You had to be there...

Thanks everyone for coming out last night to Loud Fire. Norah, Lucy and Jen gave wonderful readings and then on open mic, Paul F, Paul Zaic (nice job with the laptop reader!), Kelly Hargrave and Michael V added nicely to the mix.

Next Loud Fire: November 13:

Brian + Alison (poets), Jessica McCaughey (nonfiction)

Loud Fire: December 4:

Ellie (poet), Rebecca McGill (fiction), Jennifer Janisch (nonfiction)

Loud Fire: December 11:

Angela Panayotopulos (fiction), Amy Garrrett-Brown (Nonfiction), Meg Ronan (poet)

Y'all Come out now, hear?

Friday night for Loud Fire....

Loud Fire #3 - Fall 09

Friday - 30 Oct 09 - 7:00 pm

The Space at Old Town Fairfax

Jen Goldsmith (fiction)

Lucy Biederman (poetry)

Norah Vawter (fiction)

Check Loud Fire out on our Fb page.

Alyson Foster is Smoking!

Our very own MFAer Alyson Foster's story, "Cooped," is up on Smokelong Review's issue 26 (www.smokelong.com/flash/alysonfoster26.asp). The illustration for the story was custom made by my favorite artist, Matthew Curry. Visit his virtual playground: http://ninjacruise.com/

For a glimpse inside Alyson's head, check out her interview at: http://www.smokelong.com/interview/alysonfoster26.asp

Keep your eyes peeled for her forthcoming stories in The Iowa Review, Kenyon Review, and Glimmer Train.

Fiction Dinner with Steve Goodwin

Join us for a fabulous evening with Steve Goodwin on Sunday, November 1st at 5pm. Bring your favorite dish to share and all of the MFA, publishing, teaching, and writing questions you can think of.



The guest list is capped at 20, so sign up by sending an email to Kirsten (KClodfelter@gmail.com) or Norah (norahvawter@yahoo.com) before we've filled up!



Here's who will be joining us so far:



1. Kirsten Clodfelter -- Some variety of meat, cheese, and crackers/bread
2. Norah Vawter
3. Tim Rowe
4. Walt Seale -- Wine or beer
5. Jenna Morgan -- Spinach and artichoke dip
6. Sara Flood -- Wine
7. Nicole Lee -- Malaysian curry
8. Lisa Hill Corey -- Deviled eggs
9. Taehee Kim -- Lemonade and iced tea
10. Corey Beasley
11. Jay Patel
12. Stephen Loiaconi -- Fabulous dessert of some kind
13. Sarah Silberman
14. Elizabeth Gutting -- Baked good dessert
15. Briana Spencer -- Quiche
16. Priyanka Champaneri -- Brownies or sparkling beverage
17. Beckie McGill -- The most delicious dessert in the history of desserts
18. Allyson Armistead -- Chicken casserole
19. Ben Brown
20. Paul Zaic



**Save the date now for the next fiction dinner on Sunday, December 8th with the lovely and fantastic Susan Shreve.

Ally Armistead Gets Major Ink

Super Congrats to 3rd year Ally Armistead for having her "Girl in Red" chosen as the story of the week smack dab on the home page at Narrative Magazine. Ally's story was also a finalist in the magazine's 2009 Winter Story Contest.

And when you're done reading Ally's story, why not submit something of your own for their Fall 09 Story Contest?

AND if you're 30 or below, Narrative has a contest for that as well.

Note: to view the full story you have to register, which is quick and free and painless (barring some minor wrist pain after typing in your mailing address, fyi)

Hey hey

You know that thing where you write a story and then you put it in an envelope or you attach it to an email or you upload it to some fancy submission site and then you wait and then you get rejected and then you repeat from above until BAM you get accepted and then you get published and then you write an email to the blog letting us know so we can brag about your fabulosity to the world?

It's that time again. September 1st has hit and the floodgates have opened - just some of the journals that are dying to read what you've got:

-Iowa Review
-New Ohio Review
-VQR
-Caketrain
-Cold Drill (opens 9/15)
-Shenandoah
-Meridian
-Washington Square
-Witness

And you're still reading this post and therefore not submitting stuff...why? Huh.