Give Me Your Shorts and Win NGEP!

You WILL give me names.

You had such a great time with my last NGEP contest that I couldn’t in good conscience postpone this one another day.

(Yes. You did have lots of fun. Don’t argue with me.)

Last time, I pretty broadly asked you to recommend your favorite writers. I got everything from Richard Brautigan (whom I’ve since read) to Christopher McDougall (whom I’m reading right now) to Lev Grossman (whose The Magicians is sitting on my to-be-read shelf at home).

Good show, folks, but this time around, I’m looking for something more specific:

Recommend your favorite short stories to win more
Nathanael Green Endorsement Points!

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SUBMIT! How You Get a Short Story Published

Rawr.

I felt a twinge, something along the lines of angry defiance the first time I noticed the link on a literary journal’s website:

SUBMIT

Later, I figured out that this was the link I needed to click to get my fiction published. It had nothing to do with domination of any sort.

*shrug*

“How do you get a story published?”

I’ve been asked that a few times lately, and there are entire libraries written on craft and storytelling and selling your novel. So I’m going to skip all that for now. Instead, here’s a quick explanation the submission process and how writers’ creative brain-dribbling ends up on public display.

New Story in Fractured West

My most recent piece of fiction, “Pretty Don’t,” is available in print in the current issue of the very sleek Fractured West. I have a copy in my own little grubby gauntlets, and I’m flattered to be included among the writers chosen for this issue – there’s some great fiction in those pages.

If you pick this up (you can do so here), you may notice that it conforms to a British spelling style. That’s because Fractured West is based in Scotland. So that means I’m an internationally published author, right?

A Piercing Short Story from J.C. Miller

J.C. Miller, a fellow Rosemont writer, has crafted a piercing story that almost reaches out and grabs the reader with its engaging tone.

So go check out “The Strangers,” published by “Thieves Jargon.”

And no, I won’t tell you exactly why it’s engaging – you have to read it yourself. Then come back and we can talk about it.

Looking for Great New Fiction?

In addition to my 500-word entries about writing, I’ll occasionally interject with a quick note about something somehow related.

This is one of those times.

A talented writer and friend of mine, Sarah Rose Etter, recently published her short story “Koala Tide” in the online literary magazine Bartelby-Snopes.

I recommend it. And if you dig it, remember to vote for Sarah in the story of the month contest.