About

Matt Bell is the author of a forthcoming fiction collection, How They Were Found (Keyhole, Fall 2010), as well as a novella, The Collectors, and a chapbook, How the Broken Lead the Blind. His fiction has appeared or is upcoming in magazines such as Conjunctions, Willow Springs, Unsaid, American Short Fiction, Redivider, Gulf Coast, Caketrain, Hayden's Ferry Review, Hobart, Barrelhouse, Monkeybicycle, and Gargoyle.

He is also the editor of The Collagist and the series editor of Dzanc's Best of the Web anthology series.

He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and can be reached via e-mail at mdbell79@gmail.com.

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The Collectors

How the Broken Lead the Blind

How They Were Found
The Collagist

A new literary magazine published by Dzanc Books, edited by Matt Bell with Poetry Editor Matthew Olzmann. Now available at www.thecollagist.com.

Published Fiction
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Currently Reading...
  • Vanishing Point: Not a Memoir
    Vanishing Point: Not a Memoir
    by Ander Monson
Anthologies
Awards and Recognitions
  • 2009 Wigleaf Top 50 Very Short Fictions Selection, for "This Showroom Filled With Fabulous Prizes"
  • 2009 Dzanc Best of the Web Notable Story, for "The Folk Singer Dreams of Time Machines"
  • 2008 Caketrain Fiction Chapbook Contest Runner-Up, for The Collectors
  • 2008 Keyhole Fiction Chapbook Contest Finalist, for The Collectors
  • 2008 Million Writers Award Winner, for "Alex Trebek Never Eats Fried Chicken"
  • 2008 Dzanc Best of the Web Notable Story, for "Alex Trebek Never Eats Fried Chicken"
  • 2008 Pushcart Prize Nomination for "The Folk Singer Dreams of Time Machines"
  • 2008 Pushcart Prize Nomination for "Ken Sent Me: Lost in the Land of the Lounge Lizards"
  • 2007 Storyglossia Fiction Prize Finalist, for "Alex Trebek Never Eats Fried Chicken"
  • 2007 Pushcart Prize Nomination for "A Certain Number of Bedrooms, a Certain Number of Baths"
  • 2006 Pushcart Prize Nomination for "The Present"
  • 2006 Pushcart Prize Nomination for "White Lines and Headlights"
  • 2006 Pushcart Prize Nomination for "Rosemary Blooming"
« THE COLLAGIST: Issue Four | Main | There is no damage that isn’t already also healed »
Thursday
05Nov2009

My Review of THE ROSE METAL PRESS FIELD GUIDE TO WRITING FLASH FICTION

The November 2009 issue of The Critical Flame has been posted, including my review of The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction. The issue also includes reviews by Scott Esposito, Nigel Beale, Leslie Harkema, and editor Daniel E. Pritchard.

I've really enjoyed reading The Critical Flame, and appreciated this chance to write for them. There are very few places still doing long-form book reviews, and it's exciting to see one as well-curated as Pritchard's appear on the web.

Here's the conclusion to my review:

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. As the first in a planned series — a volume on the prose poem is slated for next year — this is a great addition to Rose Metal's catalog, and a fine furthering of their mission to promote and disseminate hybrid forms of writing.

You can read more of The Critical Flame here, and can find out more about The Rose Metal Guide to Writing Flash Fiction at Rose Metal's website.

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Reader Comments (1)

congrats on your essay :)

November 7, 2009 | Unregistered Commentermaggie may
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