I've reviewed latest Carolina Quarterly

Families in various stages of self-destruction or survival are a connecting thread for most of the prose in this issue of Carolina Quarterly. Read my New Pages review of the magazine at http://www.newpages.com/literary-magazine-reviews/2012-12-17/#Carolina-Quarterly-V62-N2-Fall-2012

Cameo role for Harry Truman

A clothing store owner in small-town Missouri discovers a robbery and turns to his former boss Harry Truman for help. Set in the early 1930s, my short story "The Shady Side" appears in today's on-line issue of Every Day Fiction. Read it at http://www.everydayfiction.com/the-shady-side-by-john-palen/

BioStories publishes my flash memoir

'Artisanal Journalism,' my memoir-essay about running an alternative newspaper, went online Wednesday at BioStories, http://www.biostories.com/Essays.php

Carol Sanford has a new poem on-line

Michigan writer Carol Sanford has a fine poem, "Roadside Shrines," at the top of the New Verse News blog today (Oct. 28).

A taste of city life

Several fine poems about city life in the current Hiram Poetry Review. My review is at New Pages at http://www.newpages.com/literary-magazine-reviews/2012-10-16/#Hiram-Poetry-Review-i73-spring-2012

Farm News Today

My poem Farm News Today is on top of the New Verse News blog today.

Reading at Indi Go Saturday night

I'll be part of a reading/concert this Saturday (9/22) at Indi Go Artist Co-Op in Champaign. 

Joining me: Lania Knight and Roxane Gay, both writers who teach at Eastern Illinois University at Charleston, and singer-songwriter Jeff Arrigo. We start at 8 p.m. Indi Go is at 9 East University in Champaign. We'll have refreshments and books and CDs for sale. No cover.

Roxane is a fiction writer who has had work published recently in a number of high-powered places. Lania's first book, Three Cubic Feet, was published recently by Main Street Rag. Jeff's first CD, Gideon, features his signature folk-blues storytelling style.

I'll be reading new poetry as well as work from Small Economies, and Open Communion.

Poem of mine in on-line magazine

I have a poem, "Cellist," in the current issue of Lingerpost.

All-German issue from International Poetry Review

For 38 years International Poetry Review has issued visas to English-speaking readers to explore what's happening in poetry around the world. It continues that service with an issue devoted to poetry in German, most of it by living writers. My New Pages review is here.

I've reviewed latest 'High Desert Journal'

'High Desert Journal' is one of my favorite 'regional' literary magazine. My review of the latest issue is at New Pages here. 

A finalist for Washington Prize

I've just learned that my poetry manuscript, Mnemosyne's Tenor Sax,  was a finalist in the 2012 Washington Prize competition. It was one of 12 finalists. The winning manuscript, which will be published by The Word Works, is B. K. Fischer's St. Rage's Vault. Details are here. Click on the link to 2012 Winner.

Mark Neely's 'Beasts of the Hill'

I heard Mark Neely read at the Iron Post not long ago, and we traded books. Then John Griswold invited me to contribute a short piece about a writer I like to the "Rec Room" feature at McNeese Review. Great opportunity to tell people how strong a poet Neely is. My review of Beasts of the Hill is here. 

Stevenson wins Nassau Review award

One of my favorite younger poets, JodiAnn Stevenson, has won the 2012 Prose Poetry award from Nassau Review for "A Thousand Birds." I knew JodiAnn from the Midland-Bay City-Saginaw poetry scene and from Delta College, where I taught as an adjunct after retiring from Central Michigan University. She was kind enough to clue an aging, out-of-touch poet into the work of Roland Barthes. New Pages reported her award here.

'Small Economies' reviewed in News-Gazette

Margo Dill has reviewed my Small Economies in the News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana. ("Flash Fiction will fit into your busy summer schedule," June 24, 2012, F3). "These stories focus on everyday life, on the struggles many of us go through on a daily basis," she writes. "Readers will be drawn into a story because they can relate to the main character's feelings and situation." The review includes a reminder that Lania Knight and I are reading and signing books at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Illini Union Bookstore.

