The Literary Lottery

I’ve been a lucky bugger the past few months, receiving free magazines left and right :

– Last January I won a draw Nuala Ní Chonchúir organised on her blog, and I was delighted to get the Ireland-themed issue of the Prairie Schooner (she has a great story in it, Peach, which they nominated for the Pushcart Prize).

– In April The Quotable sent me their fifth issue. With every issue, by entering a 100-word story on a prompt they post on their website (with a mixed system of votes and draw) you get a chance to win.

– And, last but not least, I won last month’s lit mag trivia contest run by the distractingly good Review Review. I got myself a subscription to A Cappella Zoo for a year. I opted to get the two most recent issues and they arrived just today in a box that could have contained 50 more magazines. Or a facetious baby.

Who said the printed word was dying ? I can hear it calling for me from behind that door, hungry for eyes and rustling its pages like a peacock in rut!

Thanks to all ye everyday bookish Santas!

Wabapaloola Buh Wababoom…

Oh, the excitement. I have just had a story accepted in Southword, the now online only Cork-based magazine. Yeeee-ha! It’s great to have a story accepted in such a deservedly respected magazine, and one that’s made right here in Cork as well. The fact that it comes after long dry months of rejections is a great boost too! I’m half-thinking of quitting the day job…

The Making of Obstacles will be published in the July issue. It was inspired by a trip to India I took last year, backpackers, and Hindu mythology, with its gods taking humble human forms, for tricks or revenge, or just a stroll…

Dear Murphy’s…

 

Murphy’s, the Cork-brewed stout, has been organising nights with different kinds of entertainment, and a liberal-enough amount of free drinks, and food. But the fun doesn’t stop here – after attending one of their events a couple of weeks ago, I received today an email-questionnaire on the experience, and my opinion on their brand. After a few standard questions came this :

 

I’d now like you to do something a little different…I’d like you to imagine that Murphy’s came to life as a real person. Then looking at this list please pick out the statement you feel best describes the brand if it were to come to life :

– Someone I’d really like who I’d have a lot in common with

–Someone I’d quite like who I’d have quite a bit in common with

–Someone I’d quite like who I’d have some things in common with

–Someone I’d get along with OK, but not who I’d have much in common with

– Someone I wouldn’t actually dislike but would have very little in common with

– Someone I wouldn’t really like and would have nothing in common with

“so he gave up being king of where the wild things are…”

Maurice Sendak, writer and illustrator, passed away last Tuesday. He was most famous for “Where the wild things are”, the 1963 children (or not) book which was recently adapted to the screen by Spike Jonze (the screenplay of which, I just learnt here, Dave Eggers co-wrote).

Literary quickie

I found a couple of great, funny short shorts by Jenny Nichols here and here, at the dapper Harp and Altar.