A Few Things

Posted on April 6, 2011 by Eirik

One: If you somehow missed it last week, Issue Nineteen is now available for your reading and downloading pleasure. Feel free to laud the authors in an exaggerated fashion, as a lack of ego-stroking is one of the main causes of writer’s block. Or maybe it’s just nice. I don’t know; I’m not a doctor.

Two: There are two new reviews of Exponential Apocalypse out there on the internets, one at Dazed Rambling and the other at eclectic/eccentric. Please read responsibly. To the best of our knowledge no one has lost their shit in the comments and we’d like to keep it that way.

Three: We’ve got at least the next two issues in the chamber, and Monica and I are going to be busy the next few weeks, so we’re going to close submissions at midnight on April 15th. We’ll be reopening them on June 1st, probably with some changes. We’ll let you know. In the meantime, write until your hands cramp.

Issue Nineteen now online!

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Eirik

In college, my creative writing class was told to read The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka. I don’t actually remember what the point of the assignment was, but I do remember finding the novella incredibly boring. So I said so. I couldn’t understand why anyone would focus on the mundane quite so much, especially when the main character had just turned into a frigging bug.

Fortunately, our Assistant Assistant Editor, Stephen Schwegler, was in that same class and ready to set me straight. He gave a rousing speech explaining how the mundane was, in fact, anything but. It was in the miniscule details that we could envelop ourselves in the story; it was the boring stuff that made it possible to connect with a giant man-roach. Mr. Schwegler brought the class to tears and changed my reading habits irrevocably.

Or, possibly, he just threw something at me and called me an idiot. We may never know for sure.

Regardless of how events actually played out, the conversation was eerily prescient, somehow foretelling this very issue of Jersey Devil Press. The five stories herein – by Henry Sane, Autumn Hayes, Steven Gumeny, Matt Rowan, and Andrew S. Williams – have taken it upon themselves to embrace the mundane – whether it’s reading, cheese, or a positively Gregor Samsa-like work ethic – in the face of the decidedly not mundane. And that’s the beauty of it, really. It’s in that nothing, in the conversations and the day-to-day routines of con artists and security guards alike, that everything happens.

Huh. Guess I did learn something in college after all. Thanks, Steve.

If you want to learn something too, or just read some kick-ass short fiction, then click here for Issue Nineteen. Or click here for the for .pdf version.

You Can Look (But Adam Lucas Better Not Touch)

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Jersey Devil Press

We’ve got a new Brilliant Disguise story for you this week: “My Mother’s Bra Size,” by Adam Lucas, based on the lyric Yesterday I went shopping, buddy, down to the mall from Springsteen’s “You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch).”

We were sitting in the food court at the mall when she made this observation. A short, pudgy guy, probably twenty years old, was standing in line with his mother, trying to buy a slice of pepperoni from Sbarro. His mother was even shorter than him, top-heavy, looked a little bit like Yoda.

Out of nowhere Darley said, “I’d like to sleep with him.”

Short, funny, and kinda dirty? We’ll take it. And it’s true to the spirit of the original song. Seriously, you ever read the full lyrics to “You Can Look…?” Bruce isn’t as clean cut as most people think.

Don’t forget, we’re always looking for more Brilliant Disguise submissions. You can check out the full guidelines here and try and add yourself to our growing ranks.