Scott
My name is Thomas Scott McKenzie and I grew up on a horse farm in Bourbon County, KY. I received a master’s degree in creative writing from The University of Mississippi. My work has appeared in Tin House, Premier Guitar, Stuff, Paste, Sync, Inked, Laptop, Articulate, Kentucky Monthly, The Daily Planet, Pen World, The Panhandler, the Wall Street Journal’s Managing Your Career publication, The Aethlon: Journal of Sport and Literature, The Dead Mule.com and others. In addition to running Slushpile, I have been a reviewer for PopMatters.com, a contributor to CrunchGear.com and a staff writer for Crimescene.com.
I am also the co-author of The Man Behind the Nose: Assassins, Astronauts, Cannibals, and Other Stupendous Tales with Larry Harmon. You can check out the book specific website here.
John
The patron techie saint of Slushpile is John Biggs. Senior editor of Gizmodo.com, John has published work in The New York Times, Laptop, Men’s Health, Linux Journal, Popular Science and others. John is also the author of Black Hat: Misfits, Criminals, and Scammers in the Internet Age.
The Great Server Catastrophe of 2005
We officially launched Slushpile on April 13, 2005, just before tax day so it’s easy to remember. Then, at the end of June 2005, we suffered a major server catastrophe and unfortunately lost most of our content. Thankfully, we were able to recover our interviews, which are really the vein of precious ore in this website. We have new backup procedures and facilities in place now so hopefully in the future you won’t be without your daily dose of literary news.
Legal Disclaimer and Assorted Dodging
Slushpile publishes both rumors and conjecture, in addition to accurately report information. Information on this site may contain errors or inaccuracies; the site’s proprietors do not make warranty as to the correctness or reliability of the site’s content.
Links to content on and quotation of material from other sites are not the responsibility of Slushpile.
Well, glad I found you even if you are an Ole Miss grad. (MSU, here) I’ve been hawking novels for a while, getting nibbles here and there. G. F. just asked to see a partial, so I looked him up for some further research and found your site. Goody. I’ll stay tuned.
Thank you for taking the time to put up such a helpful and encouraging site. It has been a welcome source of news and encouragement for this currently discouraged writer.
Excellent site. I’ve added a link to it on my blog.
Hey Slushpile. We’re publishing Ariel Gore’s novel, The Traveling Death and Resurrection Show. Where and to whom should I send a review copy and info about the author?
Like what you do. Happy anniversary. Where’s the party?
xo
Julie
great site .. just read review with george saunders … excellent …
Great site but you need some women. No matter how well you think you can create or imagine a literary female, critic, heroine, villain, editor, writer, interviewer–why include someone that was born that way? Mix it up. Just for fun. grasshopper
Hi slushpile:
If you’re interested, I can send you a review copy of our first launch, a comic novel by Bruce Hoppe. (See above website for details). It’s one of those gems that, every once in a while, makes it through the publishing maze via the small press route. And keep up the great work here!
Has no. 5 of Slushpile been published?
I appreciate your comments on Kakutani’s unfailingly critical and negative reviews of Knopf writers. Richard Ford’s new novel is a great read and laugh out loud funny. Its wise and witty and a worthy sequel to the earlier Frank Bascomb books.
Of course, I’m just an ordinary reader who appreciates good writing so what do I know compared to a Critic?! As far as I’m concerned, it ought to be a requirement of the job of reviewer that they have a well established history and track record of producing high quality work in the subject they are the supposed expert in.
Thanks for producing this site. Its fun and interesting.
I don’t know if this is one of the aims of slushpile, but you guys are funny. And the world’s greatest football team is Liverpool FC out of England. Like me saying that has anything to do with this site.
Scott it was a pleasure meeting you at the City Lit Festival. I’ve just checked out your Strauss review and the website in general. It’s pretty excellent. I’ll be sure you put you on my blogroll.
Hey, I’m glad I found your blog, it’s literate, thoughtful, and amusing. I’d like it if you’d take a look at mine at http://www.tianodesign.com/blog and, in a best case, we’d exchange links.
In any event, keep up the good work.
I want to contact John Grisham. Whats the best way to reach him. Please contact me at my e-mail address Gregory_Crawford@hotmail.com Thank you.
Like your attitude! Would you like a complimentary copy of my new novel? No obligation. Just want the story ‘out there.’
