I interviewed the dazzling Carmen Maria Machado about the stories in her acclaimed collection Her Body and Other Parties, writers getting paid, haunted malls and motels and other liminal spaces, and much more.
"How the Voice Outlives the Body: A Conversation with Carmen Maria Machado" can be read online in The Miami Rail's summer 2018 issue
"How the Voice Outlives the Body: A Conversation with Carmen Maria Machado" can be read online in The Miami Rail's summer 2018 issue
Memoir
"Black Velvet" was published in the inaugural issue of The Written Wardrobe. The anthology was published within the Modcloth website. (The issue archive is not online at present.)
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Stories, Essays, Poems
Poems and other projects:
"Angles of Belonging," about having grown up in NJ, being a "Florida writer," and the many ways characters can connect to place, is at Lisa Romeo Writes.
"My Writing Process: A Tango," a personal essay, appeared in TSP, the Story Prize Blog. Memoir:
"Hand Clinic," a memoir piece, is in Willows Wept Review. Memoir
"Black Velvet" was published in the inaugural issue of The Written Wardrobe. The anthology was published within the Modcloth website. (The issue archive is not online at present.) Poetry
 The Tree Man, broadsheet collaboration by Pip Brandt and Lynne Barrett
As part of the Sweat II Broadsheet Collaboration, Sara Stites and Pip Brandt each produced a broadsheet using texts I wrote,. one a poem, "The Princess of Sweat" and the other (see left) excerpted from my story "The Tree Man." More on the project here and in this piece in the Miami New Times.
My poem "The Preservation & Vice Tour" was published in 6¢, the sixth issue of Cent Journal from the Miami Poetry Collective.
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Fiction:
... and I'm honored to announce that "Marble" made the list of thirty "Other Distinguished Mystery Stories of 2017" in Best American Mysteries 2018. Series editor Otto Penzler's foreword describing the the process of reading more than three thousand published stories in print journals, e-zines, and anthologies to cull from 3000 plus short stories to fifty, of which twenty are printed, shows both how strong the interest in short crime fiction is today, and how tough the competition.
"Quickstep" is in the Summer 2017 issue of The Miami Rail, which is available at many venues in Miami-Dade County, and is also online. Read the story here and you can follow links to explore the rest of the issue.
Thomas Carr, "The Path of Solitude" via The Miami Rail
"Morning Glories" is in Fifteen Views of Miamiburrowpress.com/product/miami/, a collection of lightly linked stories, published by Burrow Press and edited by Jaquira Diaz. One of “the 7 best books about Miami.” –Miami New Times One of “our 10 favorite books set in South Florida.” –The New Tropic “15 Views of Miami offers a sprawling portrait of Miami-Dade … a complex web of stories keep the reader searching for clues and meaning around every corner. In 15 Views of Miami, we see our city for what it is — a place risen from the ashes by investment capital and developers, but defined by the stories of the people that ignited the flame… If the goal was to paint a literary portrait of Miami’s profound uniqueness and shifting cultural identity, than Díaz succeeded. Each story is its own world, told by characters filled with longing for a Miami past a reader can’t help but relate to.” –The New Tropic
"The Borges Cure" appeared in Night Train Magazine. Kristi Peterson Schoonover blogged about the story here. "Alchemy" was published in the online magazine Pig in a Poke.
"Little Red Returns" appears in the chapter on "The Contemporary Tale" in Susan Tiberghien's One Year to a Writing Life, Twelve Lessons to Deepen Every Writer's Art and Craft. (The book has now been published in Chinese and Japanese editions.) "Little Red Returns" previously appeared in River City (now The Pinch.) Audio Story
Delta Blues
"Blues for Veneece" is included in the Tyrus Books anthology Delta Blues, edited by Carolyn Haines, with an introduction by Morgan Freeman, which was published in May 2010. A percentage of the receipts for this book go to assist the Rock River Foundation in its work for literacy in Mississippi. An e-book version of Delta Blues is now available. Oline Cogdill named Delta Blues one of the best mystery books of 2010. Great review of Delta Blues in the Mobile Press-Register, with attention to "Blues for Veneece." Emily Bingham of U. South Alabama interviewed me on writing and "Blues for Veneece." The interview is online. 
