Last Thursday, I read in Buffalo for the COMMUNIQUE Flash Fiction series at Rust Belt Books. My host, the writer Forrest Roth, gave me such a thoughtful introduction I couldn't resist posting it somewhere on my site. Here is a spread in ArtVoice about the reading:
And here is a bit of what Forrest Roth said before I stood up to read:
In the introduction to Claudia's award-winning short collection, The Sky Is a Well and Other Shorts, contest judge and author Ron Carlson succinctly notes how flash fiction "is not a single thing done a single way. So many are sharp, luminescent puzzles, arresting flashes in the dark that leave us a touch of wonder or alarm. Some are complete little worlds in a page and some are simply scene fragments in two."
Carlson's comments here remind me what drew my attention to Claudia's work, how indeed she can navagate both these little worlds and fragments, as well as create one from the otherówhich I think most Flash writers would say is not easily accomplished, or sometimes appreciated.
Many of Claudia's stories, then, will likely appear quite familiar to the reader on the surface they skim but also distant in an unresolved sort of urgency-one that shoots us toward outcomes we are never prepared to deal with because neither are these characters, many of them young girls growing up in Texas, left vulnerable to the great open expanse of their lives suggested in the collection's title. Within this genuine "well" we witness the precarious relationships they form with each other (either under or outside of the wary gaze of their parents), their initial if often unsuccessful forays into womanhood: attraction, sex, pregnancy, loss, reclamation. Even their seemingly innocent playtime masks a hidden antagonism directed to the would-be protectors in their lives and, perhaps not surprisingly, towards themselves. These are small childhoods on the cusp of a much larger adult world, ready to spill into the unknown waiting for them ...
The Sky Is A Well and Rose Metal Press got a write-up in the March issue of Paste magazine. I called my local bookstores and music stores and they were all sold out, so I haven't seen it yet. I called Paste and they are sending me a copy.
PASTE magazine
The one with Gnarls Barkley on the cover.
A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness is available now from Rose Metal Press
And here is a schedule of upcoming readings from Rose Metal Press authors Amy Clark, Elizabeth Ellen, Kathy Fish, and yours truly.
- Pasha Malla in The Globe and Mail
- Elizabeth Ellen Running Red
- Darlin Neal Two Fictions
Here is Smokelong Quarterly, Issue 20
March's Hobart online is up with stories by Mary Miller, Daniel Pinkerton, Dave Prescott, and Robert Repino. There is also a Kentucky Bourbon Trail edition of the fan favorite likes and dislikes.
Kim Chinquee has a new book of short-shorts available from Ravenna Press and Amazon. You can order it here
And take a look at her Bliggidy Blog
Today I am blogging for Patry Francis; I learned about this on Susan's Henderson's LitPark.
I have not read Patry's book, but I think it looks like a great read.
At long last, Rose Metal Press's 4X4 collection, A Peculiar Feeling Of Restlessness, four chapbooks of short-short fiction by four women, is available for pre-order right here.
I've known Elizabeth Ellen and Kathy Fish as writers, and as friends, for years. I'm thrilled to have my stories next to theirs; but, it gets better. Pia Z. Ehrhardt wrote the introduction. I have long been a fan of Pia's, Elizabeth's, and Kathy's fiction. Their work is fierce, brave, lingering....and I'm looking forward to Amy Clark's collection as well. I was surprised to learn, when I first heard about this project, that Amy Clark and I both went to Bard College. Well, I'm older, so we never met. But, what are the odds? I guess sometimes the world is small in unexpected ways.
Everything Rose Metal Press publishes is exquisite, so I'm sure the book will be beautifully produced.
The spotlight is on Kathy Fish at Insolent Rudder
Pia Ehrhardt read her story "Stop" for The Writer's Block, KQED
Although this edition is sold out, there are a few copies still available at Powell's.com and we will have a few on hand at the AWP Conference later this month in New York. Claudia's book will be reprinted as part of A Peculiar Feeling Of Restlessness, an anthology of four chapbooks of short short fiction by four women, later this year, so keep your eye on this site for further details.