WELCOME!

This is the website for author Heather M. Fowler , literary author of short fiction, poetry, novels, and plays for theater.

This space will be updated frequently with new links to her publications, podcasts, and news.  See below for a list of current events and a linked-in writer's bio, as well as information about her current projects.

LINKED-IN WRITER'S BIO:

 Heather Fowler received her M.A. in English and Creative Writing from Hollins University in May of 1997.   She has taught composition, literature, and writing-related courses at UCSD, California State University at Stanislaus, and Modesto Junior College. 

She has recently published stories in the following journals and anthologies :The Big Toe Review (Winter 2010); BlazeVOX (2k9, Fall 2009); Emprise Review (Volume 11, November 2009); Surreal South 09(Press 53, November 2009); DOGZPLOT (Fall 2009); decomP (August 2009); JMWW (Summer 2009); Etchings (7, ilura press, July 2009); PANK Magazine (4.6, June 2009); Night Train (Issue 9.1, Spring 2009); The Abacot Journal (Spring 2009); Underground Voices (November 2008); A Cappella Zoo (Print: October 2008, Volume I, Online Reprint June 2009). KeyHole (August 2008); Trespass (August/September 2008, UK); SubLit (August 2008); Coming Together: With Pride (Phaze, 2008, e-book and print); Word Riot (May 2008);  Storyglossia #28 (May 2008); Cityworks 2008 (May 2008); DOGZPLOT FLASH FICTION (2008, online and print); Temenos (Fall 2007); Mississippi Review online (October 2007); See You Next Tuesday (2006);and  Frigg: A Magazine of Fiction and Poetry (Winter 2006). the muse apprentice guild (October 2002), artisan, a journal of craft (September 2002), Literary PotPourri (May 2002), Exquisite Corpse (Summer 2001), The Barcelona Review (May, 2001), Quercus Review (May, 2001), Penumbra (May 2001), B & A New Fiction (Jan. 2001), Barbaric Yawp (Dec. 2000), Zoetrope All-Story Extra (June 2001, October and December 1999). She worked as a Guest Editor for Zoetrope All-Story Extra in March and April of 2000. Her story "Slut" won third prize at the 2000 California Writer's Conference in Monterey.

Her poetry has recently appeared at poeticdiversity (December 2009); The Medulla Review (Fall 2009); INTHEFRAY (February 2007), Empowerment4Women.com (November 2007), and been selected for a joint first place in the 2007 Faringdon Online Poetry Competition (October 2007) , as well as published in various venues including: the Map of Austin Poetry, The Coast Highway Review, the Driftwood Highway 1999 Anthology, Joe's Journal, Best of the Beach 1998, The Publication, and the Cityworks Literary Anthology, Volume 6. She currently seeks agent representation for her short fiction and novels.  

See site Bibliography page for a full list of titles and venues.

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CONTACT INFORMATION:

 To schedule readings or request information about her work,  please contact Winona King, Submissions Manager  at fowler_h@yahoo.com or use the site contact form.

Also, friend Heather on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=677721041

GoodReads:  http://www.goodreads.com/profile/fowlerhm

Myspace: www.myspace.com/fowlerhm

or her MySpace audio page: http://www.myspace.com/fowlerhmaudio 

And check out her profile at Jürgen Fauth's fabulous Fictionaut site for archival and stories formerly published in print made available online.

 UPCOMING, CURRENT, AND RECENT EVENTS:

Upcoming:

Winter/Spring 2010, another two magical realism stories due to be released online very soon as well as a literary historical story arriving in print and a literary trad/modern piece to appear in Feminist Studies (we hope by spring!).  For anybody in the UK or India, also watch for three stories showing up in print anthologies (see below). A free-verse and a ghazal poem also to be released in a San Diego print anthology in February. Heather works on editing book-length manuscripts and new visual arts, gearing up for AWP, but one can still expect to see new short work challenges pop up at the MySpace blog.  Join Heather there!  Happy writing to all!

Recent and Current news:

Heather speaks on the Fictionaut blog about one of her faved stories.  Click for  here for the specific blog post.

Heather takes on role as Poetry Editor at new online journal Corium Magazine, Inaugural issue up in March. The lovely Ms. Lauren Becker heading up the fiction endeavor, with help from Greg Gerke.

Also, check out "The Time Broker," a magical realism story posted as a Fictionaut exclusive, only to be found there and in SUSPENDED HEART.

December 2009:

poeticdiversity publishes a free-verse poem called "A Fragmentation of Verse."

November 2009:

BlazeVOX publishes a literary experimental story called "Love Child." in their 2k9 Fall 2009 issue.

Two poems out at Medulla Review, a ghazal and some blank verse. 

Emprise Review publishes a traditional literary story called "Gift Horse." 

October 2009: DOGZPLOT Fall 2009 publishes a new magical realism piece "Bloom in Any Season."  Check it out.   

Regarding the September censorship, brave Editor Peter Cole at Keyhole uncensors the formerly removed story. Go, Peter!

Also, a story released  in the Surreal South 09 short fiction anthology extraordinaire, edited by Laura & Pinckney Benedict, out of Press 53.

September 2009: Shockingly, previously published flash fiction now CENSORED in freaky Big Brother move by Apple/I-phone censor bots.  Story "Catholic Girl Smile" removed from online fiction journal KeyHole Magazine (with my permission) to permit Keyhole's receipt of their I-phone App approval for story streaming.  Rock on, Keyhole--it's not your fault--but Apple, tsk tsk, quietly censoring parental-controlled, online short fiction content with censor bots? Scary, you big purportedly "liberal" corporation; you're about as liberal as Rush Limbaugh.  See blog post if interested. 

