I was ecstatic to find out that Jonathan Cardew published a debut microfiction collection, A World Beyond Cardboard (ELJ Editions, 2022). I have been following his writing for years and greatly admire his talent of creating memorable short fiction. Cardew’s use of...
Blog
A Review of Leigh Chadwick’s YOUR FAVORITE POET by Dan Crawley
Leigh Chadwick is the kind of poet who causes me to constantly blurt out, “That is so true!” when I read her superlative writing. And her new collection, Your Favorite Poet (Malarkey Books, 2022) causes me to shout my praises to the top of the sky about her...
Michelle Ross’s They Kept Running, review by Dan Crawley
They Kept Running (University of North Texas Press, 2022) by Michelle Ross is the 2021 Winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction. As I read this gem of a book by one of my favorite writers, I was not surprised this collection of flash fictions...
A review of Jayne Martin’s Daddy Chronicles by Jonathan Cardew
Less is more, so they say. But more what? In Jayne Martin’s case: more devastating, more incisive, more insightful. This book is a case in point. Through 37 bite-sized chapters, each about 100-300 words, Martin recounts her experiences growing up without a...
A Review of Stella Lei’s, “Inheritances of Hunger” by Amy Cipolla Barnes
Pull up a seat to Stella Lei’s word table with her collection Inheritances of Hunger. It feeds the soul in five story courses: “Games,” “Changeling,” “On Building a Nest,” “Graftings,” and “Meals for the End of the World.” Throughout, she...
Triumph of Female Empowerment: a review by Claire Polders of Let Our Bodies Be Returned to Us by Lynn Mundell
I’ve been a fan of Lynn Mundell’s writing ever since I discovered her work in 2015, so when her debut collection won the Yemassee 2021 Fiction Prize, I was not surprised. Mundell is a master of the darkly funny and tenderly magical. In this collection, she...
With the Help of Leigh Chadwick, I Review Shane Kowalski’s Small Moods
by Leigh Chadwick I first came across Shane Kowalski’s writing while doom-scrolling through Leigh Chadwick’s Twitter feed. It was a piece of flash fiction—nothing more than a slight paragraph. It’s been months since I read that piece of Shane Kowalski’s writing on...
How Far I’ve Come by Kim Magowan
How Far I've Come by Kim Magowan, review by Dan Crawley Kim Magowan’s How Far I’ve Come (Gold Wake Press, 2022) is a collection of flash fictions and a few longer works that brought me joy while I read. Yes, I smiled with delight, finding myself smiling time...
A Review Q&A with Myself on the Subject of Dan Crawley’s Collection The Wind, It Swirls with the Principal Answer Being I Couldn’t Put This Book Down by Jonathan Cardew
Q: Could you put this book down? A: No, I could not. I could not put this book down. Q: Why is it you couldn’t put this book down? Can you put your finger on the reason? A: I think there are many reasons. The stories fizz with interesting characters and...
TURMERIC & SUGAR: STORIES by Anna Vangala Jones; review by Dan Crawley
The debut short story collection, Turmeric & Sugar: Stories by Anna Vangala Jones (Thirty West Publishing House), is a feast for the senses and a tour of the challenges of love, triumph, and regret. Throughout, Jones’s prose is a wonderful mix of magic...
My Fave Five- May 2021
May 2021 Series Curator: Jonathan Cardew May Selector: Andrew Bertaina What’s rare, what’s bright, what’s new? This is what we ask a new writer every month in search of the best hybrid, poetry, and flash writing from the previous month. In this edition, we catch up...
MY FAVE FIVE- APRIL 2021
April 2021 Series Curator: Jonathan Cardew April Selector: Minyoung Lee What’s rare, what’s bright, what’s new? This is what we ask a new writer every month in search of the best hybrid, poetry, and flash writing from the previous month. In this edition, we catch up...
