A 9L Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day, beloved readers! To celebrate, we offer you a Valentine in the form of the brand new, music video for "Old Skin" by The Size Queens along with an extra special treat, "Affirmations for a Blow Up Doll." We hope you love it. And most importantly, be sure to leave your own affirmations here in the comments section!

In a Distant Country, Part IV

The next letter in Kyle Minor's "In a Distant Country" is now up on the main site. Read it. Enjoy it. Start counting down to the next installment.

Here are the previous parts if you need a refresher or just want the pleasure of reading them again:

Part I

Part II

Part III

Countdown to AWP 2012

AWP 2012 is just a few weeks away now, so we'll start bringing you info on our deals, swag, and Ninth Letter related events.

One thing you'll want to be sure to put on your schedule is the Monster Mags of the Midwest, Part II reading, which we are co-sponsoring with The Cincinnati Review and Mid-American Review. Here is the awesome list of readers: Mary Biddinger (vol. 5, no. 1), Brock Clarke (vol 4, no. 1), Matthew Gavin Frank (most recently vol. 8, no. 1), Michael Robins, Laura Van den Berg, and Keith Lee Morris (most recently vol. 5, no. 2). The reading, which is free and open to the public, will be on Wednesday, February 29, at Murphy's Bleachers (across from Wrigley Field!). The event will start at 7pm. It will be a great way to kick off AWP. I'll also be live blogging the event, so be sure to check back here for pictures and inside scoop.

In other news, here are a few recently published books from our contributors:

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey (vol. 6, no.1). BookPage recently interviewed Margot about the book.

The Night Swimmer by Matt Bondurant (vol. 4, no. 2). Check out his blog for information on his research for the novel.

Stay Awake by Dan Chaon, which includes "Patrick Lane, Flabbergasted," which first appeared in vol. 4, no. 2 of Ninth Letter. Dates, times, and locations of where he'll be reading can be found on his website.

Contributors: if you have some news on a new book or have readings scheduled, be sure to contact us at info@ninthletter.com, so we can pass on the news to our readers.

In a Distant Country, Part III

It's time for the next installment of Kyle Minor's "In a Distant Country." This is the third part, which means we're half way through the six letters. These are not to be missed. Go read the new letter now!

In case you need to catch up, here are the links to the first two:

Part I
Part II