John Michael Cummings

John Michel Cummings is the author of three novels and more than one hundred short stories.

His debut novel, The Night I Freed John Brown (Penguin Group, 2008), won The Paterson Prize for Books for Young People and was selected for Black History Month by USA Today. Ugly To Start With (West Virginia University Press, 2011) was a finalist in the Foreword INDIES Book of Year Award. Don't Forget Me, Bro (Stephen F. Austin University Press) was widely excerpted in the Chicago Tribune.

His short stories have appeared in Kenyon Review, North American Review, and The Iowa Review. He was a finalist in the Miami University Novella Contest, a semi-finalist in the Winnow Press 2004 First Book Award for Fiction, was twice-nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and received an Honorable Mention in The Best American Short Stories series.

He taught English at Seminole State College of Florida and wrote business news for the Fairfax Times and alternative news for the Utne Reader. He holds a BA in studio arts and graphic design from George Mason University and an MFA in creative writing from University of Central Florida.

Bibliography:

Short Stories by John Michael Cummings

- published in print pournals

"The Reaction," Providence Magazine, Spring 1991

"Electric Church," Portland Monthly Magazine, Summerguide 1991

"The Local," Wisconsin Review, Vol. 26, No. 1, 1991

"The Commercial," Colorado North Review, Vol. XXXIV, No. 1, 1992

"Missing," Alaska Quarterly Review, Volume 10, Spring & Summer 1992

"Foldaway Bed," Portland Monthly Magazine, September 1992

"Postcard from Newport," Providence Magazine, Fall 1992

"Like Apes," Berkeley Fiction Review, No. 11, 1992

"Detour," The Maryland Review, Vol. 5, Winter/Spring 1992-1993, No. 1

"Their Beloved Brimful Bubble Baths," Catalyst, Issue No. 13, 1993

"Pictures," Outerbridge, No. 24, 1993

"Memory of Distant Friends," Sun Dog: The Southeast Review, Vol. 13, No. 2 1993

"Our Favorite Postal Clerk," Half Tones To Jubilee, No. 8, Fall 1993

"Shadowbox," Painted Bride Quarterly, No. 52, 1993

"Androgyny," Flipside, Winter 1993

"Short Lives," Hudson Valley Echoes, A National Journal of Prose, No. 31, 1993/94

"Marriage," Berkeley Fiction Review, No. 14, 1993-1994

"Tribe," Buffalo Spree Magazine, Summer 1994

"Boys and Men," Pearl, A Literary Magazine, No. 21, 1994

"Tummies," Oregon East, Vol. 25, 1994

"Lady in the Park," RE: Arts and Letters, Vol. XX, No. 2 1995

"Quirks," Kansas Quarterly/Arkansas Review, Vol. 26, Numbers 1-4 1996

"The Houseplant Generation," Kansas Quarterly/Arkansas Review, Vol. 26 (reprint)

"Strangers," The Distillery: Artistic Spirits of the South, Spring 1998

*Nominated for The Pushcart Prize

"The Boyfriend," Skylark, No. 17 1999

“Everyday Exile," Oregon English Journal, Spring 2000

“Quiet Ambulances,” Blue Mesa Review, Summer 2000

“The Last Sailor,” The MacGuffin, Summer 2000, Vol. 17.2

"Every Living Thing," Westview, A Journal of Western Oklahoma, Summer 2000

"The Trouble with Impressions," Westview, A Journal of Western Oklahoma, 2001

“Fourteen Seconds,” The North American Review, 2001

“Mountains and Seas,” Sou’wester, 2001

“Salon,” The Baltimore Review, Summer 2001

“Hurricane,” Oregon English Journal, 2001

"Genetic Drift," Eureka Literary Magazine, Vol. 10, No. 2, Spring 2002

"mindedness under a daytime moon," Many Mountains Moving, 12th Issue 2002

“Second Impressions,” Spindrift, 2002

“Little Funeral,” Schuylkil, Fall 2002, Vol. 5, No. 2l

“Deedee,” North Atlantic Review, 2002/2003, No. 14

“Ugly To Start With,” The Bitter Oleander Press, 2003, Vol. 9, No. 1

“Overnight,” The New Laurel Review, 2003, Vol. 22

“Harpers Ferry,” novel excerpt, Puckerbrush Review, Winter/Spring 2003, double issue

