a blog that investigates the imaginary, fabulist, surreal, and strange in literary cultures and beyond
Fantastical, fabulist, fantasmatic, magical, magical realist, surrealist, science fictional, speculative, just plain weird, or what? — the agenda for 2016
There’s a lot of talk about literary borders these days: what is and is not something or something else.
My friend R, who is a poet and performer and video artist says he’s HAD it with those boundaries and those arguments. “Who cares?” he says “whether it’s gothic or haiku or a prose poem?”
On one hand, as a writer, I totally agree. I make what I make and it is what it is and the most fun is when I don’t know and the reader doesn’t know either and it gets to feel a little fresh and different.
But I also think it’s interesting to think about those boundary crossings and the degree to which the unreal has become very visible and very important for us here in the US and elsewhere too.
Over the next year, I’m going to blog about these issues and I’ll share work that crosses my path that I think is interesting along these lines. I invite you to ask questions, agree, disagree and share texts, sites, practices, discussions, video, and whatever else that’s pertinent here.
If you would like to do a guest blog post here, please email me at stephaniebarbe.hammer@gmail.com and let’s discuss.
Wishing you a surprising and surprisingly happy 2016.
Stephanie Barbé Hammer is a magical realist prose fiction writer, novelist, occasional essayist, and a committed, intermittent poet. A 6-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize she has published work in Hayden's Ferry, Pearl, CRATE, Rhapsoidia, NYCBigCityLit, the East Jasmine Review, Apeiron, Inlandia, Literary Alchemy and the Bellevue Literary Review among other places. Her novel _The Puppet Turners of Narrow Interior_ appeared in March 2015 with Urban Farmhouse Press, and her Narrow Interior novelette, _Rescue Plan, appeared in February 2021 with Bamboo Dart Press. Her poetry collection _How Formal?_ was published in 2014 with Spout Hill Press and her prose poem collection _SEX WITH BUILDINGS_ was published in May 2012 by Dancing Girl Press. Stephanie flunked early retirement at the University of California Riverside and is currently feeding her teaching love at Edmonds Community College, Hugo House and the Inlandia Institute. iShe is currently managing editor for SHARK REEF literary magazine and is working on two new novels, and two new poetry collections, Her manual on how to write magical realism _Delicious Strangeness_ is available from Spout Hill Press.
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