flash fiction | Nate East

January 23, 2010

rattling heaters and reverb and murky cold night without

Am super hyped; some of my writing just went up at a couple of hella cool journals!

First, a poem appears in the first issue of So and So Magazine, a new project from the organizers of the So and So reading series and publishing imprint in Raleigh, NC. The other work in the issue is super rad, and the web design is nightmarishly cool/classy as well; check it out here!

Second! A short story of mine was published in the latest issue of the always-hardcore Dogzplot Flash Fiction, alongside some really killer other work. Definitely check out the new issue! I think my piece is the longest one I’ve had published so far… which might mean… something.

In other news, the performance-art/print-making/gnar-event-planning collective known as ASTEROID HEAD ART CLUB just put up a rad new website!

I first heard about these dudes through Sam Owen’s photo-essay of their July 4th art-happening out in the wilderness, AKA Summer Camp:

Definitely check out the whole photo set here… pretty insane.

There’s been lots of other stuff going on too – new music – new shows – new books, etc, but I gotta run, so will leave ya with this cassette which is playing right now:

Robedoor – Raiders . such great psych/drone wildness. This one in particular is sold out, but look for upcoming stuff at their ill LA label, Not Not Fun!

…speaking of which, can’t wait for the new Magic Lantern LP… okay really going now!

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December 21, 2009

December 20

The Dirty Pond, a small lit / art review based in New Haven CT, recently picked up a short story of mine which went up on their website last week, along with some rad artwork/prose from other contributors. Check it out here!

My friend Sean Croft, who needs no introduction (although it must be mentioned that he is known by some for his work with A Born Idler as “the Lou Reed of the South”) has been recording/performing in Europe lately, and he’s put a bunch of awesome new music up at his website here! Definitely worth checking out. Additionally, Sean’s started a blog to post writing-excerpts/thoughts/hilarious “year end lists,” which is here. Word.

My friend J bought me a copy of this guy:

for an (early) x-mas present, and I’ve been reading it during spare moments. Currently about halfway through (just finished the interview with Murakami.) Some super interesting insights in there for sure; I think my favorite parts so far are Jonathan Lethem talking to Paul Auster (I’m a fan of both Fortress of Solitude and NY Trilogy) and also the interview with Edward P. Jones where he throws down a quote to the effect of “when I’m writing I think about only one reader. Myself.” which is hella awesome.

I’ve also been re-reading some of William Blake (Marriage of Heaven + Hell and Urizen, so far) but full report on that later.

In closing: records!

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December 12, 2009

unedited spur-of-the-moment 12/11/2009

OKAY so have a couple hours before going out into that rainy night so going to try this (again): just off-the-cuff kind-of write-what’s-in-my head. Haha (?) Here goes:

Who performed with a scarf over his face and mouth to obscure it? the scarf? I hid behind a mic stand I’d modified with some cardboard I bought at Walgreens so it was a big old screen with some google-imaged Celtic knot drawings and Shakespeare lines scrawled on it – worth that extra money for the extra-thick Sharpies and the twenty dollar stereo headphones to play Def Jux or industrial noise records on the freezing walk over to the event-friendly bookstores and little literary bars. Ultra-slashed copy of The Faerie Queen in the back pocket – honestly I had hoped for years that these jeans would rip enough so the author’s name was revealed when I was just chillin waiting for busses or riding my bike – and then it finally happened! like “one day I woke up and.”

And on that subject busses just run forever – there’s the owl and then the night owl and then the dead of night owl and then the that-new-moss-record owl and then it’s pretty much morning and the five o’clock rolls around again and you can ride this shit forever. For like a dollar! What is it about that repetitive electric riff. I shadow boxed a little on the hill-climb to the yuppie shinto monastary. Anyone else heard the clickety synthesizer alien noises that been popping up around Mission street in the early evenings? On the under-construction sidewalks round the block from the noodle place that’s only open in the dead of night and has no door or lights or chairs to sit on so every order’s to go from a faceless chef in the night behind the counter with the howls of steam and occasional flash of cooking knives in the thick darkness?

That’s the street with the Turkish cafe! With the scaffolding over the sidewalks and the walkway supports made out of green pipes that are always tattered with flyers like fell-off pigeon feathers! You seen that bank that just got built there? It’s like from the wachovia merger or something? The front’s built out of raw pine or something so the damn thing creaks and drips like a ski lodge. Wouldn’t be surprised if there’s like a porch or a wooden-beam balcony and a firebowl no doubt

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November 30, 2009

Update Update

HIII

First off, a flash fiction piece of mine, “Catacomb Efreet” (kind ridiculous very ridiculous title) just went up at Dogzplot. Check it out here! Also mad thanks to Dogzplot editor Barry Graham for his advice on revisions for this piece.

