Thursday, July 31, 2014

New Fiction Summer Reading Recs: A LIFE IN MEN by Gina Frangello

Recommended by Bonnie Jo Campbell


A Life in Men is a story of disease set against a backdrop of disaster—but wait! This joyful, ambitious novel is also an adventure and travelogue traversing three continents. It is a meditation on love, sex, and most importantly friendship, which can overcome time, distance, and even death.  

Mary doesn’t want to expire quietly at home, and her determination to live a full life on fast-forward sends her careening wildly at times; she hides her cystic fibrosis from her companions and is careless with alcohol, exposure, and her medical regimen. We fear for her, but admire her determination to triumph rather than simply survive. Like a benevolent god, Frangello loves all her characters, the wild women, the doctors, and the junkies alike. We are present with striking juxtapositions: fresh bread and death, garbage and history, disease and ecstasy. 




Frangello is fearless as she ponders the meaning of family, the nature of human cruelty, and the profoundness of social inequality. Even as Mary follows guidebook advice about tourist spots in in third world countries, she reflects upon in how privileged she is, how privileged even to live with cystic fibrosis—in Morocco, a woman like Mary would die very young. The time shifts and point of view changes may at first jar some readers, but they’re easy to follow. The time frame of this very American story begins with the Lockerbie disaster and ends with the destruction of the Trade Towers, and life between those twin tragedies—rich and terrifying and heartbreaking. I left this book with a strangely uplifting thought: that our lives will go on after we’re gone.


Wednesday, December 11, 2013

TC Friends Awarded 2014 NEA Fellowships

Third Coast extends a hearty congratulations to former Fiction Editor Melinda Moustakis (author of the Flannery O'Connor Award-winning collection Bear Down, Bear North: Alaska Stories) and Spring 2013 contributor Andrew Brininstool ("Big Eyes, Wide Smiles," Issue 37), who are among 38 writers to receive a 2014 Literature Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.  


Born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Andrew is a graduate of the MFA program at the University of Houston. His work has appeared in BarrelhouseFive Chapters, the Tin House blog, and Best New American Voices 2010. His stories have also received the Sherwood Anderson Fiction Award from Mid-American Review and the Editors’ Prize from /nor. In 2007, Andrew traveled to Mississippi to interview Barry Hannah at his home in Oxford. You can read that interview here.

Melinda Moustakis earned her PhD in Fiction from WMU in 2011. She has been named a "5 Under 35" author by the National Book Foundation and a Hodder Fellow at Princeton University. Melinda hails from Alaska and currently lives just around the corner in Austin, Texas.

Andrew serves as an Assistant Professor in the Creative Writing program at Stephen F. Austin State University.  His story collection Crude Sketches Done in Quick Succession will be published by Queen's Ferry Press in early 2015. He is at work on a novel, and seeking representation. 

Issue 37 can be purchased here. Congratulations to Melinda and Andrew and all of the 2014 NEA Fellows and grant recipients!  


Photos by E. Stinson and C. Crafton







Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Spring 2013 Issue Is Here!


Our Spring 2013 issue is here! 


POETRY:
Michael Marberry                                              
Mark Neely                 
Rebecca Hazelton                                                      
Anne Dyer Stuart     
Max Somers             
Allic Rennie               
Maggie Schwed      
Jerrold Yam           
Claudia McQuistion          
Michael Homolka                
Tara Bray                                          
Russel Swensen                            
John Withee                                            
Ruth Williams                                        
Charlie Clark                                  
Jennifer Perrine                                  
Jenny Xie                                              
dawn lonsinger                                  
Lee Upton                                             
Tara Mae Mulroy                                    
Benjamin Sutton                                    
Jeffrey Morgan                                         
Katie Jean Shinkle*                                   
Brian Sneeden                                          

FICTION:
Greg Schutz                                               
Andrew Brininstool                                  
H.M. Downs                                               
Katie Cortese                                             

CREATIVE NONFICTION:
Elissa Washuta                                          
Robert Long Foreman                               
Lauren Trembath-Neuberger                    
Aaron Gilbreath                                          

DRAMA:
Stephen Guttierez                                
Amber L. Tselios                                     

*Katie Jean Shinkle's name was misspelled on her poem. We apologize for the error.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Contributors Received NEA's

Congratulations to our Spring 2012 contributors who received NEA Fellowships for 2013: Roger Reeves, Lisa Fay Coutley, and Ansel Elkins!

