My review of Salvatore Pane's Mega Man 3 (Boss Fight Books, 2016) has just gone live in Entropy. You can read the review here. It's provocative take on why we need difficult video games like Mega Man 3, an NES classic. Check out the review, and then pick up this fantastic hybrid of memoir and video game criticism. (There's a great... Continue Reading →
News: “The Survivors,” published in DUENDE!
I'm excited to announce that my short story "The Survivors" has gone live in the fourth issue of Duende Literary. You can read my story here, but be sure to check out the other fantastic works of poetry, prose, and hybrid writing in the issue! Click here for the splash page into Duende, issue #4. Duende is operated by the... Continue Reading →
News: Review of Wendy J. Fox’s THE PULL OF IT at Necessary Fiction
Today, my review of Wendy J. Fox's The Pull of It went live over at Necessary Fiction. You can read the review here. The Pull of It is published by Underground Voices, and you can purchase the book through Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or your local indie book dealer. This title is definitely worth a read for Fox's deft characterization... Continue Reading →
Pizza Delivery, iPhone Recovery; or, Race & Privilege in America
Yesterday was a personal object lesson in racism and white privilege in America. In the early afternoon, I ordered a pizza for delivery; I would be tutoring a student that evening and my wife would be getting home late from a conference in DC, so I thought we would both appreciate the leftovers. Upon his arrival, the deliveryman called up,... Continue Reading →
More Rage Against Gun Violence
This isn't going to be a long post. But I'm emerging from the shadowy frontiers of dissertation- and novel-writing to say this: there should be universal outrage over the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, where gunman Omar Mateen murdered at least 50 people and injured another 50. News broadcasts from NBC, the... Continue Reading →
Jim Harrison, and a Few Thoughts on the Novella
During the past few years, March has inevitably been a month of extensive travel. This year is no different. Last week, I was in Hartford, CT, for the NeMLA conference; now, I'm in New Jersey, for a reading I'll be giving Tuesday in Montclair State's Live Literature series; and next weekend (April 1st-2nd), I'll be returning... Continue Reading →
News: Featured at Bucknell University Press
Of course, I've been neglecting the blog and my [very private] resolution about using my voice here. I'm interrupting that silence with a brief update. Recently, I've been featured at the Bucknell University Press's blog. The piece is based off an interview that Olivia Kalb, the Press's current graduate intern, conducted with me over email.... Continue Reading →
Snow Days
Writing a novel that's set in a humid, swampy summer feels otherworldly when you're snowbound. (And that's all I'll publicly say about the work-in-progress.) This has been my setup since Friday, when Winter Storm Jonas (or #Snowzilla2016, if you ask WaPo) surged into northern Virginia: sitting at my desk, slowly adding pages as the inches... Continue Reading →
Emoter-in-Chief: Presidential Tears as Argument for Gun Control
I had intended to re-start the blog this year by writing about my 2015 in reading, complete with the pie charts and graphs you would expect from a former political science major. But let's be honest: Roxane Gay's list is far more interesting than what I would've written. So let's turn to something more current:... Continue Reading →
Caped Tigers and Red Cups, or Why Symbols Are Worth Getting Right
Recently, I've been following two stories about so-called "political correctness," or—as I prefer to think of it—(a.) basic human dignity and (b.) basic awareness of what our symbols say. I'm referring specifically to my alma mater Susquehanna University's recent decision to jettison its offensive mascot and the Internet's furor over Starbucks' holiday cups. In both... Continue Reading →