Skies of America (X-R-A-Y, 2024)
Very excited to have a short story in X-R-A-Y as part of their "sad Christmas" theme. Check it out here: https://xraylitmag.com/skies-of-america-by-mike-barthel/fiction/
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DON'T SAVE ME released!
My novel Don't Save Me is now available for purchase! Buy it here. You’re at the end of your rope. Maybe you set your house on fire trying to build a nuclear reactor from the detritus of your dying father's hoard. (Ok, not you. Fine.
Pop con, more writing and music!
A lot has happened since my last update in July—let's just run 'em down. * I will be presenting on Miley Cyrus and politics as fandom at the 2026 Pop Conference in Los Angeles, March 12-14. More info here, with a schedule coming soon. * I released
Does Spring Breakers Have a Moral? (Bullett, 2013)
I was thinking the other day about Spring Breakers, and went looking for the piece I wrote about seeing it in a nearly-empty Indiana theater, only to find that the site has been stricken from the internet. Rereading it, I see some interesting parallels with my other writing on
Known Unknowns + EP
I have a story out in Fish Barrel Review, called "Known Unknowns." I've also released an EP of experimental guitar/noise music as APOPHRA. You can hear it on all the streaming services, or get it on Bandcamp.