Timothy Gager's Blog

 It’s still November and there have been big losses in 2025 hitting the Massachusetts poetry world, of people I’ve considered friends. Here are Readings I’ve hosted from my series by Danielle Legros Georges, Jennifer Martelli, and Charles Coe. No words means just that.

It's been a long time since my last drink, and on November 6th it'll be 15 years. It's a nice round number. I celebrated ten on screen during Covid, but once I started back with live meetings they were all days like any other day. 

The thing with days is they have ups and downs and highs and lows, and as they say, you get to feel your feelings.  But, I've always felt my feelings, and when I drank and used, it wasn't to hide them. Feeling are life-things, and all I can say is that life is better, and continues to get better as I understand myself, and the things around me. 

The past year went very well. I started to submit again and had poems (12), flash fictions (7), and a novel get out in the world.  I'm rather happy with Shadows of the Seen, as it deals with an important issue that nobody seems to do much about except give thoughts and prayers. 

I finished a poetry manuscript These New Orbs, projected out in 2026, and I'm working on the first draft of a new novel,  The Murder Gene, based on a true story which involved my grandmother's first cousin, Angelo Lamarca, his son Vincent, and Vincent's son Joey. Read all about it from the archives of Esquire Magazine.  

I also started a podcast, (The 2 Deans, and now named Dean and Dawes) and worked with two wonderful co-hosts. The podcast covers disaster dates, and as my therapist put it, "it allows me to use my not always appropriate sense of humor in a way that is appropriate. 

The writing group which I facilitate continues to go strong, and the folks the show writer every day.

I made 16 featured appearances for my books, and I played my first solo gig ever as The Timothy Gager Uno, preforming some old and new original songs. 

The Dire Literary Series Franchise  reached 400 total events. Number 400 will be the night of the anniversary of my last drink, November 6th, 2010. (see totals below) 

On the challenging side, I had injuries to both legs, (torn meniscus, and ruptured hamstring), and a surgery on one of them. I've been in PT for 4 months at ATI in Dedham where the people there are great, and it's a lot of fun "hanging out" there while they miraculously helped me recover. They also allow me my sense of humor, but I am able to keep it non-podcast level. Tom Tipton from the Out of the Blue Art Gallery passed, as did my poetry friend Jennifer Martelli. 

All of these milestones wouldn't have been possible, and might have turned out differently if I hadn't been sober. I have incredible gratitude that I am one of the lucky ones. So, thank you for supporting my sobriety and keeping me sober. Thank you, for listening to my podcast. Thank you, for buying my books. Thank you, for attending my events. 

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TOTAL OF RUN DIRE LITERARY SERIES EVENTSLIVE

February–March 2001 — First Tuesday reading at Cantab Underground
2

June 2001–Aug 2002 — First Friday, Out of the Blue Art Gallery
168 Brookline St., Cambridge
15

Sept 2002–Oct 2011 — First Friday, Out of the Blue Art Gallery
106 Prospect St., Cambridge
110

Nov 4, 2011 — First Friday, Yarrow
106 Prospect St., Cambridge
1

Dec 2011–Sept 2014 — First Friday, Out of the Blue Art Gallery
106 Prospect St., Cambridge
34

Oct 2014–Nov 2017 — First Friday, Out of the Blue Too
541 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge
38

Dec 2017–June 2018 — First Saturday Afternoon, The Middle East Café
480 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge
7

July 2018 — First Saturday Afternoon, Zuzu
480 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge
1

Aug 2018–Oct 2018 — First Saturday Night / First Friday Too
Center for Arts at the Armory
191 Highland Ave., Somerville
3

VIRTUAL 

March 2020 — Virtual Fridays Dire Literary Series on Zoom
119

January 5, 2023 — Virtual Thursdays Dire Literary Series on Zoom
through November 6th, 2025
71

Grand Total: 400

 Don't go to my old domain for Dire Literary Series

Repeat: Don't go to my website

Last July I purposefully decided to let the domain direreader.com lapse because the domain was only to redirect people to a website I used for the LIVE version of the Dire Literary Series. That original website can still be found at   https://heatcityreview.com/timothygagerdire.html

not at direreader.com

  But direreader.com is back, I have NOTHING to do with it, and it might be evil. Please don't go there. 

 What is found there? Brace yourself, is weird. It appears to be a tribute to the series, which ran for 18 years, but rather it is a rather complex AI version of that. Created by Ranchi Ellison (try googling, let me know he exists, because he smells of AI) allegedly creates a Literary Archive. According to direreader.com these sites are created to discover, preserve, and celebrate the power of diverse literary voices in our community. 

