Category: reviews

I LOVE YOUR… uh… BOOK!: Jonathan Bluebird Montgomery on Nancy Stohlman’s “After the Rapture”

On By nancystohlmanIn flash fiction, reviews, The Writer's Life, Uncategorized
You have NEVER read a review until you've read a review from Jonathan Montgomery: it's avant garde and funny--totally fulfills my Andy Warhol Factory days fantasy... THANK YOU JONNY! OH...and the second printing is in, so I have books again! Hit me up xo

By Jonathan Montgomery

“Yeah, I was writing this at a party. And yeah I was liberally sipping a tall bourbon & Dr. Pepper while I was. And yeah Nancy was right there next to me pretty much the whole time. 

And yeah okay yeah yeah it’s taken me like two months to actually finish writing this. Cuz ya know things.

Is this what the publishing team at Mason Jar Press envisioned when they sent me an advanced copy of Nancy’s new flash novella After the Rapture months ago? I can’t say I’ve ever really understood the minds of professional publishers, but if they are expecting me to convince anyone to buy a copy of this book cuz of my record of punctual and objective tastemaking then they will probably be disappointed. 

This is the Boulder Poetry Scene after all. All we do is talk about how great our friends’ writing is, and that’s the way we like it. And Nancy is my good friend. And her writing is real great. 

Anyway, it was late February and we were at Rob Geisen’s “Under the Moose” reading, the erratically scheduled, invite-only, deeep underground lit happening we’ve been doing for like 1.3 decades. This time was at Rob’s daughter’s place in Denver where he was dog/house sitting, and Kona Morris was there visiting from LA, and Krystal Summers was there, and Leah Rogin-Roper and her husband Roper were there too…”

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“After the Rapture” excerpts published at Electric Lit/The Commuter (plus prizes)

On By nancystohlmanIn flash fiction, Reading, reviews, The Writer's Life, Uncategorized, writing

“How do you convince the police that you’re not missing and never were? In these excerpts from “After the Rapture” by Nancy Stohlman, bad things pile on top of one another, food disappears from the shelves, and a person finds a missing person poster featuring their own face.”

READ AT ELECTRIC LIT HERE

And THANK YOU to everyone who has pre-ordered! xoxoxox

Pre-order AFTER THE RAPTURE

from Mason Jar Press!

Pre-sale price: $12

(regularly $14)

Pre-sale orders ship March 7, 2023

*************************

P.S. This month’s bonus prize drawing is happening

October 28

and the winner gets a free story critique!
(Max 1000 words)

TO ENTER:

  1. Pre order After the Rapture HERE
  2. THEN enter your name into the pre-order drawing HERE

And that’s it! If you entered last month then you are automatically entered for all the drawings–so the sooner you enter, the more chances you have to win!

(That’s me with the uncorrected galley proof) xoxo

Sabotage Reviews: Neil Campbell’s Insightful Review of “Going Short”

On By nancystohlmanIn Craft Essays, flash fiction, Reading, reviews, writing

An excerpt:

Read the entire review at Sabotage Reviews

This book could become the definitive introduction to the form. It’s admirably lean and devoid of ego.

“This is also a good book for creative writing courses and, even better, a book for that old fashioned entity, the solitary writer, the one excluded from academia by not having thousands of pounds.

You could read this book in an hour and go back to it for years. And there’s a hundred prompts at the back for those of you feigning ‘writer’s block’.”

READ MORE

“Going Short” featured in Reader Views Book Reviews

On By nancystohlmanIn flash fiction, Reading, reviews, Uncategorized, writing

Posted on  by Reader Views

“an energetic, comprehensive guide….If you like the short form, as a reader or writer, make sure Going Short is part of your must-read library.”

Readers VIews

Going Short: An Invitation to Flash Fiction (Master Class Series)

Nancy Stohlman
Ad Hic Fiction (2020)
ISBN: 9781912095797
Reviewed by Tammy Ruggles for Reader Views (01/2021)

“Going Short: An Invitation to Flash Fiction (Master Class Series)” by Nancy Stohlman, is an energetic, comprehensive guide that teaches writers how to write flash fiction.

Some readers like long, luxurious stories, while others like them short and sweet. Writers are no different. Some enjoy writing the long novel, while others enjoy the shorthand style of flash fiction. Some, of course, prefer to do both. If you’re a writer who’s never dabbled in flash fiction but wants to, or one who has but would like to take a deeper dive into the process and take your writing to the next level, then this book is all you really need. Stohlman takes you through the basics–what flash fiction is, what it isn’t, and what it could be when done well. Anyone can write a super short story. But does it still make an impact? Is it as entertaining and moving as if you’d written it long? This book will help you explore that and will give you hands-on instruction on how to make your flash fiction the best it can be.

We writers have all heard the advice “write tight” or “write lean.” But flash fiction is more than just being concise. It’s creating a meaningful story in a short amount of space–still satisfying. Still moving. It has nothing to do with short attention spans or a lack of time. It means you enjoy really short fiction, for its own sake.