As you can imagine, I am thrilled to see this piece published at Masque & Spectacle. I had a great experience working with their editors. The staff really cared about the story and their enthusiasm showed. For my part, I'm excited to see "Whiteouts" finally reach a wider audience, and I couldn't be happier with the home it's found!
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It is a real honor to have work featured in this journal, and I can't say enough about what a fantastic experience it was working with Olivia Tejeda and the rest of the staff (many of whom are students earning credit for their work through a dedicated publishing class--how cool!). If you're looking for a great place to send work (and if you don't mind your writing appearing in the same place where a couple of smart-asses like Kev and Muzzie once hung out drinking beer and talking music), then I suggest you keep Canyon Voices on your short list.  Very excited to announce a pair of craft essays that have come out this spring. These started as teaching materials for my Community Writing classes, and took on a second life as publications:
I also have another craft piece, "To Break a Heart," forthcoming in CREDO: An Anthology of Manifestos and Sourcebook for Creative Writing published by Cambridge Writers' Workshop, so keep your eye out for that, too!  I'm excited to announce that a self-contained chapter from my novel-in-progress Welcome to Accident has just gone live at Four Way Review. This is an exciting first for me, and I am pleased to see my work alongside such good writing. Muzzie and Kev are two characters who I've been living with for a while now, and so it is nice to see them reach a larger audience. Here's hoping, you'll be seeing lots more of them in the future!
For now head on over and give "Singing Backup" a read. There's also audio on the right of the page, so if you want to listen to my dulcet tones while you do it, be my guest! "Sometimes, at night, I’ll dream I’m burning alive. I’ll wake at the dispatcher’s call, usually to find Gracie curled against my back, or else breathing on my neck, and I’ll realize I’m sweating. Then it’s a quick kiss and out of bed, out the door, jogging down the front walk to my Durango parked in the street. Much as I am tonight—jogging, not running, because of what Gus told me one afternoon when we were fly-fishing Pocono Run: he back-casted downstream, a high arc catching the sunlight before the line struck the water and the dry fly slow-floated its way down the center of the creek, and he said, 'It doesn’t matter if the whole world is burning down around you, Bud. When you’re the Captain, you never let them see you run.'” --from "Lake House" by Jason Kapcala (Long Story, Short, July 2014) Nominations are currently being accepted for the 2014 Pushcart Prizes, and the journal Long Story, Short is inviting readers to nominate two of their favorite stories from 2014. (Two others will be chosen by the editors, and another two will be chosen by contributors themselves.) Among the eligible stories this year is my story from July 2014, titled "Lake House." It's the story of a firefighter dealing with his sudden promotion to Captain and his girlfriend's unexpected pregnancy. You can read the rest of my story at the following link: http://longstoryshort.squarespace.com/lake-house/ If, after reading my story (and the other stories), you would like to help nominate "Lake House," you may do so by sending a brief email to the following address: longstoryshortjournal@gmail.com Please use the following line as the subject heading "Reader's Pushcart Nomination." In the body of your email, you may nominate TWO stories from 2014. Nominations are due by November 21, and more information on the process is available here. Please help spread the word, and, of course, thank you for reading and supporting my work. I hope you enjoy the story!  American writer Jason Kapcala is the author of the July edition of Long Story, Short Journal. 'Lake House' explores the question of how a person constructs their own legacy. Readers are immersed in the crucible of risk and relationships, questioning exactly how much 'fire' one can cope with while maintaining human connections. Photo provided by Kristen Johansen.  My story "Lake House" has just gone live at the journal Long Story, Short. It was a piece I enjoyed writing because it gave me a chance to do research into the fascinating and often difficult lives of fire fighters. The story is a bit more fragmentary than what I normally write, which I've always liked about it; I think it works with the subject matter.
That said, I didn't think I'd ever see this piece published because of its length. That is, until I found the journal Long Story, Short, which (as it's name suggests) has no qualms about publishing longer pieces. As a longer story writer, I've always been grateful for journals who open their pages to prose over 4,000 words, and I can say that my experience working with this journal was top notch from start to finish! I hope you enjoy reading this story. P.S. Be sure to check out the awesome photograph by Kristen Johansen they paired with my story (not the one on this page--you have to follow the link to my story to see it). Very cool!  My story "Bungalese Constrictor" just went live at a journal I quite enjoy: Cleaver Magazine. I had written this piece specifically to see if I could get a story done in under ten pages (those who know me know that I lean more toward long stories of the 20-25 page variety). Needless to say, I learned a lot by writing it, and I'm glad to see the piece get published. It's a rare comedy piece from me (I think casual humor makes it into a lot of my writing, but rarely do I pen a story that is intended to be funny outright). So I hope you enjoy!
