Michael J. Solender

Location Charlotte, NC
Occupation Editor & Freelance Writer
Website http://michaeljwrites.com/

Books by Michael J. Solender
  • by Jeff Jackson
    Novello Festival Press, 2010.

  • by Eric Beetnre, Chris F. Holm, Matthew C. Funk, Richard Godwi...
    Needle Publishing, 2011.
    • About Me

    Michael J. Solender lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with his wife Harriet where they obsess over their garden. He hails originally from the sometimes frozen tundra of Minneapolis, MN. There he ignored (only once) his mother’s advice to pursue a career in medicine and became a Corporate Klingon.

    A recent Corporate Refugee, Solender foolishly turned to writing as his salvation. His work has been featured in Southern Living, The Faster Times, SouthPark Magazine, The Richmond Times Dispatch, The Winston-Salem Journal, and Richmond Style Weekly. He writes a weekly Neighborhoods column for The Charlotte Observer and contributes regularly to Charlotte ViewPoint and Like The Dew, Journal of Southern Culture & Politics.

    His micro-fiction has been featured online at Bull Men's Fiction, Calliope Nerve, Danse Macabre, Dogzplot, Full of Crow, Gloom Cupboard, The Legendary, Right Hand Pointing and others.

    Solender’s short story, Pewter Badge, was awarded the 2011 Derringer Award for Best Short Story by the Short Mystery Fiction Society.

    He is the author of the short story and poetry chapbook, Last Winter’s Leaves, published by Full of Crow Press. His essay, Unaffiliated, is featured in the anthology, Topograph: New Writings From The Carolinas and the Landscape Beyond, published by Novello Festival Press.

    Solender is the editor for ON THE WING, Full of Crow's online nonfiction magazine and MICROW, a semiannual publication of very short stories and prose.

    Solender also serves as Editor of the City Life section of Charlotte Viewpoint, a nonprofit online arts, culture and civic magazine.

    If you send him a dollar, he will be your friend.

    His website is here:
    http://michaeljwrites.com/

    He blogs daily here:
    http://notfromhereareyou.blogspot.com/

    Why do you write?

    The words won't stop coming.

    Any favorite authors? Books?

    Garrison Keillor, Theodore Dreiser, Timothy Tyson, Mark Twain, Thomas Wolfe, Woody Allen, Sylvia Boorstein, Kahlil Gibran, Dave Barry, Studs Terkle, John Updike, George Plimpton, William Saphire

    Michael J. Solender's Wall

    Michelle Elvy – Aug 11, 2013

    Thanks for the comment on The Wall -- great seeing you here again after some time. Appreciate your read. Glad you found the edge in that piece. Looking forward to stopping in to read more of you here too...

    Bill Yarrow – Dec 22, 2011

    Hi, Michael. Thanks for commenting on "Magritte." Happy holidays!

    sean m. poole – Dec 20, 2011

    Hi Michael,
    I dig your work! Thanks for taking the time to read and comment on "The Third Poem of Xmas".

    Jane Hammons – Nov 30, 2011

    Michael--thanks for finding your way to Mapping the Territory. Must have been all that peyote :) [re the Casteneda comment, not your own habits, of course!]

    Jack Swenson – Jul 22, 2011

    Michael, thanks for favorable review of my trouble-making little tale "Sisters."

    Bill Yarrow – Jun 01, 2011

    Thanks for commenting on "Prowl Car," Michael. "deco-noir" with a splash of literature!

    Jane Hammons – May 30, 2011

    Thanks for reading The Uninvited Guest--"mean as a snake" high praise coming from Mr. Mean--And also the interview. Maybe we can have a beer (or a couple'a shots) in St. Louis and fire off our Derringers!

    M – Apr 20, 2011

    Michael: Thank you so much for your very generous remarks on my piece for my mother on mother's day. How kind! I hope you are having a good week.

    Soon to be deleted – Mar 31, 2011

    Thanks for the comments, Mike, on three shorts. Rock out.

    Jack Swenson – Mar 28, 2011

    Hey, Michael. Neurotic neighbors? You could always move.

    Bill Yarrow – Mar 28, 2011

    Thanks, Michael, for your comment on the translator poem.

    M – Mar 28, 2011

    Thank you for your comment about the woodpile, Michael. Much appreciated.

    Walter Bjorkman – Jan 18, 2011

    Michael - thanks for the read (again) of Chalky/Classics. Enjoy your flashes also!

    Susan Tepper – Dec 17, 2010

    Michael, thanks so much for writing me about the Pushcart, I appreciate and hope you have a good holiday season!
    Cheers! susan

    John P. Swain – Dec 02, 2010

    Michael, Thanks so much for the invitation! What a great site. I really appreciate it. Take care, John

    Christopher Grant – Sep 10, 2010

    Thanks for the invite, sir.

    J. Mac – Sep 07, 2010

    Food stories. You do realize I might have to dust off Carnal Greens again? Why, I can smell Mrs. Hornsby's watermelons now, and those greens acrid as sin...

    ;-) Cool idea!

    Christian Bell – Sep 07, 2010

    All right, I had to join the Food Writes group. There was no getting around it.

    Bill Yarrow – Sep 02, 2010

    Thanks for link to chapbook, Michael. Really enjoyed reading it (I know "enjoyed" is not the right word, but I think you know what I mean.) Thanks for sharing it with me.

    Jane Hammons – Aug 28, 2010

    Jim Thompson's books scare me. For real. I mean I love them, but damn . . .

    Jane Hammons – Aug 19, 2010

    Yeah, who know there were so many criminally minded among us :)

    Bill Yarrow – Aug 17, 2010

    Michael,
    Thanks for reading "Augustinian Prayer Sonnet." Glad you enjoyed it!

