For a few years, I’ve been writing stories about some of my favorite writers and their metaphysical ukuleles.  They’re all fiction, but based on true stories.  My most recently published one pays homage to Pam Houston, author of Contents May Have Shifted and Cowboys Are My Weakness.  It has been published in the literary journal Thin Air.  They made me the “featured writer” for the issue and posted the complete story to their web site.  You can read it here.

Also, I’d like to point out that the journal itself is very cool.  The other featured author is poet Jim Simmerman.  Jim was a hell of a poet and a guy I always liked to spend time with.  I’m honored to share this tiny little spotlight with him.  I encourage you to support Thin Air, if you can.

This is the fifth ukulele story I’ve had published in the past year and a half.  As far as I know, it’s the only one you can read online.  The other four are:

Jack Kerouac’s ukulele in The Rattling Wall.
Raymond Chandler’s ukulele in VLAK.
Flannery O’Connor’s ukulele in 14 Hills.
Herman Melville’s ukulele in Fjords Review.

Fjords lists the Melville story as an “essay.”  I assure you it’s not.  It is based on a ton of research I did on Melville, but I also made a lot of it up.  I haven’t pointed out the mistake to the folks at Fjords because I feel like I suckered someone over there, and I like that feeling.

In case you’re wondering, there are seven more ukulele stories written that I haven’t submitted for publication.  I plan to finish revising those, then send the whole thing out as a collection sometime this summer.  In the meantime, I hope you enjoy my little tribute to Pam Houston.