"LaGrange" in The Saturday Evening Post

My short story "LaGrange" has been published online as a part of The Saturday Evening Post's Contemporary Fiction series. In 2018, they also published my short story "Little Green Men."

Sean Gill's "Selected Arcana from My Literary Tarot" in Electric Literature

My latest essay, "Selected Arcana from My Literary Tarot," featuring tarot interpretations of authors from James Baldwin to Judy Blume, has been published online by Electric Literature.

"Dr. Bronner's or Dr. Strangelove?" in Slackjaw Magazine

In honor of the 60th Anniversary of Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, I have a new humor piece up in Slackjaw Magazine.

Sean Gill's "The Marked Book" Anthologized by The Lascaux Review

My short story "The Marked Book," which first appeared in The Iowa Review and was a finalist for the 2022 Lascaux Prize in Flash Fiction, is newly anthologized in The Lascaux Review prize issue, Volume 10, which is available to purchase in print.

Sean Gill's "Join Hands" Anthologized by the Scottish Arts Trust

My short story "Join Hands," which won the the Third Prize of the 2023 Edinburgh Award for Flash Fiction (judged by Zoë Strachan and Louise Welsh), is featured in the Scottish Arts Trust's latest anthology, Solemates and Other Stories, which is now available to purchase in print and electronically.

Sean Gill's "Classic Florida Literature: On the Novelization of Porky's II: The Next Day" in Evergreen Review

My latest essay, "Classic Florida Literature: On the Novelization of Porky's II: The Next Day" has been published online by Evergreen Review, a longstanding literary journal, founded in 1957, and known for publishing Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, Vladimir Nabokov, Susan Sontag... and now an essay about the paperback tie-in of Porky's II.

Sean Gill's "Join Hands" Named a Finalist for the Scottish Arts Trust Story Awards' 2023 Edinburgh Award for Flash Fiction

My short story "Join Hands" has been named a finalist for the Scottish Arts Trust Story Awards' 2023 Edinburgh Award for Flash Fiction, with the winner to be announced at the The Scottish Arts Club later in February. My story is available to read on their website temporarily and will be anthologized in print this November.

"The Marked Book" Chosen as a 2022 Lascaux Prize Finalist

The Lascaux Review has just announced that my short story, "The Marked Book," has been chosen as a finalist for their 2022 Prize in Flash Fiction. It will appear in print in their next volume, The Lascaux Prize Anthology.

Six Authors in Search of a Character, Part 6: Yukio Mishima in ZYZZYVA

The sixth and final installment of my ongoing essay series in ZYZZYVA Literary Magazine is now live––the series is called "Six Authors in Search of a Character" and it explores the unusual and complicated psychology of writers portraying on screen characters they created in print. Part 6 analyzes PATRIOTISM (1966), a remarkable and disturbing experiment wherein Yukio Mishima rehearsed his own death. If you missed the first five installments of the series (on Stephen King's appearance in CREEPSHOW, Richard Wright's role in NATIVE SON, Irvine Welsh's in TRAINSPOTTING, Mickey Spillane's in THE GIRL HUNTERS, and Jacqueline Susann's in VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, you can read them all here).

"Six Authors in Search of a Character, Part 5: Jacqueline Susann" in ZYZZYVA

The fifth installment of my ongoing essay series in ZYZZYVA Literary Magazine is now live––the series is called "Six Authors in Search of a Character" and it explores the unusual and complicated psychology of writers portraying on screen characters they created in print. Part 5 analyzes Jacqueline Susann's unexpectedly meaningful cameo as a tabloid reporter in VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1967). If you missed the first three installments of the series (on Stephen King's appearance in CREEPSHOW, Richard Wright's role in NATIVE SON, Irvine Welsh's role in TRAINSPOTTING, and Mickey Spillane's role in THE GIRL HUNTERS, you can read them all here).

