Obsessions! The Odyssey! The Week That Was!

Excessive heat and an ear infection could be my excuses. They were real, debilitating, inhibiting a range of actions. I had an incident last Sunday that still bothers me where I almost fainted. It left me light-headed and shaken through Monday.

But the truth is, I got caught up in an obsession. I worked on my research project until I wanted to write nothing more. I blistered my eyes with articles and editing my own work. Why is it that creating footnotes and translating information is both more tiring and less than writing fiction? Fiction feels like painting with sweeping brush strokes and then filling them with details. Writing this article is more like taking tiles to make a mosaic - finding a piece and then aligning it to fit other pieces.

What I had at the end of the week were notes for a supervised release post and nothing more.

I do not seem to recall when the heat advisory started this week. Certainly on Wednesday, but maybe Tuesday.

When Tuesday came, I made enough progress that I decided to treat myself to (finally) seeing The Odyssey. Paying my light bill only strengthened my resolve to see the movie. Using someone else's air conditioning seemed like a very good idea.

Nolan wrote and directed a great movie. Not a perfect movie, though. The criticisms about Calypso are spot on - never have I seen Charlize Theron reduced to a cipher; worse, a sexless, charmless cipher. Yes, there is no sex as in the poem; also, there is not much of the erotic. Yes, Pattinson excels as the villain. What has gone unmentioned, or unseen by me, has been anything complimenting the scenes of Odysseus and Penelope. To them is one the scene of passion. Anne Hathaway is a Penelope that matches the wits of her Odysseus. For all of Elon Musk and the online wankers complaining of Lupita Nyong'o's casting, I have been unable to imagine another actress in the parts she plays. Yes, she has few lines as Helen, but what she does have is devasting. More importantly, as Helen, is her face. No, she has power in her roles that I cannot imagine another pulling off with words, let alone her silence. My biggest surprise was Matt Damon. In my memory are Kirk Douglas and Armand Assante, both more in my mind the adventuring, wily Odsysseus of my imagination. Damon portrays a king with responsibilities to his men; who uses his wits in service to his responsibilities rather than for mere glory. Lastly, the scenes with Circe and Osysseus understate their power and importance.

I suspect it will win Best Cinematography just for the madness of filming directly on Imax cameras. The only competition should be the next installment of Dune.

It should win Best Adapted Screenplay, depending again on the forthcoming Dune.

Nolan should get Best Director for holding its scope together. I prefer Olive Wilde for The Invite; she did more with less, but that will probably be why she will not be in the running. Denis Villeneuve will then be the one to watch for.

And it will be the Best Picture winner.

Wednesday, I made the writer's group. That went well. I think I also made a trip to Walmart.

Thursday back to research and putting together that manuscript and enduring the heat and humidity. I think I finished watching Graveyard on Netflix. It is a Turkish police show that has finished its second season. It is a sort of Turkish Law and Order: SVU. Although I think that lessens Graveyard. It has none of the righteous melodrama of SVU. The social critique of Graveyard actually hits harder by being less overt. A scene between two fathers with one talking about bringing up his son in a world with online hate towards women stays in my mind. Oddly, it also brought to mind The Closer/Major Crimes for all it lacks in the humor of those shows. It is also a workplace drama where private lives often intrude. Last, but not least, its production values and direction are better than what we get on our cop shows.

Friday was the group and shopping at Payless. Nothing much else was accomplished that day besides small work done on the project. I started the second season of Guy Ritchie's The Gentlemen. This I finished on Saturday. I am not sure what Ritchie is doing with this; it feels different from what he has done before. He has not been one for paying attention to monsters.

Saturday, I indulged in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. I have seen some headlines criticizing this season. I have not taken the time to listen to them. It seems to me the show has not the usual sanctimony of Star Trek. It also seems to be establishing the future in small ways. Not so much in terms of plot but in character. Back to the project, putting off a trip to Payless of milk and disilled water. The things I had not enough hands for on Friday.

Sunday was church. A wonderful time, a settling of the spirit. I had thought I had polished off one section only to realize as I was closing the door to leave that I had not. No, that came after church.

Today, it was up early, computer troubles, dealing with the ear infection, and finishing this post. I have a table to put together and a kitchen to clean. So this is the end of this report. What follows are the things collected during the past week that were supposed to have been published before today.

 Submissions for 9/4:

Uncanny Magazine was sent “The Unintended Consequences of Art”. 

“After Making Landfall” went to West Branch,  Ninth Letter

“Plain Tales From The Flatlands (Excerpt)” to Kenyon Review.

7.13 Books got the full version of  “Plain Tales From The Flatlands.”

Rejections from the past week follow. 

9/5

Thank you for submitting Agnes to Thin Skin. We appreciate that you chose to submit to us, but regretfully we’re going to decline.

Best Wishes,
The Thin Skin Team  

9/1:

Thank you for sending us "A Heart’s Judgment Judged."

This particular piece did not work for us, but we were impressed by your writing. We hope that you will send us something else. Our submission schedule can be found on our website at http://americanshortfiction.org/submityourwork/.

Sincerely,

The Editors, American Short Fiction

 ***

We are freeing this story from the rat cage today. We hope it finds a better fit (and pay!) elsewhere. Rejections suck, we get it. But, hey, you are doing the thing! You should celebrate that you are sending your work out into the world.

We're sorry to say that Lesson Learned On A Green Meadow is not quite right for us at this time.

If this was a quick reply, please don't be discouraged. Though rats are considered nibblers, we devour our reading and are always hungry for more! And what do we know? We're rats!

We hope you'll consider trying us again. You're welcome to submit again during any of our open calls.

Best wishes,
Rat Bag Lit
http://www.ratbaglit.com 

8/31: 

“After Making Landfall” rejected:

Thank you for submitting your work to MudRoom for review. We are grateful for the opportunity to engage with your writing and thinking. Unfortunately, we do not have a place for this piece in our upcoming issue. We hope it finds a loving home.

