Past Career Highlights
(Major milestones in bold)
January 2025: Robert’s short story “Devil Cut” published in Issue No. 1 of the NightWriter Review.
December 2024: Robert’s short story “Vacnoids” published in the Texas Wind Anthology.
December 2024: Robert’s final show for his year-long Night of Narrative residency at The Main Theater in Newhall, CA. Robert performed a total of six shows featuring story songs and spoken word. Show themes included: February (Misc. Story Songs); April is the Cruelest Month; D-Day 80th Anniversary (War story songs); two full shows of humorous Story Songs (August and October) and Holiday Story Songs in December. Guest artists included Fiction Writer Brian Evenson, Dylan Brody, Matt Cartsonis, Tom Hubbard and Judy Nazemetz.
October 2024: Robert performed “The Waiting” as part of the Hotel Café’s tribute to Tom Petty.
May 2024: In one of the supreme, surreal honors of his life, Robert was asked to sing “Handsome Johnny” on May 31 at the First AME Church in Los Angeles for actor Louis Gossett Jr’s memorial service. Lou cowrote the iconic song with Richie Havens who went on to record it and even opened Woodstock with it. Rev./Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) delivered the eulogy and even Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) made a surprise appearance.
November 2023: Robert performs the Star Spangled Banner on the fantail of the USS Iowa to mark Veteran’s Day and follows that with a short program of veteran-related story songs. The ceremony was covered by ABCNews-7
June-July 2023: Robert, a WGA and SAG-AFTRA busking rousing songs of Union Solidarność on picket lines around LA with legendary studio sideman folk-brother John O’Kennedy on mandolin.
March 2023: Robert’s short story “Soul of the Storm” published in Volume 5 of SHIFT the official literary magazine of the incredibly hip Middle Tennessee State University. “Soul of the Storm” was the lead story in their Climate Change issue and caused such a stir that they interviewed him.
March 2023: Three of Robert’s UCLA Wordcommandos (known as The Seal Team Six of Veteran Writing Workshops) were honored by WordTheatre in Hollywood at a sold-out Salute to Veteran Writers featuring A-list actors such as Sharon Stone, John Savage, Griffin Dunne, Bill Pullman and many others reading their work at the 400-seat Post 43 Theater. They were honored alongside famous veteran/writers Tobias Wolff, Richard Bausch and Tim O’Brien. John Savage was so wound up by his reading of Tom Bird’s memoir excerpt (a MS which Robert edited, btw—he helped Cedering Fox curate the entire show) that they talked for an hour afterwards about everything from The Deer Hunter to Milos Forman’s Hair — both of which John starred in. Gentle Culpepper sat alongside fellow Vietnam combat veteran and Special Forces soldier Tobias Wolff during the riveting performances where legendary actors tried to outdo each other. It was that kind of night.
Actor John Savage with Wordcommando Brian O’Hare whose short story collection Surrender won the 2022 Veteran’s Writing Award—the biggest award given to veteran/writers. |
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Robert and soul-brother Brian O’Hare. |
Red Carpet role call L-R: WCs Peter Trivelas, Pablo Agrio, Elaine Little (whose story was read by Sharon Stone), rmf, Gentle Culpepper, Mark Castro and Mat Ray Von. |
L-R: The mighty Tobias Wolff, Wordcommandos Mark Castro and Gentle Culpepper and acclaimed author Richard Bausch. |
A page from the red carpet program. |
Robert with actor Bill Pullman. |
Curtain Call!
January 2023: Robert’s short story “The Anti-Prep” will appear in Dress Him Up: A Tailored Collection of Bespoke Fiction anthology, forthcoming from New Lit Salon Press in 2023.
September 2022: Robert’s short story “You Stay Here” published in the Southeast Missouri State University Press Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors, Vol. 10.