"Six Authors in Search of a Character, Part 4: Mickey Spillane" in ZYZZYVA

 The fourth installment of my ongoing essay series in ZYZZYVA Literary Magazine is now live––the series is called "Six Authors in Search of a Character" and it explores the unusual and complicated psychology of writers portraying on screen characters they created in print. Part 4 analyzes Mickey Spillane's tackling of the role of his iconic private eye Mike Hammer in THE GIRL HUNTERS (1963). If you missed the first three installments of the series (on Stephen King's appearance in CREEPSHOW, Richard Wright's role in NATIVE SON, and Irvine Welsh's role in TRAINSPOTTING, you can read them here).

"Six Authors in Search of a Character, Part 3: Irvine Welsh" in ZYZZYVA

The third installment of my ongoing essay series in ZYZZYVA Literary Magazine is now live––the series is called "Six Authors in Search of a Character" and it explores the unusual and complicated psychology of writers portraying on screen characters they created in print. Part 3 analyzes Irvine Welsh's appearance as "Mikey Forrester" in TRAINSPOTTING, where he plays the role of a drug dealer who torments his actual alter-ego, a process which feels like a literalization of the koan-ish observation, "you are the cause of your own suffering." If you missed the first and second installments of the series (on Stephen King's appearance in CREEPSHOW and Richard Wright's role in NATIVE SON, you can read them here).

"Six Authors in Search of a Character, Part 2: Richard Wright" in ZYZZYVA

I'm very excited to announce the second installment of my ongoing essay series in ZYZZYVA Literary Magazine––the series is called "Six Authors in Search of a Character" and it explores the unusual and complicated psychology of writers portraying on screen characters they created in print. Part 2 tackles Richard Wright's appearance as "Bigger Thomas" in NATIVE SON (1951), in which Wright endures mental, physical, and social strain, onscreen and off, to finally adapt his novel for cinemas. If you missed the first installment (on Stephen King's appearance in CREEPSHOW), you can read it here.

"Six Authors in Search of a Character, Part 1: Stephen King" in ZYZZYVA

I'm very excited to premiere the first installment of a new essay series in ZYZZYVA Literary Magazine––it's called "Six Authors in Search of a Character" and it will explore the unusual and complicated psychology of writers portraying on screen characters they created in print. Part 1 tackles Stephen King's appearance as "Jordy Verrill" in CREEPSHOW, a role which grapples with identity, addiction, and a "meteoric" rise.

"The Film Treatment for Ingmar Bergman’s Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" in McSweeney's Internet Tendency

 

My latest Swedish art film/Yacht Rock-inspired humor piece, "The Film Treatment for Ingmar Bergman’s Escape (The Piña Colada Song)," may be read online at McSweeney's Internet Tendency.

(Other pieces I've written for McSweeney's include"Winners of the Yoknapatawpha County Spelling Bee," "Kellyanne Conway's Ficciones," and "Forthcoming '80s Remakes That Haunt the Nightmares of the Alt-Right," which can be read online also.)

"Datin' Satan: A Journey to Hell With Louisa May Alcott" in Epiphany

My latest essay––about Louisa May Alcott's lesser known, gritty and gruesome early work (with a focus on her novel A Long Fatal Love Chase)––has been published by Epiphany: A Literary Journal as a part of my "Lurid Esoterica" series there. The full Lurid Esoterica series is available here.

"The Fixed Umbrella" in Gargoyle Magazine

My latest short story, "The Fixed Umbrella," has been published in issue #73 of the legendary D.C. literary journal Gargoyle Magazine, whose past contributors include Ray Bradbury, Kathy Acker, and Nick Cave, among others. It is available for purchase, in print, here.

Who Said It: A Vintage Greaser-Bully In A Stephen King Story, Or The President Of The United States?

A new piece up at Medium.

"The Buzzer is Mightier: The Author as a Game Show Contestant" in Epiphany

My latest essay––about the phenomena of authors appearing as game show contestants, and featuring appearances by Stephen King, Hunter S. Thompson, Herman Wouk, Jacqueline Susann, and John le Carré––has been published by Epiphany: A Literary Journal as a part of my "Lurid Esoterica" series there.

"Mrs. Ives at the Shooting Gallery" in Hemingway Shorts

My latest short story, "Mrs. Ives at the Shooting Gallery," has been published in the fifth volume of Hemingway Shorts, the literary journal of The Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park, "a collection of short stories from new and engaged writers in the best tradition of Ernest Hemingway."