The Book of the Last WordJesi Bender is the author of The Book of the Last Word, forthcoming from Whisk(e)y Tit. A work of experimental literary fiction, the novel follows Chimera Aoki, a 20-something New Yorker, easy in love and working on a book of famous last words. Arthur Noyes is older, secretive, existential. They meet through Chimera’s girlfriend, and are brought together and flung apart through a cosmic collision of coincidence and deceit.
Heavily interwoven with Abrahamic religious influences, The Book of the Last Word culminates with Chimera discovering Arthur’s secret and having to decide if what Arthur has done is either immensely beneficial or horrifically damaging. REVIEWS - Review in The Nervous Breakdown - Review in Entropy - Review in Heavy Feather Review - Small Press Love |
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Writing & Editing
PUBLICATIONS
- "The Concept Behind Noyes' Utopia", 2005, academic journal article in 13th Moon
- The Denial of Those Hungry, 2006, poem in Forward
- God Bless the Dead Little Kittens, 2006, short story in Cornell Lit Review
- Womb Wounds, 2007, poem in Forward
- Secare, 2008, poem in WordNerd
- Childhood Prayer, 2009, poem in WordNerd
- Glossolalia, 2010, short collection of poetry from MFG/Imprint Publishing
- JesiBelle waits for the hounds, 2011, poem in L.E.S. Review
- JesiBelle waits for the hounds, 2011, poem in NYPL Reader's Den
- Cackotopia, or the Fetus, god, Silence, and the City, 2011, poem in The Houston Literary Review
- Ravenous Academics: Preserving Cookery Collections in Libraries, 2011, journal article in Metropolitan Archivist
- Mortir: This is a Lesson in French, 2012, poem in Pyrokinection
- Faith at Sea, 2012, poem in Jellyfish Whispers
- JesiBelle waits for the hounds, 2013, poem chosen for inclusion in Hell Whore anthology
- Vinny, Brooklyn 2008 and The Pool, 2013, poems in L'Allure des Mots
- Faith at Sea, 2012, poem chosen for inclusion in Best of 2012 Storm Cycle anthology
- Finding the Humanist's G-d: Mapping Focus in Vonnegut's Universe, 2013, academic paper for The Arts of Attention Conference at Károli Gáspár University in Budapest, Hungary - Papers published by L'Harmattan Press.
- "Social Network Analysis in the Humanities: Faculty-Student Projects Using NodeXL", 2013, co-author of academic paper/presentation, DCHS 8th Annual Conference at DePaul University
- Bleeding Heart and Chelle, 2014, drawing and photograph (respectively) in Up, Do Flash Fiction by Women Writers
- Mon bijou Indien, 2014, poem in L'Allure des Mots
- Frost, 2014, short story in Zouch Magazine
- Shalosh, 2014, poem in Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review
- Amor Fati, 2014, finalist in short story competition for Flash Fiction Chronicles
- Murder on the Adirondack Express: Knowledge, Violence and the Reference Desk, June/July 2014, scholarly journal article in Taylor & Francis' The Reference Librarian
- A Small Apocalpyse, 2014, short story in Disorder Anthology by Red Dashboard Publishing
- The Banshee, or Margaret Mary's Red-Leather Satchel, 2014, short story in BlazeVOX
- Hand to G-d, 2014, short story in Santa Fe Writers Project
- Women in the Kitchen I & II, 2014, paintings in Up the Staircase Quarterly
- Review of Milk by Natasha Marin, 2014, in Red Paint Hill
- Review of Nestuary by Molly Sutton Kiefer, 2014, in Red Paint Hill
- Shalosh, The Quickening, and The Jerusalem Syndrome, 2014, poems in Luna Luna Magazine
- The Banshee, or Margaret Mary's Red-Leather Satchel, 2014, short story in Troop Zine
- Amor Fati, 2014, short story in "Three" anthology from PushPen Press
- Review of A Guide for the Practical Abductee by E. Kristin Anderson, 2014, in Red Paint Hill
- Review of The Insomniac's Weather Report by Jessica Goodfellow, 2014, in Red Paint Hill
- The Book of Exxonodus, 2014, short story in Petrichor Review
- Review of Mavor's Bones by Rolli, 2015, in Red Paint Hill
- Review of A Week With Beijing by Meg Eden, 2015, in Red Paint Hill
- Linda, 2015, short story in Split Lip Magazine
