tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21598140069638782912012-02-07T16:40:14.272-08:00Dead End on Progressive Ave.Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.comBlogger2031100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-21233566200951184742012-02-02T19:57:00.000-08:002012-02-02T20:01:40.183-08:00

Happy Perhaps-Bill-Murray’s-Best-Movie-Ever Day. To celebrate, I’m having four simultaneous promotional giveaways to the next twelve people to buy some of my books… Giveaway #1: I’m giving away three copies of my poetry collection, Pseudo-Masochism, to the next three people to order a copy of Lepers and Mannequins. Copies remaining: 3 Giveaway #2: I’m giving away three copies of my poetry

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-81656414226064222842012-01-28T16:35:00.000-08:002012-01-29T07:53:21.310-08:00

Spike Marlow, one of seven other 2011 New Bizarro Series Authors (author of Placenta of Love), reviewed my (mock) novel, Lepers and Mannequins, and interviewed me re the novel at her blog. Bizarro Central also covered the interview, and also reposted my interview with Justin Grimbol. Spike also posted a story from my unpublished novel of stories, The Immortals Act Their Age, called "Egyptian

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-53565212178488198732012-01-21T20:56:00.000-08:002012-01-22T11:01:58.496-08:00

It gets to the point where you’re not sure what exactly it is an apple a day is supposed to keep away. You can remember only three kinds of fish, and you’re not getting any younger. You sleep on a bed. You try fitting a snow globe into your mouth. You begin to ask all the important questions. How did [c]hristians ever meet before the advent of christianmingle.com? Why would [g]od wait so

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-80609345236161728852012-01-16T19:40:00.000-08:002012-01-16T19:56:49.051-08:00

Adam Robinson reviewed my (mock) novel, Lepers and Mannequins, over at the Publishing Genius blog, featuring correspondence between the two of us from Sept. 2009 regarding an early draft of the novel. Thanks again, Adam...

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-63073976561342662112012-01-15T12:49:00.000-08:002012-01-15T14:03:39.922-08:00

I’m giving away five copies of my (mock) novel, Lepers and Mannequins—recently published by Eraserhead Press as part of the 2011 New Bizarro Author Series—, to the first five people (# of copies available listed below) to leave a comment on this post. After leaving a comment, please send your snail-mail spot to ericbeeny[at]gmail.com. Here is a grainy digital photo of me being surprised during

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-65269968957121783652012-01-11T21:03:00.000-08:002012-01-25T16:35:59.206-08:00

Justin Grimbol, one of seven other 2011 New Bizarro Series Authors (author of The Crud Masters), reviewed my (mock) novel, Lepers andMannequins, and interviewed me at his blog.

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-51142154013419193862011-11-29T19:07:00.001-08:002012-01-07T11:56:19.336-08:00

My seventh book, and first print novel (mock novel, really), Lepers and Mannequins, one of eight in this year’s New Bizarro Author Series published by Eraserhead Press, is now available at Amazon, Powell's Books and Barnes & Noble. Here is the cover, its image designed by my friend, Kenny Dumas: In 2009, I published The Dying Bloom (e-Novel, Pangur Ban Party). In 2010, I published two

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-12332876749875241822011-10-23T17:35:00.000-07:002011-10-25T13:58:00.059-07:00

Matt DeBenedictis, author of the chapbooks Congratulations! There's No Last Place if Everyone is Dead, A Perfect Disgrace and I Am a Cloud, and editor/publisher of Safety Third Press, recently interviewed me about my two recently self-published poetry collections, Pseudo-Masochism and How Much the Jaw Weighs. We talk politics, sex, religion, fatherhood, and literature. A while back, Matt wrote a

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-50370051826500657512011-10-08T19:32:00.000-07:002011-10-09T19:45:54.085-07:00

Five pieces from my unpublished novel, Trawling Oblivion, appear in >kill author Issue #15, along with poetry by Peter Schwartz, David Tomaloff and many others. Other excerpts from Trawling Oblivion have appeared in Alice Blue Review, elimae, Fix It Broken, matchbook, Necessary Fiction and Storyglossia.

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-26730726868127945192011-10-01T10:00:00.000-07:002012-01-07T11:55:25.854-08:00

My novel, Lepers and Mannequins, has been accepted for the 2011 New Bizarro Author Series to be published by Eraserhead Press this November. Thanks to editor Kevin Donihe for accepting it, and Lazy Fascist editor/publisher Cameron Pierce for recommending it to Kevin, then suggesting I send it to Kevin. It will be released this November during Bizarro Con 2011. I wrote the entire first draft of

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-78852478090075662432011-08-18T22:09:00.000-07:002011-09-22T04:31:29.685-07:00

I have a story up at matchbook this week, an excerpt from my unpublished novel, Trawling Oblivion called "Bridge." Thanks to editors Brian Mihok and Edward Mullany for allowing me to be the first writer whose work has appeared in matchbook twice. Other excerpts from Trawling Oblivion have appeared in Alice Blue Review, elimae, Fix It Broken, Necessary Fiction and Storyglossia.

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-48954606652725596012011-08-08T06:34:00.000-07:002011-09-23T21:03:09.191-07:00

For various reasons, I’ve decided to self-publish my once-forthcoming collection of love/sex-themed prose/poetry, Pseudo-Masochism. A chapbook-length version of the manuscript was accepted by Medulla Publishing late last year to be published this past February, but that has not worked out as I’d hoped. So, I’ve decided to expand the original chapbook manuscript into a full-length collection and

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-88467918056830193592011-08-03T20:53:00.000-07:002011-08-18T21:23:36.355-07:00

A chapter from my unpublished novel, The Immortals Act Their Age, called "The Abortion" is up @ Metazen today. Metazen published two other chapters from this novel as well: "Corporate Ladder" and "Inventing the Victim." Thanks to Frank Hinton and all the other editors of Metazen, including DJ Berndt and Len Kuntz...

