(Carol) Guess Who's in Chicago Part II

Here, Carol delights the crowd at The Whistler with a line about having a huge face, like Swedish people... ...and if you order a copy of Tinderbox Lawn and turn to page 50, you can read the whole poem. And here, pictured to Martin Seay's upper left, is Jason Behrends, the mastermind behind the Orange Alert Reading Series: Not pictured are the other lovely readers: Toby Bengelsdorf, Julia Borcherts, and Jason Hardy. Thanks to Jason for hosting and to Chris Weiher for taking this picture. Thanks most of all to Carol Guess for coming to Chicago!

(Carol) Guess Who's in Chicago Part I

Carol "Tinderbox Lawn" Guess is in Chicago all weekend, all the way from Bellingham, Washington, the Evergreen State. Last night, she read at Women & Children First with Hanna "a / long / division" Andrews who was also here, all the way from New York:
See? Here they are during the Q&A: And here they are, just before that... reading: Major thanks to Lynn for hosting the event, and for running such a fantastic bookstore:

Then on Saturday afternoon, Carol (pictured right), Brandi Homan of Switchback Books (pictured left), and I discussed What Makes Poetry Funny (or Not) at Kristy Bowen's studio in the Fine Arts Building on Michigan Avenue (pictured behind us):
Brandi talked about humor as a way to present material that is also heartbreaking and/or obscene and read from the work of Jen Knox and Jason Bredle by way of examples.

Here, Carol recommends and reads from Heather Lewis's Notice... ...which Publishers Weekly describes as "searing, graphic and not for the faint of heart," but which Carol pointed out is also funny thanks to the process of comic displacement described by Allan Garganus in his introduction to the book. Thanks to Kristy for hosting us!

Tomorrow night, Carol will read along with three other readers in the Orange Alert Reading Series at 6:00 pm at The Whistler. Be there.

Sophie Powell reviews the Field Guide at Fiction Writers Review...

...and she says "These essays are probing and explorative rather than reductive and constrictive. A true ‘field guide’ in spirit, I came away thoroughly more equipped to teach and write short fiction in a richer, more illuminating way. This book is an Aladdin’s cave of gems, a brilliantly versatile guide to invigorate any written piece, any writer’s working life."

Also: "It is a testament to the book’s impact that I am using it as a set text for my creative writing classes next year."

You can read the whole review here. And you can totally adopt the book for your own creative writing classes--shoot us an email to ask us how. Thanks, Sophie!

The Boston Launch of the Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction

On Thursday, June 11, it was standing room only at the Brookline Booksmith... ...where Abby Beckel, Tara L. Masih, Stace Budzko, Rusty Barnes, Sue Williams and Steve Almond read from and discussed the just-published Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction: Thanks to everyone for coming out in the rain, and to Genie the Events Coordinator...
...for being so coordinated. Be sure to keep an eye on our calendar of events for upcoming readings all over the country!

Double the Tara!

Tara McDaniel interviews Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction editor Tara L. Masih on her blog, here. McDaniel notes, after reading Masih's intro, that she "had no idea that the short short has been around for a long time"--be surprised and amazed by the intro yourself by buying a copy of the book here.