Spencer Fleury's Blog

So here’s one cool thing (though not the only one, of course, since I also got married a few months back) that’s happened to me during the pandemic: Woodhall Press will be re-publishing How I’m Spending My Afterlife in just a few short months.

Hooray!

Pub date is currently set for September 7th, which I understand is the same date as the new Sally Rooney novel, a fact that will likely impact sales in no way whatsoever.

I’m just happy to be working with a press like Woodhall: they’re...

Im getting old. I have a bad back. My knees grind whenever I take the stairs. My hair has receded clear off my scalp entirely. Im starting to really feel the slow physical degradation that goes along with the aging process, every day of my life.

I tell myself that age is a construct, that it means nothing, that it has only the power you grant it. This is true to some extent, and while reminding myself of that does help, it only gets me so far. There is no denying my exterior travel casing is...

Thanks to everyone who came out to listen to all us writers last week. I’d never read there before, but it’s been a favorite local event of mine for the last several months. James always does a great job of putting it together. I had wanted to read something new but I couldn’t finish anything that I liked enough or was short enough, so I read an older piece, “Hugo,” which is in the collection I’m currently trying to place. Thanks again to everyone who came out, and I’ll see you at some lit...

This is a potentially incomplete list of all the books I remember reading last year. I was going to put it on Twitter a few weeks ago, but nah. Why should Twitter get all the good stuff?

So, in no particular order:

[image error]

If you don’t know who Dick Vitale is, I envy you. He used to be a basketball-talking guy on the teevee box. He’s retired now (at least, I think he is; I don’t watch a lot of basketball) but back in the day—by which I mean the 1990s, in particular the years when I was in college and FSU was demonstrating an uncharacteristic level of competence in basketball, so we all watched it—Vitale was college hoops personified. He was everywhere. He was loaded full of catch-phrases like “it’s awesome...

I have a new story up today, which makes two new publications in about five weeks (I also got another acceptance today, but I’m not going to crow about that until it’s actually in print). I’m a big believer in closing the year out strong, I guess.

Like the last one, this piece is also part of the collection I am trying to place, so if you’re an agent or an editor, or you know people like that who might be interested, hit me up.

Here’s the link. I hope you dig it.

I have a new story posted at Ascent today, as part of a special invitation-only issue (yeah, that’s right, not even bothering to think up a humblebrag with that one). It’s called “Controlled Descent,” and it’s one of the stories in the collection I am trying to find a home for. I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, please share it widely.

[image error]

Starting yesterday, you can pick up the Kindle or epub version of HOW I’M SPENDING MY AFTERLIFE for just ninety-nine cents. Or, if you are not in the US, for a comparable pittance.

This will continue for at least a week. But, since I’m not always in complete control over exactly when these price changes go into effect, I guarantee nothing beyond that. Nothing!

Get it at Amazon, or Barnes & Noble online, or Kobo, or Apple Books, or wherever else you generally buy these things—hope you dig it!...

2018 was, as they tend to be now, a … difficult year. Fortunately, I live in a city where we want for little when it comes to top-quality live music options. And since going to a show is one of the ways I like to forget about my (and the world’s) troubles, you better believe I saw a few.

Though the year is technically not over, and I do have tickets to one more show—Lee Fields & the Expressions at The Chapel, which is a New Year’s Eve show that will not end until 2019, and so I will include i...

Earlier this week I found out my story “Fantastic Atlas” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Ascent, the journal where it appeared back in March of this year.

This, combined with the very favorable write-up my novel How I’m Spending My Afterlife received for the Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Contest (which it did not win, alas), has made for a very affirming and confidence-building week for me.

Of course, it is just a nomination. I haven’t actually won anything yet. And as John Fox po...