BENDING GENRES PRESENTS!!! Meg Tuite interviews Garielle Lutz about writing, life and so much more! So honored to have these two amazing writers in conversation…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTIyc9wIjL0 And you can order Gari's new book, WORSTED, from SF/LD here: https://www.hobartpulp.com/books/worsted
Bending Genres Reading for SMOLfair- March 5, 2021 at 9:00 p.m. E.S.T. This Friday, we have a great line-up for our Bending Genres Reading for the SMOLfair book fair event happening March 3- 7. Fiction Editor, Meg Tuite and EIC Robert Vaughan will be hosting a...
My Fave 5 – October 2020
October 2020 Series Curator: Jonathan Cardew August Selector: Tommy Dean What’s rare, what’s bright, what’s new? This is what we ask a new writer every month in search of the best hybrid, poetry, and flash writing from the previous month. In this edition, we catch up...
Fave 5: Taylor Byas
Series Curator: Jonathan CardewJune Selector: Taylor Byas What’s rare, what’s bright, what’s new? This is what we ask a new writer every month in search of the best hybrid, poetry, and flash writing from the previous month. In...
Demolition in the Tropics by Rogan Kelly (review by Alina Stefanescu)
Rogan Kelly. Demolition in the Tropics. Lewisburg, PA: Seven Kitchens Press, 2019. 28 pages. $9.00. Some readers expect to be punched in the gut repeatedly. Demolition in the Tropics is not for them. Rogan Kelly's poetic line is wistful, impressionistic, similar to...
Death, Desire and Other Destinations by Tara Isabel Zambrano (review by Dan Crawley)
Tara Isabel Zambrano’s full-length flash collection, Death, Desire, and Other Destinations (Okay Donkey Press, 2020), illuminates, enchants. I’m awestruck with Zambrano’s effortless talent, her swings from stark realism to inventive magic realism. She is...
Pat Foran: My Fave Five
Series Curator: Jonathan Cardew June Selector: Pat Foran What’s rare, what’s bright, what’s new? This is what we ask a new writer every month in search of the best hybrid, poetry, and flash writing from the previous month. In this edition, we catch up with Pat Foran!...
Directory by Christopher Linforth (review by Levi Andrew Noe)
Sauteing your Sense of Self We are at a loss with how to describe this book in any cumulative, definitive way. We don’t want to summarize or euphemize or categorize a book that was not built for “I”s (see what we did there?). So we will just say that the...
Bending Genres Anthology Review
The Bending Genres Anthology – 2018/2019, published earlier this year, is an artfully curated collection and a beautifully produced book that celebrates some of the best in their first two years as a journal.
Leonora Desar: My Fave Five
Leonora Desaar gives us a little selection of her favorite writing from May 2020.
Collective Gravities by Chloe N. Clark (review by Erin Schmiel)
Gravities is a collection with perfect pacing where longer stories that build plot, characters and images immerse you into a world only to release you back up to the small, rich flash pieces that give you a glimmer of a whole new reality.
Beauty by Christina Chiu (review by Haley Papa)
Christina Chiu’s Beauty is a fascinating look into the fictionalized world of an up-and-coming designer, Amy Wong…
Bury Me In The Sky by Sara Comito (review by Luke Johnson)
If there’s one thing (of many) I’ve learned, from reading Sara Comito’s “Bury Me in the Sky,” it’s this: she will not spare her reader.
My Fave Five with Alina Stefanescu
April 2020 Series Curator: Jonathan Cardew April Selector: Alina Stefanescu What’s rare, what’s bright, what’s new? This is what we ask a new writer every month in search of the best hybrid, poetry, and flash writing from the previous month. In this edition, we catch...
My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland (review by Haley Papa)
It is difficult to believe how little Jenn Shapland knew of Carson McCullers prior to the creation of My Autobiography of Carson McCullers, but upon her discovery of “intimate, suggestive” love letters between McCullers and Swiss writer and photographer Annemarie...
