Cool Dad Raising Daughter On Media That Will Put Her Entirely Out Of Touch With Her Generation

For about ten years I've thought about what a Tom Waits TV Christmas special produced in the early 80s would have been like. It's almost real to me. The set is a Depression-era shack he built and a stream of celebrity hobos keep knocking on the door and Tom goes "I wOnDEr WHo tHaT cOuLd bE"

It's time to read @aaronburch.bsky.social's "Home for the Holidays." xraylitmag.com/home-for-the...

I have a story that’s set two days before Christmas but I forgot to share it yesterday. www.vol1brooklyn.com/2022/03/13/s...

okay fine, I’ll do one of those Top 25 of 2025 thingies Here’s my Top 25 Remaining Copies of This World Will Never Run Out of Strangers Which May Be Ordered Directly From Me For $15 (Shipping and Handling Included, DM Me For Details)

Don’t get upsot! We recorded an episode about one of our favorite Texas Christmas albums, Willie Nelson’s 1979 classic Pretty Paper, just for you! Hook yourself up to an eggnog IV and tune in! open.spotify.com/episode/2eyb...

How I found out that my next-door neighbor Larry had gotten hit by a bus is that my mom sat down at the kitchen table with me before school, while I was eating a bowl of cereal, and said, “Our next-door neighbor Larry got hit by a bus.” www.outlooksprings.com/essays/larry...

This story I dedicate to my beautiful Rio, I miss you so much, you were a beautiful friend.

Hollywood: call me

Really liked the first story in @johnwaddy.bsky.social’s book, especially the grandpa character. Traces of Barry Hannah. And could be a movie is all I’m saying

Never woulda thought when I started this Cowboy Jamboree ride ten years ago that we'd be on a PEN America list for best books of the year. But here we are.

HUGE congrats to @jonathanin2k.bsky.social and @cowboyjamboree.bsky.social!

Congratulations to @jonathanin2k.bsky.social. His book, THE LOWEST BASIN: ARIZONA STORIES from Cowboy Jamboree Press, has been LONGLISTED for the @penamerica.bsky.social Robert W. Bingham Award for Debut Short Story Collection. Give Jonathan a hand y'all. pen.org/announcing-t...

Some incredible and crazy and incredibly crazy news: My story collection, THE LOWEST BASIN: ARIZONA STORIES (@cowboyjamboree.bsky.social) has been longlisted for the PEN/Robert Bingham Prize for Debut Short Fiction. This is such an incredible honor and I seriously don’t know what to say.

BREAKING NEWS! Shane Kowalski has a story in Harper's Magazine. 🪇🎉 This is from @dieddisappointed.bsky.social's spanking new collection, Are People Out There. Check it out here, or read it at your grocery store soon...

"I wake to a bedside note from last night's self: '... like a thorn to a shrike." Our last miCRo of 2025 is a prose poem by @kevingrauke.bsky.social, "Loggerhead Shrike," which captures the lightning-in-a-bottle inspiration that can (sometimes) strike while inebriated. Link in thread.

In our new Tyler episode, we talk wampus cats, growing roses in perfectly pH-balanced soil, tricked-up barbecue, disc golf, and Earl Campbell. We also determine where Paul Cauthen’s album “Room 41” rates in our top 25. COCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAINE! open.spotify.com/episode/4I94...

With this 7-yard touchdown pass to Josh Downs, 44yo Philip Rivers becomes the weirdest man ever to throw for a touchdown in a NFL game.

had to break the misprinted Philip Rivers jersey out of storage for today’s special occasion

This World Will Never Run Out of Strangers…but this bookstore might! Had to re-up the supply at the hometown shop because Fort Worth bought up every copy!

Yes! Love seeing RF merch out in the wild! Especially the Lazy King. You wear it well, sir!

I’m in some good company

What a fantastic book launch for TWWNROOS last night! Special thanks to @misternagel.bsky.social for driving all the way to Fort Worth and to James and Josie at Recluse Books for hosting. Extra special thanks to my kids for doing robot voices with the karaoke machine

WHOA FRIDAY NIGHT (aka TONIGHT)

when someone’s trying to tell me their problems but all i care about is my trip to sea world

Some new words! Thanks to Justin @somewordslit.bsky.social for publishing "Parrot Dream" in this cool new message board lit mag somewords.boards.net/thread/25/su...

