Summer Reading, Part I

Sometimes you stumble onto something and wonder how you ever missed it. I felt that way when I first read Peter Markus’ work in Diagram’s 2nd print anthology. The two pieces in the anthology, “The Moon is a Lighthouse: Revisited” and “The Moon is a Mouth, a Banjo, a Drum,” are short fiction melodies, stories so mesmerizing that they simply permeate.

So it was with sheer joy that I picked-up Markus’ full-length work, The Singing Fish, from Calamari Press. It’s more of the same, but 87 pages worth: short, hypnotic fiction pieces about two brothers (both called Brother), mud, a river, fish (sometimes singing and sometimes stars), the moon, Father, Boy, Girl (made out of mud), and a backyard telephone pole “studded with the chopped off heads of fish.” The world Markus creates is magical, timeless, and muddy. In fact, everything’s muddy: the river, the brothers, Girl, the whole muddy world (some of the titles: “We Eat Mud,” “Where There’s Mud Only When it Rains,” “Guts,” “Mud Soup”). An absolutely captivating work.

And now I see Calamari will be reprinting Good, Brother, Markus' other mud/Brother/fish book...with art. Good deal.

Some neat reviews of The Singing Fish:

Diagram
New York Press
Pop Matters


-Nate

Submissions + Contest

Submissions

Dislocate, a literary journal of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction, is accepting submissions for its third print issue. Send 3–5 poems or up to 5000 words of prose to:

Dislocate: (Genre) Editor
Department of English
University of Minnesota
222 Lind Hall
207 Church St. SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Deadline for Issue #3 is December 15. Please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for notification. If submitting in two different genres, please submit separately. We do not accept email submissions at this time.

After December 15, we will have an open reading period until April 15. Any work received during this time will be considered for Issue #4.

Contest

We are also seeking submissions for the Dislocate prize in outstanding nonfiction.
Entry fee: $10
Prize: $500, publication, and copies
Deadline: December 15, 2006

Send us your lyrical essay, your treatise on nature, a whimsical account, a group of nonfiction shorts, a travel memoir, a part of your MFA thesis, or anything else you think we'd like to read. The only guidelines are excellence and up to 5000 words.

Your name should not appear anywhere on the manuscript. Send two cover pages: one with your name and contact information, and one with just the title of your manuscript. Please include a SASE for notification. Checks should be made out to Dislocate Magazine.

Please send manscripts and accompanying materials to:

Dislocate: Nonfiction Contest
Department of English
University of Minnesota
222 Lind Hall
207 Church St. SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Manuscripts entered into the contest will also be considered for regular publication, and all entrants will receive a copy of Dislocate #3.

Any questions should be sent to: dislocate.magazine@gmail.com