'Sudden Fiction: American Short-Short Stories' -- a Goodreads review

Sudden Fiction: American Short-Short Stories by Robert Shapard

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I found gems in this collection, like Stuart Dybek's "Sunday at the Zoo," which takes barely a page to accomplish craziness, desperation, and hilarity.

Raymond Carver's "Popular Mechanics" flares up and chars the imagination in little more than a page and a half.

In the Afterwords sections, I also found several insights into the short-short story from Dybek, Tobias Wolff, Joyce Carol Oates, Paul Theroux, Russell Banks, Mark Strand, and several others.

For example, in one of the Afterwords, Joe David Bellamy writes, "Compression and concision have always been part of the aesthetic of the American short story form. Some writers, perhaps spurred on by information overload of our time, began to experiment with just how far these values could be pushed without losing the minimum weight needed for a memorable dramatic statement."

Fred Chappel writes, "Unease, whether humorous or sad, is the effect the short-short aims at."

Charles Baxter: "It's a test of the reader's ability to fly, using minimal materials."

Baxter again: "It's not that people don't have attention spans. They just don't believe in the future, and they're tired of information."





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'Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction' -- a Goodreads review

The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction: Tips from Editors, Teachers, and Writers in the Field by Tara L. Masih

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The intro surprised me by establishing the historical and critical validity of "flash fiction." After all, acclaimed writers who've ducked under 1,000 words to tell a tale include Ernest Hemingway, Donald Barthelme, O. Henry, Jayne Anne Phillips, Jorge Luis Borges, Joyce Carol Oates, Raymond Carver, Ambrose Bierce, Sherwood Anderson, Ron Carlson, Stuart Dybek, and many more. This book has 25 craft essays paired with 25 examples of flash fiction. It makes a heck of an intro as well as a short master class.



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Flash Fiction: Thanksgiving Drive

Husband: I realized the reason for my melancholy. I 'm a white male mostly of British descent and I haven't conquered anything. Aside from seafood buffets. I have no empire.

Wife: You could conquer the backyard. The immense garrisons of vines along the back fence will require serious weaponry. And you could claim the backyard for yourself. Called it Husbandland.

Husband: But it won't fight back.

Wife: It's land. Take the land!

Husband: But no one is occupying it already. I mean, that's not conquering. That's just squatting.

Wife: That's not squatting. It's your land. It's Husbandland. It's occupied by weeds and fall leaves and dog piles. Take it back! Take back the land! It is your empire!

Husband: Oh that's just great -- an empire of vines, weeds, leaves, and shit.

Wife: Stop and let me out of the car.

Husband: At least you said "stop" first this time.

 

In tonight's class, horror movies as morality tales

One of my creative writing students wrote a vivid, immediate, gruesome short story. At the end of this evening's workshop discussion about the story, I turned the conversation to horror movies as moral lessons.

I asked how many had seen the horror flick Hostel. About a third of the class had seen it. I hadn't -- don't want to! -- but I knew the basic idea. 

Another student, referring to the starting point of the movie, said, "I'm not going back-packing in Europe anytime soon!"

"What's the premise of Hostel?" I asked the class. "Trying to hook up with strange girls in a strange place!"

Some of the students made the connection.

I mentioned I had once written an article about horror movies, in a general sense, serving as morality tales:  "The idea is, teenagers are alone together in a way their parents don't want them to be, and just when things get interesting, the boogey man kills them," I said.

More of them seemed to get it.

"You don't want Jason running you through with a big knife, so keep your pants on!" 

They laughed.

"So on that note, have a great Spring Break!"

They laughed even harder, and eagerly left the classroom.

The ambitious holiday reading list

Reading:

The Triggering Town: Lectures and Essays on Poetry and Writing, by Richard Hugo

Shopgirl, by Steve Martin

Faith Seeking Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Theology, by Daniel L. Migliore

Radical Orthodoxy and the Reformed Tradition: Creation, Covenant, and Participation, James K.A. Smith and James H. Olthuis, editors

Macbeth, by Shakespeare

Critical Theory: A User-Friendly Guide, by Lois Tyson

Reading the Written Image: Verbal Play, Interpretation, and the Roots of Iconophobia, by Christopher Collins

Finishing or Continuing:

The Best Creative Nonfiction, Vol. 1, Lee Gutkind, editor

The Optimist: Poems, by Joshua Mehigan

The Last Battle, by C.S. Lewis, which I've been reading with the kids

Tree of Heaven: Poems, by Jim McKean, who was my thesis adviser

Air Guitar: Essays on Art and Democracy, by Dave Hickey

A Stay Against Confusion: Essays on Faith and Fiction, by Ron Hansen

Examining:

Imaginative Writing, by Janet Burroway