Quick Fiction – Fall 2003
Issue Four
October 2003
Denise Hill
Measuring in at 6”x6”, this is a great little journal to tuck in a bag, purse, glovebox, computer bag, under a pillow or wherever you can think to stash it for truly quick reading. Keeping entries at under 500 words, this publication offers a zen approach to reading literature – just as we can remind ourselves to breathe during hectic days, this publication is an accessible reminder to read.
Measuring in at 6”x6”, this is a great little journal to tuck in a bag, purse, glovebox, computer bag, under a pillow or wherever you can think to stash it for truly quick reading. Keeping entries at under 500 words, this publication offers a zen approach to reading literature – just as we can remind ourselves to breathe during hectic days, this publication is an accessible reminder to read. The stories themselves range from tightly crafted complete fictions in less than two pages, to some that seem like great beginnings of what could be longer stories (or springboards for our imaginations to continue the story), to a few that read more as disjointed streams of consciousness, leaving readers saying, “Huh?” at the end. Of special preference for me in this issue, first, the cover art, which attracts the eye over and over, and of the stories (24 in all): Ben Miller’s “#425 (Second Marriage)” in which the government has instituted marriages be renewed every 10 years as a way of creating revenue and stimulating the economy; the plot tension and character development in Pia Z. Ehrhardt’s “Strike”; Andrew Michael Roberts’ humorous social interaction with a three-legged dog in “Truncated”; and what seems to be the history of western civilization condensed in the intense, fast-paced imagery in Jeff Reichman’s “Timber.” In particular, all book lovers should have this issue if for nothing more than Leslie Busler’s “Memoir of a Bookshelf” which, seemingly simple, has been painstakingly crafted, causing me to ahh and ooh and think of my own version to write. For those of us who repeatedly say we have no time to read, Quick Fiction is our breath of fresh literature. [Quick Fiction, JP Press, 50 Evergreen Street, Unit 25 Jamaica Plain, MA 02130. Single issue $5.50. [http://www.jppress.org/issues.php] – DH