All the best,
Kiera Wolfe
MudRoom Mag

 

Talent gets forgotten by the passing tides of popularity:

 Some items I have been holding back on:

De Gaulle: Résistance review – a galloping bromance for Churchill and France’s wartime hero (The Guardian)

De Gaulle: Résistance at Ciné Lumière ( Institut Français · Royaume-Uni)

 The Cramps: Gravest Gravy Album Review (Pitchfork)

‘It is the riskiest film I’ve ever made’: Pedro Almodóvar on being the villain in his own movie (The Guardian) 

Movies, movies, movies! Anderson's Paramount Theatre offers slate of free famous films (heraldbulletin.com)

St. George Middle Eastern Festival - Fishers, IN (St. George Orthodox Church)

sch

More rejections

 Saturday, where did you go?

I got a bit walking in, but missed the bus twice so gave up on a trip to Payless.

Worked on the research project.

Went  to the convenience store in the afternoon and met a dog named Tex.

 Got tired after eating a pizza from Domino's and slept from 6 to a little after 8 PM.

Wrote this post. 

After Making Landfall rejected: 

Thank you again for submitting your work to The Ex-Puritan.

As editors, we’re forced to select an extremely small number of works from the hundreds of great submissions we receive each quarter. Submissions for this issue were once again excellent, and numerous. Although we have to pass on your submission this time around, we’re truly grateful that you thought to send it our way. 

All the best in your future writing. Warm wishes and good luck!

Sincerely,

The Ex-Puritan Editorial Staff

Agnes:

Samuel, thank you for sending us your work. We appreciate the chance to read it, but it's not right for us at this time.

Keep writing. Keep reading. Keep being awesome. And best of luck placing this elsewhere.

We kindly ask that you wait one month before submitting again, regardless of which genre/category you submitted. Submissions that do not follow this guideline will be replied to unread. 

Sincerely,

The Editors

trampset 

sch

 

 

A Week of Best Laid Plans Going A-Gley: Rejections, PO Visits, An Honorable Mention

 I meant to go to this morning's liturgy, only I woke feeling nauseous and then slept late. That is pretty much the story of this week.

 Monday ended with a lot of pain, the surgery seems mostly past, but some side effects remain. I can walk a little faster, except for the limp on my right. Tuesday continued with the pain being apparent. Wednesday, I got out to the writer's group and Walmart; afterward all I wanted to do was sleep. Yesterday, I was up early and my back locked up.

All I have done is work on my research project. I did not have any energy for anything creative.

The PO visited yesterday. The new one and the old one. This is the second time they came as a pair. The old one id his usual glare and glower, stayed silent, and left the same old impression of someone needing antacids. Of course, they came when I had been trying to sleep and was neither awake or asleep. I do not understand being questioned about the monitoring software; it runs in the background and I ignore it. The new guy confused me when he asked about the upcoming polygraph; that is in January. Either he forgot that or just did not know. I feel that I let them down: there has never been any contact with minors, and this year since I rarely leave the apartment, I am not sure how it is expected for me to have some. He asked about an email to Paul S without knowing that I am free to contact felons, so long as we are not engaged in criminal activities. As usual, it was like a visit from aliens. It seems the government expects some sort of maniacal behavior breaking through rather than I am living the life I want to live. They have assumed much about me, have neither questioned their assumptions, and their assumptions are not relevant to how I live my life. The government thinks their court order must chafe me when it is irrelevant. I guess no one understands that the supervised order does not me restricts my life. Oh well, everybody needs to make a buck. It keeps people with no discernible job skills employed.

But getting my nap interrupted did annoy me. 

More importantly, I received an email that I got an Honorable Mention in the William Faulkner Literary Competition for my short story, The First Day of Feeling Free! I cannot attend the award ceremony; I worry about my bowels between here and the convenience store, let alone a trip to Mississippi. It has been a good year for publishing my stuff.

And against that, rejections were received.

Thank you for sending us "After Making Landfall" for consideration. We appreciate the opportunity to read your work and regret that it does not fit the needs of TriQuarterly. We wish you success in placing it for publication.

Sincerely,

The Editors of TriQuarterly

Thriller Magazine rejected “One Dead Blonde” 

Now, I need do something about getting ready for the group session.

sch 

 

Group Session Notes: July 2026

Another sign that procrastion remains; it is my oldest vice.

7/3:

Self-assurance or inner peace.

Steps to:

1. Think of yourself less often
2. Live according to values. Integrity plays a big role.
3. Get good at what matters to you.

[Ah, values. Nietzsche trashed Western values over a century ago. Nihilism rises out of their lack. Integrity dissipates when values are shown to be worthless. When society values hypocrisy, when society values the grifter and the performance over the substance, then integrity must be able to subsist in the desert. Nihilism leaves only destruction of one's self, of the world, as the only thing that matters. The only way I found to get out from under my nihilism was to have a complete breakdown, a return to the consolations of philosophy (starting with Aristotle and David Hume), reforging a will to live my life on my own terms, and ended with me entering the Eastern Orthodox Church. sch 8/15/26]

Live with integrity makes life better, not being ashamed.

[See Albert Camus's The Rebel. See Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. sch 8/15/26]

How to get out of your head -

1. grounding
1. form of attentiuon mindfulness - goal is to be present in the moment.
2. mindful eating (been here before) 
2. Actuall practicing gratitude 

The Inauspicous Beginnings of Another Week in Muncie

 I got out and about yesterday. I fixed the problems with Xfinity, had brunch at Jersey Mike's and shopped at Aldi's.

I had to schlep my groceries from University to Riverside, a walk about 4 short blocks, and that did me in for most of the day. 

It was a gloomy day and humid. It was one of those Indiana's days when it's like living in a warm, damp sponge.