July 2022: Due to popular demand, Robert’s short story, “Hitler’s Typewriter,” which won the Whitefish Review’s 2021 Montana Humor Prize (judged by Jimmy Kimmel and Huey Lewis—yes, Huey Lewis), has been posted online for all to read and enjoy. It was previously only available in print.
June 2022: Robert’s short story “Extremity” once again chosen as one of 5 finalists for the Missouri Review’s 2022 Perkoff Prize which recognizes fiction about health and medicine.
November 2021: Robert’s UCLA Wordcommandos’ work appeared in a WordTheatre Veteran’s Day Tribute. Will Mackin (Bring Out the Dog Random House), and Tom Bird (Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam HBO) headlined, followed by seven UCLA Wordcommandos flash fiction pieces read by famous actors. You can listen for free to two of the featured stories at wordtheatre.org/podcast: “Gold Star” by Noelle Brunelle read by Bellamy Young and “Hubby” by Gentle Culpepper read by Gary Dourdan (it’s episode 47). Here are the actors who read the stories on November 7:
(clockwise from upper left) Actors David Soul (Salem’s Lot, Starsky & Hutch), Bellamy Young (Prodigal Son, Scandal), Catherine Dent (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,The Shield), Eugene Byrd (Bones, 8 Mile), Gary Dourdan (First Wives Club, CSI: Crimes Scene Investigation), Kevin Kilner (Dynasty, Bonding), Paul Pape (Saturday Night Fever, Voice of Obama, Clinton & Biden Presidential campaigns), Tim Ryan (No Ordinary Family, China Beach) and Vincent Piazza (Jersey Boys, Boardwalk Empire) step into these powerful stories!
September 2021: Robert’s story, “Vox Rex,” is a Finalist for the Missouri Review Miller Audio Prize in the Humor Category.
September 2021: Robert’s short story, “Our Fallen Tribute,” which appeared in the 2018 music-themed issue of The Avenue is finally published online after the initial print run completely sold out due to strong reader demand.
August 2021: Robert’s short story “Hitler’s Typewriter” published in The Whitefish Review and named Winner of the 2021 Montana Humor Prize, judged by Jimmy Kimmel and Huey Lewis.
May 2021: Judy Scott’s memoir about Leonard Cohen, Leonard, Marianne, and Me, which Robert edited, published by Backbeat Books.
January 2021: Robert’s short story, “Pipe Dream Paste,” named 2nd Runner-up for the Great American Fiction Prize and published in The Saturday Evening Post.
December 2020: Robert’s short story, “Himself,” published in Blood and Bourbon #7.
October 2020: Robert’s UCLA Wordcommandos featured once again at LALitCrawl.
September 2020: Robert’s short story, “Song Pull,” appears in the Fall issue of Cowboy Jamboree Magazine.
August 2020: Robert’s short story, “Superlative,” which appeared last year in The Potato Soup Journal, selected for inclusion in the Feral Cat Publishers’ forthcoming anti-fascist anthology Dear Leader Tales.
August 2020: Robert’s short story, “A Woman Burned,” and the companion song “Colorado” written by Robert and Darryl Purpose, published in issue #52 of The Wild Word.
August 2020: Robert’s short story, “Barfquake” published in UK’s Grey Thoughts The Writers Club.
July 2020: Robert’s short story “AxePatriot” appears in Upstreet Issue #16.
June 2020: Robert’s short story, “Abatement,” appears in the online Canadian journal Pandemic Publications.
April 2020: Robert’s short story collection The Scorch one of 11 Finalists for the 2020 Press 53 Short Fiction Award.
January 2020: Robert’s essay “Why I Wrote a Screenplay About Steve Goodman” published in American Songwriter.
October 2019: Robert’s flash-fiction short story “Superlative” published in the Potato Soup Journal.
October 2019: The UCLA Wordcommandos, led by Robert, give a stellar performance the Annual LA LitCrawl in downtown LA at the Last Bookstore on Sunday, October 6th.
