S. Craig Renfroe Jr.'s Blog, page 12

Oh Feck

[image error]

A Conversation in Dingle

[image error] So here is a conversation between one of my colleagues (C) and an older drunken Irish person (DIP) while we were buying chocolate at the Centra grocery store in Dingle. My colleague's dialogue has been omitted because it hardly matters:

DIP: From America you are, aren't you. What part?
C: .....
DIP: I've been to North Carolina. Horrible, horrible place North Carolina. They have a swamp there.
C: .....
DIP: I've been to New York nine times. Nine times. And Chicago. And Pittsburgh.
C: .....
DIP: H

What Are You Looking At?

[image error]

The Aran Islands Were Beautiful But...

There was a guy with a giant, stuffed red giraffe in the pub. Sad how that is the detail that comes to mind when I'm writing this brief post, while this girl loudly tries to pick up the hostel desk guy because she gave up her job, flew to Ireland for an Irishman, and he, the Irishman, today, the day she arrived, told her that he's decided to get back with his ex-girlfriend. Lessons from travel: 1. Bring an stuffed animal to a pub and you'll be the life of the party. 2. Don't leave your job fo

Shall We Sligo?

So, I'm in Sligo. Land of Yeats. His epitaph: Cast a cold Eye/ On Life, on Death/ Horseman, pass by. Horseman, you should probably also pass by our hotel about which you should know:

Has no hot water.Which makes sense since most of the rooms don't have heat.Each room key opens all rooms.The owners operate an illegal all-hours pub downstairs, where they have hen parties or at least a gaggle of girls singing Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" at 4:15 in the morning.
They serve a nice breakfast while

Celtic Cuisine

So I am done with the semester and now preparing for the Ireland trek, much like Star Trek, but in Ireland, not the stars, and with no aliens or pointy ears, except for the faeries. Though some of the students going on the study tour are weird.

In the prep class, we teach them about the Celts. In Dora Jane Hamblin's "Once Maligned, Celts Are Now Touted as the First Europeans," we learn that they were "Wild and woolly...from their notable head and body hair." As you will no doubt remember from

Heffalump on Parade

Heather and I discovered the other day that someone at Disney was obsessed with frightening psychedelic elephants. After she reminded me of the Winnie the Pooh dream sequence with the Heffalumps and Woozles, I instantly remembered the tramua of seeing the pink elephants on parade bit in Dumbo. This connection isn't frighteningly impressive, since apparently it was a practice to cannibalize earlier animation at Disney, but the pleasant discovery was that the Dumbo "trip" was created before the

"Stick" selected as one of storySouth's Million Writers Award Notable Stories of 2008

Turns out my story "Stick" originally published in 3:AM Magazine has been selected as one of storySouth's Million Writers Award Notable Stories of 2008. And I'm in good company with other notables from Roland Goity, Sam Pink, Kyle "I have four notables" Minor, Molly Gaudry, Blake Butler, Myfanwy Collins, Nathan Leslie, J. A. Tyler, and Heather Fowler.

And, of course, lots more, including my old foe: Lee Smith.[image error]

Me on Night Train

So my story "How Would You Know?" is up on the marvelous Night Train.[image error]

XX Eccentric: Discount Running Out

XX Eccentric
Stories About the Eccentricities of Women
A 2009 MSR Short Fiction Anthology

Edited by S. Craig Renfroe, Jr.

ISBN 13: 978-1-59948-187-6, cover price $16.95

* * * The anticipated release date is May 18. The Advance Discount Price of $9 (+ $1 S&H) will be available until April 27. These dates are subject to change. Please note that ordering in advance entitles the buyer to a discount, but does not mean the book will be received before the release date. * * *

The book can be ordered from the