I slept most of the afternoon and into the evening. Then I could not sleep. I watched a bit more of Penny Dreadful. I had seen most of it years ago and am finishing it up. I like its variations on the idea of Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It also made an interesting comment on Frankenstein, that he could create but had no interest in nurture. There is something to think about in that; especially in light of Mary Shelley being Frankenstein's creator.

I went down to the convenience store when I finally felt the energy to move about. A blue, clear sky above, a coolness in the wind, and a pleasant deficit of humidity.

The time since has been spent on reading online articles and answering emails. I do not feel like I have the energy to work on a short story that I have in the works. Perhaps the article.  

CRAFT rejected “After Making Landfall”:

Thank you for sending "After Making Landfall" to CRAFT for consideration. We appreciate the opportunity to review your work. At this time, however, we must say no to this piece. Best of luck placing this one elsewhere soon.

Best,

The Editors 

I did not realize the connection between 9:45 p.m. update: In Madison County: 'Flood cleanup kits,' microbursts and a Fall Creek crest (heraldbulletin.com), One American dinner staple faces a historic shortage with no quick fix (Fox Business) and White River cresting around Martinsville | Monday A.M. River Update Across Indiana (wthr.com) until today. Climate change.

There was some debate during the group session last week about what was meant by a hundred year flood, and I learned with were all wrong. U.S. Geological Survey's The 100-Year Flood explains:

"100-year floods can happen 2 years in a row"

Statistical techniques, through a process called frequency analysis, are used to estimate the probability of the occurrence of a given precipitation event. The recurrence interval is based on the probability that the given event will be equaled or exceeded in any given year. For example, assume there is a 1 in 50 chance that 6.60 inches of rain will fall in a certain area in a 24-hour period during any given year. Thus, a rainfall total of 6.60 inches in a consecutive 24-hour period is said to have a 50-year recurrence interval. Likewise, using a frequency analysis (Interagency Advisory Committee on Water Data, 1982) there is a 1 in 100 chance that a streamflow of 15,000 cubic feet per second (ft³/s) will occur during any year at a certain streamflow-measurement site. Thus, a peak flow of 15,000 ft³/s at the site is said to have a 100-year recurrence interval. Rainfall recurrence intervals are based on both the magnitude and the duration of a rainfall event, whereas streamflow recurrence intervals are based solely on the magnitude of the annual peak flow.

Ten or more years of data are required to perform a frequency analysis for the determination of recurrence intervals. Of course, the more years of historical data the better—a hydrologist will have more confidence on an analysis of a river with 30 years of record than one based on 10 years of record.

Integrity has been so diminished of late but I was shocked by Capitalism, as Told by Its Enemies - Phillip W. Magness, Caleb Petitt (The Dispatch). No one is perfect, no human being sees all; therefore, intellectual integrity requires us to admit as much. Mr. Magness and Mr. Pettit provide what such integrity should look like:

A more balanced entry on capitalism for the SEP could have offered a constructive assessment of this subject, its history, and the contemporary state of scholarship around it. Such an entry could still have room for critics in the Marxist and many other socialist traditions, but they would not have the disproportionate dominance found in Cordelli’s piece. Instead, a better entry might include serious engagement with the Scottish Enlightenment precursors to the emergence of market capitalism in the late 18th century, with references to David Hume’s work on trade and currency, as well as something more than superficial references to Adam Smith. 

It might also discuss how the ideas we call “capitalism” came to supplant an older mercantilist economic order that used government policies to steer an economy for nationalistic objectives. It might also discuss the period of both political and philosophical contestation between the “capitalist” and “Marxian communist” worlds following the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and culminating in the collapse of the latter in 1991. It could discuss in greater depth the theoretical contributions of institutionalist economists like Ronald Coase, Oliver Williamson, and Douglass North in the mid-20th century around the theory of a market economy. It might mention Deirdre McCloskey’s work on the Great Enrichment as a positive argument for what we colloquially refer to as capitalism. And it might explore the tensions between these and other theorists of market capitalism. As it stands, this rich and complex academic literature receives nary a mention beyond a few passing citations.

Since capitalism is fundamentally an economic concept, one could reasonably expect to see mainstream economic voices discussed, and competently so, by someone versed in economic theory. There would be a clear description of how profits work both as signals of demand and incentives for entrepreneurship, how competition between firms disciplines market actors, how market prices make economic calculation possible by signaling the relative scarcity of goods in a common denominator, and how government policies contribute to the creation of monopolies. Marxist and socialist critiques of capitalism from the far left would also be balanced with mainstream economic critiques of socialism. Early in the 20th century, there was famously a debate among economists over whether socialist central planners were capable of engaging in economic calculation. The economists who argued against the possibility of socialist calculation ultimately won the debate—though one would not know this from reading Cordelli’s entry.

Welfarist arguments for capitalism would not be confined to a single paragraph, and would describe in detail how free-market capitalism has been responsible for lifting the world out of poverty. The way that capitalism incentivizes entrepreneurship, and the role entrepreneurs play in arbitrage and the creation of new goods and services, would play a more important role than the entry’s single paragraph on Joseph Schumpeter, the first economist to make entrepreneurship central to the understanding of economic development and change. 

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s unwillingness to select an author for the entry on capitalism who could provide a charitable or even neutral assessment of the concept is ultimately unscholarly. In the 20th century, socialism resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of people, and capitalism and free markets were the critical factors for lifting billions out of poverty, and yet it is socialism that received the positive encyclopedia entry and capitalism that garnered the hate. Such imbalances could only emerge from an academic environment in which an ideological echo chamber supplants rigorous peer review, and the fashionable socialist perspectives of the professoriate lead it to mistake bad caricatures of a market economy for descriptive fact.

Humility requires we acknowledge our failings.

sch 

Sunday With Floodwaters Receding

 Sunday has been spent submitting stories, going through the email, napping, cleaning, dinner, and setting up future posts.