September 2019: Robert’s short story, “I, Clown,” appears in the Abstruse Press anthology Bloody Red Nose: 15 Fears of a Clown.
August 2019: Robert’s short story “Artificial Reef,” published in Volume 8 of the Southeast Missouri State University Proud to Be anthology of military service literature, was chosen by the Missouri Humanities Council as the Winner in the Fiction Category with a cash prize of $250.
June 2019: Robert’s short story, “Hannityville Horror,” published in Storyscape Journal Issue 22.
April 2019: Robert reads his short story, “I, Clown,” at the LA Times Festival of Books on the campus of USC.
April 2019: Robert reads short story, “Avoidable,” as part of Tasty Words Series at Senator Jones in Santa Monica, CA, alongside Cindy Chupack and Stephen Tobolowski.
February 2019: Robert’s short story, “The Scorch,” is one of three Finalists for the John Steinbeck Award and appears in Issue #152 of Reed Magazine.
December 2018: Robert’s short story, “Our Fallen Tribute,” appears in the Fall, 2018 issue of The Avenue: A Mid-Atlantic Journal.
November 2018: Robert wins the coveted 2018 Chester B. Himes Fiction Prize for his short story, “The Line.” Judge Antonio Ruiz-Camacho, had this to say:
“What a delight it was to read “The Line.” I am usually drawn to rather obscure stories that illuminate through suffering and grief the most neglected crevices of the human condition. But in a time when fiction seems unable to trump reality’s desolation, “The Line” is the kind of story I needed to read. It reminded me that, no matter how desolate the world may become, no matter how absurd choosing hope may be, it is in the darkest of times that we should dare embrace our most hopeful dreams.
Inspired by Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote, “The Line” is delirious, and gripping, and smart. Its language is swift and sharp, its characterizations bold and quick, and the surprises it holds for you at the end make it ultimately moving. But, above all, it’s a daringly funny story – and making a reader laugh out loud is a high, rather tough, art. And in times of hopelessness, it is also a necessity, an artist’s responsibility.
I was so thankful to read “The Line.” I enjoyed its joyful, irreverent take on a seemingly untouchable classic of literature. It reminded me how ambitious, how bold, it is to keep hoping for the best even when all you see looming in the horizon is pitch black.”
“The Line” appeared in The Ocotillo Review Volume 3.1 (release date 02/01/2019).
October 2018: Robert asked to perform “The Waiting” live on the XM Sirius Tom Petty Channel to mark the one-year anniversary of Tom’s passing.
October 2018: Robert’s short story, “Silence Between,” is published in the online literary journal, typishly.
September 2018: Robert’s short story, “Wad,” and his essay on the UCLA Wordcommandos appears in the Fall 2018 issue of Teach. Write. Magazine.
September 2018: Robert’s review of Brad Watson’s novel, Miss Jane, appears in the Fall, 2018 issue of Pleiades.
July 2018: Robert’s short story, “Avoidable,” headlines the Rage-Themed issue of THE WILD WORD, a Berlin-based literary magazine.
May 2018: Robert’s short story, Why the Moon?” appears in the HOWL OF THE WILD ANTHOLOGY and is available on Kindle.
March 2018: Robert’s unpublished short story collection, Cabaret Nation, is one of six Finalists for the 2018 New American Fiction Prize, Judged by Lori Ostlund.
September 28, 2017: Robert appears with spoken word deity Dylan Brody at The Coffee Gallery Backstage David Harvey Presents Show in Altadena, CA on Thursday, September 28th.
August 2017: Robert’s UCLA Wordcommandos featured in MEL Magazine article.
April 2017: Robert and Chad Watson headline West Valley Music. The opening act was the legendary Tom Kell w/ Paula Fong.
March 2017: Robert’s short story collection, You Stay Here: Tales from the Military Family Diaspora is a Finalist for the 2017 New Rivers Press Many Voices Award.