    Lorenzo Sewanan – Aug 16, 2010

    a really great style, which embodies such lyrical complexity!

    Jane Hammons – Aug 16, 2010

    Thanks for posting the Otto Penzler piece on noir in the noir forum. I will also never be able to open a pink donut box without just a wee bit of concern after reading your story in Yellow Mama.

    Mike Handley – Aug 10, 2010

    Hi there, Michael. A belated thanks for the welcome. It's taken awhile, but I hope to now take advantage of being white-balled into this site.

    Meg Pokrass – Aug 05, 2010

    Hey, Michael. I'm so glad you peed when you read my story:) haha.

    Susan Tepper – Jul 24, 2010

    Mike, that's a wonderful story you got into Gloom Cupboard

    Richard Godwin – Jun 25, 2010

    Hi Michael, thank you.

    Robert Vaughan – Jun 14, 2010

    Hi Michael, welcome to Fictionaut and I have enjoyed reading some of your stories. I'm a fiction editor at jmww, and we have a group here if you care to join. Please feel free to do so.

    Julie Innis – Jun 07, 2010

    Michael - thank you so much for your generous comment and the time I know it took to read my story/novellette/what have you. Very much appreciated!

    Cathy Olliffe – Jun 04, 2010

    Oooh, I see I have been invited to a rather exclusive club here today. Thanks for the invite Michael, I guess I have officially arrived. At what, I don't know. But who cares! I'm here, I'm here, I'm here!
    Thanks, bud!

    Matthew A. Hamilton – May 16, 2010

    Thank you for reading My Girlfriend's Birthday. Glad you liked it.

    Julie Innis – May 13, 2010

    thank you! kind words from a master of the form - love your work!

    Lori Lou Freshwater – Apr 26, 2010

    yo, don't you already have two of my poems for the NOT? If NOT, let me know. I'd love to write something.

    Jarrett Haley – Apr 23, 2010

    Hey Michael, feel free to post "Their Next" to the BULL group. Represent.

    Foster Trecost – Mar 31, 2010

    Hi Michael, thanks for reading and commenting on Eight States Away, I really appreciate both. foster.

    A. Pseudonym – Mar 30, 2010

    Thanks for the comment on "For Later," Michael!

    Jason McCormick – Mar 29, 2010

    Yo! Thanks for the comments, Michael. Get ready for the remix...

    Linda Simoni-Wastila – Mar 16, 2010

    Hey MJ, thanks for the invite and welcome. Cool digs here. Do you realize you are 4 years and 3 days OLDER than me. No wonder we mesh so well... Peace, Linda

    Linda Simoni-Wastila – Mar 16, 2010

    Howdy Michael! thanks so much for the invite... this place looks like mucho fun...

    And I see you are a fellow Taurus -- no wonder we get along so well! Off to poke around... Peace, Linda

    Nabina Das – Mar 16, 2010

    Hiya, Michael! Joined up!

    Meg Pokrass – Mar 16, 2010

    Hi, Michael. thank you for your kind words about my parrot story!

    Gita M. Smith – Mar 16, 2010

    I am kind of excited and nervous. I posted my first offering ( a poem) on here today.

    LynnAlexander – Feb 26, 2010

    Michael,
    I'm an NYU-urban kinda gal through and through, but I did spend a lot of time nearby so perhaps a bit of elitist taint rubbed off on my sweater? I keep trying to wash it... sorry. I have no excuses for myself!

    Bobbi Lurie – Feb 17, 2010

    That's a great author list.

    LynnAlexander – Feb 16, 2010

    Michael in your honor I posted a ridiculous grinning avatar, just to prove I DO smile! :)

    quin browne – Feb 11, 2010

    just one?

    Laurita Miller – Feb 08, 2010

    Hey! How are those tomatoes?

    Gita M. Smith – Jan 29, 2010

    First, Solender has me drink the Kool-Aid and join his followers at the NOT. Then he lures me here with promises of lively company and sparkling conversation. I am heady, I tell you, HEADY, at the prospect. What does he REALLY want, this Pied Piper of a man who leads writers into his salon?

    Christian Bell – Jan 28, 2010

    How is it I’ve not posted on your wall yet? I can be such a slacker. Anyway, thanks for your comments on my stories—here, at my blog, and other places around the internet. I’m always appreciative of your input and support!

    Ajay Nair – Jan 19, 2010

    You are welcome, Michael. Great piece.

    Jack Swenson – Jan 15, 2010

    Michael
    Hey, another Minnesotan on the site! Thanks for the kind words about "Menage."

    LynnAlexander – Jan 13, 2010

    I'm glad to be here, Michael. Thank you for the welcome.

    Tia Prouhet – Jan 12, 2010

    Shiny and sparkly are two of my very favorite words. Thanks so much for the nicey nice comments on "Nutrition".

    Jerry Ratch – Jan 08, 2010

    Thanks, Michael!

    AJ Dresser – Jan 06, 2010

    Hey MJS, I can't believe I wasn't here already! Glad to be amongst all you talented people.

    Jason McCormick – Jan 01, 2010

    Woohoo: "It was in the next few moments I learned two things I did not know."

    This is one of those I-have-to-read-it-out-loud sentences. Woohoo! It's a euphonic sentence with the perfect rhythm to it and deserves to be read out loud.

    Cynthia Reeser – Dec 17, 2009

    Welcome to the Prick of the Spindle group, Michael! Great to have you.

    J. Mac – Dec 15, 2009

    Yes AND Floppier, but then you I couldn't see where I was walking.

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