Such a wild and dangerous life I live. 

The Hillbilly Hellcats persist:  

Scientists mimicking the Big Bang accidentally turn lead into gold | The Independent

I found the racism of my black Irish childhood embarrassing. Now it has given way to fear – The Irish Times is it a curse of humanity to hate one another?

A giant replica of a kitchen cabinet is unveiled in Indiana | AP News

Hoosier Myths and Legends - Episode 7.2: Haunted Ripley County, Indiana

Thucydides’ account of war is as timely as it is misunderstood | Aeon Essays  

How Imperial Japan turned to the sardine to help build a war machine 

 

Submissions:

“Agnes” went to trampset,  Copper Nickel. The Georgia Review and Chestnut Review

 Rat Bag Lit received “Lessons Learned From A Green Meadow”.

Thankfully, no more rain of any appreciable quantity.

sch 

  

  

 

Friday and The Aftermath

 I worked on blog posts this morning before heading over to the group thing.

This is what Muncie looked like a little before 11 AM.

 My stomach has not been so steady, so I got the vegetable dumplings at The Sumpling House. The waiter whose child died was not; what grief for a young couple.

Before starting the session, I had time to walk over to White River west of Tillotson. 

 I did my grocery shopping, missed the #14 at 2:30, and did not get home until after 3 pm. I was tired, napped for a bit over an hour.

This is what we have now:

 sch

The Deluge Is Upon Us

Monday was almost a complete write-off; another one of those lethargic days.

So, notes were collected and are now being published. 

8/10 

I decided against submitting but I found Strange Hymnal a beautiful site with very interesting writings. Please give it a look.

Submissions: 

Plain Tales from The Flatlands to Split/Lip Press, Slant Books, and Boudin Novelette Chapbook Contest.

The Unintended Consequences of Art to Sequestrum 

8/11: 

“After Making Landfall” rejected:

Thank you for your fiction submission to Unbound Ink. Although it isn’t the right fit for our journal at this time, we truly appreciated the opportunity to read it. We wish you all the best in finding a home for your work, and welcome future submissions to our literary magazine.

All the best,
Rosanne and Allison
Co-editors, Unbound Ink  

I made it to Matins, retrieved my phone, and headed out to do some grocery shopping. Only the deluge started. I got smokes and got home soaked, even with an umbrella. It was supposed to be a light rain.

I made it to Payless later in the afternoon. 

8/12:

J  was to come over for lunch. I broke the date. I had been raining hard off and on since yesterday. I woke twice n the night to the sound of pouring rain.

I did need to go out to the Sheriff's for my year check in, that I was not being a threat to the peace and safety of Delwawre County, Indiana. That was the most harrowing bus ride I have ever had. Some streets were flooded, the DIY warehouse's parking lot had about two feet of water covering it, and several routes had detours.

I got the photos off the camera and have posts that will be appearing over the coming days of photography.

I  ate dinner at Savage's Ale House. Maybe I ate too much, but it is still bothering me. Not that the sandwich was not wonderful.

I went to sleep early, but that lasted only four hours.

8/13:

Up early to a gloomy day. No rain, but no sun. Have had enough. Going to make a groundhog and wait to do more. I do not feel like writing.

 

sch 

 

 Yesterday, I did the most walking I have done since the surgery. There was a baptism at 8:30. I made it almost to St. Barnabas on my own power. Then it was down and back to White River.

I napped for maybe two hours when I got back. 

 I spent the rest of the daydoing some revising “The Dead and Dying” novella. I made some changes - small ones - after the writing group on Wednesday. Those I did yesterday then added sections for a newer character that feature John B. Harvey and Albert Hyatt. I added one for Hyatt that involves Mike Devlin pulling him into politics. I found a publisher that will take novellas but has a 100 page bottom requirement. I hit 101 tonight.

No appetite. Not sure what that means.

One rejection received: 

Dear Samuel,  

Thank you for thinking of NewMyths. Unfortunately “The Unintended Consequences of Art” is not quite what we are looking for at this time. We wish you good luck placing it elsewhere.

Susan Shell Winston, editor

I already began procrastinating this morning: 

Traces of Two Extinct 'Ghost' Ancestors Were Found Hiding in Modern Human DNA, Hinting at Our Extremely Complex Family Tree

Two thoughts: I left my phone at churcfh and I am up way too early. 

 sch

 
 

Once More Lagging Behind: Rejections, Ideas, Submissions

 8/6

I find myself tired and dealing with insomnia this week. It has gotten in the way of reporting my days.

Last Saturday was my most active day out of the apartment. Laundry, the farmer's market, a quick lunch at Popeye's, and the car returned was the morning. I got back here around 1 PM. Then I found out my friend DM was in town for DWNTN Muncie. He and I grabbed lunch at the Downtown Farmstand. He agrees they have great pizza. That took up about two hours. I arrived here a bit achy.

I have photos that will appear in a separate post. 

Sunday, I managed Liturgy but only Liturgy. A little weak doing all that standing, but also from the sitting and standing up.

I need to get out today. I seem to have lost my pants on Saturday. Confused by that.

I woke around one and went back to sleep around 5 AM and then back up around 10.  

Emails and Star Trek Discovery dealt with.

I started a new short story.

Onto other things. 

8/3

I went to the grocery, I think. Certainly to the convenience store. Watching Star Trek shows on YouTube.

8/4

I started this post.  

Stayed put, a convenience store walk. Working on the MS.  

Reminded last night of something unpleasant: Murder of Sylvia Likens. This I did not know about until my forties. One may smile and smile and be a villain indeed.

8/5

I meant to spend the day out. All I did was get to the writer's group and in the evening to Walmart.

 

 

 Readings:

‘I want to be ripped to shreds’: writers flock to MFAs - but does it breed elitist literature? (The Guardian) touches on a sore point for me: MFAs running the show and me not having one.

