What's new

12.18.24: "The Head of St. Denis," Michael's first comic book story, makes its "haunting" debut in Savage Sword of Conan #6, from Titan Comics. Available digitally and in print.

10.16.24: Dr. Anna Lombard, poet, and Michael will share an hour of literary conversation sponsored by Jagiellonian University's Institute of English Philology. Michael will speak on fascination as literary pursuit. The conversation will happen at 6:30 p.m. (18:30) in UJ's Collegium Paderevianum.


10.15.24: Michael will return to Kraków where he served as a Fulbright scholar, reading from his fiction inspired by Polish legends. Find him at 6:30 p.m. (18:30 local time) at Massolit Cafe and Bookstore.

8.31.24: Michael will introduce essayist and poet Lia Purpura when she gives her talk "Writing Through the Anthropocene" at Good Contrivance Farm, 5:30 p.m.

4.20.24: Michael and other finalists in the literary arts category for the Baker Awards appear in an artists showcase at the ever-wonderful CityLitFest at the Meyerhoff Hall.

3.26.24: The Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance named finalists in artistic categories competing for the Baker Artist Awards, and Michael is listed with five other writers in the literary category. Congratulations also to Kristina Gaddy, Nguyen Nguyen, Lia Purpura, Patrick Smithwick, and Michael's colleague at Towson University, Jeannie Vanasco!

1.26.24: The Southern Review has awarded its Oran Robert Perry Burke Award for "Answer When You Can," Michael's essay that appeared in the winter 2023 issue. The Burke award recognizes exceptional work appearing in the previous volume year.

11.4.23: Catch Michael and some 20 other writers and publishing professionals at the Baltimore Writers' Conference.

7.13.23: Michael spent an afternoon talking about character and plot with students at the Goucher College Young Writers Camp.

3.19.22: Michael will offer a six-hour workshop in flash nonfiction in Kraków, Poland through Kraków Literary City-UNESCO. If you're in Poland, sign up here.

9.11.21: Michael delivers the 2021 Mencken Memorial Lecture for the Enoch Pratt Free Library, a virtual event held in the library's Poe Room. The title of the talk is "Babelobabuli: Notes on Mencken and the muddled topography of literary journals. Click here to watch the talk, which begins at about the 46-second mark.

8.25.21: "Neighbors, Gathered," first published by Alaska Quarterly Review, is named a "notable essay" in Best American Essays, 2021.

6.6.20: The Athletic chooses Hollywood's Team as THE book to read about the Los Angeles Rams as part of its NFL Book Club (paywall).

2.2.20: The Strange and True Tale named as a finalist for the Phillip H. McMaster Post-Publication Award for the novel. Congratulations to Lee Zacharias (a fellow Arkansas Razorback) for winning with her novel, Across the Great Lake.

Visiting with one-time student and friend Brendan Leonard (left) at Brendan's reading for his new book, Ultra-Something.

At the debut reading for The Strange and True Tale, at Ivy Bookshop in Baltimore.

Writing and interviews

11.27.24: A former student – now colleague, friend, and role model – wrote about how he learned to follow his own writing path – and he mentions that Michael did the same. "The Art of Staying in Your Lanes" by Brendan Leonard at semi-rad.com. 

2.2.24: "It’s easy and maybe fun to tally the ways that a place and its people are extreme or bizarre or unhinged. What’s harder is to understand why those people are on the list, and why those of us who write it might find our names there too." Los Angeles Review of Books publishes my review of "A Race to the Bottom of Crazy."

2.2.24: "Capote’s appearance–rambling and spiced with F-bombs–lasted only 10 minutes. The abrupt ending made for sensational headlines nationwide." Baltimore Magazine publishes my behind-the-scenes look at the night Truman Capote came to Towson University, cursed out the audience, and publicly proclaimed his alcoholism.

2.2.24: "To wrestle with Mencken is also to wrestle with the United States and American culture—and not just as it was in his time. To wrestle with Mencken is to wrestle with the country and the culture as it is now."
Los Angeles Review of Books publishes Michael's essay about the place of H.L. Mencken, the Sage of Baltimore, in contemporary culture.

10.25.23: The Southern Review's Zach Shultz asks questions about my essay, "Answer When You Can."

7.18.23: The marvelous writer and journalist Cila Warncke and I chatted about writing and teaching for her blog.

1.30.23: Menckeniana publishes "The Babelobabuli," my 2021 Mencken Memorial Lecture about H.L. Mencken and the contemporary literary journal scene.

1.25.23: The Southern Review publishes "Answer When You Can," my essay about a mysterious letter that arrived in my mailbox thirty years ago.

10.21.22: Louisiana Literature publishes my short story, "Detour," in which a man drives his wife's ashes and her Oxycontin around the country.

3.18.22: My first day teaching creative writing in Kraków, with Russia's war against Ukraine on the doorstep, and what I learned, published by Baltimore Fishbowl.

1.16.22: Baltimore Magazine invited several local writers to consider the city's literary legends. My contribution included consideration of the irascible H.L. Mencken.

1.13.22: Ploughshares publishes my essay about the time a guitarist with the Velvet Underground helped a teen-aged me recover from reading Lord of the Flies.
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10.30.21: Two spooky flash nonfictions up at Ligeia Mag. True stories.

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