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News and Notes

Alumni News

For Steve Almond ("Law of Sugar," Issue 8), pimping The Evil B.B. Chow and Other Stories has been almost as fun as reviewing entries to the BB Chow Reading Comprehension Test. But not quite as fun as working with co-author and fellow alum Julianna Baggott ("Mysterious Life of Eppitt Clapp," Issue 6) on their novel, Which Brings Me to You, which is due out next spring from Algonquin.

Greg Ames ("Biographers" Issue 2; "The Snowing Loneliness of Buffalo," Issue 17) has had a busy summer. His story "Lost in Carver Country" recently appeared on Pindeldyboz.com; this past June, he completed his first novel, which is represented by Gail Hochman of Brandt and Hochman. For more on what Greg's been up to, check out his website.

Jonathan Ames (Interview, Issue 13) tracks the ongoing, inexorable decline of his no-longer-young body here. For more on Jonathan's doings, literary, corporeal, and otherwise, go here.

Paul Auster's (Interview, Issue 8) latest novel, The Brooklyn Follies, is slated for a year-end release on Holt.

Catherine Balco ("Studio Sink" and "Johnson Laundromat," Issue 14) recently showed new works at the Carol Craven Gallery on Martha's Vineyard.

Charles Baxter's (Interview, Issue 10) latest novel, Saul and Patsy, is now available in paperback from Vintage.

Geoffrey Becker ("Valet Parking," Issue 14) has a story in the just-published all-fiction issue of Ploughshares.

T.C. Boyle's (Interview, Issue 12) new story collection Tooth and Claw is just out from Viking.

Michael Ceraolo's ("Twelfth Possible Definition of Irony" and "Second Possible Definition of Fundamentalism," Issue 7) book-length poem Euclid Creek: A Journey is due out soon from Deep Cleveland Press.

Brock Clarke ("The Wedding Present," Issue 10) is about to embark on a nation-wide reading tour for his new story collection Carrying the Torch.

Martha Cooley's ("Moscow Dogs," Issue 1) second novel, Thirty-Three Swoons, was recently published by Little, Brown.

Shanna Compton's ("Erased Poem" et. al., Issue 7) collection Down Spooky is just out from Winnow Press. This fall, she'll be touring with fellow poet Jennifer L. Knox; get dates and times here.

Matthew Dillon ("Consider the Sky" et. al., Issue 9) was recently awarded a residency fellowship by the Lannan Foundation.

Josh Dorman ("Bathysphere" et al., Issue 9) has a solo show at Brooklyn's Pierogi 2000 starting November 19.

Myla Goldberg's ("Going For The Orange Julius," Issue 4) second novel, Wickett's Remedy, will be in bookstores at the end of September. The film adaptation of her first, Bee Season, starring Richard Gere and Juliette Binoche, comes to theaters in October.

Amy Havel ("Safety Guidelines for the Operation of Michael, with Help from OSHA," Issue 13) has stories in the anthologies The Way Life Should Be: Contemporary Stories from Maine Writers and Consumed: Women on Excess. Others are forthcoming in Pindeldyboz and Tarpaulin Sky.

Nick Hornby's (Interview, Issue 9) latest novel, A Long Way Down, was recently published by Riverhead.

Chris Lombardi ("San Francisco in the 1990s," Issue 16) has stories in forthcoming issues of Me Three and Lurch; this fall, The Nation will run her profile of the Center on Constitutional Rights. An article she wrote for Inside MS recently won Apex Communications' Best Medical/Health Writing Award.

Peter Markus ("Our Father Who Walks On Water Comes Home With Two Buckets Of Fish," Issue 2) has a new story collection, The Singing Fish, out on Calamari Press; a recent interview with the cult fictionist appears here.

Josip Novakovich's ("Snow Powder," Issue 10) new collection, Infidelities: Stories of Lust and War, is due out September 20 from HarperPerennial. New Yorkers take note: Novakovich will read at KGB Bar on September 25, and at the New School on October 10.

Cooper Renner ("Origami" and "Untitled," published under the pen name Cooper Esteban, Issue 4) is the new editor of elimae, and co-editor, with Deron Bauman and Kathryn Rantala, of Triple Press, a new literary publisher. Triple's first releases include Trio by Norman Lock, Arbitrary Tales by Daniel Borzutzky, and Terra Infirma by Faruk Ulay. Other titles are forthcoming from Jane Unrue, Peter Markus, Garth Buckner, Thomas Wooten and Robert Castle.

Thaddeus Rutkowski ("Dear Daughter" and "Waiting for the Phone to Ring," Issue 15) has a novel, Tetched: A Novel in Fractals, just out from Behler Publications.

M Sarki ("Daniella in the Palace" et. al., Issue 3) has a new poetry collection, Mewl House, out from The Rogue Literary Society.

George Saunders's (Interview, Issue 5) latest story collection, The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, has just been published by Riverhead.

Karen Shepard's ("Like Love," Issue 14) third novel, What Have We Done, will be published by William Morrow in early 2006. Her story "In My Country" is forthcoming in Glimmer Train.

Frances Sherwood's ("Fox Hunting," Issue 14) next novel, tentatively titled Betrayal, is slated for a March 2006 release from W.W. Norton.

Maggie Smith's ("I Dream a Highway" and "Suspension," Issue 16) first poetry collection, Lamp of the Body, is now available from Red Hen Press.

Jane Unrue's ("Ark," Issue 3) new book, Atlassed, was recently published by Triple Press.

Courtney Weber's ("This Is What Gets Me," Issue 15) story "Andy and the Girl who Screamed and Threw Things" was published, in two parts, in the June and July issues of Bank Street Magazine. She is at work on her first novel.

Gina Zucker's short-short story, "Punishment" (Issue 8), has been selected for inclusion in the anthology Before and After: Pregnancy and Parenting Fiction from America's Top Writers, which is forthcoming from Overlook Press.

We encourage all our alumni to keep us updated on the latest in their lives, by dropping us a line at alumni@failbetter.com.