"Imaginary Oklahoma" --- A New Collection of Short Fiction Edited by Jeff Martin

On this installment of ST, we're joined by our old friend and colleague, Jeff Martin, a local writer who's also the coordinator and creator of the popular Book Smart Tulsa reading series, the fiction editor at This Land, and an occasional commentator for this program. Jeff's newest book, just out, is an fun-to-read trade-paperback collection that brings together many works of short (make that "very short") fiction exploring "an Oklahoma of the mind," so to speak. These are works that Jeff has collected and edited for This Land, varied and various writings that've all originally appeared in the pages of this twice-monthly publication. The book is "Imaginary Oklahoma" --- and it gathers interesting fiction from such notable authors as Ben Greenman, Jonathon Lethem, Matt Bondurant, Edith Pearlman, Deborah Willis, Craig Morgan Teicher, Wayne Koestenbaum, Alan Heathcock, Padgett Powell, and Carolyn Parkhurst. The anthology actually collects work from 46 different voices --- since Oklahoma is our nation's 46th state, of course --- and it also boasts some fine illustrations (which accompany each of the stories). As Jeff tells us, there will be a free-to-the-public launch party for this new publication tomorrow night (Thursday the 25th) at 7pm at the Guthrie Green in downtown Tulsa. (You can learn more about tomorrow night's event at this page from This Land's website.)