Author: Allison

Allison

Photography in Rock and a Hard Place Magazine

I’m thrilled to have a photograph, “Diversion,” in issue 8 of Rock and a Hard Place magazine!

“Rock and a Hard Place Press is a lit-noir publisher, focused on stories of struggle, tales of the powerless and marginalized, characters on the fringes of society … and what they do next.”

Don’t miss out on all the amazing stories and art in this issue! Get it now!

Allison

Won’t Be By Your Side Blurb from Keely O’Shaughnessy

I’m honored to share this blurb for my forthcoming chapbook, Won’t Be By Your Side.

I met Keely O’Shaughnessy when I was a priority editor at Flash Fiction Magazine. She’s the managing editor and fearless leader, and an amazing writer to boot! I kicked off Chapbook Week showcasing her book, The Swell of Seafoam, which you can get right now (free!) from Ghost City Press. The microchap is stunning, with the mysterious sea taking on a prominent role in each story.

Since then, Keely’s second book, Baby Is a Thing Best Whispered, came out with Alien Buddha Press. Once I stopped staring at the gorgeous cover, I dove in and the stories swept me away. The relationships in this book are realistic, even when that means they’re fraught with uncertainty and anxiety. Keely deftly inspires those emotions in the reader.

A few of my favorite stories include:

  • “Some Girls are Just Trashy and No Good,” about girls at the fair testing the limits of who they are and what they could become, with descriptions so vivid you can smell the food in the air as the colorful lights flash before your eyes.
  • “Adult Teeth,” about a family of women that hammer their baby teeth into a tree.
  • “Hidden in the Margins of a Gideon’s Bible,” a micro flash which… you just have to read.
  • “Love Is Riding the Log Flume at Splash Town in Late Summer,” which is about love and loss and the passage of time, told with heart-wrenching, brutal honesty.
  • “How to Bake Cookies When Your Child is Dying,” giving you step-by-step instructions on how to make cookies and think of anything other than your child dying, while deftly inserting emotion into each part of the recipe.

I need to stop before I highlight every story, but you get my gist. This flash fiction collection is one you don’t want to miss!

Allison

Happy Book Birthday to ghosts passing through

My friend Janet Dale‘s debut poetry chapbook, ghosts passing through, is out TODAY from Alien Buddha Press. These poems are haunting memories you grasp for and miss but can never forget.

I’m honored that she created some in our shared writing workshop, and that she wanted to use a photo I took of the dilapidated Central State Hospital on our adventure 11 years ago.

Read a few poems on the Alien Buddha blog and then order a copy for yourself. Also see how her art is inspiring others, as with this amazing collage.

Allison

Cover Tease #2

The first cover tease was a photo taken during the same shoot, but that and the color scheme are the only common threads with the cover image itself. This tease is getting a little closer to the source…

Allison

Cover Tease #1

Spoiler alert: The cover of my upcoming chapbook is a photograph I took a few years ago. I’m never one to take a single photo and feel satisfied, so I usually take dozens (okay, hundreds) each shoot. I culled this specific shoot down to about 12 images, then picked my eight favorites. One is the cover—as soon as I titled the book, the image came to mind and just clicked. I tried another image and it wasn’t right, so I listened to my gut. But I still wanted to share the other seven pictures, so I planned out a few cover teases—and this is the first.

Allison

Chapbook Week: A Special Announcement

I’ve already reviewed seven titles for Chapbook Week, but I had to end with a special announcement:

My debut chapbook from Alien Buddha Press is coming September 23rd!

I’m excited to share the cover reveal, blurbs, and inspiration behind each piece in this collection.

Allison

Chapbook Week: An Inventory of Abandoned Things

My seventh review for Chapbook Week is An Inventory of Abandoned Things by Kelly Ann Jacobson.

As the title suggests, each story is about an item that pulls you right into the setting. The narrator is navigating a pregnancy and long-distance relationship while trying to get used to the Florida ecosystem, so there are some creatures creeping along in this book. As with Girlmine, I was so impressed with how place is a character in this book. Each story transported me to the exact location and immediately had me feeling everything that was going on, so it’s definitely a book to study as I work to improve that aspect of my own writing.

You can get a copy of this chapbook from Split/Lip Press.