Category Archives: Random

Random

In Memory of Doug Tompkins

Sadly, Douglas R. Tompkins passed away yesterday after a kayaking accident in Chile. Most of the news headlines nutshell his bio as “North Face Founder” or “Founder of North Face and Esprit” because that’s what made him a billionaire, but he left the business world decades ago after his ecological concerns led him away from the consumerism of the fashion industry and into conservation.

I never had the opportunity to meet Doug, but he generously endorsed an advance copy of Fracture, and his own nutshelling of his bio made no mention of North Face or Esprit. Instead, he cited his environmental work as founder of Tompkins Conservation and the Foundation for Deep Ecology. So yes, let’s remember his success as an entrepreneur, but let’s also remember that he walked away from all of that to become a hero of the modern conservation movement.

I guess this post is my way of honoring Doug’s memory and the example he set for leaders of the twenty-first century. Our world is better because of him. Thank you, Doug, and thanks to all those who continue his work.

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Editing, Random

Gratitude

Fracture opened for submissions a little over one year ago, and this Thanksgiving, I wanted to take the opportunity to express my gratitude toward those who have helped support the project.

I have to start with Taylor Brorby, my co-editor, since this book simply would not exist without him. The concept was his idea, and I am so grateful that he invited me to join him in taking this book from concept to reality.

Of course, Steve Semken of Ice Cube Press was the one who said yes when we pitched the idea, and Taylor and I are both so thankful to Steve for believing in us and in Fracture. The publishing world needs more people like Steve, and I’m honored to continue working with him.

Without all of our contributors, Taylor and I would have a pretty slim volume, and I am grateful for each of them as well as everyone else who submitted their work to Fracture. Thanks also to Samantha Futhey, a brilliant poet, wonderful person, and Ice Cube Press intern for her help with final copyedits.

Many thanks to Pam Houston for agreeing to write an introduction to the book and to everyone who gave us their endorsements (which can be found here on the Ice Cube Press website).

We are indebted to Bruce J. Miller of Miller Book Trade Marketing, who is the Ice Cube Press sales rep, for his support of the project. And thanks also to our distributors, all the book sellers, and the professors who are teaching Fracture in their college classes. Without them, Fracture would be a tree falling in the forest without anyone around to hear it.

Thanks to our partners at 350.org and Orion, to everyone who has pre-ordered a copy of Fracture, and to everyone else who eagerly awaits its release. Thanks to all of my friends, family, and colleagues that have supported me thought this project.

To the environmental writers and activists who came before us, to those who will come after us, to all who have the courage to speak: thank you.

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Editing, Random

Updates Forthcoming

Thank you to those of you who follow this crazy little thing called my author website, and a big welcome to those of you who are visiting for the first time. I’ve been curating online resources for readers and writers, so you may experience some minor changes to the website as I make room for these new pages over the next few months.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but that isn’t because things are quiet over here in my pond. Defending my thesis, finishing my MFA, moving back to Michigan, and the Great Job Search of 2015 have kept me busy. At the same time, I have had plenty of writerly developments, and you can expect me to backdate some posts about those here soon.

web-page-fracture-coverAnd you’ll definitely get plenty of updates (as both new and backdated posts) about Fracture soon too. If you don’t know yet, Fracture: Essays, Poems, and Stories on Fracking in America is a new Ice Cube Press anthology that I am editing with Taylor Brorby, a colleague of mine from Iowa State University who was recently named the Reviews Editor for Orion Magazine. With an introduction by Pam Houston, Fracture features work from dozens of contributors and will be the first literary collection to focus on hydraulic fracturing. I’ll put that contributor list up here with a link to their websites before December end.

What are people saying about Fracture? Let’s have a little preview, shall we?

Symphonic in form, euphoric in heart, this volume brings together a great, sometimes-desperate chorus that ought to be heard world-over, wherever there is oil and gas-rich shale below, and living things above. The politics and economics of fossil fuels has never been a pretty thing, but the ingenious barbarity of fracking against a vulnerable and increasingly debauched planet may be the ugliest of all extractive methods. From memory to musings, in facts and fictions, in reason and rhyme, these assembled pieces offer acutely aware and knowledgeable perspectives on a disastrously flawed practice. Listen before it’s too late.

–Lynn Stegner, Because a Fire Was in My Head

Fracture officially releases February 14, 2016, but you can read more advance reviews and preorder copies now on the Ice Cube Press website.

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Random

Pushcart Nom

I am honored to say that Ice Cube Press has nominated my essay “Letters After Achilles” for a Pushcart Prize. I have nothing but gratitude for Steve Semken, not just for the nomination but for the opportunity to help produce Prairie Gold: An Anthology of the American Heartland and for establishing a press with such a fierce commitment to Midwestern literature.

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