John Fleming
Professor
CONTACT
Office: CPR 318
Phone: 813-974-9567
Email
BIO
John Henry Fleming (PhD, University of Louisiana-Lafayette) is the author of four books of fiction. The Legend of the Barefoot Mailman, a Florida historical novel told as a tall tale, was reviewed as “winningly satiric” by The New York Times, “an engrossing and highly entertaining tale” by Library Journal, and “a gem of a first novel…deftly narrated in a wry, tongue-in-cheek style reminiscent of Mark Twain or Ambrose Bierce” by the Christian Science Monitor.
Fearsome Creatures of Florida, an illustrated literary bestiary, has “much ingenuity, much wit, much verbal magic,” according to horror writer Peter Straub. Creative Loafing wrote, “Like Where the Wild Things Are, Fearsome Creatures reminds us why we obsessed over monsters as children… Required reading for any eco-conscious Floridian.”
The Book I Will Write, a novel-in-emails about a publisher and a would-be writer named John Henry Fleming, was originally published serially at Atticus Books and featured opportunities for reader input to influence the novel’s trajectory.
Songs for the Deaf, his story collection, is “a joyful, deranged, endlessly surprising book of stories” according to writer Karen Russell. Orlando Weekly compared Fleming’s work to that of George Saunders and Donald Barthelme. The Sun Sentinel wrote that the stories in Songs for the Deaf read like “campfire tales from the state’s coolest scout leader.”
Fleming’s short stories have appeared in McSweeney’s, The North American Review, Mississippi Review, Fourteen Hills, Carve, and many others, as well as the anthologies 100% Pure Florida Fiction and The Future Dictionary of America. His awards include two Literature Fellowships from the State of Florida and an International Book Award for Songs for the Deaf, which was also short-listed for CLMP’s Firecracker Award.
In addition to his PhD in Creative Writing from The University of Louisiana-Lafayette, he holds an MA in Creative Writing from The University of Southern Mississippi and a BA in Psychology from The University of Virginia. At USF, he teaches graduate and undergraduate fiction writing, an honors seminar in the Literature of Horror, special topics courses in Novel Writing and Song Lyrics Writing, and the graduate Literary, Editing, and Publishing course. He also directs graduate theses and is advisory editor of Saw Palm: Florida Literature and Art. Outside USF, he’s an obsessive disc golf player, iced mocha drinker, and e-bike flâneur. Visit his website at johnhenryfleming.com.
EDUCATION
PhD, University of Louisiana-Lafayette
AREA OF SPECIALTY
Creative writing/fiction