March 2017: Robert asked to join the faculty of Antioch University Santa Barbara. He will be teaching Fiction, Creative Nonfiction and Screenwriting in their Low-Residency MFA Program.
March 2017: Robert interviewed by Submittable.com about his UCLA Wordcommandos.
March 2017: Robert’s unpublished novel, Jangle-Boom, wins Honorable Mention (2nd Place) for The Nicholas Schaffner Award for Music in Literature.
March-April 2017: Robert once again teaches the online course he developed for Antioch’s I2P Program, Rub a Little Funny On It: Humor in Short Fiction.
March 2017: Robert signs with Peter Riva of International Transactions for Literary Representation.
February 2017: Less than a year after its creation, Robert’s UCLA Wordcommandos Creative Writing Workshop for Veterans with PTSD expands to twice-weekly meetings. The program, considered an unqualified success by the VA and UCLA, has seen three participants accepted for publication within the last four months.
January 2017: Finalist Whitefish Review Montana Prize for his unpublished short story, “The Scorch,” Judge—Rick Bass
December 2016: Robert’s short story, “The Man, The Myth,” is one of two short stories to appear in the National Edition of Red Wheelbarrow. Robert travels to San Jose for the publication party and gives a reading.
October 2016: Hosted the Antioch Alumni Readings at LitCrawl LA in North Hollywood and read his short story, “Vox Rex.”
September 2016: Robert’s short story, “Paintball,” appears in The Arkansas Review.
September-October 2016: Robert once again teaches an online course he developed for Antioch’s I2P Program, Rub a Little Funny on It: Humor in Short Fiction.
July 2016: Robert’s short story, “Sealed,” appears alongside iconic stories by Norman Spinrad and Kate Wilhelm in the definitive Anthology of Speculative War Fiction: Deserts of Fire, published by Skyhorse Books.
July 2016: UCLA Newsroom features a story about Robert’s UCLA Wordcommando Creative Writing Workshop for Veteran’s with PTSD.
July 2016: Robert’s short story and the companion song to the story, “Harold Examiner,” appear in Dime Show Review.
June 2016: The Rumpus publishes Robert’s review of David Means’ novel Hystopia.
June 2016: After a 2½ year absence, Robert returns to the concert stage on June 11th as co-headliner in the New City Roots Concert Series in Hollywood.
May, 2016: Britta Lee Shain’s memoir about her love affair with Bob Dylan, Seeing the Real You at Last, is released to critical praise. Robert worked extensively with Britta as her Book Coach and is prominently mentioned in the acknowledgments.
May 2016: Robert’s short story, “Ascension,” appears in The Journal of Microliterature.
May 2016: Robert’s review of Peter Selgin’s The Inventors is published in The Rumpus.
April 2016: Robert is hired by UCLA to run a weekly creative writing workshop for veterans suffering from PTSD. The UCLA Wordcommandos becomes a huge success story and is still going strong to this day, assisting US military veteran writers around the world (see Teaching).
April 2016: Robert’s story, “Lamplicker,” will appear in a forthcoming issue of 34th Parallel.
March 2016: Robert’s story, “Titty,” appears in Intrinsick Mag.
November 2015: Robert’s short story “Performance” earns publication and an Honorable Mention in the Gemini Magazine 2015 Flash Fiction Competition.
November 2015: Robert co-hosts a writing workshop at Antioch University alongside Patrick O’Neil (Gun, Needle, Spoon Dzanc Books 2015).
October 2015: Robert’s short story, “Sealed,” to be published in the forthcoming anthology, DESERTS OF FIRE, alongside stories by Kate Wilhelm, Norman Spinrad and others. DOF features stories taking place in or during the Iraq War. The audio version of the story first appeared in Golden Walkman Magazine in 2014.
October 2015: Robert voices several national TV spots for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
September 2015: Robert’s Essay, “The Art of Exaggeration” appears in the Antioch University Inspiration2Publication Blog. Earlier this year, the blog published another RMF Essay, “Short Story Writers and Their Brands.”