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-1023811567608756862011-07-30T10:44:00.001-07:002011-07-30T10:58:53.951-07:00

Issue #3 of Greg Dybec's Fix It Broken is live and features work by xTx, Sheldon lee Compton, Brian Oliu, Heather Fowler, Ben Tanzer, Cassandra Dunn, Chad Redden, Joe Kapitan, Amy Bernhard, and a portion of an unpublished novel I wrote, Trawling Oblivion, called "Porcelain." (Other excerpts from Trawling Oblivion can be read in Alice Blue Review, elimae, Necessary Fiction, Storyglossia.) The

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-23325485305720222422011-07-20T16:40:00.000-07:002011-08-19T09:36:07.323-07:00

Mark Leidner’s first book collects aphorisms on art, literature, politics, religion, and love, among other subjects. Here, Leidner describes his work: the purpose of the aphorism isn’t to illustrate a deep or beautiful thought, but to unburden the aphorist from the horror of a wordless equivocationThis horror is the horror of absence, of ineffability resulting from the absence of meaning, of love

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-7939994260035900652011-07-03T19:12:00.001-07:002011-07-03T19:32:56.483-07:00

I have a new essay up @ The Nervous Breakdown called "Earthritis: A Distant Close-Up of Human Civilization (w/ Supplemental Materials)." This essay contains the lines: "Jackson Pollack was less an artist than a psychic predicting the Exxon Valdez disaster," and "The mantis is an atheist praying it’s wrong." Thank you...

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-8992167546141957192011-06-28T22:14:00.000-07:002011-06-28T22:26:30.574-07:00

1) Up @ Dogzplot News, Reviews and Other Lies is an essay called “White, Used, Dirty: A Plastic Fork in the Road.” I’m not really sure what it’s about. There's things about, like, nature and [g]od, and peanut butter and fiction. Oh, and crying.2) Up @ The Nervous Breakdown is an essay called “Press Rewind.” It's about a somewhat recent obsession I had with Transformers toys. At the beginning, I

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-45083667847065420412011-06-27T06:55:00.000-07:002011-08-19T09:22:29.472-07:00

Writing (any artform [antfarm]) can be a way of never knowing or arriving at the purpose of art, or life, but to continually attempt to find it over and over, and always differently because meaning is never the same, nor is the context in which one meaning exists. It’s maybe a way of avoiding meaning, preventing creative settlement. So if we never arrive at or find what we think we're looking

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-45427742199086180802011-06-21T09:29:00.000-07:002012-01-21T19:27:59.461-08:00

You miss the feeling of starting a blog, the excitement, the almost idyllic fear of creating a blog, of choosing that first template, picking out colors, adding and moving gadgets around in the design—before knowing anything about HTML alterations / customizations—, thinking about what to write for that very first blog post, filling the sidebar with links to your published work, emailing writers

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-60871968124695004502011-06-18T19:51:00.000-07:002011-09-21T14:51:44.121-07:00

Hemingway’s style is that of apparent absence: A seeming omission of the interior lives of his characters. These interiorities, however, are not entirely removed; they are merely displaced in subtext. Within this distillation, under the subtext, there remain glimpses of emotion obscured by a material world metonymically designed to reflect the interior space it shrouds.Hemingway’s focus on and

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-25632262829757122712011-06-15T07:48:00.000-07:002011-08-19T09:14:09.472-07:00

Thanks to Ryki Zuckerman for inviting me to read at the Crane Library for Just Buffalo's Wordflight Series this past Monday (June 13th), and thanks to Adam Ashley for filming it. Here are two snippets of the political poetry portion of the reading: I also read from Snowing Fireflies, Of Creatures, and an excerpt from a small novel I recently finished called Children. My friend Tom Luckie (

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-67137451115357596892011-06-09T05:27:00.000-07:002011-06-10T20:03:05.927-07:00

Issue #14 of KNOCK is now available, and it contains two poems from my poetry collection, Of Creatures (Gold Wake Press, 2010): “Shook Out the Ashes, She Did Little” and “In the Dark Because the Water Proves.” More and more, I’m shocked any time an editor actually accepts my work. Thank you, Bryan Tomasovich and Kristen Reid, editors of KNOCK, for shocking me.Also in this issue are poems by Chris

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-20261737854186692242011-06-08T21:48:00.000-07:002011-07-10T07:25:17.040-07:00

Darby Larson’s first book of fiction, The Iguana Complex, is a phenomenally (pheromonomenally*) turbulent and dizzying odyssey into the mechanics of language and its structure. Larson’s techniques are those of the mad scientist manipulating and revitalizing the genetic code of a syntactical/linguistic pretense we’re all too familiar with.The Iguana Complex is perhaps less about plot or meaning

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-23319425588138513812011-06-02T06:11:00.000-07:002011-09-22T18:56:34.643-07:00

Alice Blue Review Issue #14 is live, and includes a small piece of mine called "Creak." Thanks to Sarah Gallien and Madison Glass for accepting and publishing it. "Creak" is an excerpt from an unpublished novel called Children. Other excerpts from Children have recently appeared in Necessary Fiction, Storyglossia and elimae.Also in Alice Blue Review Issue #14 issue are prose works by Jen Gann,

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-65534383694710943672011-06-01T06:25:00.000-07:002011-06-01T17:55:56.123-07:00

I have a piece in the June/July issue of elimae called “Coffee.” It’s an excerpt from an unpublished novel called Children. Other excerpts have recently appeared in Necessary Fiction and Storyglossia, and will soon appear in Alice Blue Review and Matchbook.Also in the June/July issue of elimae are wonderful works by Parker Tettleton, Meg Pokrass, Helen Vitoria, James Tadd Adcox, Howie Good, Eric