Bending Genres Presents … Sara Comito
Sara Comito reads “The Germ Suspended” published in the Bending Genres Anthology 2018/2019.
Colin Pope Video
Bending Genres Productions is pleased to present a video of several people reading a poem by Colin Pope.
Bending Genres Presents … Tara Campbell
Tara Campbell reads "The Fish," published in Bending Genres Anthology 2018/2019. Tara Campbell (www.taracampbell.com) is a writer, teacher, Kimbilio Fellow, and fiction editor at Barrelhouse. Prior publication credits include SmokeLong Quarterly, Masters Review,...
Bending Genres Presents … Jayne Martin
Jayne Martin reads "One of A Kind," published in Bending Genres Anthology 2018/2019 Jayne Martin lives in Santa Barbara, California, where she rides horses and drinks copious amounts of fine wines, though not at the same time. She is a Pushcart, Best Small Fictions,...
My Fave Five
My Fave Five… March 2020 Series Editor: Jonathan Cardew March Selector: Jude Higgins What’s rare, what’s bright, what’s new? This is what we ask a new writer every month in search of the best hybrid and flash writing from the previous month. In this edition, we...
Sam Pink (review by Tyler Dempsey)
I’m ignorant in many ways. Writing one. Reading only “Goosebumps” till college, when I was hired at a used bookstore because the gay manager thought I was attractive. Solicited my opinion on romance covers he’d ripped off and taped behind our desk. We got about 4...
In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado (reviewed by Haley Papa)
Carmen Maria Machado’s memoir reads like a whispered truth only she can give the reader, and a different take on what a memoir entails. Machado first entered the literary world with her short story collection, Her Body and Other Parties in 2017, and now sets...
Juliet the Maniac by Juliet Escoria (reviewed by Emily Bertholf)
Juliet is an adolescent girl. Juliet is a cutter. Juliet is dizzy. Juliet is bored. Juliet is afraid of birds. Juliet is feeling helpless. Juliet is a machine. Juliet is any old kid. Juliet is...
the Internet is for real by Chris Campanioni (reviewed by Emily Bertholf)
Chris Campanioni’s the Internet is for real: a review in phrasal substitutions and futuristic fabrication by Emily Bertholf Rad Fib #1: from Only You Can See What You Saved (Full Size Render) Full Size Render is the stranger of this shadow. Full Size Render is...
Ghosts of You by Cathy Ulrich (reviewed by Audra Kerr Brown)
Audra Kerr Brown lives betwixt the corn and soybean fields of southeast Iowa with her husband and two children.
Bending Genres Q & A with author Karen Stefano (What A Body Remembers) and Emily Bertholf
Q & A : Interview with Karen Stefano, author of What A Body Remembers. Emily Bertholf: Your latest book is a memoir about the life-altering night in 1984 when you were violently attacked on your way home from work and your long struggle of dealing with...
Shame by Iris N. Schwartz (reviewed by Paul Beckman)
Shame . Shame on Iris Schwartz. She’s at it again. She has no shame. It’s all in this book. Coming on the heels of her critically acclaimed collection, “My Secret Life With Chris Noth” is her new short story, flash fiction, & micro-fiction collection,...
Bending Genres Q & A with author William R. Soldan
Bending Genres Interview with Author William R. Soldan: What went into the decision to attend the Taos Mabel Dodge Bending Genres July 2018 Writing Retreat? -With the exception of attending a weeklong writing workshop in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 2014, after being...
Not Everyone is Special by Josh Denslow (reviewed by Audra Kerr Brown)
Buy the Book
The In-Betweens by Davon Loeb (reviewed by Levi Andrew Noe)
Identity. To say it’s complicated is like saying that losing an arm might hurt a bit. Family is complex too, except that’s more like saying that lopping off your head might make filing your own taxes problematic. For Davon Loeb, identity and family are the foundations...
