personally against him

"A bottle of Rioja, pilfered from work, dangled from a plastic bag at Bergmann's wrist; he held an umbrella with his other hand. The wind seemed to be personally against him as he slogged up Camden Road, the bottle banging against his thigh. He had heard it starting when he was getting out of the shower, rain clattering like someone throwing pebbles by the handful at the bathroom window."

~~ from False Economies by Gordon Haber

false economies

"At the cafe, he chucked the copy of Loot on the table—he had barely realized he was still carrying it—then barked his order at the Russian girl. He smoked while he waited for his beans on toast. When it came, he ate in big forkfuls, gulping his tea and hating the English, for their false politeness, their shitty weather and ludicrous food, for how, just when you were feeling good, they always found a way to kick you right in the ass."

~~ from False Economies by Gordon Haber

"painfully funny"

Talented writer, editor, and publisher Gordon Haber tweeted "five stars" for Auggie's Revenge, so that was nice. Please do consider his new collection of poetry and prose, 2020: Good Writing from a Bad Year.

2020: Good Writing from a Bad Year

Gordon Haber's Dutch Kills Press releases 2020: Good Writing from a Bad Year!

*Scroll to the bottom of the press homepage for the list of contributors.

from the man, the myth, the legend. . .

From the man, the myth, the legend, the meaty proof that Lish will never be more than ground-chuck wannabe to Haber's filet-mignon Gordon, and, by the way, it was the latter who published "Frade Killed Ellen":

In this week's Torah portion, Joseph has Pharaoh prepare for seven years of famine, which seems to argue against the "Biblical case" for limited government.

— Gordon Haber (@gordonhaber) December 30, 2019

#grateful for how I accomplished so much more than you in 2019

— Gordon Haber (@gordonhaber) December 31, 2019

My Dry January ended at 4:45 pm on 1/1/2020

— Gordon Haber (@gordonhaber) January 1, 2020

one-sitting reads

Both "Frade Killed Ellen" and The Betrayal of Times of Peace and Prosperity fall under the category of one-sitting reads, although increasingly, I find that I enjoy returning even to the shortest stories to consider them over several sittings, often rereading earlier passages, the beginning, etc.

But here are lists of classic short reads, longer novellas and short novels, one of "The 20 Best Novellas in the History of Mankind" and another of "17 Brilliant Short Novels You Can Read in a Sitting."

Some of my favorites that didn't make either list are Herman Melville's Benito Cereno, Kate Chopin's The Awakening, Yuri Olesha's Envy, John Fante's The Brotherhood of the Grape, Dan Fante's Chump Change, and Camera by Jean-Philippe Toussaint.

Frade Sold Ellen

Frade Killed Ellen is available here and here.

It'll only set you back $2.99 and includes death, sex, innuendo, anxiety, mentoring, false starts, doubt, dope, the unexpected and more!

Yes, all of that in a mere 41 pages of e-text (about 35 manuscript pages on 8 1/2 x 11" paper).

I'm very grateful for any purchases, and please do get in touch if you'd like a review copy.

"Frade Killed Ellen" for Dutch Kills Press

In June, I've been busy with final edits for an 11,000 word story, "Frade Killed Ellen." It will be released as an e-single by Dutch Kills Press, publisher of New York City's finest quality artisinal e-books.

DKP's recent releases include "Nokumentary" by Richard Schofield and "Around and About Leslie" by Joshua Furst. Contact publishers Brooke Berman and Gordon Haber for more information. 

Interview in Inside Higher Ed

At Inside Higher Ed, Joseph Fruscione included in his adjunct interview series Gordon Haber, of Adjunctivitis and False Economies, and I exchanging e-mails on writing while teaching as adjuncts.

In one of my questions, I slipped in a Richard Yates reference to the fact that he did very little writing while teaching at Iowa. For me, this relates to his almost famous assessment that writing and teaching are thoroughly incompatible as they require the same emotions. At least, Yates saying that is famous to me.

From the interview:

AK: Richard Yates, in an interview, said he hardly wrote any fiction when he was teaching at Iowa for six years. He described teaching as demanding the same emotions as writing, and so he was too drained from teaching to leave anything on the page. How has it been for you?

GH: Teaching was draining, but I wanted to do it. I have a really hard time with day jobs that don’t interest me. Of course it was extraordinarily difficult to balance marriage, fatherhood, teaching, freelance journalism and fiction writing. And yet the last few years have been a fertile period. I wrote a story collection, the third draft of a novel, a bunch of features and book reviews. I really don’t know how it happened. Maybe because for me writing is like exercise — you’ve got to do it regularly, even just a little bit, so you don’t feel like crap. So even though teaching can be emotionally taxing, I still managed to write, except during finals week when there was 100 essays to get through.

Read more at Inside Higher Ed: http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2014/05/07/two-novelists-discuss-their-experiences-adjuncts#ixzz315BAkkCh