Easter Rabbit Release Party

Baltimore author Joseph Young is celebrating the release of his book of microfictions, Easter Rabbit, by bringing together a diverse team of musicians, performers, and visual artists to add their vision to the book’s stories. The party is scheduled for December 12 at The Hexagon, 1825 N Charles Street, starting at 7 pm.

Easter Rabbit, published by local small press Publishing Genius, comprises 86 extremely short stories, with some stories as short as 17 words. At the release party, a team of actors will dramatize a dozen of the stories, while a group of painters and other artists will show work inspired by the book. Local band Sweatpants will be on hand to play music composed especially for the event.

Artists included in the show are Lauren Boilini, Graham Coreil-Allen, Kathy Fahey (designer of poster seen in this post), Luca DiPierro, Paul Jeanes, Magnolia Laurie, and Easter Rabbit cover artist Christine Sajecki. Actors are Linda Franklin and Caleb Stine, directed by Nancy Murray. Sweatpants is Adam Robinson, Jamie Gaughran-Perez, and David NeSmith.

David Peak and Adam Robinson Talk It Out

As I said earlier, David Peak posted a review of Easter Rabbit over at his blog, Ghost Factory. In response to that review, Adam Robinson posted something of his own. David then made a response to that. It's an interesting conversation between two smart guys that has implications beyond just my book. People interested in really short fiction or writing in general might want to get in on it.

Peak Reviews Rabbit

David Peak, writing books of Surface Tension (Blazevox), writes a review of Easter Rabbit over at Ghost Factory. Says David, "Pieces like "Disclose/Agape," "The Willful Child," "The Idealist"--these stories are worth the price-tag alone. You will read them again and again. You will. And something will sneak up on you, something long forgotten, the back of your head will fall out and you will remember the time you took that big breath and really felt the heaviness of all your surroundings." That's a nice sentence. Thanks, David.

Quickly Reviewed, Said

Greg Gerke, author of There's Something Wrong with Sven, posted his review of Easter Rabbit at Big Other. Says Greg, "[These micros] live in the actions of the characters, in the details of the river or forest, and in the Beckettian/Pinteresque bits of dialogue. They are story and poetry and they describe a universe in mourning for its own mysteries, a human race run down but capable of enchantment." Thanks, Greg.

Cami Park, writer of many good things, blogged her reading of Easter Rabbit at Mungo. A hugely kind thing she says is "these writings do what art does, encompass the familiar, the emotion of everyday life fully and without artifice. A pan in the snow, a quarter on the back of a hand– I had no idea such things could make me feel so much." Thanks, Cami.

Christopher Newgent--author and interviewer--is getting ready to live blog his attempt to read Easter Rabbit in a single sitting. Meanwhile, he is holding a contest to give away an Easter Rabbit postcard. Simple enough, tell him the meaning of life. Good luck!

Variety Spice, Reviews, News

In other news, Easter Rabbit has been reviewed over at Randall Brown's blog, Flash Fiction dot net, by Jess Bouchard. One of the great things about this review is that Jess's 8-year-old daughter has a say too. Says the 8 year old, about one of my stories, “I know this piece is deep. I don’t know why. I just do.” Thanks, Jess and her daughter.

Easter Rabbit also seems to hit a chord with domesticated animals. The cats at Lauren Ellen Scott's house are not only cute but don't mind posing with the book. I can't think of any stories in Easter Rabbit with cats in them, but maybe they'll like the plentiful birds.

At the last, Easter Rabbit gets a mention from Roxane Gay in her interview at The Collagist, saying, kindly, she's looking forward to its imminent arrival.

The Easter Rabbit Interviewed on The Signal

Aaron Henkin of WYPR, our local NPR station, interviewed me about Easter Rabbit and the workings of microfiction on the radio show The Signal. I also read some selections from the book. The podcast is here. All the segments from the show are well worth listening to, but for your info, I'm at approximately minute 25 in the show.

Lucky We Got 'Em

And now, your Goodreads update...

Michael Kimball, who is going to read Easter Rabbit, has a wide net. For start, he wrote Dear Everybody, a novel so good, it really is. For next is his world famous project Michael Kimball Writes Your Life Story (on a postcard), which was talked about on NPR. After that, he works with Luca Dipierro on making films, Little Burn Films. After again, he interviews writers at Faster Times, such as Gary Lutz and Rachel Sherman. That's a lot though there's more.

Melanie LaBarge, from Albany, wants to read Easter Rabbit. Her favorite writer is Shane Jones, and I think that's not a coincidence; Light Boxes is dedicated to a Melanie. I'm guessing she's the Melanie too that's a massage therapist, which is very right livelihood.

Chuy Boca seems to moonlight as Derek White. Derek is fond of seafood--he runs the excellent Calamari Press and the fine magazine Sleepingfish. His book, Poste Restante, was reviewed at The Believer, where Ross Simonini says, "White demonstrates the elasticity of [flash fiction] and how the compressed format can allow for some of the wildest creative leaps in new fiction."

Stephanie Johnson is the author of One of These Things Is Not Like the Others, which is stories from Keyhole Books. One of those stories is "A Case Study in Accidents," originally over at Contrary Magazine. Stephanie has live e-readings for the stories, too. Adam Robinson (right, that one) interviewed her at HTML Giant.

Micah Cash is a painter. I know his painting, and he was good enough to let me hang a work of his in a show I co-curated. He was interviewed by Tom Brown, where Micah says, "My choices of materials are always very specific; usually chosen for their metaphorical and physical properties in relation to the emotive elements I want to convey." This sounds very smart and in line with what I know of his evocative work.