Short fiction | Tim Weed

Brattleboro Literary Festival

September 23, 2016 § Leave a comment

This year’s logo is based on a painting by the magnificent Vermont artist Julia Zanes

Very much looking forward to this year’s Brattleboro Literary Festival! This has evolved into one of the premier literary events of the year, anywhere in the country, and I’m so pleased to be part of it. As a member of the author committee, I’ll have the great honor and pleasure of introducing fellow writers Sunil Yapa, Nancy Marie Brown, Jonathan Lee, and Meg Little Reilly.

If you’re anywhere near southern Vermont the weekend of October 13 – 16, 2016, you’d be crazy not to stop in. All events are free and open to the public!

“The Knife” is a Finalist for the 2015 Rick DeMarinis Short Story Award

December 15, 2015 § Leave a comment

Honored to report that an unpublished story, “The Knife,” has been selected as a finalist for Cutthroat Magazine’s 2015 Rick DeMarinis Short Story Award. There are 19 finalists out of 300 entries. Stuart Dybek is the judge. Fingers crossed!

Green Writers Press nominates “Mouth of the Tropics” for Pushcart

December 1, 2015 § Leave a comment

Received this good news recently. “Mouth of the Tropics” is a short story I had a great deal of fun writing, about an American biologist in Venezuela’s Orinoco Basin who sets out to discover a new amphibian species and gets a great deal more than he bargained for in the process.

It’s a special honor to be nominated by Green Writers Press, which has a unique vision and has been putting out an exciting array of new books over the last few years. Keep your fingers crossed!

Collection is Semifinalist for Subito Press Book Prize

November 26, 2015 § 2 Comments

Pleased to note that my short fiction collection, “A Field Guide to Murder and Fly Fishing,” was named a semifinalist for the 2015 Subito Press Book Prize. So far, earlier versions of the same book have also been shortlisted for the New Rivers Press Many Voices Project, the Autumn House Fiction Prize, and the Lewis-Clark Press Discovery Award. Stories within the collection have won a Writer’s Digest Popular Fiction Award and the Grand Prize of Outrider Press’s The Mountain anthology, and have been shortlisted for many awards including the Lightship Publishing International Literature Prize, the Glimmer Train Short Story Award, The Richard Yates Short Story Award, and others.

It’s been a long road for these stories, all of which have appeared previously in literary magazines and/or anthologies, but a final home may be in sight. Stay tuned for more exciting news about the collection . . .

New Short Fiction out in Saranac Review

September 28, 2015 § Leave a comment

Hey everyone, very pleased to announce the publication of my story, “The Dragon of Conchagua,” in the latest issue of Saranac Review.

In the story, a troubled former Peace Corps volunteer returns to Ecuador to climb a high-altitude volcano, where he is plagued by disturbingly vivid memories. This is a subject that has been haunting me for a long time, since the early nineties, in fact, when I was doing quite a bit of work in Ecuador and exploring the evocative páramo in the “Avenida de los Volcanes” near Quito. Its interesting how long actual experiences have to gestate before they can emerge as fiction—although the truth is that this story, like most of my published stories, has gone through literally dozens of drafts, often over a period of many years.

307962563 An earlier version was shortlisted for the Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards, but this is the first time it’s been released to the world at large. I’m especially thrilled about this one because Saranac Review is a well-regarded, well-put-together literary journal, and this issue looks particularly good. You can order the paperback or PDF copy of the journal here.

New short fiction out from Green Writers Press

April 9, 2015 § 2 Comments

Pleased to note the publication of my story, “Mouth of the Tropics,” in GreenZine: Green Writers Press Magazine. An American biologist in Venezuela’s Orinoco basin sets out to document the discovery of a new amphibian species, and gets a great deal more than he bargained for in the process. An earlier version of this story was published as “Specimen” in Victory Park: The Journal of the New Hampshire Institute of Art, and was nominated for the Pushcart Prize Anthology.

New audio story out at The Flexible Persona

November 23, 2014 § Leave a comment

Pleased to announce the release of the audio version of my story, “A Winter Break in Rome,” at The Flexible Persona. This is an innovative new literary journal that pairs author-read stories with the work of contemporary composers. I think they do wonderful, quality work, so if you’ve got 20 minutes to spare, have a listen.

Short fiction out in three new anthologies

October 1, 2014 § Leave a comment

Excited and honored to be included in all three of these newly released anthologies! If you like to support emerging writers and are interested in new directions in quality short fiction, you can order any of these by clicking on the links. Enjoy!

“The Money Pill.” An American tour guide living in Cuba discovers hidden powers and comes to understand the costs of putting them to use. Everywhere Stories: Short Fiction from a Small Planet. Press 53.

“Six Feet Under the Prairie.” A college kid takes a summer job on an electrical construction crew as Denver’s sprawl encroaches. Manifest West. Western Press Books /University of Colorado Press.

“Tower Eight.” A pair of teenage misfits experiment with LSD and put themselves into dangerous situations in rural New Hampshire, establishing a tight friendship as they hurtle toward a tragic end. Grand Prize Winner, The Mountain. Outrider Press. (Order directly from Outrider Press by emailing outriderpress@sbcglobal.net)

Interview up at Fiction Writers Review

September 29, 2014 § Leave a comment

Very pleased to mark the publication of this interview with Alden Jones and the Fiction Writers Review. We had a nice discussion about the “genre” of historical fiction, the process of researching Will Poole’s Island, the differences between writing novels and short stories, and more.

A brief excerpt:

“Here’s the thing about writing historical fiction: you’re not trying to reconstruct or mimic history, which would be altogether boring even if it weren’t impossible. What you’re trying to do is to create a new version of it that will tell a good story while simultaneously capturing something essential, not only about the period, but also about contemporary life.”

Read the complete interview here.

Fall writing courses at GrubStreet

September 5, 2014 § 1 Comment

Hey everyone, I’m pleased to announce a new series of day-long workshops on the writing craft that I’ll be conducting at Grub Street in Boston. If you’re not familiar with this organization and you live anywhere in a 100 mile radius, you really ought to check it out. My experiences with Grub Street have been overwhelmingly positive. It’s a magnet for blazingly creative people following all kinds of interesting paths in writing, and their classes are top-notch in terms of providing inspiration and the ongoing work every writer must do in honing the craft.