Author: Cliff

I am the author of three novels--THE LAST BIRD OF PARADISE, OLIVER'S TRAVELS, and THE SHAMAN OF TURTLE VALLEY--and three story collections--IN AN UNCHARTED COUNTRY, HOUSE OF THE ANCIENTS AND OTHER STORIES, and WHAT THE ZHANG BOYS KNOW, winner of the Library of Virginia Literary Award for Fiction. I am also the co-founder and former editor of Prime Number Magazine and the editor of the award-winning anthology series EVERYWHERE STORIES: SHORT FICTION FROM A SMALL PLANET.
April 9, 2007

>EWN Declares SSM

>April, apart from being the cruelest month, is also Poetry month. But Dan Wickett at Emerging Writers Network has decided that short stories need…
April 8, 2007

>Mistake Number 11

> Don’t Forget Stimulus and Response. Things happen for a reason. People act for a reason. If they do something its because there was…
April 7, 2007

>The New Yorker: "Still-Life" by Don DeLillo

>Lianne and Keith have been separated for a year and a half when the World Trade Center, where Keith works, is attacked. He has…
April 5, 2007

>The Big Read

>I’m all in favor of promoting literacy, so I’m glad that Virginia is pushing its Big Read, although if it weren’t for Charlottesville Words…
April 3, 2007

>Distractions

>With Spring come all the outdoor distractions–yard work, both the pleasurable and the necessary (I mowed the lawn today, the earliest since I’ve lived…
April 3, 2007

>More Literary Events

>James River Writers maintains a nice calendar of literary events in the Richmond, Virginia area.
April 3, 2007

>Bent Pin Quarterly

>The “very first issue” of Bent Pin Quarterly is now live and it looks like there’s some good reading there.
April 1, 2007

>ASC: Cyrano de Bergerac

>Since the Blackfriars Playhouse opened in 2001, I’ve been to nearly every play performed there by the American Shakespeare Center’s resident and touring companies….
March 31, 2007

>The New Yorker: "Teaching" by Roddy Doyle

>The narrator of Roddy Doyle’s “Teaching” has been teaching for 23 years and he’s not just burned out and dried up, he’s completely empty….
March 29, 2007

>Readings

>It was my intention to keep a calendar here of upcoming readings in the area, but I let that slip away from me. Now,…