Writers Abroad Short Story Anthology

The Writers Abroad Short Story Anthology, with its theme of Expat Life, was compiled during November 2010 during the National Short Story Week in the UK, and features short stories by 29 authors, including Christopher Allen, Valerie Collins, Jill Brown, Paola Fornari, Janice Dunn, and many others.

An online version can be found in the 'Our Books' section of Writers Abroad, there also is an Isuu-version online.

"Containing a variety of fictional tales covering the highs and lows of living abroad, I‘m sure many of the stories will have been based on real life situations – often much stranger than the fictional versions found within these pages. Maybe that‘s one of the reasons so many expats pick up the pen (well, switch on the computer) and become writers. The experience of living abroad enriches our lives to such an extent that we feel the need to share, initially through letters and emails to friends and loved ones back home. One thing leads to another and, before you know where you are, another expat writer is born." - Lorraine Mace

About Writers Abroad
Writers Abroad is a community for Expat writers who wish to join a group of like-minded people. Members are expected to regularly contribute to the group’s aims of developing our writing abilities via mutual reviewing, sharing writing opportunities and working outside our natural comfort zones.

Writers Abroad Short Story Anthology
143 pages

related links: short stories, international, anthologies, bilingual authors

Wild Flight - Christine Rhein (Texas Tech)

Soaring across extensive terrain, from the working world of Detroit to American suburbia and pop culture, from the European landscape of World War II to present-day Iraq, Christine Rhein opens her personal world to the world at large in Wild Flight. In poems that explore the historical, social, and scientific as well as the poignant and humorous, Rhein relishes life’s juxtapositions.

“Wild Flight reveals a poet of versatility, one who has the ability to look at suffering with insight and present compelling social commentary. Christine Rhein is an uncompromising voice, whose poetry is profound, illuminating and always surprising.” —Melanie Buckowski, Chiron Review

Winner of the Walt McDonald First-Book Competition in Poetry. For a taste of Wild Flight, visit "Tuning" in The Writer's Almanac, and for a note on the process, visit "How a Poem Happens". 

Christine Rhein, formerly a mechanical engineer in the automotive industry, lives in Brighton, Michigan. Her poems have appeared in literary journals including The Gettysburg Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, and The Southern Review and have been selected for Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, Best New Poets, and The Writer's Almanac. Wild Flight is her first book.

About Texas Tech University Press
Texas Tech University Press, founded 1971, publishes nonfiction titles in various areas, including natural history and the natural sciences; Latin American literature and culture; and all aspects of the Great Plains and the American West. In addition, the Press publishes several scholarly journals, acclaimed series for young readers, an annual invited poetry collection, and literary fiction of Texas and the West.

Christine Rhein: Wild Flight
poetry, 120 pages
ISBN: 978-0-89672-667-3

related links: poetry, the human condition, prize winners

Sylvow - Douglas Thompson (Eibonvale)

In his novel Sylvow, Douglas Thompson follows his cast of characters through a spectacular clash between everyday life and life on the evolutionary scale – as society dissolves and is stripped away under the onslaught of surreal environmental disaster. The novel explores the disastrous state of civilization and its effect on both ourselves and the world around us – in the process touching on elements as diverse as literary surrealism, philosophical tract, horror, disaster novel and visionary science fiction.

"Thompson likes his maybes, his doubts and ambiguities, the darkness of the forests of our minds. Come in and enjoy this wild walk in the woods, and step out again unscathed –maybe." - Martin Bax, from the Introduction.

Douglas Thompson has published short stories in a wide range of magazines and anthologies, most recently New Writing Scotland, Chapman, Ambit, and reviewed architecture for The Herald. He won second prize in the Neil Gunn Writing Competition in 2007, and currently works as an architectural designer and computer 3d-visualiser. His first novel, Ultrameta, was published by Eibonvale Press in August 2009.