Some Field Notes on Wild Life: Collected Works from 2003 – 2018 by Kathy Fish (in Randomized Order) Published by Matter Press
Final Thought: Buy this Book. The Lines That Would Not Be Considered “Killer” But Are “Killer” Because They Are Not Necessarily “Killer”: “The man stretches his legs out. He mutes the television and chuckles. She thinks he muted the television to make sure she...
Closing Statements on the Virginia Project
Welcome to the conclusion of the Virginia Project Diaries! This is the last of four focused interactions with writer Tina Barry, a closing interview on her successful exhibition of 14 artists giving their interpretation of her words through a medium of their...
Postcard Poetry Contest #2
Bending Genres Postcard Poetry Contest—December 2018 Guest Judge: Sara Comito The premise of the contest is simple: write a poem, one page or less, using the front and back of the "postcard" below as a prompt. You could be the person that sends it, the postperson...
You Might Want to Get a Handjob from Rick Moranis: A Review of Madam Velvet’s Cabaret Of Oddities by Nancy Stohlman
I mean, possibly. Nothing’s beyond the conceivable, especially when Stohlman’s in the car. When she’s driving it, and it’s a clown car, and one of the clown’s in the upside down position “because Marty needs a break,” anything becomes possible (like fantasy handjobs...
The Virginia Project Diaries: The Next Seven
Here are the next seven women who created art for Tina Barry's The Virginia Project. Each piece is inspired by a passage which is included. Take a moment to read through their work, what they've done, and check out the great work that was created by each and every...
Random-and-Oftentimes-Fabricated Statistics About Sad Laughter (Brian Alan Ellis), by Ryan Werner
(329) The number of times I thought “These were tweets, right?” (0) The number of times I actually went to Brian’s Twitter to check if these were tweets because, much like the aura and culture of literature are constantly pointed out to be in Sad Laughter, that would...
I too dislike flash fiction, sometimes by David Swann (with cartoons by Bob Nancollis)
I. The first widely-read ‘books’ appeared in Medieval times. They were made out of stained glass, and relied upon sunshine. When illiterate church-goers visited the new cathedrals, they’d read stories about saints and sinners, painted in light. Eventually, illustrated...
The Virginia Project Diaries: The First Seven
Fourteen wonderful artists have contributed their time and effort to create visual interpretations of Tina Barry’s words. We will be showcasing a glimpse of what the artists have done for Ms. Barry, and also letting them rock out with their respective accomplishments...
Three Men on the Edge by Michael Loveday; V. Press, U.K.
Everything explained? Boring. Linear plot? Boring. Long chapters? Boring. Three Men on the Edge by Michael Loveday? Not boring. This book—the first full-length flash collection from UK-based V. Press—takes us to the edge of traditional prose and veers into poetry....
The Virginia Project Diaries, by Tina Barry
Welcome to the Virginia Project Diaries. This is the first of four focused interactions with writer Tina Barry, and her upcoming exhibition, The Virginia Project. Tina Barry has long had a fascination with Virginia Haggard, the partner of the artist Marc Chagall, and...
Show Her A Flower by Peg Alford Pursell; Second Edition, WTAW Press
Ever focus so hard on a star that it disappears? The human eye’s anatomical constraints allow for only oblique attention to life’s wonders. The heart likewise skews in relation to life’s calamities. In her collection, Show Her A Flower, A Bird, A Shadow, Peg Alford...
Bending Genres New 50mm MicroFiction Contest
50mm Fiction is our new Bending Genres microfiction contest. The premise of the contest is simple: write a piece of fiction, 50 words or less, using the 50mm photo as a prompt. Here is our photo prompt: This month's contest will be judged by none other than...
Bending Genres Q & A with author Lynn Mundell
Lynn Mundell attended our first Bending Genres retreat at Synergia Ranch, outside of Santa Fe last September. We asked Lynn six questions about her experience at the retreat and her writing: What went into the decision to attend the Synergia Ranch September 2017...
Kiss, Kiss by Paul Beckman, