I’m excited to announce that my friend and fellow contributer to the site, Christian Dumais, has a collection of short stories that have been published and is now available on Amazon (Direct Link).

EMPTY ROOMS LONELY COUNTRIES collects a decade’s worth of short stories, wandering through two continents, five countries and multiple universes to explore love, loss and redemption in the 21st century. This collection brings together for the first time many of Christian A. Dumais’ previously published stories, including “Mad Dogs” and “Counting Nuns” from GUD Magazine, as well as some never before seen pieces.

REVIEWS OF SELECT STORIES:
“[Counting Nuns] is quite engaging . . . you’re bound to appreciate the humor and true-to-life inner dialogue Dumais presents.” –THE FIX

“Christian A. Dumais’s “Counting Nuns” . . . contains a richness of language and imagery that many fictional stories lack. A perfect example of the editors taking a risk publishing an unusual piece that pays off.” –THE FUTURE FIRE

“”Mad Dogs” by Christian A. Dumais . . . chronicles his night out drinking with some visiting Secret Service and Air Force Two staff, a night which ends with him sitting in the apartment of two Polish lesbians. You’ll have to read the essay to find out how he gets there; but what’s great about this piece is that it makes real life seem just as strange as the fictional realities depicted in the rest of the magazine.” – WHISPERS

Still not convinced?
If you send an email to emptyroomslonelycountries at gmail.com, I’ll send you a free PDF copy of one of the stories from EMPTY ROOMS LONELY COUNTRIES as an incentive to buy the book. Simply title the email “SAMPLE” and your free story will be sent to you.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Christian A. Dumais

So please check out a sample and then buy the book. He’s a starving doctoral candidate in Poland after all and could really use the money to visit his poor, sick grandma in Florida. Or possibly just blow it all on comics. Either option is entirely possible.

After writing about some of the scariest short stories last time, I thought it would be fun to take a look at a few great American short stories. In these burst cultural times, people are starting to notice (again!) how wonderful a short story can be, and what it can accomplish when done right.

Not only will I discuss the stories – all of which I consider to be classics – but I’ve provided links for you to read the stories yourself. When does Matt give you such a plethora of free entertainment? Never, I say!

Let’s get started, shall we?

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First off, I’d like to apologize for getting so literary with this column. I always assume Matt breaks down in tears whenever sees one of my posts. I do have reviews of Federico Fellini’s La Strada, John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness, and Jonathan Glazer’s Sexy Beast (which might just have one of the greatest and most compact scripts in cinema history) in line; however, they are not finished. I also want to talk about the amazing pop cultural pastiche that is The Venture Bros. sometime down the road as well. I was in the process of working on a two part piece about liberature (no, I spelled it right) and how video games can provide hints to literature’s ability to remain valid in the 21^st century, when I decided it would be best to do something a little more…light. Don’t worry though, the literary torture will resume next week.

In the meantime, since I’ve been living in Poland for five years this month, I thought it might be fun to make some general observations about Polish pop culture from an American’s perspective. (more…)