- Saved by the Bell, forthcoming, short story in Far Enough East
- Linda, 2015, finalist for The Best Small Fictions of 2015 from Queen's Ferry Press
- A Pearl, 2015, short story in Chicago Literati
- Review of Announcing the Thaw by Julianne Palumbo, 2015, in Red Paint Hill
- Review of Lookbaby by David Welper, 2015, in Red Paint Hill
- Shalosh, 2016, poem in Winter Tangerine
- Rolling Bones, Rolling Home, 2016, short story in The Great American Literary Magazine
- At the End of Hope, 2016, short story in Lunch Ticket
- Cordiform, 2016, short story in μtxt 2 from Medusa's Laugh Press
- The Wedding of Psyche, 2017, poem in Really System
- The Dream of My Teeth and Joyce & his Sisters, 2017, poems in Kaaterskill Basin Literary Journal
- From Dreamweaver To Drupal: A University Library Website Case Study, 2018, co-authored scholarly article in Information Technology & Libraries
- Review of Neil and Other Stories by J. Bradley, 2018, in Heavy Feather Review
- Review of All Roads Lead to Blood by Bonnie Chau, 2018, in Heavy Feather Review
- Exploring information literacy assessment: Content analysis of student prefocus essays, 2018, co-authored scholarly article in ACRL News
- The Devil in the Details: History and Myth in Lee Klein's JRZDVLZ, 2019, review in Heavy Feather Review
- Excerpt from The Book of the Last Word, 2019, excerpt in Big Other
- Review of A Dog Between Us by Duncan Barlow, 2019, in Entropy
- Carole Maso, 2019, article in Entropy's Under the Influence
- Nothing Ever Disappears, 2019, review in The Rumpus
- The Hypothetical Men in The Hypothetical Man, 2019, review in Heavy Feather Review
- How the Island Forms, 2020, poem in The Gravity of the Thing (nominated for 2020 Best of the Net)
- How a Young Girl Grows; or, Myth and Metamorphosis: A Review of Brandi George's Faun, 2020, review in The Adroit Journal
- “Many Restless Concerns” by Gayle Brandeis, 2020, review in Another Chicago Magazine
- Soft Egg, 2020, short story in Duende
- Identity as a Hall of Mirrors, 2020, review in The Rumpus
- BRING ME THE HEAD OF QUENTIN TARANTINO, 2020, review in Heavy Feather Review
- A haiku for my period, 2020, poem in ellipsis
- My daughter sleeps and Girl With Chimp, 2020, poem and painting in The Adirondack Review (nominated for a Pushcart)
EDITING
KERNPUNKT Press, editor-in-chief, 2015-present
--- Profiled in the Big Other, 2020 - L'editeur de Babel
Paradigm Publishing's Cuerpos by Pablo Conejero Lopez, editor, 2019
Red Paint Hill Publishing, assistant editor, 2013-2015
L.E.S. Review, editor-in-chief, 2009-2011
Shakespeare Foundation of Spain's New Reality by Pablo Conejero Lopez, editor, 2011
Metropolitan Archivist, student editor, 2009-2011
- "The Concept Behind Noyes' Utopia", 2005, academic journal article in 13th Moon
- The Denial of Those Hungry, 2006, poem in Forward
- God Bless the Dead Little Kittens, 2006, short story in Cornell Lit Review
- Womb Wounds, 2007, poem in Forward
- Secare, 2008, poem in WordNerd
- Childhood Prayer, 2009, poem in WordNerd
- Glossolalia, 2010, short collection of poetry from MFG/Imprint Publishing
- JesiBelle waits for the hounds, 2011, poem in L.E.S. Review
- JesiBelle waits for the hounds, 2011, poem in NYPL Reader's Den
- Cackotopia, or the Fetus, god, Silence, and the City, 2011, poem in The Houston Literary Review
- Ravenous Academics: Preserving Cookery Collections in Libraries, 2011, journal article in Metropolitan Archivist
- Mortir: This is a Lesson in French, 2012, poem in Pyrokinection
- Faith at Sea, 2012, poem in Jellyfish Whispers
- JesiBelle waits for the hounds, 2013, poem chosen for inclusion in Hell Whore anthology
- Vinny, Brooklyn 2008 and The Pool, 2013, poems in L'Allure des Mots
- Faith at Sea, 2012, poem chosen for inclusion in Best of 2012 Storm Cycle anthology
- Finding the Humanist's G-d: Mapping Focus in Vonnegut's Universe, 2013, academic paper for The Arts of Attention Conference at Károli Gáspár University in Budapest, Hungary - Papers published by L'Harmattan Press.