Friday, November 16, 2012

Jennings Recommends Pot Farm

Check out the latest from our Recommended Books page. Brandon Davis Jennings reviews Matthew Gavin Frank's memoir Pot Farm.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Congratulations Pushcart Prize Nominees!


Congratulations to our six nominations for the Pushcart Prize:

·      “Story” by Jehanne Dubrow (Poetry)
·      “Cross Country” by Roger Reeves (Poetry)
·      “Handsome Pair of Sunday Walkers” by Marc Watkins (Fiction)
·      “Upper Middle Class Houses” by Claire Burgess (Fiction)
·      “Fire When Ready” by Timothy Hedges (Nonfiction)
·      “Other Aubreys I Have Known” by Aubrey Hirsch (Nonfiction)

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Third Coast Contest Now Open!


2013 Jaimy Gordon Prize in Fiction: $1,000 & Publication

Judged by: Antonya Nelson

2013 Third Coast Poetry Prize : $1,000 & Publication

Judged by: Jane Hirshfield

Complete Guidelines for Online Submissions

1. Submit one previously unpublished story of up to 9,000 words or three (3) previously unpublished poems under the proper heading (Fiction Contest or Poetry Contest). Multiple contest entries in one or more genres are permitted, but you must submit each piece separately.
2. There is a $16 reading fee for each entry, and each entry fee entitles entrant to a 1-year subscription to Third Coast, an extension of an existing subscription, or a gift subscription. Please indicate your choice in the “cover letter” box and include a complete address for subscription.
3. All manuscripts should be typed (fiction entries should be double-spaced). Please include entry title(s) and page numbers on all manuscript pages. Since the judging is blind, the author’s name and identifying information (including address, telephone, and email) should be appear only in the “cover letter” box; identifying information must not appear anywhere on the manuscript itself.
4. Simultaneous submissions are permitted; if accepted elsewhere, we ask that work be withdrawn from the contest immediately. If a poem or story is chosen as a finalist, Third Coast requires that it be withdrawn from any other publication considerations until the winner is selected. 
5. Winners will be announced in April 2013 and published in the Fall 2013issue of Third Coast.  All contest entries will be considered for regular inclusion in Third Coast.
6. Writers associated with the judges or Third Coast are not eligible to submit work to the contest.
7. No money will be refunded. Submissions will not be returned.




Complete Guidelines for Postal Submissions

1. Submit one previously unpublished story of up to 9,000 words or three (3) previously unpublished poems with a $16 reading fee payable to Third Coast. Please send each entry separately and clearly mark whether it is a poetry or fiction entry. Send entries and reading fee to:
Third Coast 2011 Fiction or Poetry Contest
Department of English
Western Michigan University
1903 W Michigan Ave.
Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5331
2. Each $16 entry fee entitles entrant to a 1-year subscription to Third Coast, an extension of an existing subscription, or a gift subscription. Please indicate your choice and enclose a complete address for subscription.
3. All manuscripts should be typed (fiction entries should be double-spaced), and accompanied by a cover letter with the author's name, contact information (address, telephone, and email address), and entry title(s). Please include entry title(s) and page numbers on all manuscript pages. Since the judging is blind, the author’s name and identifying information should only appear on the cover letter; identifying information must not appear anywhere on the manuscript itself.
4. Simultaneous submissions are permitted; if accepted elsewhere, we ask that work be withdrawn from the contest immediately. If a poem or story is chosen as a finalist, Third Coast requires that it be withdrawn from any other publication considerations until the winner is selected. 
5. Winners will be announced in April 2013 and published in the Fall 2013issue of Third Coast. All contest entries will be considered for regular inclusion in Third Coast.
6. Writers associated with the judges or Third Coast are not eligible to submit work to the contest.
7. No money will be refunded. Submissions will not be returned. Send SASE for results only.

About the Judges

Jane Hirshfield is the author of seven collections of poetry, including the new Come, Thief, After (shortlisted for England’s T.S. Eliot Prize and named a “best book of 2006” by the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the London Financial Times), Given Sugar, Given Salt, (finalist for the 2001 National Book Critics Circle Award), The Lives of the Heart, and The October Palace, as well as a book of essays, Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Times Literary Supplement, The Nation, Orion, The American Poetry Review, Poetry, six editions of The Best American Poetry, and many other publications. In 2012, she was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.