These days, the writerly lone wolf is more a myth than it is a reality. Most of today’s celebrated authors are trained in the profession and their qualification is the MFA (master of fine arts). Percival Everett received his from Brown, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie studied at Johns Hopkins University, and Jhumpa Lahiri went to Boston. Great writers, now, are less rare animals discovered in the wild and more elite thoroughbreds, meticulously trained and set up for the race ahead.

 But is it a good thing?

While the idea that the workshop is de facto a magical, hermeneutic space where mediocre writing turns into something great is a lie, it can be a tool. For the most part my workshops were generous and generative spaces where people read plentifully and with grace. A writer who is forced to confront her work regularly through the eyes of others must think about what it is she wants to write and why, and this inevitably leads to writing that is more thoughtful and ambitious. Of course, learning who to listen to is a skill in itself. 

One rejection came with a critique and a recommendation to workshop my story. Okay, could it be that workshopping also offloads editorial work? 

What seems to be the consensus is that an MFA teaches you style as opposed to soul. A focus on craft, on how to write, creates automatons who can turn a good phrase, but whose writing is stripped of something essential. Pulitzer prize-winning Robert Olen Butler, interviewed by Edward J Delaney for the Atlantic, sums it up: “creative-writing students, who are typically trained almost exclusively in craft and technique […] don’t know the first thing about [being an artist].” Jo Ann Beard told me she could recognise an Iowa Writer’s Workshop graduate anywhere. There was something honed, particular and controlled in the writing. Perhaps the imprint MFAs have had on fiction feels more forceful at a time when the gulf between literary and popular fiction has never been wider. Do MFAs guard the ivory tower of literary fiction while “untrained” writers produce popular fiction for the masses? Or more generously, do MFAs protect a dying art?

While it is true that spending hours in a classroom under the influence of certain teachers can create similarities in style among a cohort, in my classes students submitted widely: magical realism, noir, historical, auto-fiction. They had epic aspirations.

Yet there is a sense that contemporary fiction conforms to a similar style. Is this because MFAs encourage that? I’m not sure. Or is it rather the influence of narrow trends, which force certain books into the public eye at certain times. That many of the most popular authors today have MFAs, and that those novels might have a similar style or focus on a similar subject is a bit like saying fire engines cause fires.

But a shared education may implicate a shared philosophy. Or it could be a shared culture beyond the MFA program creates a shared world view, or just a shared set of cultural touchstones. What I write about seems to be slightly outside what MFA writers latch upon.

You can drive yourself crazy trying to say exactly how an MFA influences writing, and whether it is worth it. The truth is, an MFA isn’t a magic pill. It’s much harder to pastiche a style than you think; spending hours on anything takes stamina. Doing an MFA puts you in a rigorous environment for several years where, hopefully, you can learn how best you write. As Everett put it in Brown’s alumni magazine: “Brown allowed me to really just be who I am and just work.” 

Ideas:

The Greek Tragedy Behind Suddenly Last Summer - JSTOR Daily

Structurally, The Bacchae and Suddenly Last Summer are dominated by two key monologues, and, specifically, Violet’s and Catharine’s monologues turn Sebastian into the subject of a performed drama. “Sebastian himself, of course, exists only within the competing dramatic accounts of Catharine and Violet,” says Morra. “These expressions are themselves contained within a work that calls continuous attention to itself as drama, vehemently anti-realist and self-consciously subjective. The play refrains from staging or confirming the violence of Sebastian’s demise; even more so than The Bacchae, it contains its narrative at the level of language rather than action.”  

Frame-Breaking: When Stories Step Outside Themselves – The Hemlock Journal

 Description 

If writing descriptions intimidates you, consider breaking the concept down to just remaining mindful. Reflect on what the protagonist is thinking, feeling, and perceiving as they advance through a scene, whether or not you know the “perfect” language to describe that. Then, it will be up to you to decide which of these details are most relevant to convey the tone you’d like a scene to have. Including each of the five senses all at once is rarely necessary—in fact, doing so will work against you by reducing the impact that your words have—so be sure to prioritize what feels like it best fits the moment.

***

A complete lack of description, on the other hand, isolates the reader from the characters, environment, and plotline that they’re meant to bond with by leaving them in the figurative dark. If the reader is given no visuals, sounds, scents, or other details to ground them in a narrative, very little remains for them to connect with to envision our scenes as real. Dialogue and exposition alone, while both incredibly valuable skills for writers, cannot reach their full potential without the aid of description, and the same may be said vice versa.

***

With all of the above in mind, it’s also vital to remember not to rely solely and excessively on description to elevate our writing. Doing so is often referred to as writing purple prose, which many readers prefer to avoid, making it a distinctly unflattering label to have attributed to our narratives. Similarly, utilizing an abundance of repetitive descriptions may begin to fall into the territory of cliché. Because of this, it’s necessary to be mindful of how our descriptive writing works alongside other storytelling aspects like pacing and dialogue, as depending too heavily on descriptions may lead us to neglect equally necessary skills. 

Untranslatable Food Words (Vittles) there is something here, even if it is only a reminder of language's limits.

I really think Mike Bloomfield represents a story that needs telling and “It’s tragic the way he died. He made the blues accessible to a lot of guys like me.” Bob Dylan and Jorma Kaukonen on the 1960s guitar icon who led an electric blues revolution and died alone and unknown (GuitarPlayer) reinforce this idea.  

Rejections 

 8/1 for “The Unintended Consequences of Art”

 Thank you so much for your submission to the Submission Pit’s July ‘26 window.

I regret to inform you that your short story did not win this month but fear not! You’re more than happy to submit for August immediately.

And don’t forget to subscribe to the Submission Pit Substack below if you haven’t already.

