Dear Levi's Jeans:

I recently have seen an ad for your jeans proclaiming the wonders of America. You tell me to "go forth," and although it's a bit obscure, I think I understand the message you're trying to send to us:

"Go forth" actually means "Outsource."

It must, since Levi's jeans aren't even made in the USA anymore. Really, this advertisement wouldn't upset me nearly as much if it didn't make a point of trying to glorify the United States, as if Levi's is somehow still a part of the United States in any way, shape or form. Here's the message I see when I watch your ad:

"America: it's a wonderful place, but we ain't paying any of you $9 an hour to make jeans. Really, though, this is a glorious country with endless opportunity. But, again, we're not actually going to manufacture our product here because American workers expect too much."

Ah, the glories of Free Trade. There's nothing more wonderful than competing with three billion people in Asia who are willing to do our jobs for 1/20th the wage.

Thank you for the message, Levi's. I will definitely "go forth" in the future. Right to the nearest made-in-the-USA store.

Sincerely,

Ken Brosky

For those of you who buy into the bull that this entire mortgage mess was caused by the Community Reinvestment Act, consider the results of this study by the governors of the Federal Reserve:

Our analysis of the loan data found that about 60 percent of higher-priced loan originations went to middle- or higher-income borrowers or neighborhoods. Such borrowers are not the populations targeted by the CRA. In addition, more than 20 percent of the higher-priced loans were extended to lower-income borrowers or borrowers in lower-income areas by independent nonbank institutions--that is, institutions not covered by the CRA.

Putting together these facts provides a striking result: Only 6 percent of all the higher-priced loans were extended by CRA-covered lenders to lower-income borrowers or neighborhoods in their CRA assessment areas, the local geographies that are the primary focus for CRA evaluation purposes. This result undermines the assertion by critics of the potential for a substantial role for the CRA in the subprime crisis. In other words, the very small share of all higher-priced loan originations that can reasonably be attributed to the CRA makes it hard to imagine how this law could have contributed in any meaningful way to the current subprime crisis.

6 percent of failures were covered by the CRA. Of course, this is credible research conducted by credible economists, so the Conservative movement will obviously not take it seriously.

... Then you'll love my new Web site, which has some of my published short stories available, as well as a free downloadable copy of my short story collection. There's also a link to my Fiction Addict blog, too.

Click here to check it out!

Cheers!

I'm going out of town for a week, but I can't think of a better way to go out than with a short story that'll keep you thinking. This one comes from Post Road, a literary journal from Boston College.

Click here to read "Monster," by Rebekah Frumkin.

Good magazine, with a couple free stories online and a lot more in their journal, which always seems to have a fantastic layout and design (just look at their Web site). Worth checking out.

Cheers,

Ken Brosky

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I don't remember exactly how I came across this literary zine, but I think it might have been a mention in Poets & Writers magazine, which I occasionally peruse while sitting in my local Barnes and Noble (sadly, my local bookstore closed down last year). But this is a great magazine, worth checking out and reading online from time to time. It has fiction, poetry, art, interviews and non-fiction, and they update it on a regular basis.

Click here to visit Fringe Magazine.

Worth checking out: "Gator Girl" by Amy Letter.

Ken Brosky

Now that all of my short stories from my Leaving Dodge County are published, I think it's time to share. Really, the chances of me finding a publisher out there right now are slim to none, and I wrote these stories to entertain people anyway.

Click here to read Leaving Dodge County.

A year ago, I also released a horror novel (think "Stephen King" meets "John Shirley") that I'm also putting up available for free now as well.

Click here to read Grendel.

I hope you enjoy these stories. There's more to come, and possibly another book in a year or so but there won't be much opportunity to put stuff up for free whenever there's a contract involved. I hope, in time, I'll be able to get more of my own free stuff to interested readers from time to time. I'm certainly going to try!

Cheers

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While we're on the topic of featuring some of the newest writers coming out of MFA programs right now, let's take a look at Chris Smith.

Click here to read his Gibberish Comic.

Smith, in addition to putting together this small comic, also writes regularly for lit mags as well.

Cheers

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For those of you seriously expecting a scantily-clad woman:

Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

This is THE FICTION BLOG, for cryin' out loud. Why I would stop and put up a half-naked chick seems pretty ridiculous, and so it's right to laugh.

But if you came here looking for a good short story, click here to read "Jesus Cake Baby" by Stephanie Austin. Or, as she's referred to in American Short Fiction magazine: Miss June.

Austin's in the same MFA program as me and, along with a handful of others, already carving out a niche in the fiction world. I'm going to explore a few more in the next couple weeks.

Cheers

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One of the particular things I like about this piece is it's setting away from what I'm normally constrained to on a daily basis. I think whenever we read a piece of fiction from a different time or place, one of the goals is to SHOW that time and place as it is, allowing us to digest the setting as something important, something to learn from even.

"Grief Mongers" by Sefi Atta does just that for me.

The zine it was published in is Per Contra, a very simply set-up zine that boasts an easy-to-navigate design and big letters for those of us who stare too often at small text on our computers. Worth checking out.

Cheers

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After watching a disappointing Brewers loss to the White Sox (at least Obama's probably happy), I figured it's time to keep reading some entires in the Million Writers Award contest:

"Interview With A Moron" by Elizabeth Stuckey-French.

Yes, when your favorite sports team gets you down, there's always room for a little fiction. Of course, a lot of the fiction found today is pretty depressing, so it's nice to occasionally run across a light-hearted piece now and then.

