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toniclark's review against another edition
4.0
A very good collection — and how nice to get 4 chaps all in one volume. Brief, lively, enjoyable short-shorts. Definitely fun to read. And plenty of variety, across as well as within the 4 chapbooks. I've always loved short-shorts, but they're hard to do well. These are really excellent overall.
Sometimes I felt that a story seemed incomplete or somewhat pointless despite the wit. In some of these, I missed the sense of closure you get from a shot-short by, say, Pamela Painter.
I liked Kathy Fish's collection, Laughter, Applause. Laughter, Music, Applause, very much. I especially liked the opening story, "The Next Stanley Kubrick," about a young video-camera-wielding narrator who is documenting her brother Ray's life. Ray's the football hero, apple of Dad's eye, who according to Dad has the world by the ass. But there are plenty of Ray tapes the parents haven't seen. The narrator wants to go to Hollywood to blow people's minds.
I liked Clark's stories, too. Ellen's not so much, though I can't put my finger on why. They just didn't grab me — though here, in its entirety, is one of Ellen's that I really did like:
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The Pen Is Mightier Than the Sword
It required an act of great self discipline: not sawing my mother in half. It would be such an easy trick. A magician's sleight of hand. Drawing a bubble over her head and filling in the words.
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But I think Claudia Smith's collection, The Sky is a Well, was my fave. And indeed, this was the one selected, by Ron Carlson, as the winner of Rose Metal Press's first short short fiction contest in 2006. Her story, "Colts," blew me away. It ends like this: "My father was a cop. Her father was a lawyer. Our mothers both wore dark glasses, hiding their marks behind scars and migraines. We compared their bruises as if they were badges. We tied our dolls to the trees by their necks. We hanged the cowardly women."
In retrospect (but I'm not going back to check), it seems to me that there are a lot of child narrators — something I'm not keen on in general. It's interesting to speculate on how these stories might sound if related by the adult (years later, as it were). I suppose the child's perspective adds immediacy and . . . I don't know, do they seem to convey a more unvarnished truth? A more unfiltered view of life? Perhaps, through a child's eyes and words, the writer is more able to tell it exactly like it is.
Anyone who likes flash fiction should definitely read this.
Sometimes I felt that a story seemed incomplete or somewhat pointless despite the wit. In some of these, I missed the sense of closure you get from a shot-short by, say, Pamela Painter.
I liked Kathy Fish's collection, Laughter, Applause. Laughter, Music, Applause, very much. I especially liked the opening story, "The Next Stanley Kubrick," about a young video-camera-wielding narrator who is documenting her brother Ray's life. Ray's the football hero, apple of Dad's eye, who according to Dad has the world by the ass. But there are plenty of Ray tapes the parents haven't seen. The narrator wants to go to Hollywood to blow people's minds.
I liked Clark's stories, too. Ellen's not so much, though I can't put my finger on why. They just didn't grab me — though here, in its entirety, is one of Ellen's that I really did like:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Pen Is Mightier Than the Sword
It required an act of great self discipline: not sawing my mother in half. It would be such an easy trick. A magician's sleight of hand. Drawing a bubble over her head and filling in the words.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
But I think Claudia Smith's collection, The Sky is a Well, was my fave. And indeed, this was the one selected, by Ron Carlson, as the winner of Rose Metal Press's first short short fiction contest in 2006. Her story, "Colts," blew me away. It ends like this: "My father was a cop. Her father was a lawyer. Our mothers both wore dark glasses, hiding their marks behind scars and migraines. We compared their bruises as if they were badges. We tied our dolls to the trees by their necks. We hanged the cowardly women."
In retrospect (but I'm not going back to check), it seems to me that there are a lot of child narrators — something I'm not keen on in general. It's interesting to speculate on how these stories might sound if related by the adult (years later, as it were). I suppose the child's perspective adds immediacy and . . . I don't know, do they seem to convey a more unvarnished truth? A more unfiltered view of life? Perhaps, through a child's eyes and words, the writer is more able to tell it exactly like it is.
Anyone who likes flash fiction should definitely read this.
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