Thrilled and honored that my short story “Mudstone” won First Place in this year’s Wisconsin People & Ideas fiction contest. The story will appear online and in print next month in their summer issue. [Update 7/18/17: “Mudstone” can be read online here.]
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The Burning Monk
A short story
Dwight Allen
Yellow Sky
A short story
Rod Clark
Illustrations by Weshoyot Alvitre
And If It Be Mean
A short story
Norma Gay Prewett
Ghosts in the Library
A short story
Jack Lehman
Ben Armstrong’s Strange Trip Home
An excerpt
David Allan Cates
The Tiger’s Wedding
An excerpt
James Dante
Telling Time
An excerpt
Lee Jing-Jing
Bad Axe
An excerpt
Ann Morrison
The Silent Witness
An excerpt
Steven Salmon
Ty-D-Bol Blue
A short story
Bob Wake
Polyester
A short story
August McGinnity-Wake
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My story “Summer of the Cinetherapist” was a runner-up in the 2011 Wisconsin People & Ideas short story contest and subsequently appeared in Rosebud Magazine (Autumn 2011). Now it’s a CBR Press ebook single. And for a limited time it’s a free download from Amazon. (Otherwise, 99 cents.) I’ve outfitted the text with a handful of public domain film stills courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Curious fact: While films and publicity photos typically fall under copyright law, pre-1964 movie trailers often don’t, nor do trailer screenshots. Wikimedia, to my surprise and delight, has public domain trailer screenshots from movies that are integral to “Summer of the Cinetherapist,” such as The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Mildred Pierce, and Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye. Voilà: an illustrated edition of “Summer of the Cinetherapist.” Enjoy!
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The Pale King
David Foster Wallace
Reviewed by Dwight Allen
the eelgrass meadow
Robin Chapman
Reviewed by Gay Davidson-Zielske
Unexpected Shiny Things
Bruce Dethlefsen
Reviewed by Gay Davidson-Zielske
Make it Stay
Joan Frank
Reviewed by Bob Wake
Ann Prayer
A short story
Elli Hazit
Men without Meaning
A short story
Gerald Fosdal & Jack Lehman
Fisherman’s Beach
An excerpt from the novel
George Vukelich
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Eleven Poems: An Audio Chapbook
Elli Hazit
J.D. Salinger: A Life
Kenneth Slawenski
Reviewed by Norma Gay Prewett
Birds of Wisconsin
B.J. Best
Reviewed by Amy Lou Jenkins
Lord of Misrule
Jaimy Gordon
Reviewed by Bob Wake
The Masturbator
A short story by John Lehman
Consultation
A short story by Ruben Varda
From the Archives
Origins of FIS (Factory in a Suitcase)
An excerpt from Redshift: Greenstreem
Rod Clark
My short story collection, Caffeine & Other Stories, is now available as a Kindle download for $2.99. It’s a newly expanded edition that includes four bonus stories not found in the $12.95 paperback.
Blurbs from the 1997 edition:
“We see stimulants from caffeine to cocaine, alcohol and marijuana to nicotine. His characters glean intelligence (however wacky, artificial, or genius) and courage from their personal favorite highs. In a rather dark interpretation, I often felt as though many of his characters were on a bumpy ride to suicide. Yet, just when we are shaking our heads at them, Wake surprised me with his unfaltering wit and I laughed my fears away. After all, this is the human spirit he is so masterfully portraying …” —Tracy Walczak, BookLovers.
“Caffeine is a book of constant surprises. In this collection of linked stories set in south-central Wisconsin, Wake sets before us the confusions of life in yuppie heaven. And he does so with tough love, and a wit which will have you laughing wickedly along. Bob Wake has a great sense of where he lives, Madison, Wisconsin, postmodern America. I, for one, look forward to continuing words from this bright writer.” —Jim Stevens, editor of The Journey Home: The Literature of Wisconsin Through Four Centuries.
“The range shown by Bob Wake in creating this series of interconnected, readable stories that stand well on their own is a considerable accomplishment. Reading Caffeine & Other Stories is like being a kid again and reaching into a grab bag at a rich friend’s birthday party: you can’t know what you are going to get, but you can be sure it’s going to be damn good.” —Chris Lott, Eclectica.
“Bob Wake writes likes Ralph Steadman draws: a few choice words and boom! there’s a real, living, breathing character … Caffeine & Other Stories kicks ass, rocks hard, and leaves you wanting more.” —Marie Mundaca, Erupture.
“Mr. Wake writes with confidence and polished prose, and obviously knows well how to craft a short story.” —J. Allen Kirsch, author of Madlands, and God’s Little Isthmus.
“Wake is a first class teller of tales and spinner of stories.” —Midwest Book Review.
Coffee Spew 