Also, I set up the domain http://www.nateeast.com with this here site, so if you want to change your bookmark to something shorter go for it!! The nateeast.wordpress.com URL still works too.

Writing stuff: I’m actually really excited about a couple of the things I’ve been working on this past week. I finished two new longish (~30 lines each) poems that I’m going to start submitting this week, and also a good chunk of raw material for maybe a novella maybe some short stories, who knows. But I’m hyped on it! Shoot me an email or whatever if you’re interested in checking any of this out.

Reading stuff: I haven’t been reading too much since been focusing on writing (and riding my bike more), so I’ve been working on this guy for the past lil bit:

So far it’s a pretty weird/cool mix of “cyberpunk” and “sci-fi” whatever the difference really is, and the world created by Mieville is damn interesting. I’m not very far in as of yet. Will give longer (read: shorter) review soon!

MOST IMPORTANTLY: if you didn’t see it yet on the front page of Fecal Face, Sam Owen recently put together a really awesome flash Web ‘Zine of original art from a clutch of different artists. It’s packaged in a really sick multimedia presentation (it’s like the flash version of a moleskine with different work pasted/taped in. must see!!) and you should check it out here on Sam’s site. Takes a bit of time for the flash to load but totally worth it!

A couple still images from the ‘zine:

And finally. As you might know from my twitter I’ve been listening to this record pretty much non-stop for the past week:

Perfect for writing and/or working. Together with their new album Tarot Sport which I picked up a few weeks ago, I’m becoming quite a Fuck Buttons fan.

Also. If you’re not following @BARRR yet on twitter I would heartily recommend it. Constant stream of hilarious updates and also gnarly artwork.

Um and finally for no real reason just wanted to throw out there that I recently bought a Civilian bag from Reload in Philly and it’s rad and can carry hella groceries and books and stuff. OKAY END UP UPDATE.

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October 29, 2009

Aguilas Range

When I was thirteen and still lived in the desert I saw a ghost woman at the top of a dry waterfall in the foothills. I was resting on a rock when she crawled out of the scrub-oak bushes on her hands and knees not ten feet away from me. She hurriedly stood up and her plaid dress was shredded and dotted with cactus spines. I knew she was dead because her clogs didn’t make any sound in the gravel as she stepped over to me and her eyes were white and porous like dried coral. She stared down at me silently but I said “there are better violets down the trail by the watering hole; it’s dug out of the dirt; coyote and black bear tracks. The best flowers are there” and I pointed to the west with my whole arm.

October 18, 2009

Published piece! and some photos and music

In super exciting news, Dogzplot recently posted a piece of mine titled “Downtown” in their flash fiction section! I really dig their layout/works-published, and am planning to continue to submit more short pieces there. Check it out at Dogzplot 🙂

In other news, my friend J and I took a short trip to Santa Cruz to get some coastal-nature/peaceful-rest/out-of-the-city time, and this was pretty much the best trip I could’ve hoped for. Reading writing and wandering around the coast. Some snaps:

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In terms of writing news, I’ve been hard at work on a new set of poems for submission. The rejections have been steadily rolling in on my last batch, which (in a way) is good because when that is complete, I can post them all here! Anyhow, I’ve got high hopes for the next batch: been focusing much harder on editing & tightness so maybe they’ll turn out rad.

BurialUntrue

Finally, I recently bought the ultra-essential Untrue album by Burial, and have been really really loving it. This led me to a very interesting interview with the man himself at Hyperdub. My favorite quotes:

“… I like Underground tunes that are true and mongrel and you see people trying to break that down, alter its nature. Underground music should have its back turned, it needs to be gone, untrackable, unreadable, just a distant light.”

“The moodiness made the tunes, not me. Now when I listen to them, they’re ramshackle, DIY and rolling but I know there is a thing trapped in them so that when I look back on them, even if its dry, I know when it was made, I know what was going on that day, its like stapling real life to the side of the tune.”

9: And the drawing on the front of the new album.

Burial: “I’ve been drawing that same one since I was little. Just some moody kid with a cup of tea sitting at the 24 hour stand in the rain in the middle of the night when you are coming back from somewhere.”

Full interview here.

Tag: flash fiction