Sorry for the long delay! I’m pleased to announce that Songs for the Deaf is the winner of the International Book Award in short fiction. SFD was also a finalist for the CLMP Firecracker Award. Thanks to Gene Albamonte for representing me and Burrow Press at the CLMP ceremony in New York. A shame he didn’t get to impersonate me for the acceptance speech.
Burrow Press has released The Legend of the Barefoot Mailman 20th Anniversary Edition as an ebook. LBM20 has been slightly revised from the original and includes an introduction from the ghost of New York Times reporter John Thomas.
When it was first released, The Legend of the Barefoot Mailman was called “winningly satiric” by The New York Times Book Review, “a gem of a first novel” by The Christian Science Monitor, and received a starred review from Booklist. Now it’s new and improved and has aged well in a climate-controlled cellar.
LBM20 is featured as a Summer Reading Special by Burrow Press books and is available for $2.99 at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or wherever you get your ebooks.
I’m back in town and catching up on things…
Many thanks for all the Songs for the Deaf reviews that have come in so far:
Ellen Loughran at Booklist
Brenna Dixon at Ploughshares
Thomas Michael Duncan at [PANK]
Karen Winters Schwarts at New York Journal of Books
Jessica Bryce Young at Orlando Weekly
Jim Liston in San Francisco Book Review and Tulsa Book Review
Sarah Suksiri in Necessary Fiction
Vicki Entreken in Prick of the Spindle
B.A. Varghese in Prick of the Spindle
Colette Bancroft in Tampa Bay Times
Jake Cline in The Sun Sentinel
Michael Winter in The Tampa Tribune
Betriz Terrazas in Carve Magazine
The SONGS FOR THE DEAF contest starts now! Here’s what to do: Use the menu or click on the Songs for the Deaf cover to visit the book page. You’ll soon see some green feathers drifting skyward. When you roll over a feather, a phrase from a Songs for the Deaf story pops up. It’s tricky–some of those feathers aren’t that lazy. The first person to match each phrase with the correct story wins a prize–a signed copy of one of Fleming’s books or a set of Fearsome Creatures playing cards. Your choice. Send an email to jhfbooks@gmail.com when you have the answer. Good luck!
May 1, 11:00: Ormond Beach Public Library. Reading and Q&A with Vanessa Blakeslee.
May 1, 2:00: Deltona Public Library. Reading and Q&A with Vanessa Blakeslee.
May 13, 7:00: Wordier Than Thou. The Studio@620, St. Petersburg, FL.
June 7, 7:00: Teenage Wasteland Reading. Planet Retro Gallery, Saint Petersburg, FL.