Rose Metal Press

John Madera says on the Open Letters Monthly blog...

2009-11-07T10:59:00.000-08:00

...that "while [Sean] Lovelace is a trickster and a jokester, he’s also empathetic, for even when his stories pirouette, go pyrotechnic, and slip the stream, he goes beneath the surfaces of things and finds as much gold as he does mud, lava, and earthworms." We agree. Be sure to read the rest of the review here. Thanks, John, and thanks Open Letters Monthly!

Matt Bell reviews The Rose Metal Press Field Guide...

2009-11-05T08:57:00.000-08:00

...on The Critical Flame.

"Taken as a whole, The Rose Metal Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction is an excellent starting place for the study of writing short short stories. For teachers of the genre and for writers still learning the form, The Rose Metal Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction will certainly satisfy, and perhaps become an indispensable desktop companion for some time. For more established writers, there's still plenty to be inspired by here, and I'm not sure that there is anyone so far along on their writerly journey as to completely disregard this concise volume," he says. Check out the whole review here. Thanks, Matt!

Abby and I interview each other...

2009-11-05T08:14:00.001-08:00

...over on the blog of The Short Review. Thanks to Tania Hershman for giving us this opportunity to chat with each other!

Chapbook Publishers Roundtable 2009!

2009-11-04T09:37:00.000-08:00

At The Chapbook Review! Including Rose Metal Press along with Bannock Street Books’s Sarah Black, TinFish Press’s Susan Webster Schultz, Yazoo River Press’s J.Q. Zheng, Small Fires Press’s Friedrich Kerksieck, Publishing Genius Press’s Adam Robinson, Musclehead Press’s John Berbrich, Dancing Girl Press’s Kristy Bowen, Toad Press’s Genevieve Kaplan, Blood Pudding Press’s Juliet Cook, and Mud Luscious Press’s J.A. Tyler! Thanks to John Madera for moderating.

The Montgomery News hearts Sherrie Flick...

2009-11-04T09:30:00.000-08:00

...and mentions The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction. "Rich with provocative details and intimate character development," they say of Flick's novel Reconsidering Happiness. Be sure to check out the whole story here.

The Field Guide to Flash Fiction continues to take the nation by storm

2009-10-26T20:23:00.000-07:00

As evidenced by Sherrie Flick's flash fiction lecture at Salem College in North Carolina last Wednesday. Note the prominently displayed Field Guide on the table to Sherrie's left. Note also that Sherrie's novel Reconsidering Happiness is available for purchase from University of Nebraska Press. Consider purchasing a copy of both books. Thanks, Sherrie!

Timothy Gager reviews the Field Guide...

2009-10-22T13:56:00.001-07:00

...over at the Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene blog. Check it out here. Thanks, Timothy and Doug!

Check out who's Number 6...

2009-10-19T17:42:00.000-07:00

...on the latest Small Press Distribution list of nonfiction bestsellers. That's right, it's The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction, edited by Tara L. Masih. Congratulations, Tara~

Tania Hershman campaigns for Eggs...

2009-10-18T14:44:00.000-07:00

...over at the Campaign for the American Reader. "I've just finished reading Sean Lovelace's How Some People Like Their Eggs, a slim chapbook of flash fiction published by the excellent Rose Metal Press. I love flash fiction, short short stories of only a few pages which, when done well - and here they really are done well - make you wonder why anyone ever needs to take 250 pages to tell a story," she says.

You can read her entire entry here. Thanks, Tania!

Matt Bell interviews Peter Jay Shippy...

2009-10-16T11:03:00.000-07:00

...about novellas-in-verse and other mutants over at The Collagist. Thanks, Matt!

Matt Bell interviews Sean Lovelace...

2009-10-08T11:51:00.000-07:00

...over at The Collagist. See them talk about how you can like How Some People Like Their Eggs even without personally liking eggs yourself here. Thanks, Matt!

Jim Cullen talks up the Field Guide...

