It's National Short Story Month! Get Cunningham's Date of Disappearance for More Than 40% Off -- and a Bonus Book!

An offer from Atelier26 Books:

May is National Short Story Month, and Atelier26 is celebrating by offering M. Allen Cunningham's illustrated, limited-edition story collection Date of Disappearance for just $10.00 a copy through the Atelier26 Store. That's more than 40% off the cover price! (This offer lasts until May 31st.)

Date of Disappearance, which the Oregonian has called "superb, well-balanced, and deeply seductive," features ten resonant stories, each with an accompanying illustration by artist Nathan Shields. Signed and numbered by the author, and presented in a fine paperback with beautiful design features (French flaps, colored end-pages, and glossy stock for each illustration), Date of Disappearance is, we like to think, a pretty special package. Take a peek in this video:

What's more, great fans of short fiction that we are, we'd like to sweeten the deal by offering up a few of our favorite short story collections alongside Cunningham's. Thus, the first five readers to order a copy of Date of Disappearance will be invited to select a bonus book from the following excellent list. We're offering one copy of each of these -- first come first served. If you're one of the first five, you'll receive an e-mail from us shortly after you place your order.

Happy Reading, and long live the short story!



The Beauty of Ordinary Things by Harriet Scott Chessman (Atelier26 Books)
OK, not a story collection, but many have called it a novella, and goodness, we love this book!

Disorder by Dan DeWeese (Propeller Books)
A compulsively readable volume of subtle, unconventional, often curiously moving tales reminiscent of the work of Kazuo Ishiguro, W.G. Sebald, and even, sometimes, Henry James.

Praying Drunk by Kyle Minor (Sarabande Books)
Minor breaks a great many "rules" in this astonishing collection book (including instructing the reader from the outset not to think of Praying Drunk as a mere collection, and not to skip around), and instructs us all, on every page, in how to write one's heart out.
P.S. Listen to an inspiring conversation with Minor HERE.

The Afterlife by John Updike (Knopf)
Updike, OK?

Fast Lanes by Jayne Anne Phillips (Knopf)
Breathtaking, fearless, riveting -- classic Jayne Anne.

On the Double!

And now for a brief, non-literary commentary: I really like our governor. This isn't a competition, but upon how many citizen strangers did Schwarzenegger perform successful emergency aid while in office? Like I say, not a competition, but ... take that, California!

Story courtesy of The Oregonian:

Gov. John Kitzhaber performs CPR on woman lying unconscious on Portland street

The governor was driving to dinner shortly after 5 p.m. near Southwest Main and 13th Avenue when he saw “someone along the edge of the street who seemed to be attempting to resuscitate a woman” lying on the ground, Nkenge Harmon Johnson said in an email to The Oregonian.

The governor ordered his driver to stop, Harmon Johnson said, then “jumped out of the vehicle” and ran to the woman’s aid to begin giving CPR. He directed one of his state police security guards to call paramedics, who took over from Kitzhaber when they arrived.

The incident, first reported by KGW-TV, is one of several in which Kitzhaber -- a former emergency room doctor -- has administered emergency first aid.

(more HERE)

New M. Allen Cunningham Website!

Redesigned for the first time in seven years, the new M. Allen Cunningham site is now live at www.MAllenCunningham.com, and I happen to think it sparkles nicely. Please take a moment to explore its offerings, which include audio selections, glimpses of forthcoming novels, links to my shorter writing, and more.