You can sign up for a free acount to Narrative. It's a great online magazine that also prints, well worth taking a few seconds to join.

Cheers.

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Every Friday from here on out is Call Congress Day. Every Friday, I'm calling one of my senators, my House representative and the White House and speaking my mind on an issue. I want you to do the same.

Why? Because we live in a democratic republic. If the people don't tell their elected representatives what they want, our elected representatives simply choose their own path. Sometimes, they listen to lobbyists. Sometimes, they follow their ideology. Sometimes, they don't even bother to show up for votes.

But you know what? When you call your representative, they listen. Emails don't work very well, but hand-written letters and phone calls do. A couple years ago, the immigration Reform Bill was expected to pass with a massive majority.

It failed. Guess why? Because senators' offices were flooded with phone calls from liberals and conservatives who opposed the bill (for obviously different reasons!).

In the words of Thom Hartmann, "Democracy begins with you. Tag--you're it."

Click here to get the phone numbers for your elected representatives.

I had to intentionally skip over one of the entries for the Million Writers Award because it has a rather troublesome title that may get me in trouble. But if you notice very closely, you'll see that the Award above is hyperlinked, leading to the contest page where you can put two and two together to figure out which one was skipped over.

That said, let's take a look at ANOTHER great short story!

Click here to read "The Fisherman's Wife" by Jenny Williams.

I'm a sucker for stories with interesting narrators, which is probably why I like this one so much.

Until next time!

Cheers

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Continuing the Million Writers Award nominees, this one comes from a lit mag called the Drunken Boat, a nifty little zine that's got a great design and a lot of nifty stuff beyond the traditional fiction and poetry.

Click here to read "No Bullets in the House" by Geronimo Madrid.

Check out the Drunken Boat, too. It's got some stuff like video and sound, which is why I think online literary magazines are going to have such a stronger impact over the next ten years or so. It's a pretty fantastic way to branch out and reach new readers.

Cheers

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Following the nominees for the Million Writers Award, the next writer selected was Nadia Bulkin.

Click here to read "Intertropical Convergence Zone" by Nadia Bulkin. If you don't like the white text on black background, there's a link near the top that lets you download a pdf version.

The story was published in ChiZine, not a bad little mag from what I can tell from perusing it. Sure, it's a little halphazard, but what isn't nowadays, right?

Cheers

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Let's have some fun over the next few weeks and take a look at finalists for the "Million Writers Award." Basically, StorySouth literary journal has compiled a bunch of stories available online and chosen the best of the best for an award (my short story "On the Tenth Day, I Kept It Down" is conspicuously absent).

Click here to read "The Whale Hunter."

This short story comes from AGNI, which also publishes stories in a print journal, but also has Web-exclusive content. It's a great literary journal from Boston, and updates on a regular basis.

Cheers.

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For those of you more interested in short, concise pieces that you can finish while your porn is downloading, I have a solution:

Click here to read "The Pretty Ones" by Douglas Bruton.

This is called "Flash Fiction," meaning it's shorter than "regular fiction." Some people truly believe this is all anyone has the patience for anymore, and I sincerely hope that isn't the case. Regardless, it's a great story no matter its length and worth enjoying!

This one is from 322 Review, by the way. Good stuff online. Check out their other material they've posted from their new issue.

Don't forget to check the Fiction Blog Twitter for more updates!

Cheers

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Sometimes, fiction can take some on some pretty interesting guises. When something becomes ironic enough, it becomes funny. Case in point: the  Three Wolf moon t-shirt.

Click here to see the shirt.

Now, once you've grasped the awesomeness of the shirt, scroll down to the reviews. Are the people reviewing this shirt serious? No (I hope not). But is it outright hilarious? Yes.

Definitely.

Click here to follow the Fiction Blog! on Twitter for contant updates and links to great fiction!

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I had the opportunity to work with Brent Spencer for a semester while working on MFA degree in Nebraska, and let me tell you: not only can he write a great story, he can perform it, too. I suppose that shouldn't be surprising, given his acting history ... but after I saw him read publicly, I was excited to be working with him for an entire semester.

Click here to read "The Tyrant's Tales" by Brent Spencer.

Brent's collection of short stories can be found on Amaon.com, and you can buy the book used for a ridiculously low price. Here's a link: Are We Not Men ?

Cheers,

Ken Brosky

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Since I'm enjoying reading through all of the All-Story back-issues online while listening to the Brewers Game (Manny Parra ... come on, dude!), I thought I'd share this one with you, originally a translation:

Click here to read "Rumors About Me" by Yasutaka Tsutsui.

It's a humorous piece, and I think that humor carries well from culture to culture. Well worth checking out. Sometimes, humor doesn't translate too well especially from two drastically different communities. But some humor just slides from place to place with a pretty even consistency. Like fart jokes, I would assume.

Cheers,

Ken Brosky

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One of the best things about Zoetrope: All-Story is their Web site provides a couple stories from each issue, free to read, plus excerpts from the other stories so you can really get a feel for what's going on inside each issue.

Click here to read "Two-Step" by Maile Meloy.

All-Story is a literary journal built from the ground up by Francis Ford Coppola, in case you're wondering. You can usually find it at bookstores, but you might want to buy a copy from their Web site if you enjoy supporting his projects.

For all you writers out there: you can also join the Zoetrope Virtual Studio for free.

Cheers.

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