Matthew Salesses

Matthew Salesses is the author of a forthcoming novella, The Last Repatriate (Flatmancrooked), and two chapbooks, Our Island of Epidemics (PANK, 2010) and We Will Take What We Can Get (Publishing Genius, 2009). His short fiction has appeared in Glimmer Train, Witness, American Short Fiction, The Literary Review, and others. He writes and edits for The Good Men Project Magazine.


what are you reading now

Korean myths, legends, and folklore, and Great House, by Nicole Krauss.


classic you’ve been meaning to read

I've been meaning to finish War and Peace for ages now. I am on Book Fifteen, which is the last book before the epilogues, but have been on Book Fifteen for a couple of years. I don't know why I don't finish it. I loved what I read. Maybe this will make me.


last book you finished in a single sitting

Bad Marie, by Marcy Dermansky


book you borrowed and never returned

Usually this happens to me.


most scribble-ridden book in your collection

I hate writing in books. I hate cracking the spine. I will only occasionally allow myself to dog-ear a page.


strangest dream involving a book, writer, or literary character

I'm not sure I've ever had one, not counting writers I know.


book you’ve planted on a coffee table to impress someone

The Blue Fairy Book


if you could subscribe to only one literary journal

I tried for a while to answer this, but there are too many.


best thing you’ve read online recently

The first that came into my head was Edan Lepucki's story, "Salt Lick," in Flatmancrooked.


most anticipated upcoming release

Alex Chee's The Queen of the Night


recommended reading list:


5 Recent Books with Good Long Titles


- Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy

- Sometimes We're Always Real Same-Same by Mattox Roesch

- What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us by Laura van den Berg

- St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell

- All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost by Lan Samantha Chang

Unfortunately, this is off the top of my head, and I have a bad memory. I'm sure there are more.