  What I found interesting interesting was the ARCHIVE bios of my features, where they gave perhaps 10 of the hundreds that I had. And also, the image of Steve Almond looks more like the way I used to look than Steve. See below, Timothy Almond Joy Gager. I guess doing all this makes them look legitimate.  

   Each author has a bio, a list of books and some shit about me. 

"Steve Almond was among the well-known authors who took part in the Dire Literary Series, founded by Timothy Gager. His appearance exemplified the series’ mission to pair nationally recognized voices with local writers, creating nights of literature that felt electric, unpolished, and real."

For Jeannette Angell it says

"Jeannette Angell brought something hard-earned to the Dire Literary Series. We may not know the night she stepped in, but her battered clarity, her courage to stay real—those are part of the archive’s pulse."

and John Amen

"John Amen’s participation in the Dire Literary Series—Timothy Gager’s Cambridge project—places him among those voices that helped shape that line between the personal and the profound. It doesn’t matter that we may lose the exact date; what matters is that he was there, and that his poems continue to ripple beyond that moment."

There is a place to CONTACT them, 

Join Our Literary Journey Today!but don't do it, it's probably to capture and sell your email to phising scammers. They also have a "phone number" which is to a restaurant in Cambridge.
It all feels strange, but what is scary is if they using my name and old series to benefit themselves. I tried to go to the FCC website to register a complaint of possible fraud and this popped up---thanks to Trump and the shutdown

 The most up to date will always be on www.timothygager.com

All appearances are Eastern Standard or Eastern Daylight Time

Every other Thursday and sometimes Friday, except Holidays

Virtual Dire Literary Series
To Attend use "contact me" form for information

or join Virtual Fridays Dire Literary Series group on Facebook
or check The updates within my blog

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Thur, September 25, 2025, 7:00 PM EDT, Natick, MA

Ten Trees Books


22 Main Street, Natick, Ma (in The Hive)

Pierian Springs Press Author Reading

Timothy Gager, S. Frederic Liss and Anne Starr

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Sat, October 18, 2025, 6:00 PM EDT, Boston, Ma

Italian American Writers Association Boston Series


I Am Books

124 Salem St (North End), Boston, Ma

Reading with Laurette Folk

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Sat, October 25, 2025, 10:00 AM-6:00 PM EDT, Copley Square, Boston, MA

Boston Book Festival, Authors of Pierian Springs Press


Copley Square

Find me with Dewitt Henry, Elizabeth Searle, Laurette Folk and others

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Thur, October 30, 2025, 6:30 PM EDT, Lowell, MA

lala Books


189 Market Street, Lowell, Ma

Reading with and in conversation with Elizabeth Searle

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Wed, November 5, 2025, 7:00 PM EDT, Portsmouth, New Hampshire

The Hoot Poetry Series
reading for Portsmouth Poet Laureate Program


Laney & Lu
360 Route 1 Bypass, Unit 104, Portsmouth, NH

featuring with Adam Roberts with an open mic immediately following.

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Fri, November 14, 2025, 7:00 PM EDT, Framingham, Ma

Author Roundtable


Beacon of Hope Church
360 Water Street, Framingham, Ma

Free Community Event, featuring with Lawrence Kessenich and Laurette Folk

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Fri, November 21, 2025, :00 PM EDT, Keene, New Hampshire

Toadstool Bookstore
12 Emerald St., Keene, New Hampshire



Reading with Lawrence Kessenrich

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Sat, December 6, 2025, 8:00 PM EDT, Biddeford, Maine

Beat Poetry Night at Flourish

Spoken word backed by live music

140 Main Street, Biddeford, Me.

featuring at a series hosted by Claire Conroy

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Fri, February 1, 2026, 7:00 PM EDT, Lynn, Ma

The Timothy Gager Uno, Sunday Music Feature, Walnut St. Cafe


Open Mic at 7, My feature, 8:30 PM
157 Walnut Street, Lynn, Ma

hosted by Roger Jermyn and Dave Somerset

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March 4-7, 2026, Baltimore, Maryland

AWP Conference


Baltimore Convention Center

Details forethcoming

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Thur, March 12, 2026, 6:00 PM EDT, New York, NY

Italian American Writers Association New York Series


Calandra Institute

25 West 43rd Street, 17th Floor, NY

Reading with TBA

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Tue, March 17, 2025, 4-8 PM EDT, Beverly, MA

Recording for the show Art About Bev Cam, Beverly Cable Television


Hosted by Jen Campbell

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Tue, April 22, 2026, 7:00 PM EDT, Virtual Reading

The First and Last Poetry Series


zoom

Reading with TBA, hosted by Harris Gardner and Gloria Mindock

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These New Orbs expected out in 2026 is a book of poems related to orbs (any orb). Meat for Tea: The Valley Review's Editor In-Chief,  Elizabeth MacDuffie selected two poems These New Orbs and Between Us, for their Faux issue. Excited to be included. 

