• “To hell with closure,” says Kevin O’Cuinn, who’s collecting unfinished stories at his blog. Daniel Alarcón (“Assassination Day“) is among the contributors.

• A quick stop at the Dan Rhodes skyscraper (where I learned that Canongate will publish his new book, Gold, in March 2007) led me to the Small Wonder Literary Festival site. Once there, I found a very brief James Lasdun story, “It’s Beginning to Hurt.”

• The Brooklyn Rail Fiction Anthology appears later this month, highlighting a variety of the work first published in the Rail during fiction editor Donald Breckenridge’s tenure. In anticipation of the anthology, Breckenridge commissioned “MILO: A Conversation Between Christine Schutt and Diane Williams” for the current issue of the paper. Shelley Jackson’s “The President’s Mouth” is also new this month.

• Quickmuse gives poets 15 minutes to compose a poem in response to a surprise prompt. Recently the site branched off into fiction, featuring Rick Moody and David Leavitt. You can watch their compositions progress in real time.