Reading next week at Illini Union Bookstore

Lania Knight and I will read from recently published work at 4 p.m. Wednesday, June 27, in the Author’s Corner at the Illini Union Bookstore, 809 S. Wright St., Urbana. Lania will read from her novella, Three Cubic Feet, published in June by Main Street Rag. I will read from my chapbook collection of short fiction, Small Economies, published in January by Mayapple Press. I'm delighted to be on the same stage with Lania. She earned a doctorate from University of Missouri andis an assistant professor at Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, teaching creative writing. Her novella is the coming-of-age story of a young gay man in Springfield, Mo. Her work has recently appeared in New Stories from the Midwest, PANK, Patasola Press East Coast Women's Anthology, Jabberwock Review, and Midwestern Gothic. We're both members of the Red Herring Fiction Writers. The reading is open free to the public. A book signing will follow.

Happy 100th (issue), Hanging Loose

Hanging Loose marks its 100th issue with a demonstration of why it's been around so long. “Couldn't put it down” is usually reserved for novels, but Hanging Loose kept me turning the pages, wondering what strong, sly, smart or stunning piece is next. Read my review in New Pages, as well as reviews by other writers of a fresh harvest of lit magazines.

Two poems of mine in Citron Review

Citron Review is an on-line journal of poetry and short fiction, founded in 2009 by MFA graduates of the Creative Writing program at Antioch University of Los Angeles. It's a pleasure to have two poems in the Summer 2012 issue, "Arriving at the Age of Reason," and "Rain." Give them a look, and then click on the orange link at top right to check out the company I'm keeping.

Haven't seen a lighthouse for a year, but . . . .

The New Poet is an on-line journal founded by David Svenson, an MFA graduate from Florida International University in Miami, where he was an assistant editor at Gulf Stream. I'm very happy to have a poem, "Lighthouses," in the second issue of The New Poet.

'The Cossack' rides into town

The Cossack Review is a new literary magazine publishing on-line and as a Kindle edition three times a year, with a print edition planned next February. It includes poetry, essays and fiction, including a poem of mine, "Still Life." I'm delighted to be in the inaugural edition.

Magazine reviews up at New Pages

My lit magazine assignments this month for New Pages were 2 Bridges Review and burntdistrict. Both are newcomers to the scene. See whiat I wrote, plus a lot of other reviews of current magazine issues, here.

I'm on a best-seller list!

Small Economies, my short fiction collection from Mayapple Press, is No. 14 on the fiction best-seller list for March-April from Small Press Distribution, the non-profit wholesale-retail book distributor. Check out the list, see what else is out there from the small presses.

Red Herring reading Saturday afternoon

Several members of Red Herring Fiction Writers, including myself, will read from their work Saturday as part of the 10th annual Boneyard Arts Festival. Our reading is from 3-5 p.m. at the Iron Post on Race Street north of the Urbana Free Library. Please drop by if you can. The Boneyard Festival, primarily sponsored by local arts organization 40 North 88 West, takes place in more than 100 locations beginning today.

Reviewer loves latest 'Ninth Letter'

The Fall/Winter 2011-12 issue of Ninth Letter, the lit magazine from University of Illinois, got an enthusiastic review from Hazel Foster in New Pages. Calling the magazine the "exuberant, popular-as-a-result-of-being-odd kid on this gigantic playground," Foster said she read each piece in the current issue "with energy and took each one as inspiration and aspiration." She singles out Theodore Kitaif's blended fiction/non-fiction piece, "Pictures," as the must-read. Ninth Letter is a collaborative project of the Graduate Creative Writing Program and School of Art and Design at U of I, Urbana-Champaign.
In the same batch at New Pages, posted yesterday, I have reviews of current issues of The MacGuffin and The Threepenny Review.

I'll be reading with friends at Iron Post Saturday

I and writer friends John Griswold and Lania Knight will be reading from our work at the Stories and Beer event from 3 to 5 p.m. next Saturday at the Iron Post. Here's a story about the reading from C-U's online news and arts site, Smile Politely.

Poem published in Poydras Review blog

My poem "Elegy" was published March 24 in the Poydras Review poetry blog. Read it here.

New lit mag reviews posted

Lit magazines reviewed at New Pages this month include Armchair/Shotgun, Basalt, The Bitter Oleander, Cimarron Review (reviewed by me), The Dirty Goat, Gargoyle, Inkwell, Inscape, Memoir (and), New Madrid (also reviewed by me), Notre Dame Review, Permafrost, Poetry International, Toad Suck Review, and World Literature Today. Read the reviews here.
Kirsten McIlvenna is editing New Pages' magazine reviews, taking over for Jennifer Vande Zande.