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-424452742204769332011-05-24T15:48:00.000-07:002011-06-17T06:17:50.803-07:00

Storyglossia Issue #44 is live, and includes a story I wrote called "Locksmith." Big thanks to editor Steven McDermott for accepting and publishing it, "Locksmith" is an excerpt from a small novel I recently completed called Children. Another excerpt, "Tattoo," recently appeared in Necessary Fiction. Other excerpts are also forthcoming in Alice Blue Review, elimae and Matchbook. Storyglossia

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-64254225344925091982011-05-18T21:23:00.000-07:002011-05-24T05:41:20.815-07:00

A small chapter from my unpublished novel of stories, The Immortals Act Their Age, called "Priorities," appears in the new issue of The Northville Review, which also includes work by Kirsty Logan, Jen Michalski, Kenneth Pobo, Thomas Mundt, Cezarija Abartis and Devon Miller-Duggan. "Priorities" is a companion chapter to another story that appeared in The Northville Review in September 2009 called

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-9429357237932526862011-05-16T06:04:00.001-07:002011-05-27T14:25:04.200-07:00

I have a new story called "The Heliocentrist" occupying the 1634 slot up at For Every Year. Well, not quite new. I wrote it around the same time (October '09) I wrote the 1509 slot, a story called "Synapse." Thanks to Crispin Best for accepting and publishing these pieces for such an awesome project. Thank you for your time...UPDATE: Just saw that Chris Newgent posted about "The Heliocentrist" up

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-70224401998843127662011-05-14T07:24:00.000-07:002011-05-14T07:34:53.384-07:00

Greg Gerke recently invited me to review Carol Novack’s collection of stories, Giraffes in Hiding: The Mythical Memoirs of Carol Novack by Carol Novack for Big Other, and it went live the other day. Thanks to Greg for the invitation, and thanks to Carol for writing a wonderful book. Thank you for your time…

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-84768105388896064102011-05-09T19:32:00.000-07:002011-05-09T20:35:12.716-07:00

Richard Chiem’s What If, Wendy is a haunting exploration of isolation in the midst of love—rather, the attempt to fill love's absence. The two characters, Jesse and an unnamed woman he’s met and brought to a motel, drink whiskey and discuss Jesse’s past (which hints at the unnamed woman's past, as well).Most of the story's narrative takes place in that past, as Jesse remembers his first love.

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-57017525151133757862011-05-02T21:00:00.000-07:002011-09-22T04:35:01.716-07:00

Dogzplot editor Barry Graham recently invited me to be a contributor to Dogzplot News Reviews and Other Lies, and my first post, "The Podiatrist's Foot," is live. I hope it's fun. Barry is the author of the short story collection The National Virginity Pledge (Another Sky Press, 2009), which I read last year and liked a lot. His novel, Nothing or Next to Nothing, was recently published by Main

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-9749850628778098022011-04-28T20:23:00.000-07:002011-05-09T10:43:06.217-07:00

It would be fun to have a sleepover. I haven’t had a sleepover in maybe more than five years. That's not true. What is true is I’m afraid of travel. I like sleeping. I’m happy. I’m nothing.I think it would be funny to write a story using derivations of just one simile, comparing everything to fish or the moon or a unicycle or a vasectomy. Just, the whole story would be someone existing and

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-7844841602485626412011-04-27T18:24:00.000-07:002011-04-27T20:25:47.874-07:00

"Tattoo," an excerpt from an unpublished novel called CHILDREN, appears today in Necessary Fiction. Thanks to Steve Himmer for running it this week...

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-27393502836241497452011-04-16T20:42:00.001-07:002011-05-27T06:47:36.302-07:00

The spring issue of Hot Metal Bridge is live, and it includes two stories I wrote, "A New Amnesia" and "Smoke." Thanks to Rachel Mangini for asking me to send something to her. Also included in this issue are wonderful works by J.A. Tyler, Nicelle Davis, Jen Gann, and many others. There’s also an interview with one of my favorite writers, Lydia Davis.

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-56428624053815088312011-04-14T20:58:00.000-07:002011-04-29T20:36:06.304-07:00

Fiction Daily editor David Backer reviewed my 2009 political poetry collection, Watering the Fires. His thoughts here are much appreciated, and capture much of what I hoped to accomplish with the political poetry I’ve written over the years (mostly during the Bush administration).This echap (as well as Gargling Cinderblocks, and poems published in other places) is only a small sample of a

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-32575112740258168512011-04-09T06:46:00.000-07:002011-04-09T07:00:07.422-07:00

Big thanks to Amber Sparks, who this week gave the most humbling and flattering review of both my chapbook, Snowing Fireflies, and my poetry collection, Of Creatures, at Vouched Books. In my excitement, I failed to read the author of the post, and assumed Christopher Newgent had written it (being as he is the founder of Vouched Books), and emailed him to say thanks. He responded, informing me

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-25569933701845683012011-04-06T21:31:00.001-07:002011-08-20T10:19:27.227-07:00

Looking through jobs, I think of all the things I could’ve done with my life. All the things I never did and never will do. I feel like a child who once had all these dreams, all at once now in retrospect, a child who became a bigger child who never really learned anything. I scroll down the listings on all the job sites. I see things that look interesting, some things I think I’m ‘too good’ for,

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-23253424050613595592011-04-03T15:11:00.000-07:002011-04-07T19:55:33.594-07:00