I attended the “Rape of Nanking” Conference at Princeton’s Wilson Center of International Studies with the late best-selling author, Iris Chang when I researched my novel, “The Gook Lover.” She encouraged me to write my book even as she at the peak of her too-short brilliant career.
“The Gook Lover” is pro-Asian, anti-Imperialist story of Tomi Tomigawa, a young Japanese officer who lost his soul at the Rape of Nanking and other war crimes he was forced to commit. He worked for the U.S. Army during the Occupation and steals for black market cash. Tomi builds a car manufacturing company that eventually becomes the world’s biggest. Acclaimed as “modern Japan’s Henry Ford,” Tomi barely obeyed the last third of the ancient Chinese adage: “Think. Organize. Do Good.”
A casual glance in a Manhattan book store window ignites his latent shame and
changes his life and possibly, that of Japan’s denial of its war crimes.
For info: http://www.ronwulkan.com
To receive the book, I’ll need a mailing address..
The Gook Lover ISBN 978-0-615-15455-8
Trade paperback US$12.95
Putnam, St. Clair & Wyeth, publishers
Hey Scott,
Very strong web site. I do disagree with you about the self-publishing movement. I think there are some fascinating parallels with indie bands, filmmakers, and more. There are fantastic independent books out there, some that found the light of day because we have the tools to express ourselves and make topics available. I recently bought a simple book about HOW TO NEGOTIATE ANYTHING that I got at THE BOOK EXPO. There was also a reader on SANTARIA, and I’d been looking for any kind of info on that topic forever.
Great site. I’ve been looking to add sites like this to my blogroll for quite some time.
Dear Slushpile.net,
As editor of the Encyclopedia of Contemporary Fiction (forthcoming from Facts on File in 2009), I’m looking for contributors to write entries on a number of contemporary authors and their works. Would you happen to know any writers/academics/freelancers who might be up to the task? If so, please direct them to our site! Details about the project — available entries and general guidelines — can be found here:
http://www.geoffhamilton.com/contemporaryencyclopedia/homeCONT.html
There is no compensation, alas, but contributors do receive a (prestigious and deeply satisfying!) byline under their entry in the finished book.
Yours,
Geoff Hamilton,
Visiting Assistant Prof., St. Olaf College
I just discovered your site. It’s both humorous and helpful. I’ll be linking to it on my blog–not that this is much of a compliment. I’ve also linked to Bigfoot Research, Dollywood and the Squirrel Circus. Still, you’ll be in interesting company.
I’m the Aug. 12, 2005 commenter, J. Sanders. I’m within a hair of self-publishing. After many years of rejections plus prayer, I’ve decided not to feel that self-publishing will make me less of a person or less of a writer. Although I wasn’t a “called” librarian, I trained as one. One of the unchanging rules was: never buy self-published books. From my reading I see that the rule has changed for some libraries, but it was hard for me to erase what I believed for so long.
From September 27, 2008, to January 9, 2009, I had a publisher. Small, but a publisher. I put my long-developed marketing plan into effect, including mailings to 120 folks in my target market. TESTING HASKELL was ready for the printer. For a reason I will probably never know, the publisher fired me.
I will now happily self-publish. The money isn’t too bad, I’ve located an experienced printer, and I’ve developed the attitude that if I’m dedicated, honest, hard-working, etc., this will work out.
Thank you for the clear article on self-publishing. It encouraged me.
Judy
Hello. Please disregard the April 4, 2009 post on this site. I DID NOT WRITE IT. A cyber stalker named Jacob Walsh of Indianapolis wrote it. Please be advised that any stupid, racist, egomaniacal posts are NOT from me, Nanette Rayman Rivera – they are from the stalker.
Sincerely,
Nanette
I stumbled upon one of your posts on writing tips. I needed that because I’m struggling to write my first short story. I have the story more or less written but in revision, I saw many more that needed improvement. So one of the things I googled was how to avoid sentimentality. May I have a copy of your post on this point if you have a post on this issue alone (or if not, can you give me a link to a post about this issue?) Thank you for sharing your knowledge about writing. God bless you.
I read. I’ve been reading since 1935. I write. I’ve been writing for a few years. Right nor, I’m reading John Irving’s UNTIL I FIND YOU. All the time I’m reading, I’m thinking: Why bother? I’m always so blown away by glorious things of which I’m not capable… and have you read THE LITTLE BOOK or THE GIRL WITH THE GREEN LIZARD? You see what I mean. Sigh.