Brandon Fick

To read, write, think and do it all well is not as easy as it would appear.

[Exclamation Mark Lit - Submissions open! @Exclamationlit]

NEW THIS WEEK:

Three Poems by Brandon Fick

by Brandon Fick / August 23, 2026 / Poetry / Surreal!

@Brafic98

#litmags #literaryjournal #poetrycommunity
#writer #writingcommunity

[Ed Krassenstein @EdKrassen]

Let me get this straight:

- Trump tore up the Obama Nuclear deal, saying he’d make a better deal.

- Trump can’t make a better deal so he goes to war with Iran to get them to basically agree to the same things the Obama deal included.

All because he hates Obama.

[Brian Krassenstein @krassenstein]

When Trump dies and MAGA attacks those who celebrate, I will post this nonstop for a week to remind you all how hypocritical you all are. I know by then you will all probably deny that you ever voted for him because of the embarrassment, but don’t worry, the Internet is forever.

[Jim Acosta @Acosta]

Trump has been responsible, maybe more than anybody on Earth, for the toxic poison oozing through humanity these days. Only a man who is thoroughly evil would compose and then post a rant that celebrates the deaths of other human beings. https://t.co/kbdGQ3KbYR

[Brandon Fick @Brafic98]

I was very glad to read and write this early review of Guy Vanderhaeghe’s Because Somebody Asked Me To for ⁦@SaskBooks⁩! Check it out when it’s published on September 17 by ⁦@ReadThistledown⁩. https://t.co/S1j3RqhEoH

[Brandon Fick @Brafic98]

I’ve read fewer books this year, but these are three of the best so far:

The Big Rock Candy Mountain (1943) by Wallace Stegner
In Cold Blood (1965) by Truman Capote
Crossroads (2021) by Jonathan Franzen

[Quagmire Magazine | Subs Open | Pigs Fly @QuagmireMagazi1]

May 21st, pigs will fly.

It's been a confusing journey, but we're excited to announce issue #1 is coming up this Sunday.

With 10 poets and 10 short fiction pieces, this is some of our best work we've published over the last year, unpublished work, contest winners

[Prairie Fire Magazine @PrairieFireMag]

Time for a new book review! Check out Animal Person by Alexander MacLeod! Review by Brandon Fick.
https://t.co/mqsYUIZjum

@PenguinRandomCA #BookReview #CanLit

[Quagmire Magazine | Subs Open | Pigs Fly @QuagmireMagazi1]

"A description is like poetry; it gestures towards essence. It needs to be pointed and succinct, not exhaustive." — Guy Vanderhaeghe, who we recently interviewed!

Read the full interview by @Brafic98 here: https://t.co/2mHTig4Xt2

#amwriting #fiction

[Brandon Fick @Brafic98]

So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles
Indignation by Philip Roth
Animal Person by Alexander MacLeod

[Brandon Fick @Brafic98]

Should have done this a month ago, but here are the best books I’ve read over the first half (and a bit) of the year:

The Collector by John Fowles
The Magus by John Fowles
Whipple’s Castle by Thomas Williams
Plainsong by Kent Haruf
The Magic Barrel by Bernard Malamud

[Brandon Fick @Brafic98]

@thisisallcanon So many... but what about A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor... or The Boat by Alistair MacLeod... or On The Rainy River by Tim O’Brien. Take your pick haha.

[Brandon Fick @Brafic98]

Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Going After Caciato by Tim O’Brien
Cathedral by Raymond Carver
Both Ways Is The Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy
The Englishman’s Boy by Guy Vanderhaeghe

[Brandon Fick @Brafic98]

In no particular order, forty books I would HIGHLY recommend:

August Into Winter by Guy Vanderhaeghe
The Wars by Timothy Findley
Stoner by John Williams
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
The Road by Cormac McCarthy

[Brandon Fick @Brafic98]

Night by Elie Wiesel
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
The Hunters by James Salter
Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth
The Land Breakers by John Ehle
Island: The Collected Stories of Alistair Macleod
Daddy Lenin and Other Stories by Guy Vanderhaeghe

[Brandon Fick @Brafic98]

All these years later, this impromptu speech remains incredibly powerful. These words and their context move one close to tears.

[Brandon Fick @Brafic98]

Indianapolis, 1968: Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King and a historic cal... https://t.co/iTNeVwi4OS via @YouTube