Poe in Goth Ink by Lex
Editor Rae Bryant of The Dr. T.J. Eckleburg Review announced her magazine’s pick-six nominations: the pieces, from among all those published, that will be forwarded for consideration to this year’s Pushcart Prizes. Here they are:
Fiction
Excerpt from His Wife Leaves Him by Stephen Dixon
“You’re an Ugly Crier†by Megan Giddings
“The Nonsense Singers of the Red Forest†by Rick Moody
Nonfiction
Excerpt from Something Wrong with Her: A Hybrid Memoir by Cris Mazza
Poetry
“Portrait d’Erik Satie†by Moira Egan
Translation
“The Women Who Watch†trans. by Edward Gauvin
I’m terribly flattered to be nominated–my first!–from all the amazing work that has appeared in the magazine this year. Congrats to all nominees, and best of luck for the next round! What amazing company for Thomas Owen to be in! How often would you see him in a context with Dixon and Moody? Owen is a towering figure in Belgian supernatural fiction, and I hope the story will lead readers to seek out more of his work. His fans have reason to rejoice this season, since the most excellent indie British publisher Tartarus Press, fresh off their third World Fantasy Award, is bringing the only English volume of Owen’s short stories back into print. In 1984, William Kimber published The Desolate Presence, an anthology elected from six collections and several decades of work by Iain White, to whom we owe translations of other pioneering fabulists like Jean Ray and Marcel Schwob. The book has since become a collector’s item, the few circulating copies commanding steep prices. Tartarus is reprinting White’s selection with seven newly translated stories, retitled as The House of Oracles. The volume will bear all the hallmarks of Tartarus’ loving production: sewn hardcover binding, silk ribbons, and original art.
Fans looking for other free work by Owen online should check out my translation of “Kavar the Rat†at Weird Fiction Review. Or, longing for a fine audio versions of both these tales? Check out “Kavar†read by David Rees-Thomas and “The Women Who Watch†read by Pete Milan at the horror podcast Pseudopod.
The Dr. T.J. Eckleburg Review is the reincarnation, under the aegis of Johns Hopkins, of The Moon Milk Review, but its change in title inspiration from Calvino to Fitzgerald in no way construes a lesser commitment to fabulism, of which Rae Bryant offers a spirited defense on the occasion of Mo Yan’s Nobel Prize.
Eckleburg, whose first two issues featured Belgians Thomas Owen and André-Marcel Adamek, is one of two revues in whose recent launches I’ve been lucky enough to participate, the other being The Coffin Factory, whose first three issues featured Bernard Quiriny (also in Subtropics, World Literature Today, and Best European Fiction), Maurice Pons (also in Tin House), and Jean Ferry (whose collection The Conductor is forthcoming). Eckleburg is gearing up for its third issue (#18) next year, and the leap from online to print.
Congrats again to the nominees, and a huge thanks to all involved!
