And I like you, Artifice Magazine.

A bit more praise here for the Oprah Read This >> Oprah, Read This project.

Episode #005 of The Velvet Podcast is now live! In this interview episode I talk with Matt Bell, author of The Collectors (Caketrain Press), Wolf Parts and the forthcoming How They Were Found, both from Keyhole Press. Matt’s short fiction has been published and anthologized just about everywhere and is forthcoming to Ninth Letter, the ML Press chapbook series, and Kill Author.

We talk about live-writing with an audience over at Everyday Genius, editing for The Collagist, teaching writing to fourth graders, and mucho more.

Please, give it a listen. Subscribe via Feedburner, Podcast Alley, RSS, or iTunes.

More about Charactered Pieces, here.

More about Stranger Will, here.

Professional Orange Alert kind gent, Jason Behrends, invited me to contribute to his weekly arts and literature podcast. I’ve been dabbling in podcasting lately (contributing to The Velvet Podcast and getting things in line for next week’s AWP Conference, where I’ll have an audio feed to document the event), so to have this additional swath of experience is nice.

For this week’s episode, I read my story “Our Guy” which originally appeared at Word Riot.

I’m really happy to be a part of this thing. Thanks to Mr. Behrends for having me. And be sure to check out past episodes for some great songs and readings. Scott McClanahan reading “The Rainelle Story” and Hosho McCreesh reading “Another Kind of Life” on episode 2 for starters.

Click over to the Orange Alert Podcast post to listen.

Yesterday I appeared on ASNYCNOW’s Blog Talk Radio where I discussed my book, my role as an editor at the Outsider Writers Collective, my future publications, The Velvet, my upcoming AWP reading, and on top of all that self-promotion, I was inundated with compliments from the unbelievably nice Vicki S. Nikolaidis.

Though technical issues had me cutting in and out through much of the discussion, and my voice had a space echo, all in all I had a great time.

Thank you, Vicki!

Click below to listen:

Caleb J Ross on Blog Talk Radio’s ASNYCNOW

I’ve been a member of The Velvet for a few years. During that time, I’ve come to respect the pool of talent over there not just for their writing chops, but for their reading tastes as well. They are my taste-makers.

I am glad to now be able to share that camaraderie with you. Episode #001 of The Velvet Podcast just went live a few hours ago. Me, Gordon Highland, and Rob Parker talk about a few things writing, specifically regarding writing communities.

I look forward to the future of this podcast. Please, give it a listen. Subscribe via Feedburner, Podcast Alley, RSS, or iTunes (coming soon). And don’t worry, it won’t be my lame voice on the Podcast for every episode.

Blogs have two major purposes: 1) to serve their ego-maniacal masters (hopefully not my site), and 2) to alert the somewhat socially inept to trends befitting their interests (am I’m closer to this one). A couple years ago, Tim Hall directed me to What to Wear During an Orange Alert, which has consistently fallen into the latter category (wow, two uses of the word “latter” in consecutive blog posts. Pompous, I may be). When it comes to music, art, and literature, Jason Behrend’s Orange Alert delivers beautifully.

So, in a weird mix of the aforementioned purposes, I’m here to tell you that Orange Alert has posted a new interview with yours truly (***creepy picture warning***).

Among topics discussed:

• The Process for getting my work in front of faces (re: stalking)
• What kinds of books should be reviewed (re: hocking)
• Some of the music I’ve been listening to lately (re: rocking)

Any opinions? The internet makes all opinions valid. Be sure to post comments here or at the Orange Alert post. I suggest subscribing to the Orange Alert RSS feed. I do. And all my ideas are pretty damn swell.