Quote of the Day

"

You should just live your life. You should write your name on the Earth in gasoline and just light that shit on fire." - Casey, Party Down

New Publication!

Two of my poems are published in the new issue of Radioactive Moat, and they can be read here.

The poems in this issue are a part of my manuscript, "Let the Balloons Go on the Highway." I am currently seeking a home for the manuscript, and hoping it finds its place in the small press world.

The poems in this issue: "Gemini" and "Machinery at Play" are poems that reflect upon my childhood. The mini-me lives inside each of them. Writing poetry like this makes me feel as if I can re-kindle with the girl I once was-- I'd like to meet that girl. I think we could all benefit from meeting our childhood self, not to give advice or warn against heartache, but simply to give a hug-- to show love to the youth that brought us to where we are.

Shady Side Review Fall 2011 Issue Released!

(Cover Art: Sleeping Giant by: Steven Knezovich)

It's been a year since our last issue, but I like to think this one was worth the wait. Our editors have gone through some wild changes (completing grad school, moving places in Europe, moving across the states, and the like) since the last issue. The journal itself has gone through some wild changes as well: with a new format and focus in style, Shady Side Review has released it's Fall 2011 issue.

We stuck to our Pittsburgh roots and featured cover art by Stephen Knezovich, an artist living in the Steel City. For me, it's a matter of the way Stephen melds definitions and images together that keeps my eyes drawn and my brain going, "Wow." I love the vintage effect in his collages: nostalgic and grainy and dreamy and surreal and all other good things that come out of thrift stores and antique shops. It's a recycled art of sorts, and featured here: http://thenewgravycake.wordpress.com/

Stephen is equally as interesting as his art-work; one of my fellow editors and I had the pleasure of meeting him at AWP in Denver. He's got great things on his mind.

Continuing on the Pittsburgh roots note, we've got a few other Steel City artists in this issue, Robert Isenberg (fiction) and Siobhan Casey (poetry). And hey! We're not bias, it just happened that way, but to be honest, I think the editors all miss the city we met in, at least a little.

The full list of Fall 2011 contributors includes poetry by: Shirley Brewer, Siobhan Casey, Milton P. Erlich, Kurt Z. Geisler, and Ann Neuser Lederer. Fiction by: Joe Baumann and Robert Isenberg. Non-fiction by: Rachel Carbonell, James Claffey, and Lynn Harper. And cover art by: Stephen Knezovich.

The writers in this issue give us: Persephone, romance on highways, parrots reading tarot cards, arguments about words like babushka,naked lovers in the rain, a man with a tin leg, and a way to dismantle routine.

Shady Side Review is moving forward. To go along with our new look, we're working on a new mission, our focus in the work we publish is shifting, and talks of themed issues have come up. The fall is always a good time for transition. We embrace it.

Check us out: http://issuu.com/shadysidereview/docs/ssr2011