Delta Blues' launch weekend included a reception hosted by the Delta Writers chapter of the Mississippi Writers Guild, and an awards ceremony for a writing competition for high school students where the winners were thrilled not only with their awards but with the presence of Morgan Freeman. I sang a couple of numbers with the authors' blues band, The Blues Muse, as well as being a Boomette backup singer for the launch of Delta Blues, March 27, 2010 at Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi. One number is now up on Youtube. Billy Howell's interview with me about my Delta Blues story and the anthology, as well as coverage of the launch events, can be read online at the Clarksdale Press Register. 
My short story "When, He Wondered" appeared in the March/April 2010 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. It is included in Magpies, my most recent collection. 
"Texaco on Biscayne"was first published in Saw Palm, a journal of Florida literature and art. It appears, in revised form, in my collection Magpies. 
"Blue Vandas" appears in A Hell of a Woman, An Anthology of Female Noir, edited by Megan Abbott, published by Busted Flush Press. Reviewed in Crime Scene Scotland: "The problem with many anthologies is that certain stories feel like they're coasting. Usually, these stories come from the biggest names in the anthology. But here, everyone's on form from the names you know down to the names you don't. They're all on board and running with the idea of femininity as a concept, an actuality, a myth... something to embrace and something to be terrified of." Some nice words for "Blue Vandas" and A Hell of a Woman. More from Booklist Online. 
"The Noir Boudoir" was published in Miami Noir, from Akashic Books. With lots of local authors represented at tour events, we had an ongoing discussion of noir and of Miami (or, really, South Florida) as a setting, an atmosphere, a place that prompts people to do strange things. 
"Gift Wrap" was published in A Dixie Christmas: Holiday Stories from the South's Best Writers, edited by Charline McCord and Judy Tucker, Algonquin Books. With an introduction by Fred Chappell. 
"Gift Wrap" also appeared in Irrepressible Appetites, edited by Tracey Broussard, Rock Press. The story is accompanied by my great-grandmother's recipe for Lebkuchen. Other stories appear in Painted Bride Quarterly, Apalachee Review, Other Voices, Tampa Review, and many others.
"Hush Money" appeared in Marilyn: Shades of Blonde, edited by Carole Nelson Douglas, which was published by Forge in 1997. 
"Beauty" was first published in Mondo Barbie, edited by Lucinda Ebersole and Richard Peabody, St. Martin's Press. The book has pink paper and is shaped like a Barbie box. I first met Denise Duhamel, now my friend and colleague, when we did a reading for Mondo Barbie at the Miami Book Fair. "Beauty" also appeared in Having a Wonderful Time, Simon & Schuster. "Elvis Lives"
"Elvis Lives," my most-anthologized story, originally appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and then won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. It has been translated into Korean, French and Japanese. "Elvis Lives" also appeared in: 
—Simply the Best Mysteries, edited by Janet Huchings, Carroll & Graf (1998) 
—Murder to Music, edited by Cynthia Manson & Kathleen Halligan, Carroll & Graf (1997). From Kirkus Reviews: "As even the perfect Wagnerite knows, it's not easy to tell a compelling story while providing great music, and atmosphere prevails over mystery-mongering in most of these 15 stories (194793) chosen by Manson and Hallican (Murder Intercontinental, 1996). Six involve the opera, but except for James Yaffe's sprightly armchair matriarch ("Mom Sings an Aria"), the stories are more successful when they get down and dirty (Doug Allyn's "The Sultans of Soul" and John Lutz's "The Right to Sing the Blues") or hit the road (Lynne Barrett's droll trio of Elvis impersonators)." 
—The King is Dead: Tales of Elvis Postmortem, edited by Paul Sammon, Delta —The Years' 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories 1992, intro. by Jon L. Breen, Carrol & Graf --The Year's Best Mystery and Suspense Stories 1991, edited by Edward Hoch. From Publishers Weekly: "The winner, Lynne Barrett, scored with "Elvis Lives," in which a reluctant and increasingly alcoholic impersonator of the King stumbles on a foolproof method of dissolving his contract. . ." And from Kirkus Reviews: "Long-time anthologist Hoch this time includes all five Edgar-nominated stories in his "Best'' compilation, and Lynne Barrett's "Elvis Lives,'' the ultimate Edgar winner—a dark, garish look at the Presley-impersonator industry—is reason enough to own the book. . ." |
