December Update

This is it. One month until I turn thirty... and one month until my (self-imposed) deadline to have the final manuscript of Nobody Looks That Young Here ready to send out. I got a lot closer yesterday, and tomorrow, the whole thing will be a pile of paper in my hands, soon to be covered in pen marks.

There are some other exciting happenings this month, too:

• On Saturday, December 8, I'll be reading "The Short Life of Gary Q. Stuffholder III" at the Propeller Centre for the Visual Arts's Comedy & Storytelling Showcase. "Gary" is a new story, not from my current collection, and it's quite a different thing for me: it's funny. I hope the audience agrees... and if they don't, thankfully, there are a dozen of us on the bill, including my friends Shaista Latif and Shari Kasman. Shaista is from Buddies in Bad Times Theatre's Young Creators Unit, and Shari's a hilarious writer published in Joyland and elsewhere who writes the most unconventional fashion blog you've ever seen. All for five bucks at the door! 984 Queen St. W., 8pm.

• My story, "Chaser" - first read at the EW Reading Series in July - arrives at Little Fiction December 5. Little Fiction publishes two stories a month and they're free to read on your computer or whichever portable device you use: e-reader, tablet, or smartphone. Plus, it's about to have its first birthday - we're trying to talk founder/writer and super guy Troy Palmer into throwing a party - and has published great stories by my real and online friends Andrew Sullivan, Braydon Beaulieu, Jeremy Hanson-Finger and Will Johnson, who will complete the hat trick when his story, "If They Had Music," appears alongside mine. 

• From a story cover to two cover stories: The Quint, featuring my story "Projections," came out this summer - I've been meaning to post this photo forever; can you find me hiding in the long grass? - and Exile Literary Quarterly, with my Vanderbilt-Exile Award-shortlisted story "Mercy," hit newsstands in November.

• Stone Skin Press recently got the first shipment of The Lion and the Aardvark, the fable anthology to which I contributed "A Real Princess." They look like beautiful books, and also feature stories by my pals Julie McArthur and Richard Scarsbrook.

• And lastly, the new issue of In/Words (Carleton University, Ottawa) just came out as well, featuring my story "Swept Up." I'm not sure this one's on sale in Toronto - if you see it on any newsstands, please let me know... and of course, buy a copy.

On Wednesday, when "Chaser" goes live, I will have no more stories sitting between acceptance and publication. I have a few submissions under consideration by magazines and contests, but Nobody Looks That Young Here will be my primary focus for the next month or so. I'll keep the Reading Journal dispatches coming, Thursdays and Sundays, and of course I'll put up a note around the holidays, but this looks like about it for 2012. Thank you for another year of reading and for supporting my work!

October Update!

No, I have not abandoned my first book in favour of a new project called Capsular Dispatches from a Library Addict - in fact, things are going quite well:

• I'll be reading my featured story "Eyesore" at the launch party for Sterling Mag #3 this Thursday, October 25 at No One Writes to the Colonel (460 College St., Toronto). Things get underway around 7:00 p.m - details here! - and the magazine is already available to order, in print or digital.

• Michael Callaghan, publisher at Exile Editions, interviewed me in advance of Exile Literary Quarterly #36.2's release this fall, in which my short story "Mercy" will appear. Check it out!

• I can't help myself: when I see my work in a bookstore (Book City in The Annex, this time), I snap a photo. I like this issue of The Dalhousie Review (91.3) more than any previous ones because my name is on the cover - leftmost on the second line - and my short story, "Ode," is on the inside.

As for the book, it's nearly finished: the above are three of the 16 stories it includes, and the most recently-written one that rounds out the collection may have given it a new title: Nobody Looks That Young Here. This weekend I took the penultimate unfinished story in for an overhaul with the Toronto Public Library's Writer-in-Residence, Farzana Doctor - very helpful meeting! - and today I found out that though another new story, "The Territory," didn't win The Puritan's first-ever contest, it did get through several tiers of judging, which is encouraging... let's call it a (perhaps very) long list. By this time next month, all the stories should be printed as one manuscript and in hand for my final edit, as - yikes - a whole book this time. The self-imposed completion deadline is still December 31, and after some mild summer despair I've realized I'm going to hit it. I look forward to having more news to pass on - and more book reviews, hope you're enjoying them - between now and then. Thank you for reading!