On a happier note, Heather's desk and narrative feature in the Fictionaut Blog's Writing Spaces series. Click the link to see the narrative and physical space in which she writes and do leave a comment if you drop in. :)

August 2009: decomP publishes a short story in the August 2009 issue.

July 2009:  JMWW rolls out a new flash fiction story in their sexy Summer 2009 Issue.  

Etchings journal published by Ilura press out of Australia publishes a new magical realism piece in Etchings 7.

June 2009: One new story out in PANK Magazine.  Note: Explicit themes.  

Additionally, "Beautiful Ape Girl Baby"  story originally published in the A Cappella Zoo's print journal has now been published on the Zoo's cyber-page, so more readers can access it.  

May 2009: Heather's edgy  Word Riot piece advanced to shortlist for the Million Writer's Awards 2009 contest.   Good luck to those Top Ten folks still in the running! 

April 2009: One story just released in the 9.1 issue of Night Train. Also, one new magical realism story just released at The Abacot Journal.  Pop in and take a look. 

Heather's story "You Are One Click Away from Pictures of Nude Girls" that originally appeared in Jackie Corley's May 2008 issue of Word Riot has been nominated  the 2009 storySouth Million Writers Award and made the Notable Stories of 2008 list.

Also, Heather attended a wonderful Writing Away Retreat hosted by Cicily Janus in Taos, New Mexico, which involved meeting some lovely people, getting feedback from industry professionals on projects, eating tasty food, and having a great time!  Oh, and writing! Check out Cicily's retreats if you have the time or inclination: .  

February 2009: AWP was fantastic!   Heather enjoyed meeting many editors and writer friends.  

November 2008:  One story out this month in Underground Voices

October 2008:  One story out this month with the new magical realism and experimental writing print journal A Cappella Zoo. 

August /September 2008: Three stories out at Keyhole, SubLit, and Trespass (out of the UK).  Linked in bio below has e-access to two of these pieces. 

Summer 2008: Acclaimed novelist Michael Kimball writes Heather Fowler's life story on postcard #57 for his book -length project of postcard life stories.   

Summer 2008: On July 15th, Heather Fowler was the featured poet at the New Poetic Brew  reading in San Diego.  

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BOOKS IN PREP:

Short Story Manuscripts:

LOVESHOCK--stories that discuss alternative lifestyles, infidelity, strange love, and the lasting impact of the kinds of people we never forget in our collective image repertoires. NOTE: see video trailer above. (Stories in this volume have been published in the US, Canada, and online)

SUSPENDED HEART--a book of collected magical realism and fabulist stories starring women whose hearts fall out at public malls,, women with facial features like female genitalia, women whose bodies bloom with many seasons, women who sprout blades, women with multiple eyes, and women who sleep as snakes--or birth saints like  lapis lazuli  babies.    Really, you must meet these women.  (Stories in this volume have been published or are forthcoming in the US, online, India, and Australia)

(Above Artwork for Suspended Heart Manuscript by Siolo Thompson)

THIS TIME, WHILE WE'RE AWAKE--a book of stories assembled with a futuristic or dystopic future element, that apply a tender gaze on human tropes to allow these stories to equally function as modern day dreams or nightmares about the future, and about what could be and what is... (Stories in this volume have been published or are forthcoming in the US, online, and the UK)

SMART SLUT STORIES--a set of tales about women and their complicated experience with having had too much sex and love to function normally  --a collection that functions both as a commentary on society and judgment and a plea for sensitivity made in the form of some gorgeously sane and hedonically promiscuous literary art.  (Stories in this volume have been published in the US, online, and Canada)

THE MAN WHO WOULD NOT PUT OUT--stories about men who, in one way, or for one reason or another, would not put out.  (Stories in this volume have been published or are forthcoming in the US, the UK, and online.)

All collections currently seeking an agent or a publisher.  Contact fowlerhm@hotmail.com for a sample manuscript.

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 Novels:

 In Progress:

THE LONELINESS OF MEN--a modern experimental novel about love in the cyber-age. 

BEAUTIFUL APE GIRL BABY-a fabulist coming of age tale about a woman born apelike, stronger and hairier than others, and trained to believe she is beautiful before meeting the tough spaces outside her wealthy compound that comprise the uncompromising real world.  (See published short story linked in on Bibliography page for excerpt of this novel.)

THE SUMMER FOREST--a story about a young flautist who falls in love with a widowed man over the course of a Washington summer.

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 Poetry Books In Progress--

PAWNSHOP HEART-- A 70 page book of feminist, modern free-verse poetry in progress .

FORMS OF LOVE-- An 80 page manuscript of sonnets, sestinas, rondeaus, triolets, blank verse, and ghazals about, you guessed it, love.

THEY WERE CAUTIONARY TALES--A chapbook -length book of poems that re-engages fairy tales earlier than Grimms' for  "past the page" conversations-- and interjects a modern third dimension of parlaying the "unsaid."

FOR THOSE WHO TAUGHT ME HOW TO SING, Homage and Parody Poems--A book of intertextual poetry that interfaces and speaks to the art and imagery of many famous artists and poets, such as Ginsberg, Neruda, Angelou, Shakespeare, Klimt, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Plath, etc.