JOHN MADERA—Writer, Editor, Publisher

My story, “How to Avoid Being a Woodpusher,” was selected as a finalist in The Rumpus’s The Jump Off, a contest where entrants “were asked to submit a fictional work of 300 words or less using as a jump-off point one sentence or sentence fragment from Sam Lipsyte’s novel The Ask.” I’m happy to be in the company of such fine writers as Mark Edmund Doten, Lincoln Michel, Maureen Miller, Shya Scanlon, Franklin Winslow, A. Wolfe, and Snowden Wright. Here’s an excerpt from my story:

As you mull over maneuvers, ignore the news of a subway platform birth. Don’t allow the translucent-slimed, meconium-stained bundle of filth spoil your positional plans. Disregard the radio’s panting in counterpoint with the television. Give up sussing out the song’s name: “For What It’s Worth,” and curb the laughter provoked by its announcement.

And be sure to check out the website of André da Loba, the artist whose illustrations grace the stories (the one above presides over mine). Loba merges a personalized cubism with a deranged whimsicality all his own. Someone should tell Michel Gondry about him.

Thanks, Rozalia Jovanovic!