My story “The Philip Sidney Game” is now live at Interfictions Online. I had written a little something about the story for Small Beer Press:
Diving into the writing of “The Philip Sidney Game” was a strangely autobiographical process. I had to let my wife Kristin know that I was writing her as a character in the story. After she read it, she said that she didn’t sound like herself. I probably didn’t sound like myself either, but there was a version of me within the core of that story that was added to the many other layers of “me.” That, too, is a speculation, just as much as Philip Sidney’s use of magic. But as the rails fell off the story (by design) near the end, I entered a place where I wanted to write directly, as Alan DeNiro, to my readers—and a poem seemed to be the best way to do that. So it was fun to be able to incorporate that other side of me into a story.
It’s also the capstone story for Tyrannia, which should start to become available in bookstores.
And I’m reading on Wednesday night at SubText Books, in the basement of Nina’s Cafe on Selby and Western in St. Paul. 7 pm. Would love to have you come out; it will indeed be a lot of fun.