characters determined to find themselves reflected in the annals of history, at whatever cost. As each character traces deceit and violence through Southern tall tales and their own pasts, their journeys reveal the porous boundaries of body, land, and history, and the sometimes ruthless awakenings of self-discovery. A trans woman finds her independence through the purchase of a pregnancy bump. A young Virginian flees their relationship, choosing instead to immerse themselves in the life of an intersex person from Colonial-era Jamestown. A young writer tries to evade the murky and violent legacy of an ancestor who supposedly disappeared into a midwifery bag. And in the uncanny title story, a…
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“We would be together and have our books, and at night be warm in bed together with the windows open and the stars bright.” -Ernest Hemingway It’s time to get warm and cozy with us as Lacy Productions and The Alberta Rose Theatre present BOOKLOVER’S BURLESQUE: Cozy Classics Booklover’s Burlesque is the world’s sexiest literary salon which matches titillating, inspiring, and empowering book readings with burlesque, boylesque, and draglesque performances all in one show! Professional readers, actors, and/or local authors & writers read aloud a piece of poetry, fiction (from any genre), memoir, non-fiction, etc, which is then followed by a burlesque performance inspired by the piece. Join us as we bring the sensual heat of words and wantonness rivaling the warmth of a fireplace…
Comments closedRegister here for the Creative Writing Alumni Reading. You will receive a Zoom link upon registration. Thea Prieto is the author of From the Caves (Red Hen Press, 2021), which won the Red Hen Novella Award and was a finalist in American Book Fest’s Best Book Awards. Her work has also appeared in The Kenyon Review, Longreads, and New Orleans Review, among other journals, and she writes and edits for Poets & Writers and The Gravity of the Thing. She graduated from Portland State University’s MFA program in 2016. LaVonne Griffin-Valade is the author of two novels, Dead Point and Murderers Creek (Severn River Publishing). Her work has also appeared in Oregon Humanities Magazine and Clackamas Literary Review. She was a finalist for the 2018 Fellowship for Emerging Writers at Fishtrap’s Writing and the West. Her third novel, Desolation Ridge, will be published in…
Comments closedIn a first-class lounge at JFK airport, our narrator listens as Jeff Cook, a former classmate he only vaguely remembers, shares the uncanny story of his adult life — a life that changed course years before, the moment he resuscitated a drowning man. Jeff reveals that after that traumatic, galvanizing morning on the beach, he was compelled to learn more about the man whose life he had saved, convinced that their fates were now entwined. But are we agents of our fate — or are we its pawns? Upon discovering that the man is renowned art dealer Francis Arsenault, Jeff begins to surreptitiously visit his Beverly Hills gallery. Although Francis does not seem to recognize him as the man who saved his life, he nevertheless…
Comments closedPerhaps you snuck a peek at your grandma’s romance novels and giggled at the over-the-top metaphors. Maybe your writing group said you could use a sex scene but you’re mortified by putting it on the page. Maybe you write erotica and want to polish your craft. Sex can be one of the most exciting and emotionally resonant moments in a novel. It can also be cringe-worthy and awkward. Join author and sex-positivity advocate, Karelia Stetz-Waters, for a talk on writing fabulous sex scenes. This fun, unembarrassed look at sex scenes will cover plot and character elements as well as the physicality of sex on the page, Karelia will practical tips and tricks that any writer can use. All heat levels, sexual orientations, and gender identities…
Comments closedCome here these 5 wonderful people read their work around grief. Your Jan 6th self will thank you. Its a heart balm. [Featuring: Daniel Elder, Janice Lee, Jen Violi, Mary Mandeville, Pamela Moore Dionne] Readings are about an hour and start at 7 PM Pacific on zoom. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83156663544?pwd=dml2Ymd1eEhnNEVVQXhtOG44SzF3UT09 Meeting ID: 831 5666 3544 Passcode: 103969
Comments closedFrida Liu is struggling. She doesn’t have a career worthy of her Chinese immigrant parents’ sacrifices. She can’t persuade her husband, Gust, to give up his wellness-obsessed younger mistress. Only with Harriet, their cherubic daughter, does Frida finally attain the perfection expected of her. Harriet may be all she has, but she is just enough. Until Frida has a very bad day. The state has its eyes on mothers like Frida. The ones who check their phones, letting their children get injured on the playground; who let their children walk home alone. Because of one moment of poor judgment, a host of government officials will now determine if Frida is a candidate for a Big Brother-like institution that measures the success or failure of a…
Comments closedIn André Lewis Carter’s debut novel, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (Kaylie Jones Books), the Vietnam War is raging, the US Navy has only recently begun the process of integration, and the country is reeling from racial turmoil and unrest. So why does César, a street-tough kid of Afro-Cuban descent, enlist in the navy? He is on the run from a life of crime and from Mr. Mike, a charismatic, sociopathic gangster who was once a mentor but has now turned on him. Escaping into a navy wrestling with its history of racism and sexism, César soon sees the absurdity of certain prejudices that seem as old as the US Armed Forces. When he is deployed aboard the USS Kitty Hawk, racial…
Comments closedIf you’ve been following our social media @hocusreadings during November, you know that we’ve drawn a different Tarot card every morning and created a writing prompt based on that card. During the month of December, you’re invited to REVISE the pieces you’ve written using these prompts and submit your favorite three to us for possible inclusion in a saddle-stitched volume we’re thinking of as a high-class zine. If you haven’t been following along, you still have time! Submissions aren’t due until December 31st. Go to http://www.hocus.ink and click on “Submissions Open!”
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