Also if you have had a recently published short story elsewhere (or forthcoming) feel free to let us know about it and we'll give you a special shout out in next month's statistics post.

8/3:

Thank you for trusting us with "Agnes." After a close reading, we've decided that the story isn't the the right fit for us at this time.

Sincerely,

StoryBottle Co 

8/4:

Thank you for letting us consider "Pieces About A Small Indiana Factory Town, 1976 – 1984" for publication in the Missouri Review. We enjoyed reading your work, and though it doesn't quite fit our needs at this time, we wish you excellent luck with it and hope we will have the chance to read more of your writing in the future.

Sincerely,

The Editors
The Missouri Review 

Submissions 

8/4:

BoomerLitMag (Agnes 2026-06-26)

Thin Skin (Agnes 2026-06-26)

Passager Books (A Heart’s Judgment Judged)

The Fanatic (After Making Landfall)  

For Page & Screen (Pieces About A Small Indiana Factory Town, 1836 -1990)

Planet Scumm (The Psychotic Ape)

8/5:

I was looking at a possible submission of One Dead Blonde. Only it required another 2,000 words. That took most of the day. 

EPOCH (After Making Landfall) 

Blue Mesa Review  (After Making Landfall)

MIAMI UNIVERSITY PRESS NOVELLA PRIZE (Plain Tales From The Flatlands)

The Iowa Review (After Making Landfall)

 

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King Arthur & Odysseus & Albert Camus

 I have been a King Arthur fan since reading T.H. White in high school. I even read Le Morte d'Arthur back then.

The Case for King Arthur (History Today )

None of this excludes the possibility that the later legend might have been based on a fictional character – that remains a strong argument – but the evidence demonstrates that there are several possibilities for a historical Arthur which can withstand the rigours of contemporary source-criticism. Asserting that Arthur was certainly a myth is, therefore, no longer credible.

It is not true that I bend my ear every time Joyce Carol Oates speaks, but maybe it comes close?

Joyce Carol Oates Defends 'The Odyssey' After Translator's Viral Slam 

In general, Oates said she liked Nolan’s film: “[I] highly recommend both Nolan’s film and the 1997 miniseries co-produced by Francis Coppola. The adaptations are notably different: one American, with the brooding middle-aged-boy-hero Matt Damon; the other very Mediterranean, with charismatic Armand Assante who more naturally inhabits the role … no reason why Nolan, or anyone else, should not re-imagine/re-envision a classical hero through the prism of his own invention.”  

 I have eaten dinner, a big bowl of soup, have finished watching Tulsa King and Strange New Worlds. The former works, if you forget the sociopathy of mobsters exposed by The Sopranos. The Trek show has grown on me, as has Anson Mount. The real Trekkers I guess are not happy with its experimentation. That I find its most interesting aspect.

The Absurdity of Albert Camus (History Today)

The key, Camus believed, was to differentiate between rebellion and revolution. As he saw it, revolutions sought to protect freedom and humanity against injustice by creating a perfect social order – in other words, by putting an end to history. The problem is that in trying (and failing) to create an ideal society, revolutions end up crushing the freedom and humanity they purport to be defending. This was especially true of the French Revolution, but no ‘revolutionary’ regime was any better – or worse – than any other. In this respect, Camus believed, the Soviet Union was indistinguishable from Nazi Germany.

Rebellion, by contrast, should respond to injustice by emphasising a shared humanity and by clinging doggedly to the value of human life. It required not just individual commitment, but solidarity with others. As Camus pointed out in Neither Victims, nor Executioners (1946), it should not aim to end history, but to ‘fight within History, to preserve from History that part of man which is not its proper province’.

Camus gave vivid expression to this in The Plague (1947). Set in Oran, in Algeria, during an outbreak of the plague in the 1940s, the novel has been widely recognised as an allegory of the German occupation of France and is, in many ways, a blueprint for his concept of rebellion. As Ronald Aronson has argued, it ‘conveys the unheroic determination to do what must be done in the face of a total threat’. Although the journalist Rambert, for example, initially tries to flee, he eventually resolves to stay and – realising that the plague can only be combatted through solidarity – accepts the risks that entails.

 

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WTF Politics

 Since no one comments, I assume the hits are also runs. Meaning you are looking without reading. Therefore, I have decided to spend less time exploring our politics.

The push to reduce the Supreme Court’s power (SCOTUSblog ) has some good ideas, some stupid ones, and not a sense of a comprehensive reform of comprehensive problems.

How much tuition does an Indiana voucher cover at Indianapolis private schools? (Chalkbeat ) - not enough to keep it from looking like a scam.

In 2016-17, the state reported that almost half of all voucher students had their full tuition and fee amounts covered by the voucher. By 2024-25, that figure had dropped to 28%.

Iran Has Figured Out How to Overwhelm U.S. Air Defenses 

 The U.S. and its allies burned through more than 11,000 munitions, including large amounts of defensive missiles, in the first 16 days of the war alone, according to a March analysis by the Royal United Services Institute. The report predicted then that U.S. forces were about a month away from running out of THAAD interceptors. An April report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies noted that “diminished munitions stockpiles have created a near-term risk.” A follow-up report the next month warned that it would “take three or more years from today to return to prewar inventory levels” of Patriot and THAAD missiles.

Brig. Gen. Hossein Mohebbi, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesperson, said that “Patriot systems have been weakened to such an extent that Iranian missiles and drones are reaching their targets without being intercepted.” He said that during a flurry of attacks from July 8 to July 22, Iran struck numerous air defense and radar installations, including six “Patriot air-defense radars.”

CENTCOM did not reply to a request for comment on the claims by the U.S. official or Mohebbi.

I thought we had destroyed their military months ago. That's what Trump has been telling us, right? 

 I went to Walmart today and spoke with the bus driver. He is certain Fauci's diaries convict Facuci of all sorts of evil-doing.

