What's New?
Editor Barbara Jacksha recently started her own journal, Cezanne's Carrot, with former flashquake guest editor Lori Romero and another friend. The Carrot's reception has been overwhelmingly positive, and as a result, Barb has decided that she needs to devote all of her energy there. We are sorry to see Barb go; we'll miss her eye for quality and her insightful reviews, but we wish her and her Cezanne's Carrot co-founders much success in their new endeavor. Barb has written a special farewell for flashquake's readers.
Replacing Barbara as our newest permanent editor, Sean "Punster" McKlusky, who is, by his own admission, "a no-account bum who somehow managed to ingratiate himself (as in, brown nose, suck up, toady, grovel, and curry favor) with the flashquake staff." Sean, his lovely wife and their three imaginary dogs, Zeek, Earl and Pomfort live north of the deep south, south of the heartland, west of the east and east of the Midwest in a town they call "Home."
Our guest editor for the Summer issue, Sharon Hurlbut, is a writer and physical anthropologist. Her fiction and poetry are published under the pen-name Ann Walters and have appeared in SmokeLong Quarterly, Bonfire, Gator Springs Gazette, NOÖ Journal, Salome Magazine, and edifice WRECKED, among others. She is a member of the Zoetrope Virtual Studio writing workshop where she recently hosted a flashathon in which participants wrote a flash a day for thirty days.
Editor Vanitha Sankaran is ecstatic to have finished a draft of her manuscript, Watermark, a novel about papermaking in medieval Europe. She is currently heavily revising. Excerpts of her work can be found at her new website: www.vanithasankaran.com.
You're never too old to try something new. Editor Didi Wood was in her late 30s when she decided to start voice lessons, something she'd always longed to do. She'd been a music major in college, with violin as her instrument, but the thought of singing in front of anyone terrified her. After a year and a half with an encouraging (and incredibly patient) teacher, she — along with two other sopranos — gave a voice recital in February, performing works by Handel, Mahler, Sondheim, Weill, and others. "No one's ears bled," she reports. "And thank Bacchus for wine!"
There's still time to sign up for Pamelyn Casto's four-week Online Flash Fiction Class, which begins on Monday, April 10. For more information, or to register, please refer to the class page.
In June, Pam will be introducing a four-week Advanced Flash Fiction Class, which will pick up where the introductory class left off. Pam's introductory class will be a prerequisite, and the Advanced Class will use the same text. The cost for the course will be the same.
If you'd like to be notified when the Advanced Class opens for registration, be sure to sign up for flashquake-announce newsletter.
Check out our new feature, Recently Read. This column features the books flashquake's editors are reading.