July 2015: The Spry Literary Journal interviews Robert regarding his short story, “If It Hurts,” which they published in 2014.
July 2015: Robert’s prize-winning short story, “Vox Rex,” airs on the Missouri Review’s Soundbooth Podcast. The podcast can be heard HERE.
June 2015: Robert is hired as a Writing Specialist for Antioch University.
May 2015: Robert’s short story, “Vox Rex,” named as the Runner-Up for the 2015 Missouri Review Miller Audio Fiction Prize. The story will air on the July 9th Soundbooth Podcast.
May 2015: Robert hired by A-Team Entertainment as a script doctor for a feature film project with major stars attached.
April 2015: For the second year in a row, Robert’s unpublished collection of short stories about military dependents, You Stay Here, named as a Long List Finalist for the 2015 Serena McDonald Kennedy Fiction Award.
March 2015: Robert’s essay on the dynamics of fiction characterization, “T” for Triangulation, published in the Spry Literary Journal.
December 2014: Robert earns an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles.
October 2014: Robert’s short story course which he designed for the Antioch University Inspiration to Publication (I2P) Online Program, Find Your Brand, Find Your Voice, is successfully launched. In 2015, Robert will continue teaching at Antioch and also work as an I2P Book Coach.
October 2014: Robert’s short story “Wand,” was an official selection at the LA LitCrawl in North Hollywood and read by actor David Bickford.
Fall 2014: Robert’s short story “Air Show” appears in Volume 2, Number 4; Summer 2014 issue of 0-Dark-Thirty, the official literary magazine of the Veteran’s Memorial Project.
September 21, 2014: The Maven Rocket launched from Cape Canaveral almost a year before, lands successfully on the Red Planet. On board is a recording of Robert’s song “Don’t You Wanna Go to Mars?” Robert can’t wait to perform there!
September 11, 2014: Robert is featured in Artist’s Entrance, Ep. 5, Tracy Newman’s acclaimed interview series with Los Angeles Singer Songwriters.
September 2014: Robert voices the role of serial killer Clayton Broom in the audiobook version of Lauren Beukes’s best-selling thriller Broken Monsters. Stephen King says: “Scary as hell and hypnotic. I couldn’t put it down… I’d grab it if I were you.”
June 2014: Robert graduates from Antioch University with an MFA in Creative Writing with a specialization in Fiction and a 4.0 GPA. Robert will be teaching his first online class at Antioch during the 2014 Summer-Fall Semester.
Summer 2014: “Sealed” (audio short story written and voiced by Robert) airs in Golden Walkman Magazine (podcast)
Summer 2014: Robert’s short story “Wand” appears in Carnival Literary Magazine.
Summer 2014: Robert’s essay on reading, “To Bail or Not to Bail,” published on the Bleed—Jaded Ibis Publishing site.
Spring 2014: Robert’s short-story, “Burrito,” published in Psychopomp Magazine.
Spring 2014: Robert’s short story, “Welcome to Sire’s,” published in issue 26 of Britain’s prestigious glossy journal, 34th Parallel.
Spring 2014: Robert’s graduate school thesis novel-in-progress, The Long Trample, named as a finalist for the 2013 Dana Awards.
Spring 2014: Robert’s unpublished collection of short stories about military dependents, You Stay Here, named as a finalist for the 2014 Serena McDonald Kennedy Award.
Winter 2014: Robert Morgan Fisher’s short story “If It Hurts” published in The Spry Literary Journal. www.sprylit.com/fiction/if-it-hurts/
November 18, 2013: The Maven Rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, headed for the Red Planet. On board is a recording of Robert’s song “Don’t You Wanna Go to Mars?”
Fall 2013: Robert voices six stories in the audiobook version of the new collection This Is How You Die from Hachett Book Group.
