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.