THE2NDHAND

from MY WHOLE LIFE, by Ryan Richey

Wed, 2 Mar 2011 21:37:43 -0600

Chicago artist Richey calls his "My Whole Life" series of paintings paired with prose "my atypical coming-of-age," and it's comprised of more than 180 paintings in total, still ongoing. Check out the entirety at his site and enjoy the selected five here...

A PATCHWORK PILLOW, by T.J. McIntyre

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 21:27:28 -0600

McIntyre writes from a busy household in rural Alabama. His poems and short stories have been featured in numerous publications, including recent or forthcoming appearances in Moon Milk Review, M-Brane SF, The Red Penny Papers, and Illumen. A debut poetry collection, Isotropes: A Collection of Speculative Haibun, came out in 2010. He writes a monthly column for the Apex Books Blog, regularly contributes to Skull Salad Reviews, and can also be found on http://southernweirdo.wordpress.com.
"Craig lost his way and we never saw him again. *** "Frank was one of the seven. He swooped through the empty tunnels seeking out life. He refused to give up. To give up would be to concede defeat. To give up would be to accept that there had been no point to his struggle...."

KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN successful "All Hands On: THE2NDHAND After 10"

Sat, 19 Feb 2011 21:41:58 -0600

You did it. We did it.

EVENT: SO YOU THINK YOU HAVE NERVES OF STEEL? Mar. 1, Chicago

Sat, 19 Feb 2011 21:40:52 -0600

Tuesday, Mar. 1, 8 p.m. @ Hungry Brain, 2319 W. Belmont, Chicago SO YOU THINK YOU HAVE NERVES OF STEEL? FEATURING: *Lobotomy beats dropped by "poet laureate of your face" Nick Demske *Mairead Case w/ a graphic novel slideshow *& A special public service announcement from Mason Johnson, who explain why he has nerves of steel -- and we don't *House band: Good Evening (http://goodeveningmusic.com) *Hosted by Monsieur Harold Ray (the janitorial-services-type, still-West Virginian v. of T2H coeditor Jacob Knabb) and T2H regular Kate Duva and more...

MY PRETZEL HAS EYES, by Pitchfork Battalion (Henry Ronan-Daniell, C.T. Ballentine, Todd Dills)

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 21:07:36 -0600

The writers debuted this collaborative piece, proceeding from the phrase "Pretzel Eyes", at THE2NDHAND's 11th-anniversary celebration at East Nashville's Portland Brew Feb. 12, 2011.

MAYBE MAYBE, by Brian Warfield

Sun, 6 Feb 2011 11:47:38 -0600

Philadelphia writer Warfield debuts at THE2NDHAND.com with this slightly speculative-feeling tale about a young man's love for pizza and his posture-night-school instructor...

STORMS, by Nick Ostdick

Sun, 6 Feb 2011 11:13:54 -0600

Ostdick, past contributor to THE2NDHAND, today lives and writes from downstate Illinois, land of tempestuous weather -- and temperaments....
"Laurel and I are lying naked on the back porch. It helps ease the effects of the relentless August heat, on full even in the evenings, our skins soaking in the dampness. Her head is tipped back against my chest, her caramel-colored hair in a knotted, hippie mess. We're not saying much. This is normal. With a glass of red wine against her lips, Laurel says the cicadas are chattier than we are, and through the open porch windows we listen to them bark through the steamy rain splashing around us. Storms are rolling in: thunder and lightning, giving us our newly fenced-in world in flashes. When everything goes bright, I can see the eaves on the east side of our new home clear as day..."

ARCHITECTURAL DIGESTION, by Garrett Socol

Sun, 6 Feb 2011 11:14:36 -0600

After a town is hit by a tornado, what else would happen but that complete strangers would begin marrying each other... Such is the satirical premise here in Socol's debut at THE2NDHAND.com. He's an old hand, having published in more than three dozen lit mags over the years. His first collection of short stories, "Ear of Lettuce, Head of Corn," will be published in 2011 by Ampersand Books, and his plays have been produced at the Pasadena Playhouse in Los Angeles and the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Massachusetts.

KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN more than three-fourths finished for "All Hands On: THE2NDHAND After 10"

