Alan Ackmann

Publications

Below you will find some information on Alan’s published and forthcoming works, as well as a description of his current projects.

No Cry of Distress in Our Streets

This story, which first appeared in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, volume 18, actually began as an exercise for a form and theory class at Arkansas, where we had to imitate the style of an author we were studying. I chose Donald Barthelmae, because after reading Forty Stories (and several other works by similar authors) I was puzzled by how the stories could be emotionally moving, yet reliant upon almost none of the techniques I’d typically been told to employ. I decided the best way to learn about the form was to attempt it, and No Cry, which relies primarily on the tension between conflicting images that move a somewhat distant narrator through a thematic exploration of fear, was the ultimate result. No Cry was my first publication, which I found a little funny (and intimidating) because it was like virtually nothing I’ve written before or since. I did learn a lot from it, though, and there has been a mild stylistic influence on my current projects.

If you’d like to order the issue of McSweeney’s that has this story, just click on this link to the McSweeney's Store.

The Night Comes in A’Falling

This was the second story I had accepted, and appeared in the Fall 2007 edition of Ontario Review. Its much more in line with what I typically write than No Cry, and focuses on the dynamic between a recovering alcoholic and his cancer stricken father. Set against the backdrop of the son’s relocating an aging music professor’s small family graveyard (the son works for a company that has recently purchased sub-surface mineral rights on the property), this story traces the pair’s precarious relationship as they try (and sometimes fail) to move past their mutual resentment and find, to some extent at least, comfort in the face of their respective afflictions. For personal reasons, I’m rather attached to this story; I’m glad it’s found a good home.

You can order the edition that has this story just by clicking this link to Ontario Review.

Sequels

A few years ago I saw a movie with Jake Busey where he played the resident slasher in a high concept horror flick, and after realizing that I’d now seen him in several of these parts I thought, “Wow. It must be really hard for him to get dates.” From this observation (jokingly presented of course) came Sequels, which traces a brief period in the love life of a B-Movie actor in horror films as he deals with the mutually exclusive temptations of his artistic girlfriend on the one hand, and his voluptuous co-star on the other. It’s a man-behaving-badly kind of yarn, but I ultimately view it as a story about identity.

This one was published this past Spring in Clackamas Literary Review. To give it a look, just follow the link.

Eden’s Expressway

This story, which was recently accepted for publication in Louisiansa Literature, comes from an Arkansas workshop a few years back, and deals with a Seattle businessman whose fractured marriage is placed into higher relief once a tragedy half a country away rekindles his memories of a past relationship, one both more enlivening and more devastating than his current life can emulate. The narrative cuts back and forth in time between the two stories, and while it probably isn’t one to show your grandma, it still haunts me. Hope you feel the same.

It’s unclear, at the moment, whether this story will be published in the Spring/Summer edition or the Fall/Winter edition. I’ll update the site when I know myself. In the meantime, you can visit the Louisiana Literature homepage.

More content on this page will be coming quite soon (I hope). Even if there aren’t any new publications, I think I’ll add some notes about works in progress, or stories that haven’t yet been claimed. I guess you’ll have to come back and see, now won’t you?

Posted by Alan Ackmann - Tuesday March 27, 2007.
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