Please be sure to read our substantially revised Submission Guidelines. Much has changed...
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It seems that once again, we need to bid adeiu to one of our own. Sarah Black is stepping down as an editor. We wish Sarah the best as she seeks a new mission overseas.
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Founding flashquake editor Vanitha Sankaran has released her debut novel, Watermark. Watermark is the story of Auda, the daughter of a papermaker in a small French village in the year 1320. Mute from birth and forced to shun normal society, young Auda finds solace and escape in the wonder of the written word. Believed to be cursed by those who embrace ignorance and superstition, Auda's very survival is a testament to the strength of her spirit. But this is an age of Inquisition and intolerance, when difference and defiance are punishable "sins" and new ideas are considered damnable heresy. Auda's questions about her world, conveyed through poetry written on her father's paper, brings her into contact with dangerous elements — the ruling nobility, the Church, a band of heretics, and a painter with troubles of his own. When darkness descends upon her world, Auda — newly grown to womanhood — is forced to flee, setting off on a remarkable quest to discover love and a new sense of self...and to reclaim her heritage and the small glory of her father's art.
Check out further details about the book, and read reviews and an excerpt, at http://www.vanithasankaran.com. Watermark, published by HarperCollins, is now available in major bookstores and through online booksellers. For a more personal perspective, see this issue's Editor's Corner column by David Shapiro, entitled "Breaking Out with a Knockout Novel."
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Lori Romero, a previous guest editor for flashquake, was the winner of the
Spire Press Spring Chapbook Competition. Lori's chapbook, The Emptiness
That Makes Other Things Possible, is now available from CCNOW:
http://www.spirepress.org/romero.html.
"To read Lori Romero's poetry is to experience an enhanced appreciation of
the amazing that stirs within the barely noticeable. Through her memorable
images, her vivid and clear language, she creates poignant and
unforgettable expressions — the kinds that linger in a reader's mind. In
these poems that celebrate and mourn, Romero explores her own astonishment
and translates it well to receptive readers. There's something alive and
moving within each poem."
— Pamelyn Casto
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Speaking of Pamelyn Casto, she'll be teaching another online Flash Fiction course through flashquake, beginning on Monday, August 9. Pam's classes always fill quickly, so if you are interested in participating in this popular course, be sure to visit the online flash fiction course web page.
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There's a new flash fiction anthology in town, Sudden Fiction Latino: Short-short Stories from the United States and Latin America, edited by Robert Shapard, James Thomas, and Ray Gonzalez. Included are short-shorts from Sandra Cisneros, Jorge Luis Borges, Isabel Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Luis Alberto Urrea. The mix of Latin American and American Latino authors and the wide range of styles and subject matter make this a fascinating collection.
Sudden Fiction Latino: Short-Short Stories from the United States and Latin America