Fauci Diaries Expose Depths of Katie and Stephen Miller’s Hypocrisy (The New Republic )

Indiana state agencies turning to AI for behind-the-scenes work (Indiana Capital Chronicle )

Agencies using or planning to use AI submit a readiness assessment, which officials then review for the tool’s “objectives, efficacy, and risks.” Once approved, the agency can proceed but must provide followups either annually or after substantial changes to the AI tool or its use.

Many of those approved proposals sought to aid workflows. Several agencies planned to use AI voiceovers for videos and presentations or for parsing and analyzing data. 

But others outlined more extensive use. The attorney general’s office received approval for a Thomson Reuters-owned tool that “provides attorneys with AI-powered legal research tools to generate answers to complex legal questions, draft initial documents, summarize case law, and identify relevant statutes.”

The New Old Middle East (Foreign Affairs)

The United States and Israel cannot bomb their way to a better region. A truly changed Middle East, one that could be the basis for a more stable regional order, would be defined by stronger central governments in Arab states such as Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen. Today, those places are plagued by civil war or domestic unrest, and the region will remain volatile as long as those governments are not able to police their borders and prevent nonstate actors in their territories from pursuing their own foreign and military policies. Weak states, after all, cannot make durable peace.

A transformed Middle East would also see an end to the efforts of regional and outside powers, most notably but not exclusively Iran, to encourage or fund militias. It would include a diplomatic process, broadly supported internationally and accepted regionally, focused on working toward a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that would ensure Israel’s security and the Palestinians’ right to self-determination. And it might involve genuine regime change in Iran, carried out by the Iranians themselves and resulting in a government that respects its neighbors’ sovereignty and drops the ideological crusade against Israel.

But Trump and people I have met here far from the nearest gears of power think big explosions and a big display of force should be enough to bend the Iranians to our will. I cannot help but think of this old song I first heard from Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes:

 

Commerce Dept. quietly announces 7 new equity stakes in private companies  (The Hill)

The announcement comes nearly a year after President Trump announced the federal government would take a 10 percent stake in Intel, one of the nation’s largest chip manufacturers, for roughly $11 billion in federal subsidies the company received.

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The practice has drawn criticism from Trump’s Republican base. Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), who drafted the foundation of the CHIPS and Science Act, said at the time the law never intended to let the federal government take a major stake in Intel or any other major company.

 The real WTF moment of the day.

 

 

 

 

Dumpster Diving on A Friday Morning

I spent the evening working up blog posts. About 9:30 PM, I realized I discovered I could not find the phone. My first idea was to send out emails hoping some of my friends might be awake and they could ring the phone. I gave up on that around midnight. The only thing that had gone out of the apartment was the trash. So, I went dumpster diving along with my COPD and obsesity and the remnants of my surgery, There were two dumpsters. I found my bag in the second one. Only I did not find my phone. That I found when I went back to the apartment, went into the kitchen and saw the damn thing sitting on the counter on the far side of the sink. I do not remember putting it there. Nor did I see it in the three times I went through the apartment looking for it.

I needed a fresh pack of cigarettes, so I walked down to the convenience store, sopping wet from sweat.

Now, I have finished this post, I am calling it a night.

Never said I wasn't an idiot. 

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Odds & Ends Wednesday

I mean to do some writing today. And I need to go to the grocery again. Which proves me a bit of a shit since I passed on the writer's group. I got into watching Orphan Black, but truly, I did not feel like having that much human interaction today.

Thinking and reading while watching.

 I read Ray Davies' X-Ray while in prison; of the rock star memoirs, I think it is the best I have read. Definitely a Ray Davies production, far stranger and probably deeper than even Dylan's memoir. But I must not have caught the reference to The Beatles mentioned in Dave Davies on the Kinks’ Beatles rivalry (GuitarPlayer)

Blane Chocklett's Guide to Catching Landlocked Freshwater St (Fly Fisherman) - I can hope, can't I?

A bit of fun while continuing through Orphan Black: Western RoundUp: The Maverick Queen (1956) (Classic Movie Hub Blog)

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Starting A New Week - Writing, Literary Stuff, Rejections, Bookers, Colson Whitehead, Otters.

Lollygagging around the apartment this morning. I have gotten caught up with Orphan Black. Now, that is an excellent thriller. I went down to the convenience store. Not sure if I want to go out again.

Yesterday's trip to Walmart was partially successful. I had to leave some items there because I ran out of time to catch the bus. 

Working on the blog last night and today are the closest I came to any writing.

Bad insomnia last night. Discomfort continues from the surgery. I really want to take it easy, to do this recovery right.

Items related to writing follow.

 How To Write the Perfect Cover Letter Even Tho Nobody Cares (+ formatting and submission methods)

 (3) The Do’s and Don’ts of Cover Letters

 Writing Queernormative Worlds: World Building Workshop - C. M. Rosens

‘It Was A Matter Of Lust’ and other poems - Literary Yard

The Booker Prize 2026 not likely to read them any more than I get any other books read.

Should the Booker Prize Be Quirkier? (Thornfield Hall)

Emily Wilson · An Uncomplicated Man should be a laugh for Musk and the racist trolls who were so worried about a feminist Odyssey because Nolan used Wilson's translation. 

ROFLMAO: Nolan's 'The Odyssey' ruined a poem I never bothered to read

 What I Learned from a Close Read of All of Colson Whitehead’s Work (Literary Hub) an overview of one of America's best writers.

Oops, I thought I had withdrawn this one:

Thank you for submitting "Going For The Kid" to Tome and Space. Unfortunately, we have decided not to accept it for our publication.

We appreciate the time and effort taken to share it with us.

Sincerely,

The Tome and Space Editors

And a rejection for “After Making Landfall”, but for an older version:

Thank you for sending a submission for the upcoming issue of the Smoky Blue Literary and Arts Magazine. Although we feel your work has many positives, after much deliberation, we decided it was not a good fit for us at this time. 

