 Uncle Morty is excited because his contest is about to end. After the entries are judged, he will be able to read them. Finally! You may submit your stories until midnight August 1, 2018. Whether you've been trying to perfect your story, or whether you just happen to have a story lying about the house...dust it off and turn it in. Time grows short so don't delay! Click here for a refresher on the rules.
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 Here are the things we at Sacred Chickens thought you might want to check out this week! Jarad recommends a book revealing what it's like to have bipolar disorder, a well known novel about a, well, psycho and a movie about the importance of a free press. Morty wants you to read a book about the first world fair and one of the first recorded serial killers. Enjoy! Jarad Recommends.....  Manic- by Terri Cheney
What is it? Manic is a beautiful and haunting memoir of a woman who suffers from bipolar disorder. It's really the story of how she attempts to keep her life together, and how sometimes it isn't. It's also the story of someone living two lives, and sometimes perhaps two different selves. The story itself is so captivating that it will pull you completely into her world and mind, but the gorgeous writing will keep you there.  Here are some things that we at Sacred Chickens think you should check out this week. we covered quite a broad spectrum this time: from dark comedies about a brutal dictator, exploring prejudice in small town America, and a parable that explores the darker side of the Technological Age. Enjoy!  Morty Recommends......
The Death of Stalin- Directed by Armando Iannucci, and featuring one of Morty's faves as Nikita Khrushchev. What is it? A deeply Dark comedy about the death of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and the desperate machinations of his administration in its aftermath. Why watch it? The movie hits right now, observing it does, the maneuvers of men who rule entirely based on animalistic power structures, confusing hardness of heart with strength and courage.  Often through couplets, Rusty Barnes, author of "Jesus in the Ghost Room", utilizes everyday events to speak to deeper ideas about the circle of life, death, sexuality, and fatherhood, as well as many other topics. My favorite poem was "Sometimes I Say", in which Rusty Barnes breaks down how it feels to have suicidal thoughts in an authentic and poignant way. The poem opens up with
"Sometimes I say to you suicide and you say slice by length not by width, and judge carefully the angle of the blade at the rise and tumble of the vein."  Witty, funny and meaningful writing sometimes feels hard to come by. Writing can often feel lazy, like writers are more interested in following a specific format than having an original story. The influx of authors and the sheer number of books published each year lends itself to that feeling of unoriginality and being bored.
Featured Writers from The Writer's Hotel 2018 - Claire Solomon, Douglas Wright, Keith Fentonmiller7/9/2018  I attended The Writer's Hotel in New York in early June, and I can't recommend it enough. By the way, it's not too early to start thinking about 2019! Billed as a mini MFA, it's an intense week of workshops, labs, meeting with agents to improve your pitch and hanging out in bars. Actually, that last bit is because authors read their work at bars like the KGB. But the best part of the week, even better than hanging out in bars, is meeting new writers. This year I was part of a workshop led by Elizabeth Hand. (Check out her author page on Amazon by clicking through). Coming soon we will devote a post to helping you find her books. The workshop was intense, focused, kind and best of all I met eleven brilliant new writers and got to read their work. Now you can sample their work as well. Here are the next three featured writers from Elizabeth Hand's TWH workshop.  Claire Solomon is both a funny, smart, engaging story teller and an Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies and Comparative Literature at Oberlin College. She writes both fiction and academic prose. I'm excited about her upcoming fiction, but in the meantime we're featuring an academic work. This book is a study of "stereotypes about women, sex, ethnicity, and race in the twentieth and twenty-first century literature with a particular emphasis on the historical fiction of prostitution and its selective reconstruction of the past." Click through the here or on the image at the left to purchase.  Keith Fentonmiller's work is hilarious, fast-paced and filled with strange twists. Step into Keith's universe for thrills laughs and insights into the quirks of the human mind. The featured book is described as "Book One of the Life Indigo series, The Cursed Hat is a funny, dark, fantastical journey through the Jazz Age, Nazi Germany, and WWII Detroit." You can also access more published stories here.  A sampling of Douglas Wright's work can be found here, on the featured writing page of his website. Look for announcements of upcoming work here! Douglas has a quick, immersive, flow to his writing. It's slightly offbeat, sense of humor with a twist. Be sure to check out his advice about negotiating with Tigers. It might come in handy. |
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