Al Kratz
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alkratz.bsky.social
Al Kratz
@alkratz.bsky.social
Reading and writing in Indianola, Iowa.
Working art full time now.
Got a lot of projects in flight.
I'm here right now,
I'm not dead yet.

alkratz.com
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Last summer, I took a train across the country and spent the week working on a novel. I was going to write it up on my site but it kept getting longer and turned into a hybrid travel, craft, memoir thing, ~16k words. It's now available at Amazon or from me. Would also love any reviews or feedback!
Check out @theburninghearth.bsky.social new project, a children's book illustrated by her daughter. I was lucky to see this one come together and am looking forward to reading it with my grandkid gang.

constancemalloy.com/2025/10/20/a...
Announcing the Launch of Purple & Green Stone Press
Welcome to The Burning Hearth! Whether you are new to TBH or are a returning reader, I’m happy you are here. Much has been happening in my corner of the universe lately. Happenings that have …
constancemalloy.com
October 21, 2025 at 2:06 PM
I hate when the rapture is scheduled late in the day. I'd rather just get on with it already.
September 23, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by Al Kratz
A is for Al, my interview with Al Kratz is live at TBH. We talk about his book T is for Train, writing, and life.

"I had been revisiting that time of my life a lot, kind of like my present-self checking in on my past-self and making sure we were both ok."

constancemalloy.com/2025/07/15/a...
A is for Al: An Interview with Al Kratz
Welcome to The Burning Hearth! I’m so happy you’ve stopped by for this interview with my friend and writing group fellow, Al Kratz. Al and I met several years ago via an online Bending …
constancemalloy.com
July 15, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Last summer, I took a train across the country and spent the week working on a novel. I was going to write it up on my site but it kept getting longer and turned into a hybrid travel, craft, memoir thing, ~16k words. It's now available at Amazon or from me. Would also love any reviews or feedback!
February 24, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Dreamt in novel structure last night on something I'm not working on other than when I sleep apparently: a 3 part life-spanning book I was calling "Somewhere Near the Top". Part 1 the obsession with "making it", Part 2 the inevitable fall, and Part 3 the reconstruction of the things worth saving.
December 24, 2024 at 5:55 PM
A favorite from my current WIP:

"I had my early vacation buzz, but it came with an obligation not to waste any of the time I had purchased. A master of wasting time in my youth, it has become simple math now. With every day that passes, I've got less time to waste."
December 8, 2024 at 3:21 PM
The guitar playing is obviously great, but Jimi Hendrix doesn't get enough credit for the flat out mofo Vibe his music, voice, and presence was.
December 7, 2024 at 3:00 PM
I wrote a review of Ben Drevlow's The Book of Rusty that is up now at Heavy Feather Review. Was a fun experience wrapping my head around this book and finding a way to cover it in the review form.

heavyfeatherreview.org/2024/01/05/t...
January 5, 2024 at 5:07 PM
My year in review of the writing journey!

alkratz.com/2023/12/27/2...
December 28, 2023 at 5:17 PM
I'm all booked for AWP. Haven't been there since LA in 2016.
September 29, 2023 at 3:16 PM
Been thinking a lot about opening sentence or paragraphs for novels and how they pop the world right into existence. How they establish the main images. How they are like magnets. How they give you a chance to both slow down and speed up.
September 28, 2023 at 8:39 PM
submitted a few things the last couple months after about a 6 month break. Feels kind of good. I've got a review that will be in Heavy Feather in January.
September 9, 2023 at 1:31 AM
my songs about God playlist:
God- Tori Amos
Dear God- XTC
After Forever- Black Sabbath
Godless- Dandy Warhols
God is a Bullet- Concrete Blonde
Hallelujah- Leonard Cohen
September 7, 2023 at 10:24 PM
Post twitter world feels weird, exaggerating on purpose, both a birth and death at the same time. Post 2016 life is weird. Post 2020. Without my dad. Everything can feel post but I can't really complain. Everything's a little shittier but also so much better too. That combination is crazy beautiful.
September 4, 2023 at 3:54 PM