Polutropos's Polyphony, part phree

Hello friends, old and new!

My 2010 thread turned non-existent when I got overwhelmed by life and then began spending every available waking moment on my own writing, rather than commenting on my reading. 2011 may or may not be different.

I promise this is the last time I am mentioning this great news, but I must begin by telling those who do not know yet, that yes, I can now officially call myself a writer. In the summer I was one of six students taking a workshop from Alistair MacLeod, winner of the IMPAC/Dublin Prize, and one of the greatest short story writers alive. Mu short story "The Legacy" which was workshopped there, has been accepted by The Windsor Review. No idea yet when it will actually appear, and it may be a while, but it IS accepted. I am most pleased.

And since then of course the reality of the writing life: this morning three rejections on pieces of writing I had sent out. Fortunately my skin is pretty thick now. I will just keep on sending out. I came across a great quote about writing and publishing recently: "There is a word for a writer who does not get discouraged and keeps on submitting no matter what: published."

Andrew, I can't tell you how excited this post is to me. Keep us updated on "The Legacy", I have every intention of buying the issue with your story. Congrats! Also, it's really nice to see you here.

PS - What comes after part phree? Part Phor?

Excellent news, Andrew! Please keep us posted. I hope to see you post here, even sporadically, in 2011.

I'm glad you made it over here, Andrew!! Welcome back, we missed you.

Congratulations Andrew! I was following your reading in 2009 and am ready to try again.

That's great news about your story. Congratulations!

Congrats! Definitely let us know when the issue is out.

I've just seen this news - congratulations, Andrew, and may it be the first of many!

Fantastic news, andrew. Now I can forgive you for not sending me the names of Slovak writers I could check out back in September -- you were busy becoming one yourself! :-) My congratulations!

Hi and congratulations on the story! I see on another thread that you're reading Ron Carlson, and I wonder if you've read about his writing process in Ron Carlson Writes a Story? I've pulled it off the shelf, you've inspired me to a reread.

>9 deebee1: deebee1

I was sure I had answered you, and I see on your profile page that in July I had given you the names of Czech writers available in translation and the somewhat sad news that there is very little Slovak literature available in English. A prominent writer named Dusan Dusek was ecstatic when I wrote to him about two years ago, saying I was thinking of translating some of his work. Unfortunately since then I have refocused for many reasons, one being the total lack of interest on the part of publishers in Slovak literature. But the primary reason is that I decided to tell my stories, rather than be a translator of the stories of others. But I will still be doing some translation, I think. I would still like to see my translations of Jaroslav Seifert, the Nobel Prize winning Czech poet, published. I have been waiting for a publisher's response for almost a year. And that, too, is a part of the publishing reality these days. Novels about vampires get print runs in the millions. Translated serious literature does not get more than a cursory look. (I am oversimplifying, I know. Yes, of course we do see many great translated works. I am currently reading the works of Per Petterson, and loving them. But Czech and Slovak literature ARE poor cousins.)

Summing up: almost no Slovak authors available in English.

Congratulations, polutropos. I now know two writers in print - you and Tim Jones.

Indeed, Andrew, I remember now that you did reply but the names didn't register, and I have not gone back to old messages on my page to check. As an ordinary reader mostly of translated works, I find a visit to bookshops I have easy access to, distressing. Serious literature is given token space, if you find them at all. Do you plan to write stories in Slovak as well and making them available to Slovak readers?

Well friends,

perhaps this will be a good year indeed.

I have just received word that another short story I wrote, called "The Magician", has been accepted by the online journal Bartleby Snopes. It will be in the February issue and be a part of the permanent archives thereafter.

To put it mildly, I am pleased.

Congrats. Another story I had the honor to read in an earlier version.

Woot, woot! Congrats again.

Congratulations for both!

Outstanding! Please post a link when it's available.

Coming over just to offer major congratulations!

Further congratulations, Andrew - and thanks for commenting on my blog. Now that you are having such success with your own writing, perhaps those recalcitrant publishers will also be more receptive to your translations - I certainly hope so!

Congratulations on the acceptance of another story for publication!

Congratulations!

My short story "The Ice Cream Cone Face" has been accepted by the online magazine Apollo's Lyre. It will appear in the March 2011 issue.

Andrushka takes the literary world by storm!!!!!!! Go get 'em!
woooohooooo!

My story "The Magician" is now online in the current issue of Bartleby Snopes. The link is here

http://www.bartlebysnopes.com/themagician.htm

...wow!...sorry, the pause is to try to check how much I really got of what I just read...Andrew, that was spectacular! Thanks for the link. Now I'm going to go think about it for a while. (whether I want to or not). Looking forward to others.

My latest story is online here:

http://52250flash.wordpress.com/2011/02/17/%E2%80%9Cbrava-brava%E2%80%9D-by-andr...

#27 Another image that will stay in my head for awhile (I'm still thinking about The Magician). I really enjoyed that.

Nice story Andrew. It works a a short piece, but I'd also be interested to see if if you discarded the 250 word limitation.

My latest story is online here:

http://52250flash.wordpress.com/2011/02/21/liberation-1968-by-andrew-stancek/

Good stuff, Andrew. Would like it to continue.

My latest flash story is here:

http://52250flash.wordpress.com/2011/03/04/moving-on-by-andrew-stancek/

Another good one, Andrew!

Another story published here:

http://apollos-lyre.tripod.com/id232.html

There are now five instalments in the adventures of Mirko, a teenage hoodlum in Bratislava, posted online.

The chronological order of the stories is Moving On, Mirko's Morning, Mirko's Mountain, Witness and The Morning After.

I expect to have somewhere between twenty and forty of these eventually, and then perhaps an appearance in book format.

http://52250flash.wordpress.com/category/andrew-stancek/

My new sexy story "Where Were You?" is now on Pure Slush. The link is here

http://pureslush.webs.com/wherewereyou.htm

Andrew - Thanks for the links. I missed a few of your posts so I'm catching up. Very very intrigued, interesting mixture in "Where are you".

I have a new story here:

http://sites.google.com/site/lefthandwaving/

And another story, called "Watching 'The Seven Samurai'", has been accepted for publication in a book called New Sun Rising: Stories for Japan, an anthology of short fiction, poetry, and art to raise donations for the aid effort in Japan. (All proceeds will go to the Red Cross.) I will let you know when the anthology is out.

Off-the-wall piece of writing published:

http://www.thelinnetswings.org/?stn=96442&pageno=14&sdb=