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Review - Flash Fiction Magazine, Volumes 1-3

Review – Flash Fiction Magazine, Volumes 1-3

Featuring work submitted to Flash Fiction Magazine, an online e-zine Amazon Disclosure – I am a volunteer reader at Flash Fiction Magazine. In the study of alchemy, there’s a process of purification called calcination by which substances are heated in a crucible until it’s impurities are reduced to ash, leaving the desired element in its most indestructible, pure form. In some ways, anthologies…

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Review: Best Small Fictions of 2017

Review: Best Small Fictions of 2017

  Guest Editor: Amy Hempel Series Editor, Tara L. Masih Available September 5th, 2017 by Braddock Avenue Books (Press Release) There is no writing toward the story in a short-short; the author must begin with the story. – Amy Hempel, Guest Editor, The Best Small Fictions If you logon to Duotrope and conduct a search for publications which feature flash fiction, you will find over 1000 listings…

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Review: Reading Like a Writer

Review: Reading Like a Writer

Goodreads Amazon The most important things, I told them, were observation and consciousness. Keep your eyes open, see clearly, think about what you see, ask yourself what it means. I read this book on the recommendation of a good writing friend who suggested it as a way to improve my writing (yes, I write but I have more rejections than acceptances at this point).  Because of my penchant for…

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When you buy a used book to mark up and some has already marked it up. Bonus if it's the story that was the reason you bought the book in the first place. #whatwetalkaboitwhenwetalkaboutlove #raymondcarver #shortstory #usedbooks #bookstagram #textannotation

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Just arrived from Thriftbooks - Three short story collections by Raymond Carver. Master short story writer. Time to reshuffle my the pile #raymondcarver #whatwetalkaboitwhenwetalkaboutlove #cathedral #willyoupleasebequietplease #shortstory #bookstagram,#readinglife #booklover #whatimreading

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Review: Flash Fiction International

Review: Flash Fiction International

Very Short Stories from Around the World Edited by: James Thomas, Robert Shapard, Christopher Merril   Amazon Goodreads I’m going to make a confession. I’m addicted. I’m absolutely addicted to reading in general, but also to flash fiction in particular. Whenever I open one of the numerous sites I follow or one of the anthologies I collect, it is like the literary equivalent of diving into a box…

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How a short story tries to become a novel. How will this one end?

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The Most Heartbreakingly Beautiful Lines In Literature

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BOOK OF THE DAY:

This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz

Junot Díaz’s recurring protagonist Yunior, a young Dominican-American man reappears in his series of nine short-stories in This Is How You Lose Her. Díaz puts Yunior through every obstacle love has to offer, from the experience of family love, devestating heartbreak and cheating. Overall infidelity is the reigning theme in This Is How You Lose Her, which Díaz describes as:

“A tale about a young man’s struggle to overcome his cultural training and inner habits in order to create lasting relationships… [By the end of the book,] he finally begins to see the women in his life as fully human. He finally gains, after much suffering, a true human imaginary. Something that for the average guy is very difficult to obtain, considering that most of us are socialized to never imagine women as fully human.”

Described by the New York Times, as “too good to be true” Díaz’s prose is tender, comical, emotive and explicit. Díaz doesn’t find the need to use flowery words to write pretty things. This Is How You Lose Her is a subtle, energetic exploration between gender and romance in relation to his culture as a Latino writer.

This Is How You Lose Her proves that he is one of the most natural writers in modern literature.

Get the book here!

Read excerpts from the book here!

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You ask everybody you know: How long does it usually take to get over it? There are many formulas. One year for every year you dated. Two years for every year you dated. It'€™s just a matter of will power: The day you decide it’s over, it’s over. You never get over it.

Junot Díaz, This Is How You Lose Her (via theliteraryjournals)

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I’m like everybody else: weak, full of mistakes, but basically good.

Junot Díaz, This Is How You Lose Her (via theliteraryjournals)

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You must love her because many have tried and failed. And she wants to know that she is worthy to be loved, that she is worthy to be kept

Junot Díaz, This Is How You Lose Her (via theliteraryjournals)

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She was the kind of girlfriend God gives you young, so you’ll know loss the rest of your life.

Junot Díaz, This Is How You Lose Her (via theliteraryjournals)

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But back then, in those first days, I was so alone that every day was like eating my own heart.

Junot Díaz, This Is How You Lose Her (via theliteraryjournals)

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BOOK OF THE DAY:

This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz

Junot Díaz’s recurring protagonist Yunior, a young Dominican-American man reappears in his series of nine short-stories in This Is How You Lose Her. Díaz puts Yunior through every obstacle love has to offer, from the experience of family love, devestating heartbreak and cheating. Overall infidelity is the reigning theme in This Is How You Lose Her, which Díaz describes as:

“A tale about a young man’s struggle to overcome his cultural training and inner habits in order to create lasting relationships… [By the end of the book,] he finally begins to see the women in his life as fully human. He finally gains, after much suffering, a true human imaginary. Something that for the average guy is very difficult to obtain, considering that most of us are socialized to never imagine women as fully human.”

Described by the New York Times, as “too good to be true” Díaz’s prose is tender, comical, emotive and explicit. Díaz doesn’t find the need to use flowery words to write pretty things. This Is How You Lose Her is a subtle, energetic exploration between gender and romance in relation to his culture as a Latino writer.

This Is How You Lose Her proves that he is one of the most natural writers in modern literature.

Get the book here!

Read excerpts from the book here!

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Review - The Best Small Fictions of 2016

Review – The Best Small Fictions of 2016

The Best Small Fictions 2016 Guest Editor Stuart Dybek   Amazon Goodreads (Blogger Note: I apologize for the delay in posting. I have not devised a workable writing/editing calendar that acknowledges the chaos of real life. I hope writing extra content will rectify this in the future.) My reading of this book, as well as other flash fiction collections, is partly influenced by my desire to become…

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