“Carter,” Passager, 2003, Issue 37

“The Fence,” novel excerpt, Confrontation, No. 82/83 Spring/Summer 2003

“Stainless Steel,” Pangolin Papers, Summer 2003, Vol. 10, No. 1

“Neighbors,” Louisiana Literature, fall/winter 2003, Vol. 20, No. 2

“Taking Shortcuts,” The Hurricane Review, Fall 2003

“Vineyards in a Far-off Land,” Phantasmagoria, 2003, Vol. 3, No.1

“Clemency and Other Achievements,” Green’s Magazine, Winter 2003, Vol. 31, No. 2

“The World Around Us,” Northwords, Fall 2003, Issue 32

“Two Tunes,” novel excerpt, Rosebud, 2003, Issue 28

“Harpers Ferry,” AIM, fall 2003, Vol. 30, No. 3

“Crows and Sparrows,” GW Review, Fall 2003, Vol. XXV, No. 1

“Brothers,” Northwoods Journal, Fall 2003

“Family Sculpture,” Tears in the Fence, Issue 37

“The Gun Wall,” North Dakota Quarterly, 2003

“Creating Impressions,” Talking River Review, No. 19

“Rising to the Occasion,” South Dakota Review, Winter 2004

“Barfy the Dog,” Old Red Kimono, Spring 2004

“We Never Liked Them Anyway,” Concho River Review, Vol. 18, No. 2

“Getting the Facts Straight,” Illuminations, Issue 20

“The Scratchboard Project,” The Iowa Review, Vol. 36, No. 1, 2006

*Nominated for The Pushcart Prize

*Received honorable mention in The Best American Short Stories 2007

“Marshmallow People,” The Kenyon Review, Winter 2008, Vol. XXX, No.1

“Treasure Hunt,” The Chattahoochee Review, Winter 2007, Vol. XXVII, No.2

“Murdering,” Snake Nation Review, Issue 22

“Self-Portrait,” Oyez Review, Spring 2008

“Hearts and Gravestonest,” Superstition Review, Issue 1

“Bill the Lottery God,” Natural Bridge, Spring 2008

Short Stories by John Michael Cummings

- published in online journals

“The Best Mark of a Man,” Kennesaw Review, Spring 2003

“The Shack,” In Posse Review, Issue 15

“Always Time,” Dotlit, vol. 4, Issue 2, Nov. 2003

“My Pretend Monster,” Xconnect, Issue 21

“An Unlikely Alliance,” Archipelago, Vol. 8, No. 1 Spring 2004

“Chimney Rock,” Epiphany,” Fall 2004

“The Wallet,” Salt River Review, Vol. 7, No. 3, Fall 2004

“Generations,” Stirring: A Literary Collection, Vol. 9, Edition 2, 2007

“Sergeant Perry and the Roaring Woodworker,” The Pedestal Magazine, Issue 38

“Eminent Domain,” Guernica: A Magazine of Art and Politics, March 2007

“Mother’s Milk,” 3:AM Magazine, posted 3/10/2007

“Mountain Wake,” The Foliate Oak, April 2007, Vol. 2, Issue 4

“Alone,” The Scruffy Dog Review, Spring 2007

"Paradise Lost,” LitBits, May 2007

“Gestures of an Unhappy Generation,” The Angler, July 2007

“Renting,” Terrain.org, No. 20, Summer/Fall 2007

“The Cannon,” Avatar Review, Issue 9, Smmer 2007

“Indians and Teddy Bears Were Here First,” The Cortland Review, August 2007

“Unsealing the Tomb,” The Stickman Review, Vol.6, No. 2

“Ninth Grade,” Hobart: Another Literary Journal, Spring 2008

Essays and Nonfiction by John Michael Cummings

- published in print and online Journals

“2.5 Children Are Better Than None,” Palo Alto Review, Spring 1998

“The Derriere Garde,” Utne Reader, Feb. 1998

“The Truth About Video Games and, for that matter, Vision,” Pacific Review, No. 8

“Why Men Would Become Pregnant,” Garnet, Fall 1998

“The Spirit in My Shoes,” ACM (Another Chicago Magazine), No. 38

“Shrinking the World,” Rockford Review, Winter 2001

“Bulletin for the Buried,” Tirra Lirra, Vol.13, No. 3, Fall 2003

“Silver Balloons,” Identity Theory, Feb. 2003

“Meteorology of the Mind,” Eleventh Transmission, April 2007, Issue 11

"Visiting My Dead Friend,” The Barcelona Review, Issue 31, July – August 2002