About Eibonvale Press
Eibonvale Press is a small press run by a writer, artist and reader who loves books. "It's as simple as that. It is not intended to be particularly commercial or make large sums of money for me or anyone concerned (though it would be nice if it did, of course!), but it aims to produce beautiful and lovingly-designed editions of excellent writing in modern horror, magic realism and the surreal."

Douglas Thompson: Sylvow
hardcover: 274 pages, £22.00
paperback: 308 pages,  £8.99

editor's note: there is a related review on visionary/desaster books (and films) online in the editor's blog, including a novel by Doris Lessing, Sylvow (with a quote), the film 2012, and our dealing with those future scenarios: "popcorn armageddon"

Curving the Line / Curvando la línea - Carmen Leñero (Leaf Press)

Curving the Line / Curvando la línea is the latest result of what has become a joyful exchange of poetry and language between two poets: Carmen Leñero and Lorna Crozier.

Their relationship began when Carmen, having been introduced to Lorna’s poetry through a friend, decided to translate some of them into Spanish and to set them to music. The result, in 2009, was La Perspectiva del Gato, published by Trilce Ediciones in Mexico City. With it came a CD of the songs. Curving the Line is Lorna’s translation of several of Carmen’s long poems, all of them previously published in Mexico.

Lorna says: “During her work on my poems, she and I corresponded, visited in her house in Mexico City and in mine on Vancouver Island. We stayed up late at night in my garden drinking wine, reading the poems out loud, and falling in love with each other and with the exactitude and magic of translation … What I so admire about her poems–their luminosity, their philosophical insights manifested through the senses, their elegance, their aphoristic wit–I pray the reader will find here.”

Mexican singer and writer Carmen Leñero has published twenty books in various genres. Her poetry, fiction and essays have won several literary awards and grants, including the 1998 Nacional Poetry Award Carlos Pellicer, and she has long been a member of the prestigious Sistema National de Creadores de Arte of the Mexican Ministry of Culture (CONACULTA).

Lorna Crozier is a Canadian poet. A Distinguished Professor at the University of Victoria, she is the recipient of several awards for poetry, including the Governor-General’s, and two honorary doctorates for her contributions to Canadian literature. In 2009 Trilce Ediciones in Mexico City published a collection of her poems translated into Spanish by Carmen Leñero. Her latest book is the memoir: "Small Beneath the Sky."

About Leaf Press
Leaf Press is an independent poetry publisher located on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Other titles include: Falling Season by Beth Kope, My Nature by Christine Lowther and Flesh in the Inkwell by Winona Baker (previously featured in s-press here.)

Curving the Line / Curvando la línea
poetry by Carmen Leñero, translated by Lorna Crozier
52 pages, $16.95
ISBN: 978-1-926655-16-1

related links: bilingual authors, poetry

editor's note: there is an additional, more personal review of "Curving the Line" up in the editor's blog: "weekend reads"

Xu Xi - Habit of a Foreign Sky (Haven Books)

In her novel Habit of a Foreign Sky, Xu Xi explores the abrupt shift for Gail Szeto when her mother, her last family member, is killed in an accident. For Gail, a mixed-race, single mother who buried her young son only two years prior, all she has left is a hard-won career at a global investment bank. Life rapidly goes into free fall for this woman with a complicated past, who was once so sure of her direction in life, and who now isn't able to see a clear future path.

This novel is finalist for the Inaugral Man Asian Literary Prize. An audio interview with Xu Xi is online at: Xu Xi explains the multicultural appeal of the novel (recommended).

Xu Xi, an award-winning fiction writer and essayist, has edited several literary anthologies including Fifty-Fifty: New Hong Kong Writing. She currently teaches at Vermont College of Fine Arts and is Writer-in-Residence at City University of Hong Kong, where she founded the first international MFA program that specializes in Asian writing in English.