Summer 2013: Robert Morgan Fisher’s annotation for Moby Dick published
http://annotationnation.wordpress.com/2013/07/
Summer 2013: Robert’s short story “Wormhole” becomes the first short story ever published in The Huffington Post.
November 16, 2012: Robert Morgan Fisher’s song “Don’t You Wanna Go to Mars?” wins Best Folk/Acoustic Category at the prestigious 2012 Hollywood Music In Media Awards. The song is from his new album Notes for a Novel (available on disc and digital from CDBaby.com) and features Janis Ian lending harmony. Earlier this year, “Don’t You Wanna Go to Mars?” placed in the Top 6 Folk Songs of the Year in the 2012 Song of the Year Competition and has been added to the JPL rotation of songs used to wake up astronauts in space. The star-studded, red-carpet HMMA ceremony took place at the Henry Fonda Theater in Hollywood and winning this award is considered to be a major career milestone for a music artist.
November 1, 2012: “Notes For A Novel” reaches #1 on the Roots/Folk Internet Radio Airplay Chart!
September, 2012: One of three writers selected to have their “traffic-themed” short stories read by Emmy-winning actors as part of The City of LA’s Artmaggedon city-wide event.
“Don’t You Wanna Go to Mars?” makes SONG OF THE YEAR list of The Top 6 Folk Songs of 2012.
Included in 2010 Galleycat Best Authors on Facebook List.
Honored by City of L.A.’s New Short Fiction Series™ in 2010 with a produced reading of four selected stories from Cabaret Nation read by notable actors.
Runner-Up, 2010 Ohio State University Fiction Prize for short story collection, Cabaret Nation.
Prominently mentioned in the acknowledgments of Jillian Lauren’s best-selling memoir, Some Girls: My Life in a Harem (Penguin 2010) and Marika Roth’s memoir and Book-of-the-Month Club selection All the Pretty Shoes (Wyatt-MacKenzie 2011).
New Regency (2008) and Paramount (2010): Script options for the feature film comedy, My Middle Earth Crisis.
August 2008: Robert produces the 30th Anniversary Class Reunion of National Lampoon’s Animal House at Jeffrey Gordon’s Writers Boot Camp in Santa Monica. Director John Landis is there, along with Stephen Bishop (Guy on Stairs), Stephen Furst (Flounder), Martha Smith (Babs) and Chris Miller (Hardbar) who not only cameo’d in the movie but co-wrote it with Harold Ramis and Doug Kenney. The movie was based upon Chris Miller’s amazing essays about his Dartmouth fraternity days which were initially published in The National Lampoon and are now iconic. Stephen Bishop turned down an offer to have Belushi impersonator Mitch Berlow re-enact the smashing of his guitar while Bish sings “The Riddle Song”—so emcee/producer Robert did the honors. The crowd went wild and the entire night was covered by Gawker.
2006: Two of Robert’s songs “We’ll Buy a Flag” and “Jester King” reach #1 on the Neil Young Living With War Songs of The Times Chart – beating out several thousand other songs.
Grand Prize, Lyric Category, 2006 International Narrative Songwriting Competition for “Angel Within.”
Atomium Pictures/DreamWorks: 2-time option for screenplay adaptation of Robert’s comic novel Minor Weiss (2003).
New Century Writer Award for Best Unpublished Novel: Minor Weiss (2002).
Grand Prize, Washington State Film Office Screenwriting Competition for adaptation of his dramatic novel, Set the Poem Free (2000).
Publishing Online Great North American Fiction Prize for Best Unpublished Novel: Set the Poem Free (2000).
Writer for UPN reality show Red Handed (2000).
Staff Writer/Producer/Actor for Premiere Radio Comedy from 1995-2001.
Staff Writer for The Watcher, a one-hour anthology series on UPN (1994).
Grand Prize, Writers Digest Screenwriting Competition: Swappers (1994).