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 07:30:14 -0600

KICKSTART All Hands On: THE2NDHAND AFTER 10 Preorder your copy via our Kickstarter.com fund drive, through mid-February 2011. It's been a long run for THE2NDHAND, the little magazine -- not even a magazine in any traditional sense but rather a broadsheet, perhaps the last periodical on earth to be launched without a prefabbed website to bolster its offset-printed pages (though 'twas to follow shortly, publishing flash and serial fiction here weekly from late 2000 on). We mean: THE2NDHAND is a page. A big one -- 11x17-inch block of black text peppered variously with photo-illustrations, comics, line drawings, distributed in storefronts first in Chicago, then in an ever-growing list of cities around the U.S.. New writing, simply, has been its focus since I founded it in 2000 -- a small-format its physicality, but a loud mouth and a big heart its most important parts. All Hands On: THE2NDHAND after 10 will be published in 2011 to celebrate and lay down the best of the mag's 10+ years of publishing writing by the budding insurgents of the American lit landscape -- and others, no doubt. True to form, the book begins with a section of new, as-yet unpublished work. We've launched the Kickstarter campaign to raise the money needed to print 500 copies of the book, essentially. By contributing $14 or more, you can preorder a copy of the 300-plus-page book, which collects work from 40 writers, 3 illustrators, three editors, and a couple janitors, all told. Check out the extras available at the $20 and $25 levels, too, from our signature bergamot-infused bar by Alabama soap maker THE LEFT HAND to several books by contributors and editors.

THE DETECTIVE DRIVES HOME, by Matt Pine

Wed, 5 Jan 2011 21:54:52 -0600

Chicago native Matt Pine makes his debut with this less-than/more-than hardboiled bit of fiction about an aging detective in the throes of finality. "--Don't ask me about my cases. That business is done. Forgotten. Ask and you'll get nothing. And anyway, it's confidential. Probably. The point is I'm looking forward. And frankly, I've earned a little rest. I was an accomplished detective. Highly regarded, really. Still am, I mean. The reputation lives on. Each solved case was an illustrious decoration. The Rothschild girl, well there's one I can talk about. All over the papers like it was, no pretense of privacy there. Who wasn't moved by those pictures of the pale little girl crawling from the blown-open bank vault? You remember that, I'm sure. She's entirely recovered her hearing, by the way. The little ones, they bounce back. The papers, of course, they write as if they have privileged knowledge, but that's the classic con of journalism. It was no surprise they didn't have the name of the private dick who tipped off the police. But those who should know, know. Important people are familiar with my work. Very important people. High-ups. But I don't like to brag. Ah, my work. My work! Why am I talking about it again? Done. Behind me. Over...."

THE GIRLS TALK TO HER LIKE IT'S NOTHING, part 2, by Dominique Holmes

Wed, 29 Dec 2010 19:20:46 -0600

In the first installment of this short, a neighborhood mother, Roselyn, made moves to visit a bereft father, and Ana's grade school class' teacher left the students alone, all after a massive storm has visited the island on which they live. Holmes, a native of Kingston, Jamaica, contributed to THE2NDHAND's 10th-anniversary "All Hands On" collection, currently in fund-raising mode, in a collaboration with T2H editors Todd Dills and C.T. Ballentine. Preorder your copy of the book via Kickstarter.com, search "THE2NDHAND" *** "Just let me see the first one," said Philip. "I know I got it right, I just want to make sure you didn't get it wrong." Ana put her head on the desk. Turtles. Armadillos. Hermit crabs. "What, you think I'll tell on you?" He kneaded her shoulders. "So tense." She wriggled her shoulders. Philip tightened his grip. Richard, taking an interest, pulled a soaked, chewy pencil out of his mouth and stuck the eraser end into Philip's ear....

THE GIRLS TALK TO HER LIKE IT'S NOTHING, part 1, by Dominique Holmes

Sun, 26 Dec 2010 12:16:28 -0600

Holmes, a past contributor to THE2NDHAND, lives and writes in Kingston, Jamaica. This piece is the first in a two-part feature at THE2NDHAND.com ending the year 2010 with a bang (check back Wednesday for the finale). Holmes' "Strays and Salvage" zine, the first in a series published by Parking Block, was recently released; for more from her, visit her here. Holmes likewise contributed to THE2NDHAND's 10th-anniversary collection, currently in fund-raising mode, in a collaboration with T2H editors Todd Dills and C.T. Ballentine. Preorder your copy of the book now at Kickstarter.com, search "THE2NDHAND."
From Holmes' story: "Roselyn felt no particular remorse over having lost every volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica, or the home and gardening magazines she bought because she was still flipping through them when her turn came in line at the grocery store, but she tore through the stack of Economists, to which she had only recently stopped subscribing, hoping to find a few dry issues with their covers still intact. Finding nothing, she brought these down to the driveway as well, tossing them against a mountain of frilly pages already overcome with patches of growth. Some of the paperbacks had bloomed with the moisture, expanding and rippling around the spine...."

HIDEOUS BOUNTY: SEA SNAKE, by Andrew Davis

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 21:46:24 -0600

He had a yellow belly. . . Our resident illustrator and pro ceramicist Andrew Davis, of Indianapolis, Ind., serves up the latest in his Hideous Bounty series of ils at THE2NDHAND.com.

Check out his illustration work in Broadsheet 35, too, to be featured with other work in our 10th-anniversary "All Hands On" anthology: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/the2ndhand/all-hands-on-the2ndhand-after-10-a-reader