Tag: short stories

Robert Long Foreman Chosen for Publication from Sundress Publications

An image of the author Robert Long ForemanSundress Publications is pleased to announce the manuscript chosen from our inaugural fiction competition is Robert Long Foreman for his exquisite collection of short stories, I Am Here to Make Friends.

Of the collection judge Saba Razvi, author of In the Crocodile Gardens (Agape Editions) and four other collections, had this to say, “Robert Long Foreman has a particular knack for instigating a curiosity in readers about things they might not otherwise think to explore—guns, pigs, bug bites, childbirth, death dreams, and the strangest parts of human intuition. In his new collection I Am Here to Make Friends, Foreman captivates us with each story, keeping us guessing about what will happen next and how we will respond to the actions of characters that remind us of ourselves and our friends, and the choices we would make only in secret. In crisp, compelling prose, this fiction collection’s journey into the psyche is a multifaceted odyssey into the storytelling impulses and cravings that whisper within us in the quiet hours, and its uncanny allure keeps us turning page after page, anxious to know what revelry and revelations wait beyond each turn.”

Robert Long Foreman has won a Pushcart Prize and the hearts of his wife and daughters. His first book, Among Other Things, a collection of essays, was published by Pleiades Press in 2017. His first novel, Weird Pig, is coming from SEMO Press in 2020. His short stories and essays have appeared in magazines like Agni, Copper Nickel, Willow Springs, Crazyhorse, Electric Literature, and Barrelhouse. He lives in Kansas City.

We received a large number of impressive manuscripts for our very first fiction open reading period and are delighted to have found the first of many winning publications to come. 

Finalists

TURMERIC & SUGAR by Anna Vangala Jones
PATRIMONIUM by Angie Pelekidis
OUTSIDE OF NORMAL by Jessica Barksdale Inclan
FURTHER: A NOVELLA AND STORIES by Deb Jannerson
AFTER ANY NUMBER OF THINGS, WHAT’S ONE THING MORE? By Kimi Traube

Semi-Finalists

COLLECTIVE GRAVITIES by Chloe Clark
PEOPLE WANT TO LIVE by Farah Ali
COLD CIGAR SMELL  by Viviane Vives
TALES IN MAGHREBI LANDSCAPES by Mary Byrne
STRIPPED by Leah Griesmann
IN JOSAPHAT’S VALLEY by Joshua Bernstein

Look for I Am Here to Make Friends in March, 2020!

A 501(c)3 non-profit literary press collective founded in 2000, Sundress Publications is an entirely volunteer-run press that publishes chapbooks and full-length collections in both print and digital formats, and hosts numerous literary journals, an online reading series, and the Best of the Net Anthology.

Website: www.sundresspublications.com      Facebook: sundresspublications
Email: sundresspublications@gmail.com          Twitter: @SundressPub

Sundress Releases Wind on the Moon by Katie Burgess

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Sundress Releases Wind on the Moon by Katie Burgess

wind on the moon coverSundress Publications announces the 2019 release of Wind on the Moon by Katie Burgess, our 2018 Chapbook Competition winner. The stories in Wind on the Moon fit together seamlessly, creating a world that’s as real to us readers as it is enchanted with love and grief.

Katie Burgess uses playful form and familiar tales to distill the most complex family dynamics: a daughter reckons with her mother meeting her lover in the language of a math textbook. Adam and Eve become a husband and wife who “always did encourage each other’s bad behavior.” In the final story, the act of writing conflates with the creation of the universe, our narrator critiquing the work of a god: “I liked how in your first draft everything revolved around the Earth. That makes a lot more sense if the people there are going to be important.” And Burgess shows us the importance of all people, encouraging empathy and the desire to get to know every character, every person, no matter how insignificant they may seem at first. Burgess writes with an honesty so clear it aches. Wind on the Moon is one of those chapbooks you can’t wait to share with everyone you love.

Of the work, George Singleton, author of Staff Picks said, “I’ve never read in the literary biographies how Lydia Davis and Donald Barthelme hooked up, but the result is clear: Katie Burgess. Wind on the Moon is an amazing collection of short, jaundice-eyed, hilarious, sly, insightful, intelligent stories that the world needs now. One problem: This collection needs to be about ten times as long. These characters are human, human, human. They navigate in times that are increasingly disconcerting. They triumph and/or fail. I don’t know when I last read a collection of stories that made me think, ‘Yes! Yes, yes, yes! Exactly.’”