BUY IT HERE

Contributors:
Shirley J. Brewer, Jacob Chapman, Christine Gay Dutton, Rebecca Evans, Timothy Gager, Dianne Germain, John Guzlowski, DG Herring, Richard Wayne Horton, Sarah Hussein, Matt Jasper, Mary Jennings, Sara Jourgensen, Aunia Kahn, Heather Kays, Kate Kinney , Tom Kovar, Jeffrey Konvitz, Linda Kraus, Keith Kurlander, LindaAnn LoSchavio, Matthew J. McKee, Reid Messerschmidt, Spencer T. Murray, Sean Bw Parker, Neal Parks, Robert Peate, David Ram, Charles Rammelkamp, Kevin Ridgeway, Matt Schairer, Andrew Shelffo, Christopher Sullivan, Peter Tacy, Constance Walter, Michael Washburn, Gerald Yelle, John Yamrus

 So, this year we've had cats and bears featured in published flash fictions. Now it's time for Dogs to make a showing at The Literary Underground. 

HISTORY of The Literary Underground
It Started With the Wiki
The Literary Underground Wiki was created in June 2010 to compile a shared knowledge base about the underground press. It was an open-source encyclopedia written collaboratively by the people who used it. The Literary Underground Wiki covered the history, production, distribution and culture of the underground press.

The story behind the story: A stick library for dogs actually exists, in Cambridge (of course), Massachusetts. I read about it and went with it. Click the pic to see more about it. 

My Flash Fiction piece,  No More Bears has a home in the Pine Hills Review. In 2025 I've had flash fictions Cats in The Freshwater Review and upcoming, Dogs will be out in The Literary Underground in early September. 

Cats

and Dogs

and Bears, oh my!

The story behind the story: This is a basic dysfunctional family story which fits anyone who grew up with an overly critical mother. No More Bears stars Goldilocks from that other story with the bears. The piece was accompanied by a picture and an audio file read by me. 

Here's a little history behind The Pine Hills Review

Our history is varied. Established in 2014 in association with The College of Saint Rose as part of its M.F.A. in creative writing program, Pine Hills Review was founded by Daniel Nester and Sarah Sherman. After the M.F.A. program was discontinued, Pine Hills Review began a second iteration in 2019 as an independent journal.

Since the closure of the colle in June 2024, Pine Hills Review (ISSN 2470-8321) continues as a wholly independent and unaffiliated literary journal. We welcome interest from others to help edit the journal as well.

My friend Daniel Nester is on their masthead:

Masthead

Alex J. Tunney (editor; he/him) is a writer somewhere in downstate New York. His writing has been published in the Lambda Literary Review, The Rumpus, Complete Sentence, The Under Review and The Inquisitive Eater. You can keep up with him on Instagram at @axelturner.

Daniel Nester (editor; he/him) is the author most recently of Harsh Realm: My 1990s. His other books include Shader, How to Be Inappropriate, and God Save My Queen I and II. For 19 years, he was a professor of English at The College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY. Subscribe to his Substack.

Samantha Zimmerman (editor; she/her) is an all-over-the-place poet with a passion for all things experimental and confessional. Her work has been featured in Sledgehammer Lit, Bullshit Lit, Discretionary Love Magazine, BarBar Lit, and The Afterpast Review. You can keep up with her on Twitter @samthezim.

                                                      June 2025

Elizabeth Hazen

Bob Walicki

July 2025

Andrew Siditsky

Michael Ansara

                           August 2025
Michael Martone

Hosho McCreesh

                                         Winter - Spring 2025 (link to replay website)

Eileen Pollack, George S. Peterson, Ellen Kombiyil, M.K. Jackson,  Chad Parenteau, Kerry Beth Neville, Lawrence Kessenich, Linda Carney-Goodrich, Amy Alvarez, Kurt Baumeister

                                                       Autumn 2024 (link to replay)

