Bright Shards of Someplace Else has been chosen as a 2015 Michigan Notable Book, alongside a few excellent Michigan books I read this year, including Sean Madigan Hoen’s Song Only You Know (a raw, beautifully rendered memoir of the Detroit hardcore scene in the 1990’s) and Lisa Lenzo’s entertaining and oddly addictive book of short stories about…
NPR included Bright Shards of Someplace Else as one of it’s “best reads” of 2014, along with Lorrie Moore’s excellent Bark, and John Darnielle’s Wolf in White Van (which I’ve both read)& many other great titles from presses both large and small.
Recently, I talked about death and math here, and discussed why I don’t commit my best stories to paper here. I’m also finally done with my six readings this month. Shards: A Live Book Trailer went perfectly! Natalie Bird, Jason Faust, and Christopher Stephens were wonderful, and the scenes all played really well. Pics here,…
So I did a crazy thing and scheduled six readings in one month. It’s been hectic but fun–meeting other writers/students/profs has been the best part. Come Home Chicago was a particularly fun event: I was part of a lineup that included singers, bagpipers, and screenwriter Irvine Welsh (of Trainspotting fame). The only problem was, I…
Bright Shards of Someplace Else has been entered for The Story Prize, which gave me a chance to be part of the Story Prize Blog. My entry is about my days as a 4-H agent, and the interpersonal dynamics I found so memorable: Monica McFawn: In Pursuit of Clarity The TSP Blog is fun reading, since…
To all my McFans out there: Now’s the time to preorder Bright Shards of Someplace Else! It’s available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon. And here’s a special deal: preorder the book, then email me (mcfawn@icloud.com) your mailing address and a number from 1-164. I will then draw an image based on that page of…
“The Chautauqua Sessions” is out in the new issue of Missouri Review. I love the design of the issue and what I’ve read so far. Melissa Yancy’s father/son story is excellent, and an interesting counterpoint to my own story about father son difficulty. Also, “Snippet and the…
Bright Shards of Someplace Else has a real cover, which will be revealed soon. In the meantime, I’m sending the proofs to blurbers and potential blurbers. Rather than just send a boring PDF or a sheaf of paper, I had the proofs cheaply bound at OfficeMax and had them add a blank cover, which I…
Matt Kissane, who played “Bruce” during the reading of SNOW ANGEL at the Public House Theatre, interviewed me for his ‘net radio show. My part starts at 59:47. I talk about the inspirations behind SNOW ANGEL and the recent trend of “I bumped my head/had surgery/fainted & saw heaven books” on the NYT Best…