My novella, Milk Like a Melted Ghost, has been published by Thumbscrews Press (thanks again to Daniel Casebeer…), and can now be read online for free. You can find it on Goodreads, along with other books of mine. If you like it, or something else, please be sure to give it a star or two.Also, Barry Graham recently interviewed me, and it went live today at Dogzplot's blog. We discuss my chapbook

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-15419731147067386622011-03-24T01:00:00.000-07:002011-04-04T13:21:37.019-07:00

My novella, Milk Like a Melted Ghost, will be published as an e-book April 1, 2011 by Thumbscrews Press. Anyone can read it for free. Here are some nice things some nice people I admire have said about it:"One of the more impressive small press titles I've read in a long time. Beeny's control of imaginative image blending is on a level I've never seen. It's a book that moves the way more books

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-57012936079567464102011-03-23T09:39:00.001-07:002011-08-20T10:15:36.528-07:00

How I feel about social networking is it gets really confusing. It’s a lot to keep track of. I feel sometimes like Facebook is a desert island I’m stranded on, only I got to bring everything with me. It feels really distracting. I find myself not reading people’s blogs as much. I don’t like that. I feel other people may be experiencing this, too, to some degree. Not many people visit my blog

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-32474203744322781412011-03-10T06:19:00.000-08:002011-05-09T10:12:26.515-07:00

I have a new story called "Intventing the Victim" up at Metazen today (Thanks again, Frank...). It's a chapter from one of my unpublished novels, a novel of stories called The Immortals Act Their Age.You can read other stories/chapters from The Immortals, along with stories and excerpts from other novels here. You can also read some of my poetry, essays, and reviews.My other novels are Lepers and

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-53677231202177832332011-03-03T11:55:00.000-08:002011-03-23T19:58:07.149-07:00

Spencer Dew reviewed my poetry collection, Of Creatures, for the March 2011 issue of decomP. Thanks to Spencer Dew for reviewing it, and for his kind words. And thanks to Jason Jordan for putting it out there, along with other works this month by Len Kuntz, Joshua Young, Casey Hannan, S Craig Renfroe Jr., Micah Dean Hicks, Stephanie Smith, Dan Walsh, Adam Day, and many others…

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-37491970005322181712011-02-22T08:00:00.000-08:002011-04-05T09:11:45.185-07:00

Here is the cover of my forthcoming novella, Milk Like a Melted Ghost, to be published April 1, 2011 by Thumbscrews Press (Pear Noir!).Thanks to Daniel Casebeer of Thumbscrews Press for accepting and publishing Milk Like a Melted Ghost, as well as allowing me to help design the cover.Milk Like a Melted Ghost will be published exclusively online as an e-book in the Issuu format, so anyone will be

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-54338594387489194712011-02-10T09:52:00.000-08:002011-04-05T07:37:14.416-07:00

Adam Moorad’s first novel, Oikos, is an intimate but humorous exploration of existential anxiety. The novel’s protagonist—the seemingly eponymously named Lamb—is the son of a former preacher. Lamb's mother "died before he was born—technically." An anxiety-ridden hypochondriac, Lamb continually imagines he’s contracted cancer somehow, such as forgetting to wash his hands. Even slight alterations

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-48891441811470601882011-02-05T20:13:00.000-08:002011-08-19T13:41:26.575-07:00

Sam Pink’s first novel, Person, is a minimalist work full of intense longing and existential anxiety. The novel humorously explores themes of alienation and, while told in a seemingly random yet linear narrative, doesn’t rely on overall plot as a vehicle to convey its ideas. The scenes in Person are mostly reflections on the anonymous narrator’s life, using internal monologue and fantasy to make

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-11334683574464984662011-01-29T18:16:00.000-08:002011-09-21T14:52:48.746-07:00

In The Palm-Wine Drinkard (first published by Faber and Faber in 1952), Nigerian writer Amos Tutuola explores the sobering effects invading colonial powers have indigenous populations, imposing 'civilization' through violence. Based on traditional Yoruban folktales, the narrative ironically depicts these sobering effects through the hallucinatory imagery of a waking nightmare.These effects are

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-70863537061940236372011-01-26T09:48:00.000-08:002011-03-23T20:01:18.162-07:00

I have an essay called "Healing Frequencies Open" up at The Nervous Breakdown. It's about Star Trek and Columbus Day, and maybe some other things. Here are tags: capitalism, Christopher Columbus, civilization, Colonialism, Columbus Day, Disney Land, Gutenberg, Heisenberg, Heisenberg Compensator, imperialism, nuclear weapons, Printing Press, racism, sexism, Star Trek, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-49515515781123266022011-01-21T17:31:00.000-08:002011-03-23T20:01:30.121-07:00

Ken Sparling’s fifth novel, BOOK, is a postmodern work of metafiction (if one feels metafiction is indeed postmodern) in which Ken Sparling is a character in the book, writing the book. This intentional inclusion of 'the self' calls into question the notion of what it means to narrate—or to write, for that matter. The first-person point of view often seems to (seems to) shift from Ken Sparling to

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-52063293444870510402011-01-19T06:18:00.000-08:002011-03-23T20:01:38.152-07:00

1 / A poem from Of Creatures (Gold Wake Press, 2010), “The Feather, an Optical Sorrow,” gets featured @ Verse Daily…2 / A poem from Of Creatures (Gold Wake Press, 2010), “Sometimes the Vast, the Noisy Clock,” resurfaces @ The Planet Formerly Known as Earth. It was originally published in ditch…3 / J.A. Tyler reviews Snowing Fireflies (Folded Word Press, 2010) over @ Red Fez…

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-51931559588761218862011-01-06T20:02:00.000-08:002011-09-21T18:07:08.397-07:00

