The Future of Fiction: Starcherone Books Authors

Founded by fiction writer Ted Pelton when he couldn't find a publisher for his first collection of experimental short fiction despite winning an NEA fellowship, Starcherone Books is one of only a handful of American presses specializing in innovative fiction. This reading brings together six of Starcherone's youngest authors, five of whom have published their debut works with the press: Sara Greenslit, Joshua Cohen, Joshua Harmon, Aimee Parkison, Nina Shope, and Zachary Mason. Ted Pelton will host.

Ted Pelton is the author of three books, including the novel, Malcolm & Jack (Spuyten Duyvil, 2006). His most recent honor is a Fellowship from the Isherwood Foundation. He lives in Buffalo, NY.

Joshua Cohen's books include a story collection, The Quorum, a novel, Cadenza for the Schneidermann Violin Concerto, and Aleph-Bet: An Alphabet for the Perplexed, a collaboration with artist Michael Hafftka. His new novel, A Heaven of Others, is just out from Starcherone Books. Cohen lives in Brooklyn.

Sara Greenslit won the 2006 Starcherone Fiction Prize for her novel, The Blue of Her Body. She earned an MFA in poetry from Penn State and has received grantsfrom the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Barbara Deming Foundation/Money for Women. She is currently a veterinary student at University of Wisconsin, in Madison.

Joshua Harmon's first novel, Quinnehtukqut, appeared in 2007 from Starcherone Books. His work has been published in Agni, Iowa Review, TriQuarterly, Verse, and many other journals, and he has received fellowships in fiction from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. He teaches at Vassar College.

Zachary Mason won the 2007 Starcherone Prize for his novel, The Lost Books of the Odyssey. He is a computer scientist specializing in artificial intelligence. A Ph.D. from Brandeis, he works for a Silicon Valleystart-up. His fiction has appeared in Pleiades, The Journal of Literary Imagination, and elsewhere.

Aimee Parkison's writing has appeared in Mississippi Review, North American Review, Quarterly West, and elsewhere. She has an MFA from Cornell and is an Assistant Professor at UNC-Charlotte. She has received numerous awards for her fiction including the first Starcherone Fiction Prize for her story collection, Woman with Dark Horses.

Nina Shope, winner of the 2005 Starcherone Prize for Hangings: Three Novellas, is a graduate of the MFA Creative Writing program at Syracuse University. She has published fiction in Open City, Third Bed, Fourteen Hills, and elsewhere. She lives in Denver.