Monthly Archive:: September 2013

The Revenge Society: The Plot Thickens

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Nothing hits the literary palate with quite the delightful punch of a well-spun revenge story. Not the third-act, Scooby-Doo reveal that a killer did it all for revenge, or even the author’s personal vendetta against some person(s)—no, I’m talking of revenge plots where the actions unfurls around a quest

Man vs. Sky

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Man vs. Sky Corey Zeller YesYes Books, March 2013 76 pages $16.00 Corey Zeller’s Man vs. Sky is what happens when you bust your fist through the gut of elegy, grab on, and turn it inside out. In memory of the poet’s dear friend, Jeremy Quezada, this collection of prose

A Q&A Between Former Ploughshares Contributors Ethan Rutherford and Paul Yoon

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This guest post was contributed by Ethan Rutherford. —Andrew Ladd, blog editor. I recently moved, and while unpacking my books I stumbled upon an old issue of Ploughshares—Fall 2007, guest edited by Andrea Barrett. I don’t always keep my old literary journals, but I’ve kept this one because it

Writing Lessons: Sara Nović

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In our Writing Lessons series, writing students—and this month, writing instructors!—will discuss lessons learned, epiphanies about craft, and the challenges of studying and teaching writing. This week, we hear from Sara Nović, a teaching fellow at Columbia University. You can follow her on Twitter @novicsara. —Andrew Ladd, Blog Editor There comes a

Episodia 1.12: Heroes and Villains

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Ever since I began writing this “Episodia” series, I’ve wanted to write about “Breaking Bad.” It’s a show I’ve loved from the moment Walter White and his pseudo-slacker ex-student Jesse Pinkman made their first batch of crystal meth in a rundown RV in the desert. When I first heard

Writers and Their Pets: Bonnie Jo Campbell

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The ‘Writers and Their Pets’ series began with my own desire to celebrate my dog Sally, and over the coming months I will also invite other writers to share with the rest of us the details of their lives with beloved pets. We also ask contributors to the series to tell us

The Ploughshares Fantasy Blog Champion

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We have a winner for the first ever Ploughshares Fantasy Blog competition! After a three-week slog that saw The Holden Caulbabies and What the Chuckin’ Buk?! tied after two weeks, the winner, by the slim margin of two votes, is The Holden Caulbabies and manager Michael Nye! Editor: Dave

Sending Out Work: The Job Part of the Writing Job

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Well, folks, September is here and we all know what that means…literary journals are open for submissions! Yes, yes: time to update that bio, polish up that cover, and put the final touches on your best work. Remember that a piece of literature is only half done until it

Writing Is Like Going Back to School

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So, if you don’t believe writing is like vacation, perhaps I can convince you it’s like going back to school? Whether we’re still in school or not, there’s a refocusing that comes each September, a back-to-real-life feeling that arrives with the yellow buses and cool Canadian air. We stop

The Books We Teach #7: Interview with Beth Kephart

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The Books We Teach series will feature primary, secondary, and post-secondary educators and their thoughts about literature in the face of an evolving classroom. Posts will highlight literary innovations in teaching, contemporary literature’s place in pedagogy, and the books that writers teach. In the spirit of educational dynamism, we