 I'm excited to announce that Saw Palm, an excellent journal out of the University of South Florida, has published a story I wrote many years ago collaboratively with writer Renée K. Nicholson. We'd traded off, a page or so at a time, but looking back at it now I can't recall who wrote what anymore (which is probably a great sign, if you really think about it!). Sorry to have missed the release party (it's a little outside of my neighborhood), but I'm glad to see this piece find a home. If you're currently journal shopping, I'm happy to say that my experience with the editorial staff at Saw Palm was top-notch!
Note: When Saw Palm releases its next issue, the current issue (Issue 8) will go into the archives as a PDF, and you'll be able to read it online. When that happens, I will update the Credentials page of my site to include the link.  Prime Number Magazine issue 47 just went live and with it my latest essay "The Enormous Cellphone."* From a structural standpoint, this piece was difficult to write, blending together the personal account of a potential assault and my affinity for one of John Cheever's most famous stories. I'm excited about how it came out, and I hope it has something interesting to say about perception. The essay is followed by a short Q & A interview with yours truly. It was a lot of fun (though if I'm being completely honest my biggest goal was just to get out alive, without sound like an egghead or an airhead. Here's hoping!) As always, thanks for reading!
 Well, it's a new year (Happy New Year, everyone!), and what better way to start things off than with a free story. My story "After the Fire" just went live at Blue Lake Review, and I'm thrilled to see it featured alongside so many great writers! I wrote this piece years ago, and I recall wanting to write a Realist story where a surprise backfires and something seemingly impossible happens. (In this case, a dead woman opens her eyes!) Pulling it off took a lot of research on mortuary science (which, like most research, turned out to be tons of fun, actually).
"After the Fire" is first in a run of four pieces that have been accepted and are currently forthcoming early in the new year, so keep checking back throughout the spring for more free writing, courtesy of yours truly. And, as always, thanks for reading!  My story "Jungle Fever" just went live at the journal Banango Street, and I'm thrilled to see my work featured alongside work from some really great writers! This is a piece I wrote playfully after finishing my novel--after 2 1/2 years dedicated to one project, I wanted to draft something in a single sitting for a change, and wanted to see if I could still write a story. It's much different from what I normally write, more experimental, and so I am excited to see it find a home! Give it a read, why don't 'cha?
 The final part of my triptych on speed is live at The Good Men Project! Check out "Bodies in Motion: My First Date," and if you need to catch up, take a look at Parts I and II, as well. As always, thanks for reading--I hope you enjoy!
 Part two of my essay on speed is live at The Good Men Project! Check out "Bodies in Motion: Daytona, U.S.A.," and let me know what you think! If you missed Part I, it's still available online. The final part will go up next Friday (June 7). Thanks for reading!
 The first part of my triptych essay exploring my lifelong fascination with speed (distance divided by time, not the drug) has just gone live at The Good Men Project. Check out "Bodies in Motion: The Bike," and feel free to pass the word along to others who might be interested! Parts 2 and 3 should go up next Friday and the following Friday.
The fourth and final part of my essay "Thunderstruck" has just gone live at The Good Men Project. Click the link and give it a read--in fact, tell your friends! And, of course, Dear Reader, don't forget to check out parts 1 through 3.
The third part of my essay "Thunderstruck" has just gone live at The Good Men Project. Check it out by following the link, and don't forget to take a look at parts 1 and 2, if you haven't already!
The second part of my essay "Thunderstruck" has just gone live at The Good Men Project. Give it a read, and don't forget to check out part 1 when you get the chance!
 I suppose it's only fitting that, on the day of my Challenger's birthday, an essay about the car should get published. This wasn't something anyone planned (I didn't even know my car's date of manufacture until after the piece had been accepted), but sometimes the stars align in surprising ways.
I wrote the essay "Thunderstruck" along with my Rock and Roll Literature class this semester as lead-off piece for an essay collection about rock music and its impact on my life. It's a project I am working on slowly, and I'm very excited to see the first essay find a home at The Good Men Project Magazine, a very cool journal with a really important mission. It's actually the first creative nonfiction piece I've published nationally, and it will be appearing serially (which is kind of cool and very Dickensian, if you think about it), so if you have some time, please click on the link and give Part I a read. (I'll post updates as the rest of the essay goes live throughout the week.)  For those who are interested, "Rieux and Mulqueen" (the first chapter from my novel Hungry Town) is now available for you to listen to, exclusively through the Writing page here at Jason Kapcala Online. If you've got a minute go check it out!
Want to learn more about Hungry Town? Don't hesitate to contact me. Well, we made it--2013. And what better way to start the new year than to offer up a free story. The following is a short piece of experimental fiction I wrote a few years ago, based off the short story "The Year of No Weather" by Joan Connor (one of my former mentors). It's not my typical story--avant garde compared to the Realist fiction I normally write (though it still follows a fairly traditional story arc), but I wrote it specifically for that purpose, to try something new, to see if I could do it. Ultimately, I think the story is a tad close to its model (which is why I am making it available here), but I learned some things from writing it. Enjoy!
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