Fissures, and Other Stories

In stories like "Mannequins" and "Relocation" Dodd begins on the surface but takes the reader deep down. Appalachian, yes, but there's a wider lens as well. At the same time the sense of place and the stamp of authenticity never disappears: look into "Upstairs" or "Fissures" or "Tunnel," the very first story he wrote, as I recall.

With Dodd, there is no self-conscious attempt to insert cultural landmarks or guideposts in the work, because the work, by being his, is already everything it needs to be. As readers, we arrive at what his stories are naturally, and not as tourists to his tour guide. No, Dodd is a friendly local, someone who understands what his fellow literary travelers really seek: authenticity and a peculiar sensibility that strike a nerve through vivid characterization and telling conflict of a particular place and time.

~Steve Lambert, author of Heat Seekers

Timothy B. Dodd was born and raised in Mink Shoals, WV. Currently working as a public school ESL teacher in Philadelphia, PA. He has a degree in comparative religion from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, and is finishing his MFA degree in creative writing at the University of Texas El Paso. This is his first collection of short stories.



Tim's poems have appeared in many literary magazines including The Literary Review, Roanoke Review, and Broad River Review. He is currently looking for a publisher for his first collection of poems entitled Modern Ancient, and putting together a second collection of Appalachian poetry.



Also a visual artist, Tim had his first exhibition, Secondhand Smoke, in Manila, Philippines' Mono8 Gallery in 2018. A second solo show, Come Here, Nervousness, is appearing in Manila's Art Underground Gallery in July, 2019. His expressionistic oil paintings can also be seen at various other group exhibitions and galleries, as can a sample of his art on his Instagram page @timothybdoddartwork.