2009-10-07T11:59:00.001-07:00

...over on his blog in an insightful post about how "technological innovation [...] can revitalize older forms of artistic expression and give them a new lease on life." Check it out. Thanks, Jim.

A short review of EGGS in The Short Review

2009-10-05T07:03:00.000-07:00

According to Tania Hershman in her review of HOW SOME PEOPLE LIKE THEIR EGGS: "Sean Lovelace is an author whose work I shall definitely seek out, now that I've been formally introduced. Lovelace is a professor of creative writing, and I envy his students, having a teacher whose own writing is one of the clearest examples of creativity I've had the pleasure to review." Be sure to read the whole piece here. Thanks, Tania!

Do you have a flash story inspired by the RMP Field Guide?

2009-10-04T07:16:00.000-07:00

If so, remember that you can send it to editor Tara L. Masih for publication on her blog.

Be sure to check out the latest Field Guide-prompted story by Rosette Melikian, who wrote this in a class Tara taught at the Asian American Writers' Workshop in New York City, here. Thanks for sharing, Rose!

Reading Sean Lovelace leads to eggceptional commutes

2009-10-04T06:55:00.000-07:00

So says Sara Crowley who, while reading How Some People Like Their Eggs during a homebound train ride found herself suddenly serenaded by her fellow passengers. Read all about it here, then buy your own copy here so you can see what reading Sean Lovelace can make happen for you. Thanks, Sara!

J.A. Tyler takes a story by story walk-through...

2009-10-02T07:58:00.000-07:00

...of How Some People Like Their Eggs over at The Chapbook Review, and Sean Lovelace gives some great answers to the interview Qs, including this answer about the importance of celebrity to his writing:

"They are the only gods I see left. The largest drug we take. I mean it’s so fascinating, to know these people’s names and their sex lives and their incomes and all this personal shit, and most of us don’t even know—or want to know!—that about our own family, or the neighbor. I keep asking what is this celebrity phenomenon? It fuels my fiction. I think fiction can provide answers, by working, re-working a thing. I still haven’t figured our obsessive need to follow these people, to like and love them, to desire them, especially when so many of them are clearly awful human beings. Why do I need to see their bodies in bathing suits/baby carriage/crotch shot/newest lover/newest Disney green dress/drug-addled party flesh/DJ/car crash/cancer scare/charity whore/ etc.? Who knows? Are they us, by proxy? Are they who we need or want to be? Are they our personal Satan? Or—and excuse me Depeche Mode—our Jesus? Are they mirror or a cocaine mirror or my reflection on the face of a deep well? Fuck. I really don’t know, so I just keep writing about them. They just appear."

Read the whole piece and pick your fave Q's and A's here. Thanks, J.A. Tyler!

Rose Metal Press is profiled...

2009-10-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

...on ArtSake, the Massachusetts Cultural Council blog. According to MCC: "We’re interested in Massachusetts arts organizations that identify a specific need for artists, then shape their organization to directly meet that need – in essence, match the right horse with the right course." They think we do that. And we think they are right. You can read all about it here. Thanks, MCC!

Adam Robinson shows Sean Lovelace some html kindness...

2009-09-30T05:08:00.001-07:00

....in this review over on html giant. Of the book itself, he says, "it’s a beautiful artifact. The typesetting is impeccable, the design is striking, and the construction is solid. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that holding this book instills a sense that this is what a chapbook is meant to be. The production quality exemplifies the value of a chapbook, distinct from a ‘zine or something full-length; this justifies the medium."

And of Sean, "I find it remarkable how much technique he is able to carry over from the lunacy of his blog. This comparison ought to be a case-study in how a blog works for a serious writer; how easily he moves away from the tomfoolery of clicking 'Publish' in WordPress for the nobler duty to a story, how he can select from a better pool of metaphors than “run like a friend’s closet” in something that appears between two covers." Thanks, Adam, and thanks html giant!

Tinderbox Lawn reviewed by Jory Mickelson

2009-09-24T12:35:00.000-07:00

According to Mickelson, "Guess's collection is an example of prose poetry at its best: highly textured, compact, and sharp. But, the work will not please every reader. Those looking for straightforward poems or prose may find themselves flummoxed. Guess’s work demands that the reader collaborate in the reading process, requiring him or her to fill in some gaps." We agree. Thanks, Jory!

