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.
May 12, 2020

Book Launched!

Today, May 12, 2020, is the official publication day for my new book, House of the Ancients and Other Stories, a collection of 23…
May 5, 2020

Recent Book Reviews in NYJB

In the past week, two of my book reviews have appeared in the New York Journal of Books, both, coincidentally, translated from Korean. First…
April 30, 2020

2020 Reading–April

Another big reading month, because what else is there to do, including a couple of big books. A Brief History of Seven Killings by…
April 22, 2020

Virtual Book Launch!

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person book launch events are not happening just now, and to be honest, that’s okay with me. My last…
April 6, 2020

Taking my turn as Guest Editor

During the last semester of my MFA program at Queens University of Charlotte, I wrote short stories because I’d finished my thesis manuscript, a…
March 30, 2020

2020 Reading–March

This was a big month for reading, which should come as no surprise as I, like a lot of people, have been spending a…
March 30, 2020

“The Learned Lama”–an excerpt from House of the Ancients and Other Stories

House of the Ancients and Other Stories, my forthcoming story collection (now available for pre-order from the publisher, Press 53), comprises 23 short stories…
March 29, 2020

Shakespeare on stage, and in your living room: BlkfrsTV

When I was looking for a place to relocate from Washington DC in 2000-01, I visited Staunton, Virginia, a small town in the Shenandoah…
March 25, 2020

Splendid Isolation

I certainly do not want to make light of the present crisis. So many people are sick and so many others are hurting because…
March 22, 2020

Stories of Displacement: Fiction, Far from Home

A couple of days ago, I should have been seated before a large crowd of book lovers at the James Madison Regional Library in…