This is Joseph Edwin Haeger.
A little about Joe
Joseph Edwin Haeger is the author of the experimental memoir Learn to Swim (University of Hell Press), the brisk crime novella Bardo (Thirty West Publishing House), and the speculative novel Strings (Anxiety Press). He writes fiction, essays, poetry, and screenplays. As a litmus test, he tells people his favorite movie is Face/Off, but there’s a part of him that’s afraid it’s true.
He lives in the Inland PNW.
Selected writings
- Strings (Anxiety Press)
- Bardo (Thirty West Publishing House)
- Learn to Swim (University of Hell Press)
- “Bear of a Kid” (Vol. 1 Brooklyn)
- “A Convenient Fiction: An Essay about Memory” (Drunk Monkeys)
- “Two Poems” (HAD)
- “Uncle Pooh’s Secret Recipe” (X-R-A-Y)
- “Wading into the Pandemic” (The Inlander)
- “My Brother Justin: Living Up to Expectations” (The Big Smoke)
- “We Were So Lucky” (The Spokesman-Review)
Joseph also writes book reviews for Afterimages. You can find his old reviews and liteary criticism at The Big Smoke and Independent Book Review.
Press
Joseph talks about friendship, those who influence us, and the value of being called out on Tyler Dempsey’s fantastic podcast. (Another Fucking Writing Podcast)
“This literary work offers more than just speculative fiction—it provides a raw glimpse into the essence of parenthood and the existential dread of shaping another human life.” (Independent Book Review STRINGS STARRED REVIEW)
“The little details he gives the characters that make them feel so human, so relatable, and often so flawed—just like we all are.” (TriYou STRINGS REVIEW)
“The scope, with its multiple points of view, its timeline that skips through an entire lifetime, and its emotional depth, seems impossibly large for only 90 pages, but, somehow, Haeger packs in enough questions and considerations to leave the reader contemplating the story for hours, maybe days after reading.” (Independent Book Review BARDO STARRED REVIEW)
“Bardo has no bullshit. It builds suspense masterfully and I honestly couldn’t put it down.” (TriYou BARDO REVIEW)
“Like his novella-length memoir Learn to Swim, the prose in Bardo is unencumbered by paragraphs and, for the most part, avoids the use of proper names. But in this outing, Haeger’s chapter numbering takes readers on unexpected twists and turns. (The Spokesman-Review BARDO WRITE UP)
“[Learn to Swim] eschews that stereotype and allows for an honest exploration of a friendship of young boys who work well together and know it.”
(Independent Book Review LEARN TO SWIM STARRED REVIEW)
“The complexity and originality here is on full display from the beginning. Told in snippets from Year One onward, you are dropped into a story you have to tell for yourself at first.”
(Drunk in a Midnight Choir LEARN TO SWIM REVIEW)
Contact
If you’re looking for help with your own projects, Joseph works in a few different capacities. He can assist you on the macro level with idea generation, story structure, and plotting OR he can take a micro approach and help with copyediting, story feedback, and article writing. Feel free to send him a note and he’d be more than happy to chat about what you’re cooking up.
If you just wanted to drop him a line to say “hello,” that’d be excellent too.
You can shoot him an email at
joseph [dot] haeger [at] gmail [dot] com.
Cool? Cool.