About Haven Books
Haven Books is a dynamic English-language press based in Hong Kong, their books focus primarily on Asian and international themes, and are enjoyed worldwide by readers of all ages. "We publish strong, fresh titles on a wide variety of topics - including exciting fiction, cookbooks, photography and travel books, children's illustrated books, young adult novels, and reference books. A founding member of the Independent Publishers of Hong Kong, Haven Books actively promotes Asia-based writers and literary organizations."

Habit of  a Foreign Sky - Xu Xi
ISBN 978-988-18967-2-8

related links: international, novels, prize/best of

Coldfront Top 30 Poetry Books of 2010

The editors of Coldfront Magazine took some time and picked their favourite Top 30 Poetry Books of 2010.

John Deming, the editor-in-chief of Coldfront, explaines: "Unfortunately, we don't have the time to publish full reviews of every book we come across as it comes out. But we always strive to keep thorough records of what's happening in American poetry as it happens. This list was created by Coldfront's editorial staff, and surely there are books that others (including our future selves) might think are missing. But we think that lists like this are a lot of fun and can serve as a very useful record years down the line."

For some books, the list links to Coldfront reviews, which often include samples of the poems. Here a couple of direct links to reviews:

• One With Others by C.D. Wright - “So they slew the dreamer, and ever since they’ve been trying to slay the dream” - review by Steven Karl
• Like a Sea by Samuel Amadon - “each country has made these phrases for / us” - review by PJ Gallo
• Come on All You Ghosts by Matthew Zapruder - "a little digital hope" - review by Kathleen Rooney

Included are books from various presses: Mississippi Review Poetry Series, Tarpaulin Sky Press, New Directions, Wave Books, Ahsahta Press, Graywolf Press, Coffee House Press, Copper Canyon Press,  Bloof Books (bee!), and many others.

About Coldfront
The goal of Coldfront Magazine is to serve as a general overview of contemporary poetry and related issues: "There have been more than 300 reviews published at Coldfront since 2006. We are committed to covering the development of American language and lyricism, whether that means bringing you the latest poetry-related news, reviews of new books, or features. Everyday in this morning we point to a new, bite-sized sampler of online poetry, handpicked by our crack staff and network of diligent tipsters."

related links: poetry, best of

MiCrow Winter 2010: “Void” (Full of Crow)

MiCrow is the flash fiction section of Full Of Crow, currently edited by Michael Solender, with two online issues a year in Summer and Winter. The Winter 2010 issue is out now, it's theme: "Void"

„Void as a literary theme opens up an entire world of possibilities for both the reader and the writer. Absence can be hurtful, playful, scary, hopeful, or crushing. Emptiness and vagaries may inspire or go unnoticed," says Michael Solender. "The works that you'll find in the Winter 2010 issue of MiCrow approach the concept of Void from many varied and curious angles and will do everything but leave you with an empty and hollow feeling."

The issue is available online: MiCrow Winter 2010: “Void”

Authors include: Susan Gibb, Jeffrey S. Callico, Chris Deal, Doug Mathewson, Howie Good, Michael Webb, Jason Warden, Timothy Gager, Nigel Bird, R.S. Bohn, Mike Robertson, Dorothee Lang, Laura Cummins, Randall Brown, Nabina Das, Sean Ulman, Paul Beckman, Ron Koppleberger, Jeffery Miller, Carol Maginn, James Tallett, Susan May, and Richard Godwin. This issue also features images by Mike Handley, (cover) Lily Mulholland, Steve Wing, Dorothee Lang, and Nabina Das.

Michael J. Solender is a freelance writer and editor. He lives in North Carolina with his wife Harriet, and blogs daily at Not From Here, Are You?

About Full Of Crow:
Full Of Crow Press produces and promotes both print and web based content, including fiction, poetry, art, interviews, art columns, reviews, audio, flash fiction, zines, chapbooks, ebooks, and more.
Submissions for the next MiCrow issue will be considered from March 1- May 1 2011, the theme is: "Summer".

MiCrow Winter 2010: “Void”
e-book, 39 pages
direct pdf-link: "Void"

related links: anthologies, e-books