RECOMMENDED

As our regular readers have probably noticed, flashquake has never accepted advertising. However, in an effort to raise revenue to embark on new projects — like compiling and publishing a print anthology of selected work from our online journal, offering spoken word CD recording of stories, essays and poetry that have appeared in our journal — we have become an Amazon.com affiliate, and we hope that you will use one of the links below to purchase books that our editors have read and can recommend to you.

Of course, if there are any other books, music, DVDs, videos or merchandise you would consider purchasing from Amazon.com, we would appreciate it if you could use the Amazon search box or the link at the bottom of the page. flashquake will get a commission on your purchase, which will help us pay our writers and expand your options — without resorting to the advertisements that clutter other sites. Thank you for your support!

Flash Writing: How to Write Stories Less Than 1,000 Words Long by Michael L. Wilson
This is a great how-to book that will energize novices and provide years worth of writing prompts for practicing writers. See Didi Wood's review of the book in this issue of flashquake for more information.

Recommendations from former Guest Editor Jim Driesen:

Two very different books by very different writers I've found a great inspiration to my own writing:

Writing in a New Convertible With the Top Down: A Unique Guide for Writers, by Sheila Bender and Christi Killien. (Blue Heron Publishing, Hillsboro, OR) — Two writers, living in separate states, write letters back and forth to each other, lamenting everything from writer's block to putting out the garbage, while letting the reader in on their growth as writers and human beings. Each chapter ends with a brief comment and a writing exercise. You haven't read a book about writing quite like this.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King. (Scribner, NY) — What can you say about this writer? An honest and blunt memoir every writer should read and absorb. This man makes a nice living doing this; so many of the books on writing are written by people who don't.

Flash Anthologies/Collections:

• The Blood of Strangers: Stories from Emergency Medicine by Frank Huyler

• Flash Fiction: Very Short Stories by James Thomas (Editor)

• Sudden Fiction by Robert Shapard (Editor), James Thomas (Editor)

• Sudden Fiction International: Sixty Short-Short Stories by Robert Shapard (Editor), James Thomas (Editor)

• Sudden Fiction (Continued): 60 New Short-Short Stories by Robert Shapard (Editor), James Thomas (Editor)

• Micro Fiction: An Anthology of Really Short Stories by Jerome Stern (Editor)

• The World's Shortest Stories: Murder, Love, Horror, Suspense, All This and Much More in the Most Amazing Short Stories Ever Written, Each One Just 55 Words Long by Steve Moss (Editor)

• The World's Shortest Stories of Love and Death: Passion, Betrayal, Suspicion, Revenge, All This and More in a New Collection of Amazing Short Stories-Each One Just 55 Words Long by Steve Moss (Editor)

• Short Shorts: An Anthology of the Shortest Stories by Irving Howe

• Palm-Of-The-Hand Stories by Yasunari Kawabata

• Sudden Stories: The MAMMOTH Book of Miniscule Fiction by Dinty W. Moore (editor)

• 75 Short Masterpieces by Roger B. Goodman (editor)

Flash Nonfiction Collections:

• In Short: A Collection of Brief Creative Nonfiction by Judith Kitchen (Editor), Mary Paumier Jones (Editor)

• In Brief: Short Takes on the Personal by Judith Kitchen (Editor), Mary Paumier Jones (Editor)

On Prose Poetry:

• Models of the Universe: An Anthology of the Prose Poem by Stuart Friebert (Editor), David Young (Editor)

• Best of The Prose Poem: An International Journal by Peter Johnson (Editor)

• The American Prose Poem: Poetic Form and the Boundaries of Genre by Michel Delville

• Great American Prose Poems : From Poe to the Present by David Lehman (Editor)

On Creative Nonfiction:

• The Situation and the Story: The Art of Personal Narrative by Vivian Gornick

• Writing Creative Nonfiction: Instruction and Insights from Teachers of the Associated Writing Programs by Carolyn Forche and Philip Gerard

• On Writing Well, 25th Anniversary : The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zissner

• The Art of Creative Nonfiction : Writing and Selling the Literature of Reality by Lee Gutkind

• Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace (7th Edition) by Joseph M. Williams

• Writing Creative Nonfiction: Fiction Techniques for Crafting Great Nonfiction by Theodore A. Rees Cheney

• Turning Life into Fiction by Robin Hemley

• Inventing the Truth : The Art and Craft of Memoir by William Zinsser, Editor

• Writing for Your Life : Discovering the Story of Your Life's Journey by Deena Metzger

General Writing:

• Fast Fiction: Creating Fiction in Five Minutes by Roberta Allen

• The Playful Way to Serious Writing by Roberta Allen

• The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron

• Finding Your Writer's Voice: A Guide to Creative Fiction by Thaisa Frank and Dorothy Wall

• The Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers by Betsy Lerner

• A Writer's Book of Days: A Spirited Companion and Lively Muse for the Writing Life by Judy Reeves

• Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life by Natalie Goldberg

• Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg

• Thunder and Lightning: Cracking Open the Writer's Craft by Natalie Goldberg

• Old Friend from Far Away: How to Write a Memoir by Natalie Goldberg

• Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

• What If? : Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter

• Room to Write: Daily Invitations to a Writer's Life by Bonni Goldberg

• Pocket Muse: Ideas and Inspirations for Writing by Monica Wood

• THE WRITER'S BLOCK 786 Ideas to Jump-Start Your Imagination by Jason Rekulak

• The Writer's Idea Book by Jack Heffron

• Fiction Writer's Workshop by Josip Novakovich

• Writing Fiction Step by Step by Josip Novakovich

Miscellaneous:

• Ordinary People by Judith Guest

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