I had a great time conducting an interview with Maggie Mull about her short story in @newenglandreview.bsky.social. We discussed defamiliarization, authenticity, and humor, among other things. Check it out on NER's website. (Her story is published in the latest issue!)

nereview.com/behind-the-b...

Fun with one-line pencil drawing…

Recent drawing…

Andre Aciman’s Call Me By Your Name is a perfect book. WOW! Just finished it this afternoon and had to sit and hold onto it a bit before anything else.

My daughter gave me a sunflower and I made a picture because of it.

A section of an abstract painting I’m working on.

A partial view of an oil painting work in progress.

A close up of an oil painting that I’m working on…

Literature & short story lovers: recently I was paid for a story published in Short Story, Long. To support the journal, I'd like to put the $ back into it by giving away a bunch of monthly subscriptions. Interested? DM me w/your email address!
ashortstorylong.substack.com

I haven’t painted with oil in months, but I just broke out the paints. My first step to getting started again: using titanium white, I painted over an old picture I made long ago that I disliked. Now I have an interesting “blank” and textured canvas to use. This experience felt unexpectedly great.

Pepper and salt are essential ingredients to have atop of any dining table.

A salad of purple cabbage, red bell peppers, both chopped, and topped with ranch dressing (with a dash of salt and two of pepper) is a very tasty lunch. Also, here's a drawing I made inspired by Josep Maria Subirachs.

For my first post, here is a picture of a sunflower that I made.