I am happy to report that my original short story, An Epiphany, has been published in the Wilderness House Literary Review, the fall 2025 issue, No. 79. It is a story about family relationships, particularly father-and-son relationships, love and forgiveness, and the impact time can have on the way we reflect upon our relationships. You may read the story here. Check out the magazine and scroll down to Fiction to find my story (R.E. Hamon - AN EPIPHANY) and click. Feel free to drop me a note as to how you like it. Thank you so very much.
Another hot and steamy summer in the Bluegrass. I am putting the finishing touches on a couple of short stories and will be sending those out to literary magazines for possible publication in the coming weeks. But my big news is that I wrote a complete first draft of a coming-of-age novel last fall and winter.
Now I am taking a step back from it and letting it settle but will begin revising the story for the second time very soon. A few beta readers have read it and given me critiques. All were very positive about the manuscript and excited about its potential. I will write more about my progress soon.
The story takes place in upstate New York back in the mid-1970s and much of the action takes place around Onondaga Lake, which was one of the most polluted lakes in the country at the time. Micah, the young protagonist, loves the lake and grieves its sad condition for the sake of the Oneida Nation, for whom the lake is considered sacred. Micah struggles with strict rules and rigid beliefs of those around him as he tries to break free from mental slavery and find his true and liberated self.
In addition to the short stories and novel-in-progress, I am working on three picture book manuscripts, too, so there is never a dull day in my writing studio.
Stay tuned to the blog for future announcements. Thank you for visiting my blog.
Finally, after investing three and a half years in my writing education at the award-winning Bluegrass Writers Studio at Eastern Kentucky University, I have earned my Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing. I graduated in the summer of 2023, and I will begin writing full-time now. Hopefully I will find a little time for submitting my work to literary journals again.
I have great news, folks! My original short story, Big Shot, has been published in the November 2020 issue of Voices de la Luna, the literary magazine of South Texas. Big Shot is a story I wrote after spending time watching the local blackbirds come and nest on the wetlands near my home in the Bluegrass area of Kentucky. It's sort of a man vs. nature story that speaks to the importance of the natural world in our lives. I wish to thank Voices de la Luna for picking up the story.
My short story, "Messengers from the Past," which I wrote about in an earlier blog post, has been published by the literary journal Steam Ticket, and is receiving lots of praise from my writing group at the Bluegrass Writing Studio, where I am working on an MFA in Creative Writing.
My current writing projects include another nature story, "Follies of Survival," a story I wrote about a turtle, who finds that crossing the road in search of suitable breeding grounds is not as easy as it may have been a hundred million years ago. Also, I am putting the finishing touches on a metaphysical baseball story, and a short story about a boy, a backwoods preacher and a rattlesnake. My latest story, which is out to several publishers for consideration right now, takes place in its entirety in an apple orchard. It is a story of relationships, love and redemption.
Keep track of the latest news from R. E. Hamon.
The Bluegrass Writers Studio just finished its Summer Residency for the 2023, an intense learning experience featuring writing classes, workshops, readings by visiting writers, alumni, and graduating students, and more. This was my final residency, and I will be awarded my MFA in Creative Writing next month. Where did the past three years go? It was hard work, but very rewarding. Now that I have my degree, I will have time to begin working on my nature creative nonfiction book in earnest, and polishing my thesis, a collection of short stories, for possible publication. I am also working on several poems and an essay or two. And now that I have finished my MFA program, I will have time to get back to my beloved children's manuscripts, the picture book stories I have been writing for the past several years.