I’m not just saying it: Every subsequent issue of Midwestern Gothic makes me more and more excited. The newest issue, Fall 2011 (Issue #3) is out now.
Revisiting ‘Sex Scene: An Anthology’
In 2010 I had an idea to put together an anthology that would, in effect, deconstruct sex in literature–leaving only the scene itself and very little context around it–creating a work that would, ideally, showcase how we all perceive such intimate things. The result was Sex Scene: An Anthology, a collection of stories I am so, so proud of.
And, in the interest of getting it out there, checked out by all y’all who have not already checked it out, it is, as it always has been, free. Very free. (Get yourself a free eBook here.)
It is also available as a hardcopy and for Kindle (for nominal fees).
I highly recommend that if you haven’t, check it out now. Again, I wouldn’t classify this as erotica, per se, more like an experimentation of sex in literary fiction. Here’s the nitty-gritty:
Sex Scene: An Anthology aims to decontextualize sex, asking the reader to look at the act itself as not only a form of art, but also as the very basest of human urges. The result is a cacophony of unique perspectives, cultures, styles and scenes–from soft and romantic to deranged and hardcore–that invites you to leave any hang-ups behind and actively engage in conversations about the all-too-often taboo topic, showing that, perhaps, we are not so different after all. Featuring stories by: Sabina England, Penny Goring, Dan Holloway, Sara Lippmann, Kirsty Logan, Sarah E. Melville, Gary Percesepe, Leah Petersen, Jeff Pfaller, Remittance Girl, Scott C. Rogers, Robert James Russell, and Cherise Wolas.
We met on the internet
Song of the day: “New Colors” by Figurines
One of the best bands you’re not listening to.
Wednesday Night Sessions
Along with three other local publishers (Dzanc Books, Black Coffee Press and Absinthe: New European Writing), Midwestern Gothic will be co-hosting/sponsoring a new reading series called Wednesday Night Sessions that takes place the last Wednesday of every month.
I’m really quite proud of this, and I’m excited for host a venue where local (read: Midwestern) authors/poets can come together and mingle and have a great time.
More details on the official site. First session is on Wednesday, September 28, from 7-8 PM at Mentobe Cafe in downtown Farmington, Michigan. If you’re in the area, do us a solid and stop by.
Oh, and if you’re on Twitter, please follow the reading series there too. Updates and fun things, I swear.
More as we get closer to the date.
Song: “Nightcall” by Kavinsky
Heard it in the new Drive trailer. Fell in love. End of story.
Chicago Publishes interviews Jeff and I about MG
Good times. Chicago Publishes, a wonderful website that tracks the world of publishing in Chicago (where the other half of MG–Jeff–lives), published an interview they did with he and I.
Check it out here. (And forgive the picture. It was the only one of Jeff and I worth posting.)
Midwestern Gothic Issue 3 cover
The little lit journal I founded and edit with friend and confidant Jeff Pfaller is gearing up to launch its third issue. Check out the cover below. Full contributor listing here. Enjoy and pass it on.
Sea of Trees
SEA OF TREES
May 2012
Winter Goose Publishing
Paperback | 106 pages
6″ x 9″ | $11.99
ISBN 978-0985154851
Print: Amazon | B&N | WGP Bookstore ($10.99)
eBook: Kindle | NOOK
Swirling mystery permeates Sea of Trees as Bill, an American college student, and his Japanese girlfriend Junko traverse the Aokigahara Forest in Japan—infamous as one of the world’s top suicide destinations—in search of evidence of Junko’s sister Izumi who disappeared there a year previous. As the two follow clues and journey deeper into the woods amid the eerily quiet and hauntingly beautiful landscape—bypassing tokens and remains of the departed, suicide notes tacked to trees and shrines put up by forlorn loved ones—they’ll depend on one another in ways they never had to before, testing the very fabric of their relationship. And, as daylight quickly escapes them and they find themselves lost in the dark veil of night, Bill discovers a truth Junko has hidden deep within her—a truth that will change them both forever.
Sea of Trees was nominated in 2012 for a Pushcart Prize.
PRAISE FOR SEA OF TREES
“Darkly beautiful, replete with intriguing bends, Russell’s novella unfolds much like one of the tree-shrouded paths comprising its protagonists’ somber, captivating journey, the characters’ psyches as perilous as the forest in which they find themselves lost, the book’s stunning vignettes like narrative shrines to those who have chosen to make their end in Aokigahara.” —Charles McLeod, author of National Treasures and American Weather
“What is it about trees that terrify us so—there’s a frightening and twisted stillness to them, but yet they are like us: vertical, yet reaching. Perhaps we think of Dante—the trees in the Inferno are actually people who have taken their own lives and forced to suffer in their frozen bodies. The image of the couple in Sea of Trees traversing through a dense forest searching for answers concerning the suicide of Junko’s sister is haunting and suffocating at times—the shadows hiding bodies of those who suffered the same fate. As they walk, the trees seem to whisper their stories of where they have been, what they have seen.” —Brian Oliu, author of Level End
“Joseph Campbell says that in life we must enter the ‘forest at the darkest point, where there is no path,’ that to follow another’s path is to fail to truly live. In Robert James Russell’s Sea of Trees, a young couple follows a sister’s suicidal trail into the fabled Aokigahara Forest, where they must try to pass through the grief that’s come between them—and where Russell’s subtle structure puts us readers in danger too, left to recognize ourselves in all the other ghosts hung from those trees, hung lonely together.” —Matt Bell, author of Cataclysm Baby
REVIEWS
“What holds this delicate structural balancing act together is Russell’s assured command of language.” —Ian Chung, Sabotage Reviews
“A hundred and five pages of pure brilliance.” —Zoe Harrington, Zoe’s Corner
“My intellectual breath was taken away by the spell that Russell created in his debut novel. He has a beautiful literary mind.” —Katrina Mendolera, Cellar Door Lit Rants & Reviews
“A quite eloquent book to luxuriate in and be swept away into an ever receding sea of trees.” —Marc Nash, Booksquawk
“Russell’s definitely made it to my list of rare finds for 2012.” —Nerine Dorman
“At a slick, swift 105 pages, this story is no longer than it needs to be but it casts it spell, putting its cold fingers around your wrist and leading you into the forest where evermore macabre sights await.” —Cee Martinez
“Sea of Trees is a page turner, with compelling characters and plotting.” —Jessica Tripler, Read React Review
“Russell’s writing is raw, real, and stunningly palpable. A book that will grip your soul, Sea of Trees will envelope you and hold you until the very end.” —L.M. Stull
“Never have I read a work so balanced, so pleasing.” —Andrea Kinnear, Faulkner 2 Fibonacci
“It’s not quite like anything I’ve read before; It’s quick, unique, and definitely worth checking out.” —C.J. Opperthauser, Mud Schematic
ADDITIONAL PRESS
Interview at All Kinds of Writing
Song of the day: “Polish Girl” by Neon Indian
Chillwave goodness. Oh, yes.