My latest short story, “The Grandfather of Fake News”, is available now in the latest edition of The Southern Quill. The third of my stories to be published within a few weeks, this is the best run I’ve had in a long time, which is very exciting. As of writing this, it is only available in print, but it looks like they put up old editions online, just not sure when that’ll happen. My thanks to everyone at The Southern Quill who saw value in my work!

For those unfamiliar with this magazine, this from their site:

First printed in 1951, The Southern Quill, published by Utah Tech University has been in continuous circulation for more than 70 years. The journal welcomes exceptional and polished submissions of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and visual arts from writers and artists residing everywhere in the U.S.A.

It’s awesome to see my work in print, it just never gets old. Yes, online publications reach more people, but I got into writing because I loved books – real books. They tell stories themselves beyond the story itself. (I think this will be a full post soon…) To that end, when I’m published in print I go through the entire magazine and check out all the other work, whereas when it’s an online issue I always mean to, but rarely ever do. There’s no compulsion when it’s a nonphysical entity that could disappear at any moment and never be seen again. I’ve already seen a number of my published stories disappear from the internet as lit mags often have a very short life online. I understand why most lit mags are online only these days (I had one myself years ago) but let me say, in general, in regards the digital only realm – Screw that. They digital will never be able to replace the physical. Our brains, minds, and bodies react differently to that which actually exists in our world, and in a much healthier way. Online books will never be able to replicate the experience of a real book, just as cyber sex will never be able to recreate the real thing.

For those who feel that’s too much of a stretch, I say you never truly experienced a book. Or sex. Or both.

Anyway, my story is about a man who’s family was responsible for the creation of the device used in old movies where newspaper headlines fly at you in order to move along the plot – the first “fake news.” Disgusted by what the term has come to mean, he decides to take it back. Check it out in the latest edition of The Southern Quill!

For a full list of my publications, see the Fiction page