When grief becomes your mother

A Home, Copyright Erin Pringle-Toungate

My story "And Yet" is the feature today over at Awst Press.  "And Yet" revolves around a dying boy who is trying to pick the right moment to tell his mother that he's ready to go home. The story appears in my collection The Floating Order.

Awst Press is an independent publisher in Austin, TX that's up to good.  Please explore their site as well as other works of mine that they have featured over these two weeks: Awst.

Follow Awst on Twitter: @AwstPress

Find Awst on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AwstPress/?fref=ts

A man ate a rabbit

"Wild Rabbit" by William Andrus, used under CC license

My feature over at Awst Press continues through this week. Today's story is "The Rabbit," which was originally published in one of my very favorite magazines, Big Pulp.

Other stories of mine on Big Pulp:

• Every Good Girl Does Fine
• Palestine, IL

Follow Awst on Twitter: @AwstPress

Find Awst on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AwstPress/?fref=ts

Out there's a porchlight where no house should be

My feature with Awst Press culminates with the print release of my newest chapbook, The Wandering House. The story revolves around a boy who may or may not be missing, a girl burned badly, and a family left in the confusion of grief after an encounter with The Wandering House.

Order The Wandering House through Awst Press ($5.00)

Please continue to tune into the Awst Feature through next Friday, 3/4/16. More of my work will be on display, as will some words from my mouth about my stories, and The Wandering House, in particular.

Artwork by Christa Blackwood; cover design by LK James for Awst

Awst Press is an independent publisher located in Austin, TX.

Follow Awst on Twitter: @AwstPress

Find Awst on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AwstPress/?fref=ts

There are landmines in the backyard

"Harvested Cornfield' by Kelly Sikkema,
used under CC license

We're at the end of the first week of Awst Press featuring my writing.  Today's feature is one of my favorite stories, "This Bomb My Heart."

"This Bomb My Heart," originally appeared in War, Literature and the Arts, and is the story of a girl whose brother comes home after multiple tours of war and begins planting landmines in the field behind the house. Please enjoy the story by following this link to Awst.

Awst is an independent press located in Austin, Texas. 

Follow Awst on Twitter: @AwstPress

Find Awst on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AwstPress/?fref=ts

A Couple Jumped Out of an Airplane

"Opposed" by Ben Seidelman,
used under CC license.

Awst Press has gathered a number of my stories and will, for the next several weeks, be displaying them on their website for all to enjoy. The feature also includes an upcoming interview and the release of my newest story, "The Wandering House."

Today, Awst is featuring my story "The Skydivers," which originally appeared in Emrys Journal.

Please stroll over to Awst to learn more about the wonderful work they're doing in Austin, TX, and to enjoy writing by a range of voices.

Add them to your Facebook page to receive updates in your feed there, as well as Twitter.

What do you bury in holes so deep?

"Mist" by Marilyn Peddle, used under CC license

You can now read "Digging," the first story of the Awst Press feature. "Digging" is the story of a brother and sister who discover their family buried in the forest. "Digging" was originally published in Lake Effect, and is in my story collection, The Floating Order.

Awst will be featuring my work for the next several weeks. Please check back in for new work as the days unwind. Feature page here.

Follow Awst on Twitter: @AwstPress

Find Awst on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AwstPress/?fref=ts

To Be Curated, Inside a Project with Awst Press

AWST PRESS

IMPRESSIVE WORKS FROM DIVERSE VOICES

So, it's official, I have been curated.  And I couldn't be happier, really.  What does that mean?  I'm part of an innovative project run by Awst Press, an Austin-based small press, that specializes in new writers and writing.

The project: Awst chooses a guest curator who selects a handful of writers whose lives and work will be featured with Awst over the course of a few months; the project culminates in a chapbook of new work by those writers.

My curator is writer, filmmaker, teacher, and performer Owen Egerton. For the next two weeks, Awst Press will, from behind the glass of your computer screen, display my stories, words, answers to questions; my new story, "The Wandering House," will be available as a printed chapbook for purchase.

And so it has begun. Come with me to Awst Press: http://www.awst-press.com/erin-pringle-toungate/

Follow Awst on Twitter: @AwstPress

Find Awst on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AwstPress/?fref=ts

That Day in Southword Journal

"That Day," one of the pieces from my childhood memoir, The Girl's Made of Bone, is now available to read in the new issue of Southword Journal.  It comes from a cycle of memories from early childhood.

To read other pieces from The Girl's Made of Bone, see the following:

•  "From The Wind-Up Swing" in Gravel"
• "When We Were This Many" in Gravel
• "The Joke" in 2River
• "That Was Your Sister's Dress" in 2River
• "Long Before My Sister Decides to Die" in 2River
• "The Way To My Sister's House" in 2River
• "Friday Nights" in 2River
• "There Was A Coupon in the Newspaper" in Journal of Compressed Creative Arts (Matter Press)
• "What's Left" in Gambling the Aisle (Issue 8, page 8)

"I will be an arts president." ~ Senator Bernie Sanders

"You have my promise that, as president, I will be an arts president. . . Art is speech, art is what life is about." pic.twitter.com/tj3LKokjEG

— Project Bernie '16 (@ProjectBernie16) January 30, 2016

A Literary Valentine's Day in Spokane, 2/14/16

There's nothing better to do on Valentine's Day than to read strange, dark fairy tales . . . except to hear new fairy tales performed by the writers themselves. I'll be one of several poets and fiction writers telling stories at The Bing Crosby Theater. So, join us.

All you need to bring is your heart in a box, or a ticket.

When? 7 PM

Tickets: $17