Moonshine Murmurs

Necronauts: Moonshine Murmurs Podcast, Episode #14In this episode, host Carol Mitchell and Ryan Habermeyer discuss Habermeyer’s novel Necronauts, the role of form in story writing, and more.Carol Mitchell is a consulting editor with Stillhouse Press and a term professor in the English Department at George Mason University. She holds an MFA from George Mason and is the author of several books for children, one novel for adults: What Start Bad a Mornin' and the short story collection, A Good Haunting.Ryan Habermeyer is the author of the novel Necronauts and the short story collections Salt Folk and The Science of Lost Futures. His award-winning stories and essays have appeared in Conjunctions, Alaska Quarterly Review, Copper Nickel, Massachusetts Review, DIAGRAM and others. A Fulbright Scholar who has lived, studied, and taught in Poland, Scotland, Spain, and Mexico, he is Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Salisbury University in Maryland.A transcript of this episode is available here.

In this episode, host Carol Mitchell and Kristina Ten discuss Ten’s short story collection Tell Me Yours, I'll Tell You Mine, the origin of the stories, Ten’s influences, and more.Carol Mitchell is a consulting editor with Stillhouse Press and a term professor in the English Department at George Mason University. She holds an MFA from George Mason and is the author of several books for children and one novel for adults: What Start Bad a Mornin'.Kristina Ten’s debut short story collection Tell Me Yours, I'll Tell You Mine was published in 2025 by Stillhouse Press after winning our horror fiction contest. Kristina's stories appear in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, We're Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction, The Best Weird Fiction of the Year, and elsewhere. She has won the McSweeney's Stephen Dixon Award for Short Fiction, the Subjective Chaos Kind of Award, and the F(r)iction Writing Contest, and has been a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award and the Locus Award. Ten is a graduate of Clarion West Writers Workshop and the University of Colorado Boulder's MFA program in fiction, and has received fellowships from the Ragdale Foundation and the Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing.A transcript of this episode is available here.

In this episode, host Carol Mitchell and Alicia Elkort discuss A Map of Every Undoing, Alicia's beautiful poetry collection; writing through trauma; and the importance of community in writing.Carol Mitchell is a consulting editor with Stillhouse Press and a term professor in the English Department at George Mason University. She holds an MFA from George Mason and is the author of several books for children and one novel for adults: What Start Bad a Mornin'.Alicia Elkort’s first book A Map of Every Undoing was published in 2022 by Stillhouse Press after winning our book contest. Her second book of poetry recently won the Two Sylvias Press Wilder Poetry Book Prize and will be published in 2026. Alicia's poetry has been nominated several times for the Pushcart, Best of the Net, and the Orison Anthology, and her work appears in numerous journals and anthologies. She reads for Tinderbox Poetry Journal where she also writes reviews. For more info or to watch her two video poems: https://aliciaelkort.mystrikingly.com/A transcript of this episode is available here.

In this episode, host Carol Mitchell and Miranda Schmidt discuss Leafskin, Miranda's beautiful book of prosepoetry (not a typo) and the unavoidable physical and psychic connections between humans and nature.Carol Mitchell is a consulting editor with Stillhouse Press and a term professor in the English Department at George Mason University. She holds an MFA from George Mason and is the author of several books for children and one novel for adults: What Start Bad a Mornin'.Miranda Schmidt’s work circles the folkloric, the familial, queer magic, and the more-than-human world. Their writing has appeared in TriQuarterly, Orion, Electric Literature, Catapult, Phoebe, and more. With an MFA from the University of Washington and a PhD from Bath Spa University, they have taught creative writing at Portland Community College, the University of Washington, the Loft, and the Portland Book Festival. Their ongoing newsletter and teaching project, Writing Toward Nature, explores methods for bringing the more-than-human more deeply into our writing craft. Miranda’s debut novel, Leafskin, just out from Stillhouse Press, is a story of queer love and family-making. Rooted in folklore and poetry, Leafskin explores acts of creation in our time of environmental destruction.A transcript of this episode is available here.