We receive many incredible stories, poems, non-fiction, and images, and we are forced to select only a handful of pieces. Know that though your work will not be in this next issue, our staff welcomes your submissions and truly hopes to continue receiving material from you. Should you wish to send us another submission, please wait until the next submission period opens.

We do accept—and encourage—simultaneous submissions. You can find listings for where to send submissions at the following:

http://newpages.com/

https://www.chillsubs.com/lists

http://www.everywritersresource.com/literarymagazines/.

Http://www.duotrope.com is perhaps the best source but charges a fee. There is a free trial, however.

If you have any questions regarding your submission or any other publishing matter, please feel free to contact the editor via our website.

Thank you for your support of literary and art publications in general and especially of SBLAAM.

And completely off topic: Bay Area wildlife mystery leaves researchers 'somewhat horrified'.

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Recuperating, Not Spry

 Healing but not doing much more.

I made it to group on Friday. My legs got wobbly. I took the bus there and back, as little walking as possible. I stayed put for the rest of the day. Did some reading, watched shows on Netflix. Right now I cannot recall what it was! Thusday Murder Club. 

Got a rejection. 

Thank you for sharing "Pieces About A Small Indiana Factory, 1976 - 1984" with A Public Space. We regret that we are unable to use this piece for the magazine, but appreciate the opportunity to consider it.


All our best,

A Public Space 

I keep having these intense moments of insomnia. Those I have used to work on my research project. 

CC called again on Friday. I spoke with KH, too. Joel C called with compliments for “Ahab in the Moonlight”. That is now published. I need to get a link here to it. 

Saturday, I went to Payless and the convenience store twice. A little more walking, a little more of my research project.

I started watching Orphan Black on Netflix. I like it. Oh, I started Bugonia and just could not take its deepness or weirdness. Looks good, though.

I decided against church. Not enough energy, pain is more a low-level discomfort. 

 One thing decided: a different working schedule. I need to get some books read.

Things read over the past few days that I want to share:

The Eyes of Athena and the Disenchanted World of The Odyssey (Reactor) 

The Fermi Paradox, Percolation, and Inbreeding  (Reactor) 

Zardoz: …What the F*ck Did I Just Watch?  (Reactor) 

You Must Remember This’s Karina Longworth on ‘The Bisexuals’ 

Exclusive: In a Ukrainian bomb shelter, Laura Loomer has some regrets (AP News)

How America’s newspapers lost their voice 

Pennsylvania roads are being coated in radioactive wastewater − here’s why 

From author to anime hero: the unlikely revival of a Japanese literary star | Fiction in translation (The Guardian)

No Longer Human comprises a series of notebooks by a formerly “handsome young man”, who declares his incompatibility with the human race. For him, the world is “a place of bottomless horror”; he concludes that “living itself is the source of sin”. The narrator of the title story of Schoolgirl takes a similar view: “the problem is that I’m corrupt. I’m a bad girl.”

The relentless pessimism in Dazai’s work risks seeming overwhelming or indulgent but, as Barton puts it, Dazai “leans into [the self-loathing] with a kind of exuberance”. Indeed, his appeal in part lies in this “unashamed emotional quality, but also tempered with enormous intelligence”.

Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead review – final part of the Harlem Trilogy is freewheeling fun | Fiction | (The Guardian) 

Whitehead initially envisioned the Harlem Trilogy as a jaunty entertainment, a break from the serious Pulitzer-winning business of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys. Cool Machine specifically covers the New York of his youth, a scene he experienced first-hand, which only adds to the air of vivid, freewheeling fun. Whitehead maps the streets, labels the landmarks and dips in at intervals with handy background information. He takes a dark and dangerous corner of history and makes it feel illuminated, magnified, even borderline family-friendly.

A Sudden Flicker of Light by David Thomson review – a brilliantly eccentric history of the movies | Film books (The Guardian)

 Revisionist? Well, it certainly takes us to wintry and sombre ponderings on the movies’ (perennial) tendency to coarsen and to cheapen, to enforce cultural mob-rule. He cites King Vidor’s 1928 film The Crowd, starring James Murray, a former extra plucked from the ranks and groomed for glory but whose awful destiny was to descend into alcoholism and homelessness – back into the crowd. He emphasises movies’ amazing populist-democratic power and reach, their power embodied by the fact that, unlike in the theatre or concert hall, a film’s action could not be stopped or affected by the crowd in front of it. Like a theologian dragged by doubts to the foot of the cross, Thomson wonders if the movies will always lack literature’s way of allowing us to enlarge our imaginations, as opposed to forcing a submission to the screen.

The Rest Is History (Lapham’s Quarterly )

Who Cares? (Sheila Kennedy)

The American Prospect, among others, has reported on the crisis in what we call “Care work.”

As the report notes, immigrants from countries like Haiti, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Uganda, Jamaica, the Philippines, and dozens of others make up the majority of people who serve the aging, frail, sick, disabled and dying. These immigrants “bathe their clients, change adult diapers, supervise medications, and provide companionship in relationships that are intimate as well as professional.” And they are the targets of Donald Trump’s hatred.

How civilisations fall, according to Gibbon (Engelsberg ideas)

5th Circuit ‘answers the call’ from Clarence Thomas on gun law

4 little-known Google Calendar tricks I use to plan my workweek - and save time (ZDNET)

The Problem With Middle-Class Socialism (The New Republic)

Secret Service Agent Put on Leave for Alleged Leaks About JD Vance (The New Republic)

Trump Prepares to Attack Eighth Country of His Second Term (The New Republic)

Trump Invents the Corporate Pardon (The New Republic)

What Do You Have to Hide? - by Jared Henderson

WNAP-FM | Listen Online - myTuner Radio

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Compleat Angler, by Izaak Walton

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