Andrew Borgstrom’s chapbook, Explanations, is a collection of 36 first-person stories, each a character study in alienation, anxiety and unfulfilled desire. Each is titled with a description of the relevant character’s personality or profession, followed by what they are going to explain in the piece, most often a certain aspect of their lives.These titles are often humorous: “An Etymologist

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-71924940158714078122011-01-02T20:31:00.000-08:002011-05-09T17:37:26.128-07:00

Jason Jordan’s second collection, Cloud and Other Stories, is an inventive exploration of narrative structure, surrealism and existential crises. It’s separated into two geographically-titled sections ('Louisville' and 'Pittsburgh', each meant to catalogue where these stories were written [not only geographically, but perhaps, ultimately, where in Jordan’s life]).These stories utilize absurd,

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-1611080608097066612011-01-01T06:33:00.000-08:002011-05-08T10:06:02.764-07:00

1/ NEW ELIMAEThe year’s first issue of elimae is up, and it includes two stories of mine called “The End is Getting Younger” and “The Growth” (Thanks again, Brandon and Coop…). Also in this issue are works by Parker Tettleton, Steve Roggenbuck, Troy Urquhart, Howie Good, Mike Topp, Edward Mullany, and others…2/ 3 REVIEWS OF 'OF CREATURES' Three reviews of my poetry collection, Of Creatures,

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-56596733111087335302010-12-30T00:00:00.000-08:002011-09-21T14:53:59.079-07:00

Shya Scanlon’s first novel, Forecast, is a fabulist dystopian work about Citizen Surveillant Maxwell Point’s report to the United States Energy Commission regarding the disappearance of Helen Allen-Karuth (formerly known, in her youth, as Zara). Set in the year 2212, the title offers up the novel as a view into our own future through close examination of our own present time.Part Kurt Vonnegut,

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-38950188204859096802010-12-29T01:00:00.000-08:002011-04-05T07:35:14.606-07:00

xTx’s first chapbook of stories, He Is Talking to the Fat Lady, is a sobering collection of ultimately doomed narrators who, despite their self-destructive tendencies, seek out redemption through physical pleasure—perhaps at the expense of emotional stability.I like the structure of this collection, as the transitions from story to story are smooth and calculated. It’s very easy, though, to focus

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-37444803090331340942010-12-28T00:00:00.000-08:002011-04-05T18:38:08.245-07:00

Steve Roggenbuck’s debut chapbook, i am like october when I am dead, is a work of ferociously subversive minimalism. The poems are concrete, and don't rely on figurative language to convey their imagery. But what Roggenbuck leaves out is, as in music, what matters the most, and Roggenbuck is here at work perfecting this ideal.The poems in this collection are at most only a few lines long and (as

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-17322149156360439852010-12-27T09:26:00.000-08:002011-05-09T17:36:13.130-07:00

Ethel Rohan’s first collection of stories, Cut Through the Bone, is pregnant with characters haunted either by loss or the absence of something they never had. They compensate for these absences in strange ways, essentially becoming different people—their surrogate selves are prosthetics for phantom limbs. We meet Rohan’s characters in medias res, trapped in excruciating cycles of yearning,

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-6026759557949206322010-12-26T16:02:00.000-08:002011-03-23T20:04:57.581-07:00

On Christmas Eve, a chapter from my unpublished novel The Immortals Act Their Age called "When and If the Body Was" was published in Flash Fire 500 (Thanks again, Bozzy…). Perfect for the season, reminds me of last Christmas when a poem of mine called “Identical Nativity Scenes” was published in Zygote in My Coffee.Big thanks to Ken Sparling who, in a list of his favorite reads in 2010 @ Big

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-79581878274434248982010-12-20T19:19:00.000-08:002011-07-03T19:22:29.276-07:00

I wrote an essay about 'the human spirit' called "You Can Lead a Narcissist to Water" up at The Nervous Breakdown. Here are the tags: 127 Hours, adrenaline, animal instinct, animals, Aron Ralston, bombs, brain chemicals, canyons, death drive, dopamine, Earth, endorphins, evolution, fun, guns, hallucinations, humans, James Franco, mustard gas, napalm, narcissism, nuclear weapons, religion,

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-37631722641756832212010-12-16T09:00:00.000-08:002011-09-22T04:45:02.132-07:00

I've now officially completed my Bachelor's coursework. I handed in my last paper and took all my finals this week. When I got home I laid in bed, half-relieved and half-scared out of my mind. I don't know what I'm going to do now.I haven’t done too well this semester. I’ve had ‘senioritis’, or whatever they call it when you’re sick of doing shit you don’t care about anymore. Other things came up

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-58941474540254166242010-12-11T10:04:00.001-08:002011-07-04T05:31:25.664-07:00

1/I would like to give away five copies of my recently released poetry collection, Of Creatures (Gold Wake Press, 2010), to the first five people to comment on this post re Of Creatures.I also have a few review copies available, so if anyone is interested in reviewing it for their blog or any other site to which they contribute please leave a comment or email me (ellipsis81@netzero.net).This

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-44335108564012597692010-12-02T05:56:00.000-08:002011-03-23T20:07:09.854-07:00

Thunderclap! 4: Love is out and available for purchase here, or for free PDF download here. Thanks to Robert Vaughan for asking me to send him something. The issue includes an excerpt from my unpublished novel, The Quarantine Ceremony. Other portions of The Quarantine Ceremony have been published in elimae here and here, and here are some other parts of it published on this blog.Also in this

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-59743476209427140892010-11-30T06:32:00.000-08:002011-03-23T20:09:56.021-07:00

Dear Dead End on Progressive Ave.,You seem sad lately, upset.If you're worried no one likes you, you're not alone.Popularity really doesn't matter as much as you think.We all tend to take things too seriously.We are all simply alive and trying to figure out who we are according to ourselves and, maybe even more so, to others (as we often can’t seem to define ourselves any other way), and this is