'Buzz' likes my book

Small Economies, my book of minimalist fiction just out from Mayapple Press, got a positive review in the March 15 edition of Buzz, the weekly arts magazine published by Illini Media in Champaign-Urbana. The reviewer, David Ball, is a liberal arts senior at University of Illinois.
"In this flash fiction format," Ball writes, complexity is achieved by Palen's willingness to withhold information, focusing on those details most immediate in the character's mind and finding symbolism in those everyday objects on which we all fixate."

Book Signing in Chicago Saturday

I'll be at the Mayapple Press table at the AWP Bookfair 1-1:30 p.m. Saturday to sign copies of my short-story collection, Small Economies. The fair is on the lower level of the Chicago Hilton, 720 S. Michigan Ave., and is open to the public. Mayapple's table is P15 in the southeast hall. Hope to see you there.

Lit magazine reviews arrive from New Pages

New Pages has brought in a fresh cargo of lit magazine reviews, including my take on the inaugural number of Journal of Renga and Renku, the Japanese-rooted collaborative poetry practice. Other magazines reviewed include Agni, Antioch Review, Bateau, Beloit Fiction Journal (by Jeff Vande Zande), Briar Cliff Review, Louisville Review, Puerto del Sol, and the Prague-based Vlak, reviewed by Sarah Gorman. Check them out here.

Emily Palen's album 'Glass' has arrived

Emily Palen's solo CD of violin improvisations, Glass, is out from the Valence Project in hybrid super-acoustic format. A release concert is planned later this month in San Francisco. Preorders at http://valencerecords.downloadsnow.net/glass.

New novel from Jeff Vande Zande

One of my favorite fiction writers, Michigander Jeff Vande Zande, has a new novel coming out in the spring from Bottom Dog Press. Set in Saginaw, Michigan, American Poet is a "working-class story of poetry versus activism, fathers and sons, and what it takes to try to make a difference," according to Jeff's website.

'Small Economies' has arrived

My first collection of fiction, Small Economies, was published last week by Mayapple Press. The 53-page book includes short stories and flash fiction written over the last three years.
The Mayapple website describes them as "economical in narration but comprehensive in their suggestion of the past, present, and future lives of their characters. The moments they contain are set against the background of diverse public spaces: the institutions, stores, factories, restaurants, even the street corners where people must come together and choose to serve, reject, or compete against one another."
I encourage you to buy a copy from Mayapple Press as a way of showing your support for this "small press" that has an increasingly important presence in literary publishing. As of today, my book was still available from Mayapple at a pre-order price of $12.55 plus shipping and handling.
Or drop me an email with your mailing address at japalen@aol.com. I'll send you a signed copy from my stock at the list price of $13.95, plus $1.50 postage and handling.
Some of the stories are very short -- perhaps close to prose poems. Here's one of my favorites.

PRACTICE
Oh, my God! Oh, my God! he said, a small, dark-haired boy in an untucked shirt. He ran careening out of the hallway toward the sanctuary. Have you lost your cello, Simon? the teacher asked, walking behind him on long legs. Simon hadn’t known she was even there, hadn’t realized he was talking loudly enough to be heard. No, he said, and ran on,
not waiting to explain that the cello was lying on a pew where he’d left it after dress rehearsal, nor that he was practicing Oh, my God! because his mother had said it over and over on the phone that morning. He didn’t know to whom, some part of her life on the other end. He thought she was surprised, a little worried but not too much, maybe putting the other person on a little. He tried to get just her same tone.
He remembered to grab the cello below the scroll and the bow at the frog. Only a little taller than the instrument, he dodged up through parents to his wooden stool and sat down. The teacher worked her way toward him, tuning cellos while the pianist sounded an A and paused, and then another. As he waited, his thoughts returned to the hallway. Some day, when he had people in his life who would call, he would need exactly that way of talking. He wanted to be as ready as he could. Things were bound to happen.

New at New Verse News

I've got a poem, "Primary Colors," on today's New Verse News site. While you're there, check out David Feela's "The Year in Preview," the Jan. 13 posting.

Two Poets I Like a Lot

Two poets I like a lot have books recently out or forthcoming.

Janice Harrington, who teaches creative writing at University of Illinois, offers The Hands of Strangers: Poems From the Nursing Home, published by BOA. Sandra Beasley presents and comments on one of the poems in John Griswold's blog, The Education of Oronte Chum, in Higher Education Today.

Also, Detroit poet Terry Blackhawk has a new book coming out soon from Wayne State University Press. It is The Light Between and can be preordered. I heard Terry read at Robert Fanning's fine Wellspring reading series in Mount Pleasant last year. I'm eager to see in print what I heard there -- and more.