Andy Henion's Blog, page 7
July 22, 2015
GET TO FUCKING WORK!!!
Study Finds Working At Work Improves Productivity
WASHINGTON, DC—According to a groundbreaking new study by the Department of Labor, working—the physical act of engaging in a productive job-related activity—may greatly increase the amount of work accomplished during the workday, especially when compared with the more common practices of wasting time and not working. Read story here.
July 18, 2015
"American Squirm" by Tom Leins in Dogzplot
It doesn't surprise me when he tells the boys to dip their razors in bleach before cutting the beast. Read story here.July 13, 2015
"Animals," a Novella by Andy Henion, in Red Fez
Well. Now. Nearly a decade after my short story "Animals" ran in the now-defunct (but freakin' legendary) Thieves Jargon, my novella-in-stories with the same name is now live at Red Fez. How did a mere 700 words become more than 11,000? How did one story about an accidental hero become 16 stories and then one again (albeit a much longer one)? Like this.The main character, let's call him the Angry Suburban Guy, stayed very much alive in my neurons. He's me in many respects, but also very, very different. I kept returning to him, writing a story here, a story there, even as I wrote my first book, The Devil in Snakeskins , a sci-fi western (and no, the two couldn't be any more different). Several more stories appeared in TJ, with others running in Shotgun Honey, Word Riot, The Molotov Cocktail and Litsnack.
Then it was done. I was done. But where to submit such a beast?
Red Fez, that's where. Enter Chris Lambert, Fez fiction editor, and things were rolling.
I like it, said Lambert, but let's change it up. Let's run the stories in reverse chronological order.
Wait. What?
I'm not a reverse chronology fan. I like my stories in order, nice and neat. But I gave it some thought, toyed around with the piece, and wouldn't you know it ... Lambert knows his stuff.
Anyway, here's a passage from one of the stories, "The Boss" ...
I put the drill bit on the center of his hand and bore through to the workbench. There is only marginal resistance from the bone. It’s not until I’m pulling it back out that the boss lets out a yelp. He does it again, louder this time, and I smack him across the face and tell him to shut the fuck up, it was only a five-eighths. The boss runs around the garage holding his bleeding hand and looking for a rag or some such to staunch the flow. By now the toddler is awake and crying forcefully. I go to her and pick her up and hold her close, and together we watch the boss sprint down the driveway and left toward the party, where someone, my wife, probably, will have to drive his smug ass to our rustic little hospital.
And now, read the whole damn thing here.
July 12, 2015
"The Wharf Rat" by David Nilsen in The Molotov Cocktail
The headmistress sat across from her and asked if there was anything she wanted to say and received a pair of scissors through her right hand in response. Read story here.July 10, 2015
"Wood Man" by Joseph D’Agnese in Shotgun Honey
He snatched a crucifix off the wall and pounded Sergey’s neck with the end of it. Took him six tries to open the man’s jugular. Sergey slackened, sprayed, and slid to the floor. Read story here in the redesigned Shotgun Honey.
July 8, 2015
"The Courage of Small Things" by David Brooks in The New York Times
From the incomparable David Brooks:
We work hard to cram our lives into legible narratives. But we live in the fog of reality. Whether you have survived a trauma or not, the psyche is still a dark forest of scars and tender spots. Each relationship is intricacy piled upon intricacy, fertile ground for misunderstanding and mistreatment.
Read column here.
We work hard to cram our lives into legible narratives. But we live in the fog of reality. Whether you have survived a trauma or not, the psyche is still a dark forest of scars and tender spots. Each relationship is intricacy piled upon intricacy, fertile ground for misunderstanding and mistreatment.
Read column here.
July 5, 2015
Get ya some Devil ... The Devil in Snakeskins Giveaway
Here we go ... Giving away three copies of my new sci-fi western novella The Devil in Snakeskins via Goodreads ... Go here to enter.July 4, 2015
"Broken Bird" by Debbie Kinsey in SmokeLong Quarterly
Every time I pulled into their drive I wondered if I’d killed a child on the way. Read story here.
July 2, 2015
"That Song" by J.J. Sinisi in Out of the Gutter
Tommy rubs a glass. I don’t know if it’s dirty or if this is the secret source of a bartender’s divine spirit of conversation, summoned like a genie in a bottle. Read story here.
