MTV has discovered the authors of tomorrow. Read them today in Pieces. This unique short-story collection is more than a good read—it's an exciting glimpse into the future of fiction. The winners of MTV's "Write Stuff" competition share their voices and visions in tales that are endearingly raw, undeniably bold, and engagingly inventive. In Next Time, a housewife encounters a gunman—an experience that changes her life, and her mind, in surprising ways...Pinball is an edgy tale of a young mail clerk's hidden sex life...After her broken engagement, a cook in New York goes to work for a chic SoHo couple in Roam...Mother captures the tragedy of a woman's illness, as witnessed through her daughter's eyes...In Day of the Dead, a humorously doomed relationship begins when a twentysomething's boyfriend returns from an Outward Bound trip and moves in with her...Two old high school friends reunite—and compare their very different lives—in Black Cowboy. Along with other stories and an introduction by Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower), Pieces is filled with the excitement of discovery—as a host of newcomers present their works to a wide and eager audience. Scoring / William Clifford—Polaroid / Matthew Loren Cohen—Day of the dead / Aury Wallington—The white carousel horse / Dennis G. Dillingham, Jr. — First snow / Davy Rothbart—The carnival / Clementyne Howard—Petty theft / Martin Wilson—Next time / Michelle Rick—Black cowboy / Carmen Elena Mitchell—Pinball / Jason Rekulak—Roam / Kathleen Bedwell Hughes—Mother / Alsha D. Gayle—Respiration / Chandra Steele—A fortune / Joy Monica T. Sakaguchi—Forbidden fate / Sujata DeChoudhury
Authors
Bio taken from Pieces: A Collection of New Voices: William Clifford has traveled ad held many different jobs since graduating from Carnegie Mellon University. To (barely) pay the bills, he holds cue cards at Late Show with David Letterman and Saturday Night Live in New York City, which he calls home. He is staff writer www.thicksole.com, and is at work on a novel.
Davy Rothbart's magazine Found is dedicated to discarded notes, letters, flyers, photos, lists, and drawings found and sent in by readers. The magazine spawned a best-selling book, Found: The Best Lost, Tossed, and Forgotten Items from Around the World, published in April 2004. A second collection was published in May 2006. The magazine is published annually and co-edited by Rothbart's friend Jason Bitner. Rothbart, a former Chicago Bulls ticket scalper, often tours the country to share finds and invite others to share their finds with him. His brother, musician Peter Rothbart, often accompanies him on these tours. The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas, a collection of Rothbart's short-stories, was published in August 2005 by Simon & Schuster. A shorter version of the same book was previously self-published by Rothbart's own production company, 21 Balloons Productions (named after Rothbart's favorite book, The 21 Balloons, by William Pène du Bois). An Italian edition, Il Surfista Solitario del Montana, was published in 2007 by Coniglio Editore. In 2008, actor Steve Buscemi optioned the book for film adaption, to be developed by Olive Productions; Buscemi has written the screenplay and plans to direct.
Bio taken from Pieces: A Collection of New Voices: Dennis G. Dillingham Jr., was born and raised in Long Island and is the youngest of five young children. He is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross, where, in 1998, he received a BA degree with honors. He has also studied literature and history at the University College Galway, in Glaway, Ireland. He currently lives in Hoboken, New Jersey, and works in New York City.
Bio taken from Pieces: A Collection of New Voices: Joy Monica T. Sakaguchi, a Los Angeles native, currently lives in Alaska, where she works with senior citizens. In her free time she enjoys exploring Alaska, keeping warm, hiking, writing and painting.
Bio taken from Pieces: A Collection of New Voices: William Clifford attends college in Nashville, Tennessee. Her father Harlan Howard, is a brillant songwriter whose passion and gift for words inspires her to search within for the same. She is currently studying television and writing.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information. Bio taken from Pieces: A Collection of New Voices: Martin Wilson was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and educated at Vanderbilt University and the University of Florida. In 1999 a story of his appeared in Virgin Fiction 2 (Rove Weisbach Books/Morrow). He lives and works in Austin, Texas.
Bio taken from Pieces: A Collection of New Voices: Carmen Elena Mitchell grew up in Chicago and attended Sarah Lawrence College in New York. Now based in Seattle, she makes a living writing, acting, and teaching. Her work has appeared in The Sow's Ear, The Seattle Medium, and has been heard nationally on KidStar radio. She is currently at work on a novel.
Bio taken from Pieces: A Collection of New Voices: Kathy Bedwell Hughes was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. She received her BA in English from Yale University in 1994 and her MFA from the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop in 1998. She is currently at work on a novel.
Bio taken from Pieces: A Collection of New Voices: Aisha D. Gayle attends Yale University. She has been featured in publications at Columbia University, Yale University, and most recently in Chocolate for a Young Woman's Soul (Fireside Simon & Schuster). She teaches creative writing in a New Haven elementary school, is Marketing Director of Yale's undergraduate style magazine, vyrtigo, writes for the Yale Daily News, and is the sweeper on her women's club soccer team.
Bio taken from Pieces: A Collection of New Voices: Michelle Rick has a BA in literature and creative writing from Northwestern University and is currently a candidate for an MFA in Creative Writing from the New School University, Her fiction has been published in the Mississippi Review, Moondance Magazine, Exquisite Corpse, and in an anthology, Summer's Love, Winter's Discontent. She is working on a collection of short stories and a novel and lives in Greenwich Village.
Bio taken from Pieces: A Collection of New Voices: Sujata DeChoudhury, a native of Greensburg, Pennsylvannia, is a Systems and Control Engineering major at Case Western Reserve Unversity in Cleveland, Ohio. "Forbidden Fate" is dedicated to her loving Dida and Dadu, who breathe Calcutta every day of their lives.
Bio taken from Pieces: A Collection of New Voices: Matthew Loren Cohen grew up in South Florida and graduated from Florida State University with a BA in music. "Polaroid" was written in 1997 as the third part in trilogy of short stories. His work has appeared in Blithe House Quarterly, a Web site for a gay short fiction (www.bithe.com). He lives in New York City.
