Strap on your battlesuits, ladies and gentlemen.

Where have I been?  Well, right here.  Portland, Portland, Portland.  Writing, writing, writing.  I’ve taken up bread baking, hiking to hot springs, and playing with action figures.  I’ve been thinking a lot about the narratology of video games.  I’ve been reading the stories of Jon Raymond, Lorrie Moore, and Justin Taylor in quick succession.

I haven’t posted any fiction here this semester because I’m so close to being done.  As opposed to posting nearly finished drafts, I’d rather make the whole finished collection available as a Creative Commons PDF for download.  Then you can read it digitally, print it out, wallpaper your bathroom with it, whatever.

The final collection will contain new versions of “Goodbye, Invisible Man” and “The Fourth“.  It will also contain the stories “Win”, “Satellites”, and “Other People’s Animals”, none of which have yet been published on A. is A.  The collection will also contain a couple of very, very short fake essays concerning various topics within the collection.  I might post those here in the following weeks for fun.  There will also be a critical afterword describing process, intention, and influence.  Because it’s mandatory.

My thesis adviser, Pete Rock, liked it when I said this collection is about “a disappointing sort of fantastic”.

My thesis is due on April 30th.  After I turn it in I’ll receive a golden crown of laurels and then party for three days.  This sequence of events is not a metaphor or an exaggeration.  This is what actually happens.