Be sure to check out the whole review here.

The Field Guide in Profile

2009-09-17T19:55:00.001-07:00

Kelly Spitzer just posted an admiring write-up of the Field Guide over on her Writers in Profile blog. "But I try not to define things that don’t have conclusive answers. I am what I am, and that’s a whole lot of things. What I do know is this—when I return to writing, I’m going straight to the Field Guide to work on some of the exercises within," she says. And then she lists some of her faves among said exercises including those by Tom Hazuka, Sherrie Flick, and Kim Chinquee.

You can see her whole list and read the whole write-up here. Thanks, Kelly!

BookWomen and BookMen

2009-09-14T09:25:00.000-07:00

The Austin Launch of The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction took place last Friday at BookWoman. In spite of the uncharacteristic (albeit much-needed) torrential rain, it was standing room only. Intrepid bookseller Allison introduced the event...
...and then I introduced everybody else and read an essay from the Field Guide by the inimitable Ron Carlson, plus the story "I Love Bocce" from our latest greatest chapbook How Some People Like Their Eggs by Sean Lovelace...
Next, Robert Shapard read some Latin American and American Latino short shorts, as well as his own story from the Field Guide......and then special guest and newly minted Austinite (Austinian?) Elizabeth Crane read some of her finest flashes... Last but not least was special guest Elizabeth Harris reading a series of short shorts, plus a super-short novel excerpt:

Thanks so much to all the readers and to BookWoman for hosting us, and to everyone who braved the weather to come hear us do our thing!

GenPop Books Hearts Carol Guess...

2009-09-12T14:46:00.000-07:00

...as do we at Rose Metal Press. You can read four new poems and all of what the independent publisher of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, cross-genre work, and sundry literary curiosities has to say about Guess here, but the gist is that her "new work has the unmistakable air of Washington State driftwood and houses made of tires" and that it is very good. She will be reading in Portland and Washington, DC later this fall, so be sure to keep an eye on our calendar, and if you can't make it to either city, you can always buy a copy of Tinderbox Lawn right here.

Jake Freivald reviews the Field Guide at Flash Fiction Online

2009-09-03T07:46:00.000-07:00

And it's not just a review, but kind of a field guide to the Field Guide. "Arnold Schoenberg, the inventor of the twelve-tone musical system, told his students, Don’t compose in my method. Learn my method and then just compose. The contributors to the Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction, edited by Tara L. Masih, seem to have the same attitude. They want to hit writers with new ideas, like little meteors striking earth, and see what unique sparks fly. Instead of formulae, they offer perspectives, exercises, and strategies to help new and experienced writers address the unique problems of the short-short form," he says. Right on.

You can read the whole review here. Thanks, Jake!

How PANK Magazine likes How Some People Like Their Eggs

2009-09-02T08:20:00.000-07:00

According to Roxane Gay: "Ultimately, this collection is witty, at times tender, at times magical, but always a fine example of how wonderful short short stories are when well-executed. In reading How Some People Like Their Eggs, I was reminded of Mozart and the Marriage of Figaro and how in one scene the score moves from aria to duet to trio to quartet to quintet until twenty voices are singing in perfect harmony. This collection is like that composition. Every word, every sentence, every story work together in perfect harmony."

You can read the whole review here.

And while you're at it, be sure to check out the review on Ethel Rohan's blog here. Thanks, Ethel. And thanks to Pank for sending her a copy!

Field Guide feature in the Andover Townsman

2009-08-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

According to staff writer Judy Wakefield of the Andover Townsman, "[Field Guide editor Tara] Masih's research shows the short short story was popular centuries ago across the world." True story.

You can read the whole feature here, and if you are in the Andover area this fall, you can catch Tara reading with flash fiction writer Sue Williams at the Flint Memorial Library in North Reading, MA on Tuesday, September 22 at 7:00 pm.