I recently had the honor of being invited to David Surface’s Strange Little Stories, an experience which not only yielded a short, non-fiction story, but an engrossing conversation about the peculiar byproducts when confronting and composing “real-life” anecdotes.  Both the story, “Not Tonight,” and the dialogue can be obtained in the latest issue (#26) of Surface’s newsletter project, Strange Little Stories.  If you’re an avid reader or writer, don’t hesitate to participate.  It’s free to subscribe, and can be done here.

SLS is a wonderful, story-centric platform (one which has included contemporary voices such as  Adam Golaski, Tony Tremblay, Robert Stava, Derek Hill, and so many others), but the exchange itself bore some really interesting revelations.  Surface, as many readers know, is a brilliant writer, an inquisitive artist, and a talented musician, but he’s also a really insightful teacher and generous coach—he knows what questions to ask to make us better writers (and, maybe, better people).  I maintain no small amount of pride in having provided a blurb for his first collection, Terrible Things (Black Shuck Books, 2020).  (I also produced a review titled, “Enduring the Indelible,” which can be accessed here.)  Early autumn, keep your eyes peeled for the release of his second collection, These Things That Walk Behind Me (Lethe Press, 2024). In the meantime, check out my story, “Not Tonight,” by subscribing to Strange Little Stories.