A mid-November to remember

Mid November brought many thanks and saw CJ release the superb college town collection, THIS WORLD WILL NEVER RUN OUT OF STRANGERS by @johnwaddy.bsky.social: www.cowboyjamboreemagazine.com/this-world-w...

I am sincerely honored that my book appears on a list of things that made life less shitty, and more honored that I get to share space with @ljabouttown.bsky.social’s novel Still Alive, Lonesome Dove, and Pamela Anderson’s scat jazz performance in The Naked Gun

In honor of the triumphant return of Philip Rivers to the NFL, here’s the full text of my micro “Star Quarterback Addresses Media after Fiction Workshop” (which also appears in my collection!). I freely admit that I wrote this with his exact voice in mind.

Oh man! Okay! So! Buddy comedy? Love story? Prayer? You got it. Don’t let the crude title fool you - this sweet story has the biggest chunk of my heart, and it’s yours now. I’m so, so proud of this one. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I had writing it 😊 open.substack.com/pub/ashortst...

This Friday in Fort Worth’s swinging South Main Village!

If Bobcat fans manage to drink Amon Carter Stadium out of beer, I promise I will make an alumni donation to Texas State University

My son woke up wanting to tell me all about an icicle he saw on our car. I indulged his enthusiasm because I wanted to have a good morning. Then we got outside & voila! it was there, hanging on a rear tire panel. I was impressed! And in that moment he took it off the car & put it in his mouth smh

We don’t have pre-snap confusion at North Texas we got free jazz

Schotty’s halftime adjustment was to tuck three more pens, a stapler, and the owl that got stuck in his house under his visor

"It seems we've reached the point in our relationship with celebrities where we just want to throw stuff at them . . . Like sending a satellite through a blackhole or petting a squirrel. It just seems worth a try." — @misternagel.bsky.social for Dirt

Don’t want to order your copy of TWWNROOS through the evil empire? Well, you’re in luck, because author copies are in and they’re only $10! (PayPal/Venmo) DM if interested. Act fast and you’ll also get a free Elvis Grbac trading card to use as a bookmark!

Here, on Earth, from @leftoverbooks.bsky.social...COUNT THE DUST. Available now: a.co/d/11toswz

today we get to publish your and our good pal, Joe Aguilar, and it absolutely rules! “Rain is the grief of the tortoise’s father, and volcanoes are the anger of the tortoise’s mother.” https://www.havehashad.com/obnor

D and/or FW folks: Join me and indie-lit superstar @misternagel.bsky.social for a TWWNROOS release party and reading at Fort Worth’s newest and best bookstore Recluse Books at 6pm on December 12th!

The Swimmer, but with hot tubs!

“Resisting the lure of the bubbling tubs was hopeless. An act of purest vanity. I had to get wet and I had to stay warm and I encountered many old friends along the way.” Thanks to Steve & Scaffold Lit for publishing this little number. www.scaffoldlit.com/microwriting...

say this every time, but every time it is a treat to get to feature and share new work from HAD fave Julián Martinez! "She forgives my lack of communication! I forgive her lack of decision-making! We get to focus on the ways we make our hearts go BOOM!" https://www.havehashad.com/r9bng

The blurbs are in! 🥵 We’ve got some killer books out now/coming soon from @vanwinkle.bsky.social @barbarabyar.bsky.social @kevingrauke.bsky.social @fbereaud.bsky.social @johnwaddy.bsky.social @sabrinahicks.bsky.social @jdclappwrites.bsky.social Stay tuned and support indie lit!

Hey, share this with all your friends. Submissions to Major 7th Magazine are open until January 1st. Have a flash piece or poem inspired by a song? Send it to us. www.major7mag.com/submit

I don’t have any Black Friday bargains for you, but one of the stories in my book *does* take place on Black Friday. What a deal! www.amazon.com/This-World-W...

Jack White is the king of “indie dudes love sports too” representation matters baby

thanksgiving is a time for people to come together, to celebrate the spirit of unity despite our differences, and to demonstrate that, here is busta rhymes performing "break ya neck" with raphael the ninja turtle