My story for Bang Out's last reading, "Cooling Off", is now available on their web site. They've also posted video of my reading on YouTube. My head's chopped off for the first part, but that's okay, that's how I usually feel after a couple of Guinesses. Enjoy!

"The Obituarist" was published by North American Review earlier this year. The full text is now available in the Excerpts section.

One of the most exciting new lit mags in the Bay Area is We Still Like, helmed by editors Sarah Ciston and Chris Pedler. Their first issue was chock full of great writing and their manifesto really hit home for me. Any magazine that eschews cheap cynicism and irony in favor of honest thought and writing has my vote.

They accepted my story "Taylor & Redding" for their second issue, and I'm proud to be a part of their vision. Go check out their blog, and by all means buy their latest issue.

As they announced at their reading on Thursday night, they're trying to save literature — from whom they didn't say, but sometimes I suspect contemporary American literature needs to be saved from itself.

The Flat Earth Collective has assembled once again, this time among the vast maze of pneumatic tubes which make up this Great & Wondrous contraption called The Internet. Look forward to communiques, excerpts, and announcements of upcoming events and readings. It's more than a blog, because, seriously, what blog would post a video of a Southern sweetheart rubbing fried chicken up and down her bass guitar? (That is not a euphemism.)

Check it out at flatearthcollective.com. You'll never think of fried chicken the same way again.

The Flat Earth Collective reading went great — thanks to everyone who came out that night and showed your support. All our readers did a great job. I think I can say without reservation it was a success all around. Photos (taken by the inestimable Ben Aronoff) can be found on Facebook.

The reading was recorded and is available on dublit. You can check out the Flat Earth Collective's dublit page for all the recordings uploaded so far. My own contribution ("Everywhere Man") is the same story I read at Litquake in October, but the quality of this recording is much higher.

The story I read at Litquake X, "Everywhere Man", is now available for listening on dublit.com. I'm starting to send this story out — hopefully I'll have more news about it in the future.

My short story "At The White Sands Motel, 1956" is published in the latest issue of The Erotic Review 102. I'm especially proud because ER is based out of London, making this my first international publication. My story's also graced with an illustration, another first for me. (The artist reminds me of Leonard Shortall of Encyclopedia Brown fame — I'll leave it at that.) This is also my most surprising publication, because I never set out to author erotica and somehow wound up doing just that. I think. Let's just say there's screwing involved, and motels, and some salty dialogue that was fun to write.

For those keeping score, this is the story I read at Literary Deathmatch back in June.

The issue isn't up on the web yet, but I'll link to it when it's available.

Been busy and haven't had a chance to update the web site lately ... just to let everyone know, although I failed to win the deathmatch, I'm still alive, so I did something right. The final round had K.M. Soehnlein and Katharine Noel walking back and forth across the stage whilst balancing copies of Infinite Jest on their heads. I haven't balanced my checkbook since 1988; I wouldn't have stood a chance.

For those interested, check out the write-up and photos.

"C. Bobby & The Owl Tree" has been posted on Instant City's web site (check it out here) along with my reading of the essay at The Booksmith in the Haight on March 10th. You can find the audio recording of that reading at the bottom of the Instant City page.

Also, I'm pleased to pass on that I received an Honorable Mention this year from San Francisco's Browning Society for my short story "The Mudcat". I'm still mailing the story around, but at some point I'll post it here at barbecuingpeople.com.

My remembrance of one of San Francisco's last great bars and one of its last great bartenders has been published in the latest issue of Instant City 6, "The Disappeared". "C. Bobby & The Owl Tree" is about this remarkable man and the remarkable shrine to owls he built.

As part of Litquake's Lit Crawl, I read my remembrance at City Arts in the Mission District. dublit recorded all the of the readings that night, and mine can be found here. My reading is a dublit Featured Audioshort (subscribe to the Featured Audioshort RSS feed for more great spoken word). Check out Instant City's other great readings from that night, including Gravity Goldberg's wonderful story of Russian sailors reaching San Francisco and the dry wit of Alvin Orloff's ode to what Polk Street once was.

