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christopherdewan's review against another edition
5.0
This book is a master class in microfiction. The two authors, Kathy Fish and Robert Vaughan, take turns one-upping each other, experimenting with so many voices and tones, and leaving a long trail of rewards for the reader: images, phrases and scenarios that will linger long in your mind. But the book is more than just an exercise in writerly virtuosity, because Fish and Vaughan never lose sight of the real goal of their stories: to rip open small tears in the fabric of our lives, through which to reveal the sadness and longing that lies beneath.
Don't read this book too fast. Take time. Let its stories gnaw at you slowly. It's worth it.
Don't read this book too fast. Take time. Let its stories gnaw at you slowly. It's worth it.
sheldonleecompton's review against another edition
5.0
Collaborations in literature are difficult on many levels. With Rift, their new collection of flash stories, Kathy Fish and Robert Vaughan – both veterans and esteemed practitioners of the form – make it look easy.
The collection, now available now from Unknown Press, is made up of four sections of about nine to ten stories each from both Fish and Vaughan. The sections are titled in keeping with the collection’s main title and slowly building in scale – Fault, Tremor, Breach, and Cataclysm – with a definition of each word prefacing the section. The structure itself is fantastic, and sets the tone for what’s to come.
Fault
“A break in the continuity of a body of rock or of a vein, with dislocation along the plane of the fracture.”
In this section, it’s Fish’s story “Vocabulary” that perhaps speaks most closely to the definition of a fault. A short (one paragraph) glimpse into the heart of a woman’s early fracture as she sleeps with a stranger, saying “I was his paper.” Like much of Fish’s work, this is achieved in a short space that seems perfect in snapshot, just enough withheld and just enough shared.
In duet, Vaughan’s stand-out story in this section is “She Wears Me Like A Coat.” Here, Vaughan does what he does best – showing the reader the edges of a relationship to make us understand its core. It’s more than a clever, literary trick. In Vaughan’s hands, the technique becomes a perfect brushstroke. This, not to mention the story’s first sentence is a genius example for up-and-coming flash fiction writers everywhere: “The first time it was one of those cucumbers wrapped in plastic.”
Read full review - https://revolutionjohn.wordpress.com/2015/12/13/the-world-set-shaking-kathy-fish-and-robert-vaughans-rift/
The collection, now available now from Unknown Press, is made up of four sections of about nine to ten stories each from both Fish and Vaughan. The sections are titled in keeping with the collection’s main title and slowly building in scale – Fault, Tremor, Breach, and Cataclysm – with a definition of each word prefacing the section. The structure itself is fantastic, and sets the tone for what’s to come.
Fault
“A break in the continuity of a body of rock or of a vein, with dislocation along the plane of the fracture.”
In this section, it’s Fish’s story “Vocabulary” that perhaps speaks most closely to the definition of a fault. A short (one paragraph) glimpse into the heart of a woman’s early fracture as she sleeps with a stranger, saying “I was his paper.” Like much of Fish’s work, this is achieved in a short space that seems perfect in snapshot, just enough withheld and just enough shared.
In duet, Vaughan’s stand-out story in this section is “She Wears Me Like A Coat.” Here, Vaughan does what he does best – showing the reader the edges of a relationship to make us understand its core. It’s more than a clever, literary trick. In Vaughan’s hands, the technique becomes a perfect brushstroke. This, not to mention the story’s first sentence is a genius example for up-and-coming flash fiction writers everywhere: “The first time it was one of those cucumbers wrapped in plastic.”
Read full review - https://revolutionjohn.wordpress.com/2015/12/13/the-world-set-shaking-kathy-fish-and-robert-vaughans-rift/
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