Jackie Corley, Dawn Tripp, Sara Letourneau, Kristin Bok, Edward Belfar, JoeAnn Hart, Margaret Young, Gabby Gilliam, Lee Varon 
Summer 2024 (link to replay website)Susan Zalkind, Jessica Anya Blau, Gregory Wolos, Melissa Cundieff, Ben Tanzer, John Amen
Spring 2024 (link to replay website)Doug Crandell, Mathew Olzmann, William Orem, Martin Ott, M.P. Carver, Phil Temples, Mag Gabbert, Robert Fleming, Danielle Legros George, Michael Keith, Mark Wish
Autumn-Winter 2023 (link to replay website)Marianne Leone, Tiffany Davenport, Jennifer Friedman Lang, Ray Guidrox, Gary Grossman, Elizabeth McKim, Carla Panciera, Dr. Dannagal G. Young, Ellis Elliot, Enzo Silon Surin, Josh Barkan, Laura Zigman, Tom Laughlin
Spring/Summer 2023 (links to website)Jane Roper, John Wesick, Jennifer Martelli, John Fulton, Tricia Barker Barton, Cynthia Atkins, Katie Moulton, Yael Goldstein Love, Julia Lisella
Winter 2023 (link to website)Suzanne Frischkorn, Kim Addonizio, Thomas McNeely, Jenna Le, Sarah Bridgins, Lee Matthew Goldberg, Lise Hanes, Dr. Paula Perez, Michael Mark, Maya Williams, Hannah Sward, Caitlin Avery, Carla Swartz, Stacy TenHouton, Donna Spruijt-Metz, Morgan Baker
Autumn 2022 (link to website)  Jonathan Papernick, A.K. Small, Aaron Tillman, David Rockland, Kimberly Ann Priest, Sain Griffiths, Harris Gardner, Lisa Taylor, Michael Keith, Jim Shepard, Zach VandeZande, Rusty Barnes, Daniel Nester. Kurk Lovelace (reading from Annemarie O'Connell's book), and Nina Shope
Spring/Summer 2022 (link to website)  Sara Lippmann, Robin McLean, Gregory Orr, Rich Murphy, Diane Suess, Ron Tanner, Aleathea Drehmer, Christina Adams, Sharon Applegate Greenwald, Lucas Scheelk, Joseph Milosch, Barbara Legere, Ellene Glenn Moore, Vincent Cellucci and Chris Shipman
Winter 2022Renuka Raghaven, Jessica Cuello, Jen Knox, Daniel Biegelson, Alison Stine, John Rosenthal, Peter Crowley, Maggie Doherty, Erin Khar, Elan Barnehama, Marguerite Guzman Bouvard
Autumn 2021
DeMisty Bellinger, Cheryl Pappas, Matt Bell, Michael Keith, Gloria Mindock, Molly Gaudry, CD Collins, Kevin Prufer, Beth Robinson/Chris Joseph, Alina Stefanuscu, Meg Smith, Gregory Wolos, Damian Dressic, Jason Wright, Blake Butler 
Summer 2021
Natalie Brobin Bonfig, John Domini, Anna VQ Ross, Rachel Yoder
Spring 2021
Sandra Simonds, George Wallace, Caroline Levitt, Charles Coe, Susan Henderson, Major Jackson, Kara Vernor, Meredith Goldstein, Kimberly Ann Priest, Joanna Rakoff
Winter 2021
Rick Moody , Laurette Folk, Mark Saba, Sarah Anne Johnson, Josh Barkan/ Jennifer Haigh, Keetje Kuipers, January O'Neil,  Elle Nash, Danielle Zaccagnino, Marty Beckerman, Nathan Graziano , Steven Cramer
Autumn 2020
Carly Israel, Daphne Kalotay, Ryan Ridge, Marge Piercy, Kerry Beth Neville, Yuyutsu Sharma, Chris Joseph, Elizabeth Gordon McKim, Diana Spechler, Jonathan Escoffrey, Dewitt Henry, Brian Sonia-Wallace, Rebecca Fishow, Marguerite Bouvard, Pamela Painter, Kim Chinquee, Jessica Keener, Amy King

 Here's a song for Autumn

And here's the list for Autumn features

September

4     Alexandra Naughton

18:  Heather Kays

October

2   Dana Henry Martin

16:  TBA

23. Susan Michele

November

6    TBA

20:  Matt Jasper

December

4     Elizabeth Searle

18   Ryan Vine

 Here's a song for Autumn

And here's the list for Autumn features

September

4     Alexandra Naughton

18:  Heather Kays

October

2   Dana Henry Martin

16:  TBA

23. Susan Michele

November

6    TBA

20:  Matt Jasper

December

4     Elizabeth Searle

18   TBA