PUBLICATIONS
Cosmonauts Avenue, July 9, 2021 “The America of Strong, Beautiful Men”
Hobart, July 20, 2020 “Watch My Contact”
Trash Magazine, 2020 “Cathedral”
Heavy Feather Review, June 26, 2020, Haunted Passages Issue “The Storytellers”
Heavy Feather Review, June 26, 2020, Bad Survivalist Issue “Beaver Dams and the Final Beaver Dam”
Tin House, 2018 “He Was Trying to Say Something and He Couldn’t Get it Out”
New Ohio Review, Issue 23, 2018 “No One Dies in Fiction Anymore”
Bending Genres, 2018 “The Hair Child”
Pidgeonholes, 2018 “Mistaken”
mac(ro)mic, 2018 “Appendectomy”
Instant Prose, 2018 “Forgetting”
3:AM Magazine, 2017 “Live Stream”
Queen Mob’s Teahouse, 2017 “Darlings”
Pidgeonholes, 2017 “Billy the Kid Chooses the Manner of His Own Death”
Spelk Fiction, 2017 “Owl”
Split Lip Magazine, 2017 “Do You Understand What I Am Saying?”
Flapperhouse, 2017 “Left Behind”
Gravel Magazine, 2017 “Where to Find Me”
Rabble Lit, 2017 “How To Disappear”
(b)OINK, 2017 “The Night Is Where It Throws You”
Knee Jerk, “The Angel of Rapid City”
New South, “In Dugave” + “Sentences Before Babel”
Pithead Chapel, 2017 “If This Were a Murakami Story”
Midwestern Gothic, Issue 24 “If I Had My Way This Story Would Be a Song”
100 Word Story, 2016 “Lilly (My One and Only)”
Big Lucks, Issue 13 “Death’s Daughter”
The Master’s Review, 2016 “New Shadows”
The Mondegreen, 2016 “Stopping”
Sick Lit Magazine, 2016 “Osaka 1998”
Cheap Pop, 2016 “My Teachers Told Me To Be Careful With the First Person”
Jellyfish Review, 2016 “How to Tell a Story”
Pacifica Literary Review, 2016 “Guillotine”
Volume 1 Brooklyn, Sunday Stories, 2016 “My Younger Self”
Joyland, 2015 “I’m The Teacher Who Saved Your Life”
The Collagist, 2015 “Understand”
Split Lip Magazine, 2015 “The Knife”
Wu-Wei Fashion, Issue 6 “Your Craigslist Roommate”
Five Quarterly, 2015 “Reservation King”
The Toast, 2015 “Piano Lessons”
Juked Magazine, Issue 12 “Revenant Lost”
NANO Fiction, Volume 8 Issue 3 “Volleyball”
Potluck Magazine, 2015 “Sunrise, Sunset”
Nailed Magazine, 2015 “I Only Wanted to Do Something Good”
Anomalous Press, Issue 13 “Killemoff”
Wigleaf, 2014 “Ceremony”
BULL Magazine, 2014 “Respect”
Knee Jerk, 2013 “Eugenia Will Come Back To You Someday”
PANK, 2013 “Chaperone” + “Wake” + “Dolly Parton”
Monkeybicycle, 2012 “Secret Mansions”
Scrivener Creative Review, Issue 38 “Shark, Remembered”
Pubscriber Magazine, 2012 “The Woman in the Rose Colored Dress”
Squawkback Magazine, Issue 37 “10 Stories About My Friends”
Squawkback Magazine, Issue 34 “Three Letters to Val Kilmer”
Fiction Brigade, 2011 “Impressions of Death and the Afterlife”
Melee Live, Issue 1 “Five Small Histories”
Thin Air Magazine, Issue 17, 2010 “13 Stories About My Friends”
INTERVIEWS
MFA Podcast, 2020 “Episode 14: Kaj Tanaka | University of Houston”
Tommy Dean, 2018 “Mini Interview with Kaj Tanaka”
Show Your Work Podcast, 2017 “Episode 9 – ‘Volleyball'” with Tyler Barton
The Collagist, 2017 “‘A Place of Embarrassment’: An Interview with Kaj Tanaka”
Split Lip Magazine, 2017 “All We Want Is a Good Story” with Chris Wolford
Midwestern Gothic, 2017 “Contributor Spotlight” with Allison Reck
NANO Fiction, 2016 “Five Questions” with Moira McAvoy
NANO Fiction, 2016 “How I Write” with Kirby Johnson
BULL Magazine, 2014 “BULLshot” with Pete Witte
BOOK REVIEWS
The Rumpus, 2016 “How To Start a Fire and Why by Jesse Ball”
Electric Literature, 2016 “Sudden Death by Álvaro Enrigue”
Electric Literature, 2016 “Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor”
The Rumpus, 2016 “Upright Beasts by Lincoln Michel”
Electric Literature, 2016 “The Dying Grass by William T. Vollmann”
Electric Literature, 2016 “Wind/Pinball by Haruki Murakami”
Fiction Advocate, 2016 “Baldur’s Gate II by Matt Bell”
AWARDS
Wigleaf’s Best (Very) Short Fictions, 2021, Top 50 “Watch My Contact”
Best Small Fictions Nomination, 2020, Heavy Feather Review “Beaver Dams and the Final Beaver Dam”
Wigleaf’s Best (Very) Short Fictions, 2019, Top 50 “He Was Trying to Say Something…”
Pushcart Prize Nomination, 2019, Pidgeonholes “Mistaken”
Best Microfiction Winner, 2019, Bending Genres “The Hair Child”
Best Small Fictions Winner, 2018, (b)OINK “The Night is Where it Throws You”
Best Small Fictions Winner, 2018, New South “In Dugave”
Best Small Fictions Nomination, 2018, Pithead Chapel “If This Were a Murakami Story”
Best Small Fictions Nomination, 2018, Flapperhouse “Left Behind”
Wigleaf’s Best (Very) Short Fictions, 2016, Longlist “I Only Wanted to Do Something Good”
Pushcart Prize Nomination, 2016: Jellyfish Review “How to Tell a Story”
Smokelong Magazine’s Kathy Fish Fellowship, 2015 Finalist
Wigleaf’s Best (Very) Short Fictions, 2014, Top 50 “Dolly Parton”
Longform Selection, 2013 “Eugenia Will Come Back to You Someday”
Bristol Short Story Prize, 2012, Longlist “Eugenia Will Come Back to You Someday”
Thin Air Magazine All Genre Contest, Finalist, 2010 “13 Stories About My Friends”
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