Patience as a Weapon: Moonshine Murmurs Podcast, Episode #10In this episode, host Carol Mitchell and Sam Ashworth, author of The Death and Life of August Sweeney have a lively discussion about his fascinating novel and paths to success as a working author. Carol Mitchell is a consulting editor with Stillhouse Press and a term professor in the English Department at George Mason University. She holds an MFA from George Mason and is the author of several books for children and one novel for adults: "What Start Bad a Mornin'."This podcast was produced with assistance from Jon Miller.SAMUEL ASHWORTH is a professor of creative writing at George Washington University and a former columnist at The Rumpus. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in the Atlantic, the Washington Post, Longreads, Eater, and many others. He graduated from the George Mason Creative Writing MFA program, where he was one of the inaugural Cheuse Center fellows. He now lives with his wife and two sons in Washington, DC. The Death and Life of August Sweeney is his first novel.A transcript of this episode is available here.

In this episode, host Carol Mitchell and Fox City Lit Reading Series founders and organizers: Billy Howell, Erika Ostergaard, and Michael Don riff about their Fairfax City reading series: Fox City Lit, discuss how reading series build community, and brainstorm reading series' ideas including strobe lights and arm wrestling. Fox City Lit is a seasonal reading series in Fairfax City, Virginia. Check out the website for details on the dates and specific location.Carol Mitchell is a consulting editor with Stillhouse Press and a term professor in the English Department at George Mason University. She holds an MFA from George Mason and is the author of several books for children and one novel for adults: "What Start Bad a Mornin'."Erika Ostergaard is a cyber security project manager, costumer, and poet, currently working on a collection of poetry and an historical fiction novel. You can follow her adventures on Instagram at @ostergaard1of4. Billy Howell is a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and an Associate Professor of English at George Mason. He has written lots of stories and essays, some of which are true. Michael Don is the author of the story collection Partners and Strangers (Carnegie Mellon University Press) and Co-editor of Kikwetu: A Journal of East African Literature. He teaches in the English Department at George Mason University. For more news and press, check out the Fox City Lit  website.A transcript of this episode is available here

In this episode, host Carol Mitchell and Stillhouse author Amy Stuber discuss Amy’s new book, Sad Grownups, her journey to publication, the short story process, the process of submitting and writing. Sad Grownups was released on October 5, 2024 from Stillhouse Press and is available for sale on our website at stillhousepress.org.Carol Mitchell is a consulting editor with Stillhouse Press and a term professor in the English Department at George Mason University. She holds an MFA from George Mason and is the author of several books for children and one novel for adults: What Start Bad a Mornin'.Amy’s short story collection, Sad Grownups was released on October 8, 2024 and is available on the Stillhouse Press website and pretty much wherever books are sold. Amy’s writing has appeared in the New England Review, Flash Fiction America, Ploughshares, The Idaho Review, Cincinnati Review, Triquarterly, American Short Fiction, Joyland, and elsewhere. She’s the recipient of the Missouri Review’s 2023 William Peden Prize in fiction, winner of the 2021 Northwest Review Fiction Prize, and runner-up for the 2022 CRAFT Short Fiction Prize. She has a PhD in English, has taught college writing, and worked in online education for many years. For more news and press, check out Amy’s website.A transcript of this episode is available here.

In this episode, host Carol Mitchell and Stillhouse author Paul Jaskunas discuss Jaskunas’s new book, The Atlas of Remedies. The Atlas of Remedies was released on March 5, 2024 from Stillhouse Press and is available for sale on our website at stillhousepress.org.Carol Mitchell is a consulting editor with Stillhouse Press and a term professor in the English Department at George Mason University. She holds an MFA from George Mason and is the author of several books for children and one novel for adults: "What Start Bad a Mornin'."Paul Jaskunas is the author of the novel Hidden (Free Press), which won the Friends of American Writers Award, and of Mother Ship, a poetry chapbook forthcoming from Finishing Line Press. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, America, Tab: The Journal of Poetry & Poetics, and The Vilnius Review, among many other publications. Since 2008, he has taught literature and writing at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, where he edits Full Bleed, an annual journal devoted to the intersection of the visual and literary arts.  For more news and press, check out Paul’s website.A transcript of this episode is available here: moonshine murmurs episode 7 transcript.pdf

In this episode, host Carol Mitchell and Stillhouse author T.N. Eyer discuss Eyer’s new book, “Finding Meaning in the Age of Immortality.” They discuss ideas around class in America, variations in writing process, the writer’s life, and much more.“Finding Meaning in the Age of Immortality” was released on November 7 2023 from Stillhouse Press and is available for sale on our website at stillhousepress.org.Carol Mitchell is a consulting editor with Stillhouse Press and a term professor in the English Department at George Mason University. She holds an MFA from George Mason and is the author of several books for children and one novel for adults: "What Start Bad a Mornin'."T.N. Eyer is an avid reader, hiker, and traveler, but when she's home she gets most of her exercise playing Dance Dance Revolution in her garage. She lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with her husband and daughter. Her short fiction has appeared in december magazine, Hayden's Ferry Review, and Water~Stone Review, among others. Her story "Date of Death" was listed as a Distinguished Story in Best American Short Stories 2022. She is an alumna of the Bread Loaf, Community of Writers in Olympic Valley, and Futurescapes writers' workshops.For more news and press, check out Eyer’s website.A transcript of this episode is available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rNC9BFquSgD3-Lil0mQjj1DtsEGFH59l/