Three projects you should know about

Three of the brilliant and talented writers I worked at SLS Vilnius last year are embarking on bold new ventures, and seeking our help:

1. Blair Bourassa, winner of the SLS Fiction Contest in 2011, is having his short story "A Dream on Fire" adapted into a short film. More here.

2. In Santa Cruz, CA, Catherine Segurson is spearheading a new journal, the Catamaran Literary Reader. More here.

3. Nikita Nelin, winner of the SLS Non-Fiction Contest in 2011, is sharing a story from the deepest of undergrounds: Burning Man. More here.

Check them out, and give them money - they will amaze us.

Launching Tuesday, June 12 at Dora Keogh: CVC Anthology, Vol. 2, featuring "Mercy"

My short story, "Mercy," was named to the short list in this year's Vanderbilt-Exile Competition, meaning that it will appear in the second volume of the Carter V. Cooper Short Fiction Anthology alongside Emerging Writers winner Christine Miscione, Established Writers co-winners Sean Virgo and Leon Rooke, and other finalists Kris Bertin, Jacqueline Windh, Amy Stuart, Linda Rogers, Martha Batiz, Phil Della, Kelly Watt and Darlene Madott. The book launches Tuesday, June 12 at the Dora Keogh, 141 Danforth Ave., Toronto, and eight of us are on the bill. Great times to follow - see you there, around 8:00pm.

"Mercy" on $5,000 Vanderbilt-Exile Prize Short List

Exactly what the title says! My long-suffering, 21 months in the making, 7,000-plus word story is among the final twelve, which is especially good news because it means the story will appear in the Carter V. Cooper Short Fiction Anthology Series, Vol. 2 this summer, and an invite to a swanky dinner in June, too. The big announcement is still forthcoming, though: who will win the $3,000 for best story by an emerging writer? And who will win the $2,000 prize for best story by a non-emerging writer, (a prize for which my writing teacher extraordinaire, Richard Scarsbrook, was long-listed for his story, "The Statistician")? Ms. Gloria Vanderbilt is currently reading the stories - definitely the most famous person to ever look at my work! - and the news should be out soon, I'll update. I'd like to take this moment to thank two people who read and commented on the story: Summer Literary Seminars pal Larry Levey, and 2011 Broken Pencil Death Match compatriot (and champion) David Griffin Brown.

Some other little updates:

-I just signed the contract for my very short story, "A Real Princess," to appear in Stone Skin Press's upcoming Modern Aesop anthology, (thanks for the swap-and-edit, Julie McArthur). My first contract, cool!

-I'll be reading at the EW Reading Series at Duffy's Tavern, Toronto, on July 10, 2012.

-I found both the The Nashwaak Review and Prairie Journal issues featuring my work at Indigo last week, check it out.

-I'm about to go check the mail for my copy of Paragon, just released, in which my very short story "Hamburger" appears, and I hope it comes today, because tonight I'm off to Italy for a week or two! (My Reading Journal may take a short hiatus, but it will be back soon.)

As always, thanks everyone for supporting my work; with a little luck, I may have even better news next time. Ciao!

Reading: "Big Man" at the echolocation launch Tues., Nov. 29

Two stories for the price of one! Come by the echolocation launch this Tuesday, Nov. 29, 7pm, at The Ossington, 61 Ossington Ave., just north of Queen St. W., and pick up your copy, which includes my short story "Tabaco Babies."

Plus, if you stop by Book City in the Annex and get the last issue, echolocation #10, then present your receipt at the launch, you'll receive the new issue at half price - just five dollars!

And, because you'll be getting "Tabaco Babies" in the magazine, I'll read something else: "Big Man," from Prairie Journal #57, an advance copy of which just turned up on my doorstep last week.

Hope you can make it!

"Tabaco Babies" in echolocation: launch date, and an excerpt

Issue 11 of echolocation, the graduate English literary journal at the University of Toronto, launches Tuesday, November 29, 7pm, at The Ossington, 61 Ossington Ave.

Can't wait? Neither can I! In the meantime, here's an excerpt from my story, "Tabaco Babies," on the magazine's brand-spanking-new site.

