Suspend Your Disbelief

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Book-of-the-Week Winners: Byzantium

Last week’s feature was Ben Stroud’s debut collection, Byzantium, and we’re pleased to announce the winners: Dina Del Bucchia (@DelBauchery) Brian Ralph Short (@heystorytellers) TaffyBrodesser-Akner (@taffyakner) Congrats! To claim your free copy, please email us at the following address: winners [at] fictionwritersreview.com If you’d like to be eligible for future giveaways, please visit our Twitter Page and “follow” us! Thanks to all of you who are fans. We appreciate your support. Let us know your favorite new books out there!


Book of the Week: Byzantium, by Ben Stroud

This week’s feature is Ben Stroud’s debut collection, Byzantium, which won the Bakeless Fiction Prize and was recently published by Graywolf. Stories in Byzantium originally appeared in such places as Harper’s, Ecotone, The Boston Review, One Story, Electric Literature, and New Stories from the South. Originally from Texas, Stroud holds a BA in English and History from the University of Texas at Austin and an MFA in Fiction and a PhD in Twentieth-Century American Literature from the University of Michigan. He has received residencies from Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony, and has taught literature and creative writing at universities in […]


Book-of-the-Week Winners: Red Moon

Last week’s feature was Benjamin Percy’s new novel, Red Moon, and we’re pleased to announce the winners: Rebecca Land Soodak (@RLSoo) Grace Wing-Yuan Toy (@GraceToy) amanda persaud (@afavolosa) Congrats! To claim your free copy, please email us at the following address: winners [at] fictionwritersreview.com If you’d like to be eligible for future giveaways, please visit our Twitter Page and “follow” us! Thanks to all of you who are fans. We appreciate your support. Let us know your favorite new books out there!


Book of the Week: Red Moon, by Benjamin Percy

This week’s feature is Benjamin Percy’s newest novel, Red Moon. Percy is also the author of the novel The Wilding (Graywolf Press, 2010), as well as two books of short stories: Refresh, Refresh (Graywolf Press, 2007) and The Language of Elk (Grand Central/Hachette, 2012; Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2006). His fiction and nonfiction have been read on National Public Radio, performed at Symphony Space, and published by Esquire (where he is a contributing editor), GQ, Time, Men’s Journal, Outside, The Wall Street Journal, and The Paris Review. His honors include a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the […]


Book-of-the-Week Winners: This is Paradise

Last week’s feature was Kristiana Kahakauwila’s debut collection, This is Paradise, and we’re pleased to announce the winners: Forrest Anderson (@OCaptainEnglish) Kate Strum (@katestrum) JulieHJackson (@Juliahj) Congrats! To claim your free copy, please email us at the following address: winners [at] fictionwritersreview.com If you’d like to be eligible for future giveaways, please visit our Twitter Page and “follow” us! Thanks to all of you who are fans. We appreciate your support. Let us know your favorite new books out there!


Book of the Week: This is Paradise, by Kristiana Kahakauwila

This week’s feature is Kristiana Kahakauwila’s debut, This is Paradise, which is out today from HOGARTH, a Random House imprint. Kahakauwila is a graduate of Long Beach Polytechnic High School and Princeton University, where she earned a B.A. in Comparative Literature and Creative Writing. She received an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and is currently an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Western Washington University. In Tyler McMahon’s recent interview with Kahakauwila, the two talk about the origins of the stories in this collection, the importance of coming back to her Hawaiian-ness to write […]


Book-of-the-Week Winners: In the House upon the Dirt between the Lake and the Woods

Last week’s feature was Matt Bell’s debut novel, In the House upon the Dirt between the Lake and the Woods, and we’re pleased to announce the winners: Lori Weiman (@laweiman) Sondra Morin (@sondramorin) Matt Dojny (@Matt_Dojny) Congrats! To claim your free copy, please email us at the following address: winners [at] fictionwritersreview.com If you’d like to be eligible for future giveaways, please visit our Twitter Page and “follow” us! Thanks to all of you who are fans. We appreciate your support. Let us know your favorite new books out there!


Book of the Week: In the House upon the Dirt between the Lake and the Woods

This week’s feature is Matt Bell’s debut novel, In the House upon the Dirt between the Lake and the Woods, which is just out from Soho Press. Bell is also the author of the novella Cataclysm Baby and the story collection How They Were Found, as well as three chapbooks: Wolf Parts, The Collectors, and How the Broken Lead the Blind. His fiction has appeared in numerous publications, including Conjunctions, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Gulf Coast, Willow Springs, Unsaid, and American Short Fiction, and has been selected for inclusion in anthologies such as Best American Mystery Stories and Best American Fantasy. […]


Book-of-the-Week Winners: The Green Shore

Our most recent feature was Natalie Bakopoulos’s debut, The Green Shore, and we’re pleased to announce the winners: Linda Howard Urbach (@LindaUrbach) Kerrie N. Farris (@Caerii) Jane Hawley (@janenhawley) Congrats! To claim your free copy, please email us at the following address: winners [at] fictionwritersreview.com If you’d like to be eligible for future giveaways, please visit our Twitter Page and “follow” us! Thanks to all of you who are fans. We appreciate your support. Let us know your favorite new books out there!


First Looks, Buzz Books: June 2013

Welcome to the latest installment of “First Looks,” which highlights soon-to-be (or just) released books that have piqued our interest as readers-who-write. We publish “First Looks” here on the FWR blog mid-month, and as always, we’d love to hear your comments on and recommendations for forthcoming titles. So please drop us a line with buzz-worthy titles: editors(at)fictionwritersreview(dot)com. Thanks in advance. Because we devote the entirety of May to celebrating Short Story Month, we invariably miss a few great novels during this time. So before we go any further, here’s a quick look back at two books I wish we could […]


Book of the Week: The Green Shore, by Natalie Bakopoulos

This week’s feature is Natalie Bakopoulos’s debut novel, The Green Shore, which is just out in paperback from Simon & Schuster. Bakopoulos, who we’re proud to call one of our Contributing Editors, has published work in Granta, Salon, the New York Times, Glimmer Train, Ninth Letter, and Tin House. Her short fiction has received a 2010 O. Henry Award, a Hopwood Award, and the Platsis Prize for Work on the Greek Legacy. She is the recipient of fellowships from the Camargo Foundation and the Sozopol Fiction Seminars, as well as a residency from the MacDowell Colony. She received her MFA […]