Corona\Samizdat's 2025 list

Slovenia's Corona\Samizdat publishes quality literary fiction. Chief Editor Rick Harsch is a prolific novelist who has big plans for publishing in 2025: "We're still here; we're still alive."

Gary Amdahl

Portrait of Gary Amdahl's Visigoth: Stories and I Am Death: Two Novellas.

 

Twenty great, good, or at least not bad novels I've read that were published in the 21st century

(1) The Sellout by Paul Beatty

(2) Heaven by Mieko Kawakami 

(3) Convenience Store Woman by Sayata Murata
(4) Zone by Mathias Enard 

(5) Inside Story: A novel by Martin Amis 

(6) 2666 by Roberto Bolano
(7) Outline by Rachel Cusk
(8) Wake up, Sir! by Jonathan Ames
(9) Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah

(10) The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
(11) The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen
(12) Netherland by Joseph O'Neill 

(13) The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford 

(14) The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon
(15) The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
(16) Open City by Teju Cole
(17) Home Land by Sam Lipsyte
(18) The Cry of the Sloth by Sam Savage
(19) Nanjing Requiem by Ha Jin
(20) The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu

thank goodness

Thank goodness I've not a single offending sentence or three among my published novels and short stories, so I need not concern myself with ever getting canceled. I'm free!

attending to my paces

"I did not have so much, but I was intact. I had a ceiling fan and an unremarkable kitchen. I paid rent on time and was aware of the possibility that I’d earned what I had. I had helped a child through college and a year of graduate training, a newer normal, and I didn’t like sharing my walking space with undesirables who had never supported the arts with a paid museum membership. Inhaling the foul odors of the unhoused—or even those climate zealots using God-knows-what to seal themselves to the Monet, Klimt, or Klee—would never be for me. No, sir.

"And so, I came to recognize that I would no longer be striding through the museum on searing hot days. Climbing the great marble stairs would be for someone else, not for me. I would have to find another way of avoiding skin cancer while attending to my paces."

"Going to Hell"

Thank you, Soyos Books, for publishing new short fiction.

to know nothing

"After this last letter, everything changed. After this last letter, Vicente wanted only to know nothing; to know nothing about anything. To be brutally, absolutely ignorant of everything. He wanted to learn what it meant not to know. He wanted to live in darkness. He wanted not to know any more, but more than that, he wanted to no longer know. To no longer know anything. Not even the things he already knew. He no longer wanted to know anything about what was already past and about what might happen in the future. Not to his mother, or to his brother—nor to his wife or his children, or himself."

~~ from The Ghetto Within by Santiago H. Amigorena

not the best I could do

"He was assessing me now. Was I using too many paper products? Yes. Did I really need a full shower when a washcloth rinse would do? I supposed not. Walk whenever possible; drive only if you must. Of course. Avoid elevators; take the stairs. From now on, I would. Change would be good for me. Moving more would be good for me. Stationary bike or lap lane? Sure. Finishing this cheeseburger and cola was not the best I could do, and ordering a hot fudge sundae would work against my interests."

squalid, cozy, overpriced, plain

"Overseas, again, yes. I know. I admit it, I’ve seen my share of international airports. I’ve blended in with tourists and businessmen. I played 'the normie'—one of them. Airports offer an oversupply of oversized Americans, middle-age men and women who, impossibly, fit into economy passenger seats. In Asia, I’ve seen the long lines of foreign students eager to embrace America . . .

"You may be asking, 'Was he ever at home?'

"Certainly so; I lived at home—my share of studios, efficiencies, and junior one-bedrooms, my mother’s apartment, a friend’s couch. Various arrangements—squalid, cozy, overpriced, plain. I knew Murphy beds and futons thrown on the floor; minifridges without a freezer; electric-range only, no full-sized oven or no oven; and metal fire escapes, stored in a painted box, to be thrown out the window ahead of me. I’ve worked in several sections of America, and I’ve seen entire towns of people poorer than me. Obese and depressed; wobbling through Walmarts. I’ve lived among them."

American holiday

"My client shut the grill cover and led us off the porch. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,300 points over the next three days. Within two months, my new-home inquiries dropped to zilch. You could say that's the life of a commission-based independent contractor, or you could say we were screwed. Two different clients took me to court to undo their deal and get their money back. That's when our slow demise became a race to the bottom. It was hard to adjust to our family's 'new normal,' so we spent as much in our first six months of living off savings and home equity as we did the next year. Eighteen months after falling through the floor, we'd gathered our wits enough to squint through the darkness and climb out of the mess we'd made."

~~ from "A Thanksgiving," by Alex Kudera

     Eclectica Magazine, July / August 2021

$3.79

And if the price drops any lower, Bezos and his minions will be at my door demanding cash!

Bombing From Above

"In my actions, I was opposite this sentient cadre of uber-citizens successfully navigating a fast-paced American city. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere, and so on. No, I was a crazed lunatic, a fringe adjunct who’d flown halfway around the world to scold others in foul weather. Do something! My God! Thank goodness I had the decency to leave that scene. I’m certain that the young woman was alive. I pray that she recovered. Hopefully, there was no permanent paralysis."

~~ from "Bombing From Above" by Alex Kudera

Awash in Barach and Bolano

I'm very thankful that Editor-in-Chief Christopher DeGroot published "Awash in Barach and Bolano" as part of The Agonist's Summer 2019 issue.

favorite fictions (and a few memoirs)

I've added quite a few titles since this was originally posted.

Free Car

Thanks to Heavy Feather Review, "Free Car" is available anywhere short stories are read online!

fiction from Alan Gerstle

Today I was walking along West 53rd Street, on the block where the Museum of Modern Art is located, preoccupied with something I don't recall. I was on my way to an audition, for what I don't remember, except that it was for a courtroom drama, an episode for a TV series. It was the hottest day of the year thus far, a day in late June, a Friday, and it was humid. I am prone to daydream on warm, muggy days in Manhattan. Maybe because I wish I were someplace else.
Follow the link to read more.

interview at The Next Best Book Club

Over at Lori Hettler's The Next Best Book Club, I responded to questions from the talented percussionist Lavinia Ludlow.

An excerpt:

L^2: In your own words, what is the major dramatic question summed up in a single sentence?

AK: A death-fearing adjunct philosopher struggles to break free from his academic chains as he falls into friendship with men on the margins who lead him to murder.

Wright Library, Saturday, March 5

I'm happy to announce that I'll be reading from "Frade Killed Ellen" or Auggie's Revenge at 3 p.m. as part of an author fair at Wright Library in Oakwood, Ohio (Dayton metro area) on Saturday afternoon, March 5.

Featured authors: Peggy Barnes, Molly Campbell, Barbara Cerny, Ed Davis, Ann Hagedorn, Katrina Kittle, Alex Kudera, P. Andrew Miller, Rebecca Morean, Sharon Short. 

Wright Library Poets: Matt Birdsall, Cecile Cary, Grace Curtis, Betsy Hughes, Fred Kirchner

Wright Library Writers: Harold Coffman, Donald Peacock, and James Tajiri

The Event will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. in Wright Library's front reading rooms.   

Auggie at Goodreads and Amazon

Auggie's Revenge is now visible at Goodreads and Amazon!

Arthur Nersesian

When people are young, they are inclined to see the world in absolutes. Young writers want to MAKE IT AS A WRITER, or they are LOSERS. To me success is a daily task. At best it varies from book to book, and though it would be nice to have security, at very least, these precarious conditions do make life interesting. I won’t deny that for most, this is a tough life. You really have to want it, but it can be rewarding.

 ~~ Arthur Nersesian, from "Words from the Wise"