Christopher Irvin talks FEDERALES

Shotgun Honey editor Chris Irvin has a novella out this week in paperback and ebook from One Eye Press. He stops by Chatterrific today as part of a blog tour.

Under Review

This past Sunday, in her Do Some Damage post titled "This author should die", Joelle Charbonneau spoke out against reviews that attack authors personally. Anne Rice noticed her post, and a Change.org petition is gaining steam against anonymous, cyber-bullying Amazon.com reviews.

I commented on Jolle's post as a creative writing major who learned how to critique poetry and fiction without impugning authors, and last night on Twitter Joelle mentioned being interviewed by a reporter about the root of cyber-bullying reviews.

We can reverse the trend by choosing, as reviewers, not to impugn creators but just evaluate their finished products. Admittedly, some find it difficult to separate themselves from their products. ("Hate my work and you hate me.") Reviewers can take the first step using language that keeps creators and products separate.

At The 5-2: "The Adjunct Professor's Lament" by Charles Rammelkamp

Rammelkamp returns with a poem that hit home for me, having spent six years an adjunct at Hofstra University:



Today is the deadline to submit poems about trickery, fooling, or being fooled for publication in April.