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-75972987757560483182010-11-26T05:39:00.000-08:002011-03-23T20:10:37.147-07:00

I wrote an essay up at The Nervous Breakdown today called "'The Crazy Target Lady', or Why You Might Get Trampled to Death This Holiday Season." It's about 'the crazy Target lady' commercials starring comedian Maria Bamford which advertise Target's 2-Day Sale for Black Friday. I examine and 'decode' seven of these commercials, trying to understand/determine their influence on—how they promote

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-59904541537435225262010-11-22T21:33:00.000-08:002011-03-23T20:12:46.980-07:00

The Medulla Review: Volume 1 Anthology is now available, and it includes my story "Placebo Effect" (from my unpublished novel The Immortals Act Their Age) which appeared in Issue #3.This anthology also contains work by Margaret Walther, David S. Pointer, Heather Fowler, Alec B. Kowalczyk, Hugh Fox, Dorianne Laux, Susan Slaviero, Howie Good, Mike Finley, Laura La Hew, J. Michael Wahlgren, John

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-74699058220977714682010-11-12T20:27:00.000-08:002011-03-23T20:13:12.208-07:00

Here is the cover for my forthcoming chapbook, Pseudo-Masochism (Medulla Publishing, 2011). The cover was designed by my friend, a tattoo/graphic artist named Kenny Dumas. He playfully titled the image "Sado-Mechanism." (Kenny and I have the same birthday, which is neat.) Here are some nice things people I admire said about Pseudo-Masochism:“Pseudo-Masochism blends bodies together—sexually,

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-77838530643918553082010-11-05T04:57:00.000-07:002011-03-23T20:13:30.837-07:00

1 /My small novel, Milk Like a Melted Ghost, has been accepted for publication by Thumbscrews Press for publication as an e-book in early 2011 (Big thanks to Daniel Casebeer, editor/publisher of Thumbscrews Press and Pear Noir!...).2 /I am now a contributor to The Nervous Breakdown. My first post is an essay I wrote called “On the Other Side of the White Wall: A Post Colonial Reading of Real Life

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-53732951270130997612010-10-17T19:17:00.000-07:002011-03-23T20:14:22.420-07:00

My Mud Luscious Press chapbook, "SIGNALS / BLACKOUT" has been released simultaneously with Matt Bell's chapbook, "FAWN, FIONA, FJOLA."(It feels good to think of my work being sealed in the same envelope as Matt Bell's. I met Matt and J.A. Tyler last year at the &Now conference here in Buffalo, and they're both really nice. You can read about it here.)"SIGNALS / BLACKOUT" consists of two chapters

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-59656255005716619702010-10-16T07:49:00.000-07:002011-03-23T20:14:41.172-07:00

I got the proof copy of my forthcoming collection of poetry, Of Creatures (Gold Wake Press, 2011) in the mail the other day. It is available for preorder at BN.com, and will be soon through Amazon. The cover is an image called "Ice" by elimae editor Cooper Renner. Reading through these poems, I’d almost forgotten they are an experiment in optimism…My last journal publication was in the October

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-42175290963230420702010-10-08T04:34:00.000-07:002011-03-23T20:14:58.526-07:00

A palindrome is a word, phrase, number or any other sequence which can be read the same forward and backward. I've been interested in palindromes for a long time. I taught my 6 year-old daughter what a palindrome is a while back, and now every time she looks at a digital clock and its says something like 7:07 or 3:53, she goes: "Palindrome!" Here are some funny phrasal palindromes:A man, a plan,

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-9782949896319388882010-10-05T20:07:00.000-07:002011-03-23T20:15:12.527-07:00

My story, "The Shell of Reflection," was nominated by A-Minor Magazine for Dzanc's Best of the Web 2011 (Big thanks, Sheldon...). This story is a chapter from my unpublished novel, The Immortals Act Their Age. This is my third nomination, the other two being for the title story to my chapbook Snowing Fireflies (Folded Word, 2011), "Snowing Fireflies," nominated by Willows Wept Review, and a

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-31659373007178676472010-10-04T16:24:00.000-07:002011-05-09T06:09:57.414-07:00

I’m taking Foundations of Language this semester (strange I saved this for my last semester) on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. I had a group presentation this past Saturday, and our chosen topic was Semiotics. (We haven't discussed Semiotics at all in class, so I can't imagine what our professor expected. Luckily, I've already studied Saussure, Barthes and Eco both on my own and for a Literary

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-48085240410131302602010-09-30T20:06:00.001-07:002011-03-24T06:00:53.441-07:00

1 /My story "Model Airplanes" was nominated by Emprise Review for Best of the Net 2010. This story is a chapter from my unpublished novel, The Immortals Act Their Age (Big thanks Patrick and crew...). (Here is an interview editor Patrick McAllaster conducted with me this past May.) This is my second Best of the Net nomination, including my story "Snowing Fireflies" (title story of my chapbook,

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-34362248137138621132010-09-28T18:37:00.000-07:002011-03-24T06:01:04.839-07:00

Renee Emerson reviews Snowing Fireflies over at PANK today:"Reading Eric Beeny’s Snowing Fireflies is like entering a dream about childhood. Even the look of the chapbook is playful—meandering font, drawings of little fireflies here and there, a picnic basket on the cover. The stories are whimsical, imaginative, but with something dark lurking in the background, threatening to turn to nightmare

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-16971853521370921512010-09-25T15:09:00.001-07:002011-03-24T06:01:17.688-07:00

Glen Binger, today, gives Snowing Fireflies a glowing review at The Broad Set Writing Collective. Big thanks, Glen. I'm big happy you liked this collection...Also, the title story of my chapbook, "Snowing Fireflies," has been nominated by Willows Wept Review for Best of the Net 2010 (Sundress Press). Big thanks, Molly and Troy...