In this episode, host Carol Mitchell and Stillhouse author Morgan Christie sit down to talk about the major themes within Christie’s new book, "Liddle Deaths," and how many of those themes are inspired by the southern African American experience. Mitchell and Christie delve into the life of Niya, the main character, and how she navigates life after a tragic familial incident and returning home to the South. In this episode, they discuss African American familial values, the complexities of parent-child relationships, grief, and much more. A transcript of this episode is available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MjSQwDryKZ9FY3AndSeB4gNZkojFHEbL/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=107089563825182912200&rtpof=true&sd=trueCarol Mitchell is a book editor at Stillhouse Press and an alum of the George Mason University MFA program (2020). Her first novel for adults: "What Start Bad a Mornin'" was published by Central Avenue Publishing in September 2023. In the past she has written realistic fiction, however, her love of fantasy has been nudging its way into her writing and appearing as magical realism in the most unexpected places. In addition to being an author, Carol is a trained and experienced editor who enjoys working with Stillhouse authors to bring out the best in their work. Morgan Christie’s work has appeared in Callaloo, Room, The Hawai’i Review, Sports Literate, as well as other publications. She is the author of four poetry chapbooks and her first full-length short story manuscript, “These Bodies” (Tolsun Books 2020), was nominated for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in fiction. She is the 2022 Arc Poetry Poem of the Year Prize recipient and her poetry chapbook, “when they come” (Black Sunflowers Press 2021) was featured in the Forward Arts Foundation’s National Poetry Day exhibit. Her collection "People Without Wings" was the winner of the 2022 Digging Chapbook Series Prize and her essay collection Boolean Logic was the winner of the Howling Bird Book Prize (2023).

Carol Mitchell and Josh Denslow sit down to talk about the collaborative process of creating Denslow's new book Super Normal, a novel over 15 years in the making. Mitchell, one of many talented editors with Stillhouse Press, worked with Denslow as managing editor of Super Normal through the COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode, they discuss the process of redrafting a novel, and the many possible iterations of a single story. Super Normal was released on November 7 2023 from Stillhouse Press and is available for sale on our website at stillhousepress.org. Carol Mitchell is a consulting editor with Stillhouse Press and a term professor in the English Department at George Mason University. She holds an MFA from George Mason and is the author of several books for children and one novel for adults: "What Start Bad a Mornin'." Josh Denslow is also the author of a short story collection Not Everyone is Special. He currently lives in Barcelona, Spain with his three boys, his amazing wife, his mother-in-law, four cats, a dog, hundreds of books, and an electronic drum kit. A transcript of this episode is available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vko5pGKkxRPjkD-gNtSspE0MH_q-LJzR/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=107089563825182912200&rtpof=true&sd=true

In this episode of Moonshine Murmurs, Michelle Ross sits down with Taylor Schaefer to discuss her writing process for flash fiction, working collaboratively with Kim McGowan, the pros and cons of publishing with small presses, and more. Ross is the author of three short story collections: Shapeshifting, There’s So Much They Haven’t Told You, and They Kept Running. The full transcript of this episode is available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15Del4dvaT7JNC7Puoi6nmsRrN9CfAApC/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=107089563825182912200&rtpof=true&sd=true

Latif Askia Ba and editor Tommy Sheffield discuss disability, community and the art of the poetic form in Latif’s debut poetry collection The Machine Code of the Bleeding Moon, a meditation on the body, the possibilities of imagination, and the human capability for compassion and aid. For Full Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/182KJTmerwrqJ3S4r8AU3aGmp5TgC-UMM/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=107089563825182912200&rtpof=true&sd=true

Revising poems and restoring life. Poet Phil Goldstein discusses his debut book of poetry, HtBaBaS, a narrative of surviving childhood sexual abuse, the art of revision, and how a careful and conscientious inquiry of one's memories can help us learn to revise and restore our lives.