"Meeting Sanchez” published in the new issue of Sobotka Literary Magazine

In this short story, the little league football team of a predominantly white, wealthy suburb of Atlanta is nervous about playing an inner city black team on their turf. But for twelve-year-old Marcus, it’s meeting the nephew of his family’s maid after the game that makes a bigger impact.

Sobotka Literary Magazine is the brainchild of editors Kathy Klimentowskij and Nick Rossi and includes poetry, prose, and photography. Order your copy here.

Web traffic from MYXOCENE shuts down Amazon

Apologies to anyone who received an error message when trying to check out MYXOCENE on Amazon today. Apparently this was a website-wide problem (yes, even Colum McCann's books were triggering the error). Since I just announced the book yesterday and a number of people received an email about it this morning, I'm certain the resulting rush of book seekers had something to do with the crash.

At any rate, the problem is resolved, so feel free to go to Amazon and snag a copy.

Myxocene
By Troy Ernest Hill
Buy on Amazon


Now available

Part eco-lit, part medical thriller, part thought experiment, MYXOCENE is the story of single mother and freelance science writer, Sarah Bennett. Interviewing Dr. Ronald Keating on the Chernobyl disaster for its 30th anniversary, she unwittingly gets entangled in the retired pharmaceutical researcher’s strange plot to combat global warming with an experimental medication. In a wry voice both funny and provocative, she grapples with Keating’s true motivations as well as questions about the value of an individual human life versus a society of billions in a climate-changing world. 

Available in print and for Kindle. Purchase of the print version includes a free e-book download.

 

 

 

 

College poem, circa 1990, and the first day of fall

This year, the first day of fall (or maybe it was the last day of summer) brought this old poem to mind.

THE NATURE OF THINGS

Ah! I can smell that it's the first day of fall

And rejoice in the knowledge that this year is dying,

And that by some miracle a new one will be born,

Shaped by the Grand Nothing--

The unifier of our universe and time--

Outside of time.

But not me.

I rent out my time to others during these years,

And I like these days between leases when I have myself

To enjoy the changing of the seasons and the dying of the year.

Installation Garden Group Show featuring Secrets of the Garden readings

The Inaugural Jean Switzler Memorial Garden Art Installation featuring readings from the Secrets of the Garden community writing project almost caused an earthquake in the Catskills due to the immensity of creative expression. Thanks to everyone who contributed their blazing, brilliant, silly, heart-wrenching, and poignant thoughts, poems, and stories. It was quite a thrill to be part of the scintillating shindig alongside presentations by so many accomplished artists and writers somehow nestled in our little town, including Bill and Mary Buchen, Lynne Thermann, Scott Woolsey, Jenny Lee, Patricia Eakins, Peter Martin, Joerg Madlener, Les Stone, Steve Ellis, Anne Marie Kramer, Pat Wellington, and Ed Mues.

Lots of pages in the Secrets of the Garden journals still need your words, so stop by the garden through Columbus Day and keep the entries coming. 

Here are a few pictures capturing just a sliver of the stirring work and plate-shifting moments.

SECRETS OF THE GARDEN

The SECRETS OF THE GARDEN community writing project is in full swing. Stop by the Jean Switzler Memorial Garden in Claryville, New York (right next to Denning Town Hall) through Labor Day, 2015, to be a part of it. A celebration and public readings will be held in the garden on Saturday, August 1, at 6 pm.

Inside the SECRETS OF THE GARDEN box are inspirational prompts for stories, poems, and ideas.

Inside the SECRETS OF THE GARDEN box are inspirational prompts for stories, poems, and ideas.