Obviously you will not find anything under “Christine Riippi”. I’m published under a different name so Joe will not feel threatened by another “Riippi” out there. Run the search again under “Clementine Bahncroft”.

Also, a couple people have pointed it out to me that Dirty Realism is an acknowledged movement from the late 20th century (Wolff, Carver, Ford). I didn’t mean for it to sound like I was conjuring a new “thing.” I’m very aware of these folks and the nomenclature they’ve been attributed.

In rereading the above I can see how it sounds like that. But those writers, Carver especially, have been a huge influence, and I like to think I’m working in the same vein (or at least near it, approaching it). Didn’t mean to sound like I was taking credit for their coinage. “Fighting dirty” and “going to the dirt” are just the ways I think about those writers.

*Searches the slush for a story by Christine Riippi. Finds nothing.*

What gives?