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-23374227446638189062010-09-24T14:16:00.001-07:002011-03-24T06:01:36.319-07:00

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-69662949422167002252010-09-24T14:13:00.001-07:002011-03-24T06:01:45.325-07:00

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-22822745178645468562010-09-22T04:32:00.001-07:002011-03-24T06:01:55.102-07:00

Maybe not the 'best'. That doesn't mean anything. But I really like them. They're funny (Rocky's malapropisms and oxymorons are on par with Yogi Berra's), inspirational, and about so much more than just boxing. (Even though 'inspiration' is a lie, it seems somehow necessary. That feels weird to write—a 'necessary' lie—as I don't believe in [g]od, and find the idea of [g]od not only an unnecessary

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-77408753766053808872010-09-15T20:14:00.000-07:002011-03-24T06:02:10.611-07:00

When I was a kid, when my family lived in the projects on the lower west side of Buffalo, a girl who lived across the way used to babysit me and my sister. She used to watch MTV and draw in a notebook after she put us to bed. She'd invite this guy whose face I never saw to the back patio door. He whispered things to her like, “Show me your titties.” I know this because I would spy on them from

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-62663047173115324442010-09-13T03:51:00.000-07:002011-03-24T06:02:23.845-07:00

I've 'rereleased' a self-published e-chap of poetry called Watering the Fires. The poems are socio-political in nature, something I don't see very much of in poetry these days—at least, not overtly. The poems are, in many ways, 'radical liberal', as in this poem:WAL*MART FAMILIES FOR FRIENDLY FIRE(originally published in HazMat Review)Letting your children join the armed forces,you might as well

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-11078130391694636742010-09-07T06:07:00.001-07:002011-03-24T06:02:34.106-07:00

I am holding 4 copies of Snowing Fireflies hostage, and I would very much like to release them as a gesture of good will. My demands are ridiculous and arbitrary, but simple. The first 2 people to comment on this post, stating their favorite song from the 1986 musical version of Little Shop of Horrors directed by Frank Oz and starring Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene, or stating their favorite quote

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-33215694285880449082010-08-31T08:59:00.000-07:002011-04-18T16:18:11.355-07:00

Here is something I wrote in my notebook yesterday while bored before class, the first day of fall semester:People enter their own lives and laugh because there is no such thing as humor, which means not even laughing is funny. We invent things to laugh at because nothing funny exists in nature. We laugh because there is nothing to laugh at, which means we only want to be funny, which means funny

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-47495935493097242132010-08-27T18:35:00.000-07:002011-04-18T16:18:26.255-07:00

It seems like people are blogging less. I have no proof of this, nor will I research it further—I just feel it somehow. I feel alone a lot. Feeling lonely is okay, because I’ve never really been good with people. I have a hard time relating to them. They don't make sense to me, as a whole. Individually, too, a lot.I took my daughter to the zoo today. Walking around, some of the animals looked

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-67855266045110296002010-08-25T05:55:00.001-07:002011-04-18T16:19:03.116-07:00

Snowing Fireflies has now officially been released. Here is the web page for Snowing Fireflies. And here is a video of Folded Word's own J.S. Graustein crafting Snowing Fireflies by hand:Big thanks, Jessi, for all your hard work. Snowing Fireflies also gets some coverage over at Daily s-Press today. Big thanks to Dorothee Lang for her interest and support...

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-55793291423593023782010-08-24T18:48:00.000-07:002011-04-18T16:19:29.279-07:00

Here are some clips of me rapping with my friend and former roommate, Nate Hughes (as the hip-hop outfit of Failsafe-B), a few months ago at a show we did for Guerilla Gallery here in Buffalo, NY, an internet cafe/art gallery co-owned and operated by tattoo artist and friend Mark Madden. They were shot by my friend and former landlord, Chris Costello:"Prayerachute" (me):"Tire Irony" (me):"

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-91510822538814625682010-08-22T20:22:00.000-07:002011-04-18T16:19:36.969-07:00

“Man is a suffering delicate,” proclaims Eric Beeny in Of Creatures, a poetry collection that circles the mind with a tentative, ticking confidence—a nervous bouquet waiting to burst. The petals distend, pregnant with brilliant color, radiating the naked shyness kicking within. Brace yourself for the birth, for Beeny’s words surge forth, methodically, to wrestle the lure of contentment before

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-88562673592306249332010-08-18T20:01:00.000-07:002011-04-18T16:20:38.710-07:00

1 /After much deliberation, weighing of pros and cons and wondering what the purpose of anything is and what I hope to accomplish with writing whatever literature/music it is I write and hiding under the covers and feeling afraid of the world and deciding there’s no point in being afraid if there is potentially no purpose to anything, I’ve joined Facebook. I still feel very afraid. Wanting to

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-65945796145609996942010-08-10T21:30:00.000-07:002011-04-18T16:19:59.168-07:00

I’m almost 30. This doesn’t sound old to most people maybe, but to me it feels very old. Life moves so fast. It feels like I should've accomplished more by now. I don’t think I remember being a child, what it felt like. If I sit here and concentrate, nothing happens. I’m not sure where all those adolescent years and my early 20's went. Things like that just disappear. I know what I did during

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-77164161377558904242010-08-05T17:20:00.000-07:002011-04-18T16:20:07.817-07:00

My chapbook Snowing Fireflies will be released soon from Folded Word Press, and I’m having a little giveaway. To anyone who purchases a signed copy of Snowing Fireflies, I will send two things: 1) a promotional postcard with the cover of Snowing Fireflies on one side and 2) another small chapbook called Children. This small chapbook will be 'self-published', and will consist of 10 pieces from

