Sign in with Facebook
Teresa's Reviews > The Best Small Fictions 2015
The Best Small Fictions 2015
by more…
by more…
When I heard Moira Crone speak a couple of weekends ago, in response to a question, she talked of how a novel is a journey, but a short story is about a moment. I'd started this book at the time, so I silently wondered if that meant "small fictions" are about less than a moment. My own belief (and I'm sure I stole it from somewhere) is that the best of (long) short stories live beyond the page, and that's even truer of shorter fiction.
Not only have series editor Tara L. Masih, guest editor Robert Olen Butler and their staff done fans of small fictions a great service, rounding up the best of the past year so we don't have to hunt for them in the various journals they originally appeared in, but this inaugural volume will also be a great introduction for the curious.
No one person will like every single story and that's a tribute to how varied this collection is. I'm on record in a couple of reviews saying flash fiction sometimes frustrates me: I don't always 'get' it; but that's also true of my relationship with poetry, and in many ways a small-fiction writer is a poet, the writer having to do so much more with less. I guarantee you there will be surprises: I inwardly groaned at the title of "Pistols at Twenty Paces: On the Last Recorded Duel in Hancock County, Mississippi, April 23, 1866", but this piece by Michael Garriga is probably my favorite -- a lesson to not only not judge a piece by its title, but probably not even to judge a short by its label.
I received an ARC of this book from the editor. This has not affected my review.
Not only have series editor Tara L. Masih, guest editor Robert Olen Butler and their staff done fans of small fictions a great service, rounding up the best of the past year so we don't have to hunt for them in the various journals they originally appeared in, but this inaugural volume will also be a great introduction for the curious.
No one person will like every single story and that's a tribute to how varied this collection is. I'm on record in a couple of reviews saying flash fiction sometimes frustrates me: I don't always 'get' it; but that's also true of my relationship with poetry, and in many ways a small-fiction writer is a poet, the writer having to do so much more with less. I guarantee you there will be surprises: I inwardly groaned at the title of "Pistols at Twenty Paces: On the Last Recorded Duel in Hancock County, Mississippi, April 23, 1866", but this piece by Michael Garriga is probably my favorite -- a lesson to not only not judge a piece by its title, but probably not even to judge a short by its label.
I received an ARC of this book from the editor. This has not affected my review.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
The Best Small Fictions 2015.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
August 5, 2015
– Shelved
Started Reading
August 18, 2015
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-17 of 17 (17 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Jaidee
(new)
Aug 18, 2015 07:08PM
What exactly is flash fiction Teresa?
reply
|
flag
Jaidee wrote: "What exactly is flash fiction Teresa?"It generally just means a story that is very short, though complete.
Some feel there is more to a flash besides its brief length though. I talk about it a bit in my review of another book here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Hemingway purportedly wrote this famous flash, though the term wasn't in existence then:
For sale: baby shoes, never worn.
None of the stories in this book are anywhere near that short.
Teresa wrote: "Jaidee wrote: "What exactly is flash fiction Teresa?"It generally just means a story that is very short, though complete.
Some feel there is more to a flash besides its brief length though. I t..."
Thanks so much Teresa....I am going to check out that link now. :)
Very well done Teresa. I'm also wondering whether my rating sells this collection short (though 4 is certainly an excellent rating). I'm thinking I was rating on likability of the stories rather than the success of the collection as a whole. Two entirely different things.
Sue wrote: "Very well done Teresa...I'm thinking I was rating on likability of the stories rather than the success of the collection as a whole. Two entirely different things."Thanks, Sue. Yes, but I think you explained that well in your review. It's hard to review a collection with so many different authors.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Teresa. I'm forever second guessing myself. It is a great collection.
Oh, I sent for the collection of Duels after Tara told me such a book exists. I think I used viewfinder or the Amazon secondary market. It's actually on its way now.
as always, auto correct changed what I wrote...the last message should have said bookfinder.
Sue wrote: "Oh, I sent for the collection of Duels after Tara told me such a book exists. I think I used viewfinder or the Amazon secondary market. It's actually on its way now."Yes, I saw that at the bottom of his story in this book. I may search for it too.
I intend to check out other authors in this collection too.
Sue wrote: "I intend to check out other authors in this collection too."I've read a few of them before on online literary sites, but most of them were new to me.
They were all new to me, so I feel that I have many new avenues to explore.
Sue wrote: "They were all new to me, so I feel that I have many new avenues to explore."I own a novel by Bobbie Ann Mason, but I haven't read it yet.
Well we now have even more reading in our future!
Teresa: If it's In Country, you must read it someday.
Tara wrote: "Teresa: If it's In Country, you must read it someday."It is, and I will! :)
I have that on my list---another someday book.