And Diane Roberts, author of Tribal: College Football and the Secret Heart of America said, “From the guys who faked the moon landing to what really went down in the Garden of Eden back in the day, Katie Burgess’s sly and sharp stories take you on a trip through the secret soul of America. Her prose shines like polished steel and cuts like an obsidian blade. She’s as funny as David Sedaris and twice as bold, giving God editorial advice and taking down the college industrial complex. Burgess is a writer on her way up. Read her now and be cooler than your friends!”Katie Burgess Author Photo

Katie Burgess holds a PhD in creative writing from Florida State and is editor-in-chief of Emrys Journal. Her writing has appeared in The Rumpus, New Orleans Review, SmokeLong Quarterly, and Reductress, among others. Her essay, “Rahab’s Thread,” was listed as “notable” in Best American Essays 2014 and was anthologized in Southern Sin: True Stories of the Sultry South and Women Behaving Badly (In Fact Books).

Download Wind on the Moon for free today!

 

Sundress Extends the Fiction Reading Deadline

Sundress Publications is extending the deadline for submissions of full-length short story manuscripts. All authors are welcome to submit qualifying manuscripts during our reading period which has been extended to February 1, 2019!

We are looking for manuscripts that are approximately 125–165 double-spaced pages of fiction; front matter does not count toward your page count. Individual stories may have been previously published in anthologies, chapbooks, print journals, online journals, etc., but cannot have appeared in any full-length collection, including self-published collections. Manuscripts translated from another language will not be accepted. Simultaneous submissions are fine, but we ask that authors notify us immediately if their work has been accepted elsewhere.

The reading fee is $15 per manuscript, though the fee will be waived for entrants who purchase or pre-order any Sundress title or broadside. We will also accept nominations for entrants, provided the nominating person either pays the reading fee or makes a qualifying purchase. Authors may submit and/or nominate as many manuscripts as they would like, so long as each is accompanied by a separate reading fee or purchase/pre-order. Entrants and nominators can place book orders or pay submission fees at our store at https://squareup.com/market/sundress-publications.

All manuscripts will be read by members of our editorial board, and we will choose one manuscript for publication in late 2019. We strive to further our commitment to diversity and seek to encounter as many unique and important voices as possible. We are actively seeking collections from writers of color, trans and nonbinary writers, writers with disabilities, and others whose voices are underrepresented in literary publishing. Selected manuscripts will be offered a standard publication contract, which includes 25 copies of the published book, as well as any additional copies at cost.

To submit, email your Sundress store receipt for submission fee or book purchase, send a 20–35 page sample of your manuscript (DOC, DOCX, or PDF), to sundresspublications@gmail.com; this sample can include one story or a number of shorter stories. After our initial selection process, semi-finalists will be asked to send the full collection.

Be sure to note both your name and the title of the manuscript in your email header. For those nominating others for our reading period, please include the name of nominee as well as an email address; we will solicit the manuscript directly.

More details on submissions can be found here.

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A 501(c)3 non-profit literary press collective founded in 2000, Sundress Publications is entirely volunteer-run, publishes chapbooks and full-length works in both print and digital formats, and hosts a variety of online journals. Although we are conscious of the lack of representation by women writers in literary publishing, we are a non-discriminatory publishing group focused on the creativity of all artists, regardless of race, class, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, education, etc.

To learn more about Sundress, visit our website.

Sundress Publications is Open for Full-Length Short Story Manuscripts

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Sundress Publications is opening for submissions of full-length short story manuscripts. All authors are welcome to submit qualifying manuscripts during our reading period, which runs from November 1, 2018 to January 15, 2019.

We are looking for manuscripts of 125-165 double-spaced pages of fiction; front matter does not count toward your page count. Individual stories may have been previously published in anthologies, chapbooks, print journals, online journals, etc., but cannot have appeared in any full-length collection, including self-published collections. Manuscripts translated from another language will not be accepted. Simultaneous submissions are fine, but we ask that authors notify us immediately if their work has been accepted elsewhere.

