Just when you think you’ve heard the last of my first book Empty Rooms Lonely Countries, two reviews of the short story collection appear!

Here is a wonderful review of Empty Rooms Lonely Countries from Good Reads:
It says a lot about the sad state of the modern cult-of-personality publishing industry we’re faced with today when books like ERLC aren’t being fought over by editors. This book is full of true events told through fiction, it’s a novel told in short stories. The protagonist Christian engages in a dreamlike but nonetheless relentless search for love — something in the context of this book that is both all-pervasive and frustratingly elusive. The language is simple, the …

Readers might not know what to expect from Adam P. Knave’s latest book Stays Crunchy in Milk. The cover does a great job of invoking the General Mill’s Monster Cereals, but at the same time, the colors and design give off a cartoon-like vibe that prepares the reader for a different kind of story. Once the foundation of the story is established, however, readers will be surprised to discover a story that respectively wallows in Eighties nostalgia while maintaining a distinct and palpable emotional gravity.
Stays Crunchy in Milk follows the …

From the FANGRRL column by Crazed Fanboy’s very own Lisa Scherer:
Empty Rooms, Lonely Countries by Christian A. Dumais. Dumais has a secret identity, you see. He’s CFB message board poster Puff Chrissy by day, and the author of poignant, witty, funny short stories by night. I’m only halfway through this short story collection – so technically, I must admit, there is the possibility of a horrific tricksy twist that will put this book on next year’s trick list – but so far this book has been one of the best literary treats …

As I read Pendleton’s new book, Museion Annual #1, I impose influences on his work. The excellent “This Story: Free to a Good Home” reads like a newly discovered John Barth story. The clever “I’m Not Phil” has the playfulness of John Gardner’s work. And the sharp “The Boy in the Drive” has the gravity of something Cormac McCarthy would do if he’d be willing to use semi-colons. And yet, the more I consider his stories, the more I realize how distinctive they really are. Pendleton’s writing is, in fact, …

Here is a nice review from superstar Nick Pendleton: 

 
I just received [Empty Rooms Lonely Countries] yesterday and it’s gorgeous. I’ve read most of the stories over the years, but sitting down and reading them in book form from cover to cover is like reading them all for the first time. Everything from the sequencing of the stories to the book design and photography is top notch. My hats off to everyone involved in the process . . . [W]hen I’d read just two or three of Christian’s stories, I knew he …

Here is another review of my story “Counting Nuns”, published in Issue 3 of GUD Magazine, and available in ERLC:
“Counting Nuns” by Christian A. Dumais is a nonfiction piece. It’s quite engaging, and Dumais has a knack for turning a visit to the hospital and his fear for needles into something quite fun. Even if you’ve never had blood taken or been pricked by a needle, you’re bound to appreciate the humor and true-to-life inner dialogue Dumais presents.
If you are interested in reading “Counting Nuns”, you can purchase the issue of GUD Magazine or buy a copy of EMPTY …

I’m still waiting for the first wave of reviews for EMPTY ROOMS LONELY COUNTRIES to come in. Here is a review of my story “Counting Nuns”, published in Issue 3 of GUD Magazine, and available in ERLC:
A nonfiction piece, Christian A. Dumais’s ‘Counting Nuns’ is a study of phobia (in this case of needles) that contains a richness of language and imagery that many fictional stories lack. A perfect example of the editors taking a risk publishing an unusual piece that pays off.
If you are interested in reading “Counting Nuns”, you can purchase the issue of GUD Magazine or buy …

I’m still waiting for the first wave of reviews for EMPTY ROOMS LONELY COUNTRIES to come in. Here is a small review of my story “Mad Dogs”, published in Issue 1 of GUD Magazine, and available in ERLC:

Let me just mention one final contribution: towards the end of the magazine is Mad Dogs by Christian A. Dumais, the only piece labelled as non-fiction. Dumais is an American teaching at a university in Poland; this piece chronicles his night out drinking with some visiting Secret Service and Air Force Two staff, a night which …