--I ALMOST CALLED YOU.  WOULD THAT HAVE BEEN OKAY?

…I've been listening to a lot of Nico Stai and Jonathan Wilson lately.  Gosh, they're both so good.

…Did you have a fantastic Valentine's Day?  Was it important to you that the day be special, or was it just another day?  What did you do?

…On Valentine's Day of all days, I had a story read by Nate Tower on his Podcast whereby he asks a writer for their most quirky, unusual or disturbing story, and he reads it live without ever having read it before.

So I sent him "Medicine and Meat" which was published in Wrong Tree Review.  It was actually the first story of mine I've ever read in front of an audience.

I must be brave.

If you are, you can listen to it here: http://nathanieltower.podomatic.com/entry/2013-02-14T04_44_18-08_00

…I had this story, "Boom," up at Pure Slush: http://pureslush.webs.com/boom.htm

…And this is something I wrote a while back:

Dogfish

Of all things,

I watch you catch a shark.

The fish, a gray smudge inside cunning cobalt water,

struggles against each ripple,

darting like sun shadows between every vented wave.

You’re apparently a pro,

reeling in with ease.

Your shoulders are the color of flan,

of toast.

I remember how you’d tear off hunks of bread at breakfast,

smear the crust in bleeding egg yoke

and raise your eyes to mine,

bejeweled and sanguine.

Now your man unhooks the fish

and drops it into a handy cooler while

we—

him: _______/

you: on video in some other hemisphere/

me: seated and stupefied/—

watch the slick-skinned creature gasp

and squirm.