The reading fee is $15 per manuscript, though the fee will be waived for entrants who purchase or pre-order any Sundress title or broadside. We will also accept nominations for entrants, provided the nominating person either pays the reading fee or makes a qualifying purchase. Authors may submit and/or nominate as many manuscripts as they would like, so long as each is accompanied by a separate reading fee or purchase/pre-order. Entrants and nominators can place book orders or pay submission fees at our store at https://squareup.com/market/sundress-publications.

All manuscripts will be read by members of our editorial board, and we will choose one manuscript for publication in late 2019. We strive to further our commitment to diversity and seek to encounter as many unique and important voices as possible. We are actively seeking collections from writers of color, trans and nonbinary writers, writers with disabilities, and others whose voices are underrepresented in literary publishing. Selected manuscripts will be offered a standard publication contract, which includes 25 copies of the published book, as well as any additional copies at cost.

To submit, email your Sundress store receipt for submission fee or book purchase, send a 20-35 page sample of your manuscript (DOC, DOCX, or PDF), to sundresspublications@gmail.com; this sample can include one story or a number of shorter stories. After our initial selection process, semi-finalists will be asked to send the full collection.

Be sure to note both your name and the title of the manuscript in your email header. For those nominating others for our reading period, please include the name of nominee as well as an email address; we will solicit the manuscript directly.

A 501(c)3 non-profit literary press collective founded in 2000, Sundress Publications is entirely volunteer-run, publishes chapbooks and full-length works in both print and digital formats, and hosts a variety of online journals. Although we are conscious of the lack of representation by women writers in literary publishing, we are a non-discriminatory publishing group focused on the creativity of all artists, regardless of race, class, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, education, etc.

2017 Summer Fiction Writing Retreat Sign-Ups Open

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The Sundress Academy for the Arts is thrilled to announce its Summer Fiction Writing Retreat, which runs from Friday, June 2nd to June 4th, 2017.  The three-day, two-night camping retreat will be held at SAFTA’s own Firefly Farms in Knoxville, Tennessee.  This year’s retreat will focus on generative fiction writing and include two break-out sessions “Transmogrification: Magic and the Body” and “The Most Weird and Practical Dream: Advice on How to Communicate With Strangers, or, Everything I’ve Learned in the Last 20 Years Cut Down to 2 Hours,” plus discussions on kicking writer’s block, publishing, and more.

A weekend pass includes one-on-one and group instruction, writing supplies, food, drinks, transportation to and from the airport, and all on-site amenities for $250.  Tents, sleeping bags, and other camping equipment are available to rent for $25.  Payment plans are available if you reserve by March 31, 2017; inquire via email for details.

The event will be open to writers of all backgrounds and provide an opportunity to work with many talented, published fiction writers from around the country, including Chen Chen and Emilia Phillips.

M.O. Walsh

 

M.O. Walsh is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  He is the author of the short story collection The Prospect of Magic and the novel My Sunshine Away, which was a New York Times Bestseller, an Amazon Featured Debut, and won the Pat Conroy Book Award for Southern Fiction.  His stories and essays have appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, Oxford American, The Southern Review, and others. He currently lives in New Orleans, LA, where he is the director of the Creative Writing Workshop at the University of New Orleans.

 

tessa-mellas-for-gristTessa Mellas received the 2013 Iowa Short Fiction Award for her collection, Lungs Full of Noise. She holds an MFA from Bowling Green State University and a PhD from the University of Cincinnati. She teaches writing at the University of Maine at Machias, a college so far east it is the first in the nation each morning to see the sun. Figure skater, vermicomposter, vegan, and tender of a fierce feline twosome, she relates to soil and snow.

We have one full scholarship available for the retreat as well as limited 20% scholarships for those with financial need. To apply for a scholarship, send a packet of no more than (8) pages of poetry along with a brief statement on why you would like to attend this workshop to Erin Elizabeth Smith at erin@sundresspublications.com no later than March 31, 2017. Winners will be announced in April.

 

Space at this workshop is limited to 15 writers, so reserve your place today!