Cosmopsis Quarterly has just published my short story "Greenly I Fell". It's one of the stranger stories I've written, and I'm surprised it was selected. Obviously this displays editor Jason Bulger's good taste.

Also, I encourage everyone to check out Sentence Drawing Sentence, an art exhibit held at Oakland's Marboe Green Gallery. It was organized by my good friends George Pfau and Alexandria Pratt, who created some fantastic artwork for the Whole Story: A Concordance of One's Life show. Some of the pieces featured at SDS actually have my writing on them ... I'll let you guess which ones, if you're inclined. (Hint: One deals with my recent case of appendicitis.)

"A Lifted Idea" has been published by Switchback, a magazine out of the University of San Francisco. The story came out of a little experiment I performed a year or so ago, and I'm happy to have found a place in the lit world for it.

Another story of mine, "A Tenderloin Christmas Story" , is in the latest issue of The Loin's Mouth. Pick up your copy in only the Tenderloin's choicest dives, crack dens, and massage parlors.

I've also posted recordings of two of my previously published stories on the brand-new audio lit site dublit.com. Listen to "Some of the Things He Thought That Year" and "Of Potential" read by none other than myself. Check out dublit's other offerings as well and sign up!

I'm a little late in mentioning this, but a short essay I wrote for Instant City on the San Francisco's un-famous Zebra murders is now available at finer bookstores around the bay. It's part of the issue's larger focus on crime in the city, which the Bay Guardian recently lauded. Pick up a copy of Instant City 5. Now.

Actor and songwriter Thu Tran -- who performed several of his musical compositions at the Watchword Whole Story event earlier this year -- has written a musical based on my short story "A Concordance of One's Life". The production is directed by Assistant Professor Barbara Damashek, who won three Tony awards in 1985 for Quilters.

I sat in on one of the rehearsals and was floored. Thu has captured the essence of my short story in both theater and music. The score is wonderful and the cast exciting to watch.

I would like to invite everyone to witness the fruit of Thu and his fellow actors' hard work. There will be four showings, all in the Studio Theater at SFSU (in the Creative Arts building):

• Thursday, December 13 (8 pm - 10 pm)
• Friday, December 14 (8 pm - 10 pm)
• Saturday, December 15 (8 pm - 10 pm)
• Sunday, December 16 (2 pm - 4 pm)

Admission is free.

More information can be found at The College of Creative Arts events calendar.

If you've not read the short story (or need a refresher), you'll find it here.

I've posted my virtual-award-winning microstory, "The Gulp". I've also added links to the web sites of writers Saskia Vogel, Antonio G. Fernandez, and Eric Platt's fantastic limerick puzzle Limrack.

Watchword has published their art and photo gallery of the second Whole Story event. Also check out my own field report if you haven't already.

I've added a new short story to my increasingly ill-named Excerpts section, "Some of the Things He Thought That Year". It was published in Transfer 89 in 2005 and won the Leo Litwak award.

My short story "Of Potential" is now available on the SmokeLong web site, as well as an interview with me about story titles, the Tenderloin, and the difference between no paper and blank paper.

My good friend (and Watchword editor) Tavia Stewart also landed a short story and interview with SmokeLong. Congratulations Tavia!

Added form to join the mailing list (above), cleaned up a couple of pages, and began the links page.

Photos and links to the Whole Story: A Concordance of One's Life event are now online.

Introduction to "A Concordance of One's Life" now posted in the Excerpts section. I've also reposted (after nearly ten years of being unavailable) my old, old web zine Ad Nauseam.

First round of excerpts posted. Check out what's available here. Bibliography is coming along. The FUQ has a few more frequently unasked questions.

Further updates and some style changes. Excerpts still to come.

Last night's opening at The Lab was fantastic. My head was spinning from the fantastic art and performances (including one where three women in Aloha shirts wrapped a suit-clad guy in Saran wrap and packing tape). My head spun so hard it swelled to gigantic proportions and I could barely make it outside through The Lab's double doors. It was quite an ego trip to see one's story made real through art, dance, and music.

Tonight should be equally amazing.

Putting the final touches on the new web site. I plan on placing links and excerpts to published and unpublished stories up soon now.