Tonight: Green Door Cabaret

My writing teacher, Richard Scarsbrook, is celebrating his 2011 White Pine Award win for The Monkeyface Chronicles tonight at the Lower Ossington Theatre with his amazing Featherless Bipeds Band, MC'ed by yours truly. The show gets underway at 9:30 - click here for tickets!

Hart House Review Launch Party

Great big thanks to André Babyn and the team at Hart House Review for a fun soirée last night. The issue looks great, and the guest readers - Tim Prior, Rebecca Rosenblum, Prathna Lor and talented U of T undergrad Tommy Leonard-Roy - were excellent choices. We were hanging off their every word! Find out more, and read some selections, at www.harthousereview.com, and to keep up with me, like my Facebook page at right.

"Osvaldo's Guitar" comes out April 15!

Two New Publications
My new short story "Osvaldo's Guitar" launches in print on Friday, April 15, in the Hart House Review! Plus, it will soon be online. Stay tuned for more details on this and "Aria di Gelato," coming this summer in The Nashwaak Review!

Death Match
Also, in case you missed it, congratulations to my new friend David Griffin Brown, who beat out my first-round opponent Colin Brush for a cool $300 in the final of the 2011 Broken Pencil Death Match - a prize he's using on a rain water catchment project in Buena Esperanza, in Panama. Go here for more details. And, you can still read my story, "The Expiry Dates," by just clicking here.

Book Reviews on Facebook
Calling all readers! My quarterly book reviews are moving from my personal Facebook page to my fan page, join to keep up with my reading and writing! What? I have fans? Cool!

2011: Year of the Short Story!
I've recently started work on a novel, because as great as short stories are, and though they're my preferred form, there's a myth out there that collections don't sell. Often, even if all the stories have run in magazines, a publisher won't take on a collection from an author who hasn't made a name with a novel.

Some Canadian writers have thrown themselves into debunking this myth, and proving me a sucker. I've got their backs, and their manifesto is here. Once you've read it, go buy Cathedral by Raymond Carver, or Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro, or The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, or...

Thanks again for stopping by Daniel Perry Fiction, and for supporting my work.

Final 48 hours to vote

Until Feb. 7, at midnight, you can read AND VOTE FOR my short story "The Expiry Dates" at www.brokenpencil.com/deathmatch. This competition has been a gruelling war of Facebook lists, and it's been 50-50 for about four days. But seriously - my story is better than my opponent's! Come check it out!!

You can vote up to once per hour, per IP address. Smartphone users, you're twice as nice.

If you like what you read, leave a comment on the board saying so. Thanks for all the support!!

VOTE DAN: Broken Pencil Death Match IV!

Dear friends,

My second short story (the first one I wrote), "The Expiry Dates," goes live at www.brokenpencil.com/deathmatch tomorrow, Monday, Jan. 31. Yes, only the publishing world could set this right, accepting my first story second but still publishing it before the first one appeared. (Aria di Gelato will be in The Nashwaak Review in Spring/Summer 2011.)

But for now, please (read and) vote for The Expiry Dates in this ultra-cool, online elimination tournament, and help me rise to the top of the Indie Writers' world (in Canada, this week).

Voting runs Jan 31 to 11:59pm Feb 7, and you can VOTE ONCE PER HOUR, PER IP ADDRESS, so get those smartphones ready.

Thank you for your ongoing support. Oh, and enjoy the story!!

-Dan

Two Great Events

If you're a young writer in Toronto, like me, you'll want to stick close to the Rivoli this month.

April 15
Book Launch
The Monkeyface Chronicles, by Richard Scarsbrook

Award-winning novelist and writing teacher extraordinaire Richard Scarsbrook launches his fourth book tonight. Entry is $15 and includes a copy. Great writer, great guy, this will be a great time.


April 28
Book Launch
Writing Without Direction (Clark-Nova Books)

The collection is subtitled "Ten and a Half Short Stories by Canadian Authors Under Thirty", and I can personally endorse twenty and a half per cent of the work: Matt Loney and Chad Nevett are both former colleagues of mine from my student theatre days at UWO. This strikes me as a great place to meet writers at similar points in their careers, and take note: submissions for this collection opened June 1, 2009. If this volume succeeds, maybe you and I both will have a chance to submit to Volume 2!