- "Social Network Analysis in the Humanities: Faculty-Student Projects Using NodeXL", 2013, co-author of academic paper/presentation, DCHS 8th Annual Conference at DePaul University
- Bleeding Heart and Chelle, 2014, drawing and photograph (respectively) in Up, Do Flash Fiction by Women Writers
- Mon bijou Indien, 2014, poem in L'Allure des Mots
- Frost, 2014, short story in Zouch Magazine
- Shalosh, 2014, poem in Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review
- Amor Fati, 2014, finalist in short story competition for Flash Fiction Chronicles
- Murder on the Adirondack Express: Knowledge, Violence and the Reference Desk, June/July 2014, scholarly journal article in Taylor & Francis' The Reference Librarian
- A Small Apocalpyse, 2014, short story in Disorder Anthology by Red Dashboard Publishing
- The Banshee, or Margaret Mary's Red-Leather Satchel, 2014, short story in BlazeVOX
- Hand to G-d, 2014, short story in Santa Fe Writers Project
- Women in the Kitchen I & II, 2014, paintings in Up the Staircase Quarterly
- Review of Milk by Natasha Marin, 2014, in Red Paint Hill
- Review of Nestuary by Molly Sutton Kiefer, 2014, in Red Paint Hill
- Shalosh, The Quickening, and The Jerusalem Syndrome, 2014, poems in Luna Luna Magazine
- The Banshee, or Margaret Mary's Red-Leather Satchel, 2014, short story in Troop Zine
- Amor Fati, 2014, short story in "Three" anthology from PushPen Press
- Review of A Guide for the Practical Abductee by E. Kristin Anderson, 2014, in Red Paint Hill
- Review of The Insomniac's Weather Report by Jessica Goodfellow, 2014, in Red Paint Hill
- The Book of Exxonodus, 2014, short story in Petrichor Review
- Review of Mavor's Bones by Rolli, 2015, in Red Paint Hill
- Review of A Week With Beijing by Meg Eden, 2015, in Red Paint Hill
- Linda, 2015, short story in Split Lip Magazine
- Saved by the Bell, forthcoming, short story in Far Enough East
- Linda, 2015, finalist for The Best Small Fictions of 2015 from Queen's Ferry Press
- A Pearl, 2015, short story in Chicago Literati
- Review of Announcing the Thaw by Julianne Palumbo, 2015, in Red Paint Hill
- Review of Lookbaby by David Welper, 2015, in Red Paint Hill
- Shalosh, 2016, poem in Winter Tangerine
- Rolling Bones, Rolling Home, 2016, short story in The Great American Literary Magazine
- At the End of Hope, 2016, short story in Lunch Ticket
- Cordiform, 2016, short story in μtxt 2 from Medusa's Laugh Press
- The Wedding of Psyche, 2017, poem in Really System
- The Dream of My Teeth and Joyce & his Sisters, 2017, poems in Kaaterskill Basin Literary Journal
- From Dreamweaver To Drupal: A University Library Website Case Study, 2018, co-authored scholarly article in Information Technology & Libraries
- Review of Neil and Other Stories by J. Bradley, 2018, in Heavy Feather Review
- Review of All Roads Lead to Blood by Bonnie Chau, 2018, in Heavy Feather Review
- Exploring information literacy assessment: Content analysis of student prefocus essays, 2018, co-authored scholarly article in ACRL News
- The Devil in the Details: History and Myth in Lee Klein's JRZDVLZ, 2019, review in Heavy Feather Review
- Excerpt from The Book of the Last Word, 2019, excerpt in Big Other
- Review of A Dog Between Us by Duncan Barlow, 2019, in Entropy
- Carole Maso, 2019, article in Entropy's Under the Influence
- Nothing Ever Disappears, 2019, review in The Rumpus
- The Hypothetical Men in The Hypothetical Man, 2019, review in Heavy Feather Review
- How the Island Forms, 2020, poem in The Gravity of the Thing (nominated for 2020 Best of the Net)
- How a Young Girl Grows; or, Myth and Metamorphosis: A Review of Brandi George's Faun, 2020, review in The Adroit Journal
- “Many Restless Concerns” by Gayle Brandeis, 2020, review in Another Chicago Magazine
- Soft Egg, 2020, short story in Duende
- Identity as a Hall of Mirrors, 2020, review in The Rumpus
- BRING ME THE HEAD OF QUENTIN TARANTINO, 2020, review in Heavy Feather Review
- A haiku for my period, 2020, poem in ellipsis
- My daughter sleeps and Girl With Chimp, 2020, poem and painting in The Adirondack Review (nominated for a Pushcart)
EDITING
KERNPUNKT Press, editor-in-chief, 2015-present
--- Profiled in the Big Other, 2020 - L'editeur de Babel
Paradigm Publishing's Cuerpos by Pablo Conejero Lopez, editor, 2019
Red Paint Hill Publishing, assistant editor, 2013-2015
L.E.S. Review, editor-in-chief, 2009-2011
Shakespeare Foundation of Spain's New Reality by Pablo Conejero Lopez, editor, 2011
Metropolitan Archivist, student editor, 2009-2011