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-90883828273404358782010-08-01T19:35:00.000-07:002011-04-06T20:14:39.601-07:00

IntroductionI want to read Tao Lin’s second novel, Richard Yates. I am writing this essay, however, to promote Tao Lin’s work as a whole. This essay won’t be about Tao Lin’s second novel Richard Yates, as I don’t know anything more about the novel than what I’ve read here and here and here, and a few other places. (What I’ve read about Richard Yates makes me want to stop reading about Richard

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-31369177575976820312010-07-25T11:19:00.000-07:002011-04-18T16:21:25.071-07:00

1 /The Tender Buttons collaborative is up at Titular, and it includes elements from a chapter of The Immortals Act Their Age called “Shovels” (big thanks again, Reynard and Jimmy for asking me to send something…). I’m big happy to appear alongside Prathna Lor, Amy McDaniel, Desmond Kon and Reynard Seifert, co-editor of Titular. Here is “Shovels” in its entirety:SHOVELSAll the afterlives before

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-82251435351870171762010-07-19T05:24:00.000-07:002011-04-18T16:21:46.370-07:00

My chapbook Snowing Fireflies will be released soon from Folded Word Press, and it’s available for preorder from Folded Word Press. You can order it here, or, for a copy with a signed inscription, you can order here. When you preorder, if you use the coupon 'FWBG' you’ll get a 5% discount. US shipping and CA sales tax (if applicable) are included in the price.Also, my forthcoming poetry

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-21055048857985100512010-07-14T21:25:00.000-07:002011-04-18T16:21:54.099-07:00

Medulla Publishing will publish my chapbook manuscript Pseudo-Masochism (Amnesias and Artifacts) in February 2011 (Big thanks again, Jennifer...). This collection consists of sex-themed stories and poems about an anonymous ‘he’ and an anonymous ‘she’ and their relationship.Earlier versions of some of these pieces have appeared in Buffalo Artvoice, elimae (2nd poem), King Log (1rst poem),

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-26282103643805512932010-07-09T20:52:00.000-07:002011-04-18T16:22:08.743-07:00

You’re nothing if you don’t have a job.If you don’t go to work and earn a paycheck, performing mindless tasks on command, volunteering your time for money you won’t receive for at least another week at the expense of your health and happiness for someone else’s long-term profit, you’re nothing.Worthless.You need to get up off your ass, get out there into the world and acquire gainful employment,

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-35922731967950031092010-07-01T05:11:00.000-07:002011-04-18T16:22:19.584-07:00

Issue #3 of The Medulla Review is live, and it includes a chapter from The Immortals Act Their Age called “Placebo Effect.” Issue #3 is “themed around darkness, death, apocalypse, and alternate / future realities.” Here is an introduction from editor Jennifer Hollie Bowles:Dear Writers and Readers,Volume 1, Issue #3 of The Medulla Review is themed around darkness, death, apocalypse, and alternate

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-69509504022932840912010-06-28T11:56:00.000-07:002011-04-18T16:23:03.508-07:00

1 /Come up with a great idea on how to become a millionaire.Write a book about putting your idea into practice.Become an instructor.Travel the country, the world.Host seminars on how to become a millionaire, and have people pay you to know the secret(s) to becoming a millionaire.Don’t give them the secret(s), just promise you’ll give them the secret(s).People will pay you to pretend you know what

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-25252813838860649332010-06-23T21:02:00.000-07:002011-04-18T16:23:10.596-07:00

Big Melly-Meltron Bosworth wrote a review of Snowing Fireflies for Outsider Writers Collective, and it went live today. I’m in awe of his analysis, and I thank him immensely for his kind words and thoughts on my work. Big thank you, Mel…

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-2228642704796823752010-06-14T05:44:00.000-07:002011-06-09T10:20:31.133-07:00

I recently had the honor of writing a short piece for Shome Dasgupta’s series over at The Laughing Yeti, On Reading, and it was posted this morning. Other writers who’ve contributed pieces include amazing talents like Mel Bosworth, Matt Bell, Shane Jones, J.A. Tyler, Molly Gaudry, Sasha Fletcher, Roxane Gay, Brandi Wells, Jessii Carty, Amelia Gray, Jason Jordan, Brian Evenson, Kevin Sampsell,

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-1004747491983421812010-06-11T08:37:00.000-07:002011-04-18T16:23:25.017-07:00

What’s that fear where you’re afraid to go swimming in the Gulf of Mexico because you think there might be an unfathomable amount of toxic crude oil gushing from a ruptured pipeline a mile underwater due to an incompetent oil industry’s negligence concerning the installation of proper failsafes in an attempt to cut both costs and corners and a government’s failure to regulate that oil industry? I

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-29504485069874175882010-06-07T11:50:00.001-07:002011-04-18T16:23:32.169-07:00

From Folded Word Press:"The wait has finally come to an end. Eric Beeny’s chapbook Snowing Fireflies is now available for preorder! Options for preorder are chapbook, chapbook signed, and chapbook as subscription.Snowing Fireflies is a collection of stories written by Eric Beeny. A mixture of prose and poetry, Beeny’s unique writing style will not only draw the reader in, but keep them hooked and

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159814006963878291.post-54295108904883733562010-06-03T20:12:00.000-07:002011-04-18T16:23:42.163-07:00

Courtesy of Folded Word Press’s Twitpic page, here are some photos of Snowing Fireflies in production. I can’t wait to hold this chapbook in my hands. I can’t thank Jessi Graustein enough for her commitment to the quality of Folded Word Press chapbooks, as the amount of work she puts in is humbling. So, here are first glimpses of Snowing Fireflies:

Eric Beenyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055245837586676172noreply@blogger.com4