Antonya Nelson is the author of eight books of fiction, including Female Trouble and the novels Talking in Bed, Nobody’s Girl, and Living to Tell.Nelson’s work has appeared in the New Yorker, Esquire, Harper’s, Redbook,and many other magazines, as well as in anthologies such as Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, and Best American Short Stories. Her books have been New York Times Notable Books of 1992, 1996, 1998, and 2000. The New Yorker called her one of the “twenty young fiction writers for the new millennium.” She is also a recent recipient of the Rea Award for Short Fiction and is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and an NEA Grant.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Poetry Daily Prose Feature

Tim Shea's interview with Rodney Jones, "Pure Narrative is Like Crabgrass," is Poetry Daily's Prose Feature. Check it out!

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Submissions Open Soon

The summer is coming to an end, and we are working hard to respond to all submissions before the new submission period opens on September 15. This year our submission period will be closing a little earlier than usual, March 31st instead of April 30th, so don't wait until April to send us your best work!

Monday, April 30, 2012

2012 Contest Winners Announced

Congratulations to our 2012 contest winners:

Jaimy Gordon Prize in Fiction:
CJ Hauser for "Abandoned Cars"
Judged by Jaimy Gordon

Third Coast Poetry Prize:
Maggie Millner for "Fish Story"
Judged by Major Jackson

For a complete list of finalists, click here.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

2011 Fiction Contest Winner Chosen for Anthology

Congratulations to Sarah Elizabeth Schantz, whose story "The Sound of Crying Sheep" (winner of the Third Coast 2011 Fiction Contest) has been chosen for inclusion in New Stories from the Midwest 2012! We're so excited!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

New EXTENDED Contest Deadline

In case you missed your chance to enter our Fiction or Poetry Contests, don't fret. We've EXTENDED the deadline! New deadline is: January 31st. Judges are Jaimy Gordon (Fiction) and Major Jackson (Poetry). Each winner receives $1000 and publication in Third Coast. All entrants receive a 1 year subscription to Third Coast, and all contest entries will be considered for regular inclusion in Third Coast. For more information, visit our Contests page. Or to submit online, visit: http://thirdcoastmagazine.submishmash.com/submit.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Fiction and Poetry Contests

Don't forget about our Fiction and Poetry contests, judged by Jaimy Gordon (Fiction) and Major Jackson (Poetry). $1000 prizes in each genre! The deadline is January 15th, so there's still time.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

This Year's Pushcart Nominations are...

Congrats to this year's Pushcart nominees: Mark Wagenaar and Melissa Palladino (from Spring 2011), and Sarah Elizabeth Schantz, Jennifer Perrine, Bruce Bond, and Mariko Nagai (from Fall 2011). Best of luck!

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Fall 2011 Issue is Here

The Fall Issue of Third Coast is HERE!
Order your copy today.

Featuring work by: Bruce Bond, Jennifer Perrine,
Mario Chard, Farid Matuk, Nance Van Winckel,
Mal Westcott, Katie Ford, Jordan Sullivan,
Sarah Elizabeth Schantz, Mariko Nagai, and Jonathan Starke.
Plus Joe Fassler interviews Donald Ray Pollock.

*And don't forget about our Fiction and Poetry contests. Judges: Jaimy Gordon (Fiction) and Major Jackson (Poetry).
Your work could be featured in our Fall 2012 issue!


Friday, November 4, 2011

Congrats!

Congrats to Kathleen Flenniken, whose poem "Horse Lattitudes" (included in our Spring 2010 issue) is featured in the 2012 Pushcart Prize Series! We got our copy today and are so excited to see your work! And another congrats to WMU colleague and friend Chad Sweeney for his Pushcart Prize for "Little Wet Monster."

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Former TC Fiction Editor Nominated for "5 under 35"

Congrats to former Third Coast Fiction Editor, Melinda Moustakis, on being nominated as one of the Nation Book Foundation's "5 under 35." We're so proud!

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Announcing the
2012 Third Coast Fiction and Poetry Contests!

This year's judges are Jaimy Gordon (Fiction) and Major Jackson (Poetry). $1000 prize and publication in each genre. We'll be accepting both mailed AND online submissions this year, so start submitting! Visit our Contests page for complete guidelines. To submit to the contest online, click HERE. We look forward to reading your work!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Submissions Manager OPEN

We're now accepting submissions. Send us your best fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction and drama. We're excited to read it! To submit, please visit: www.thirdcoastmagazine.com/submissions.

Saturday, April 30, 2011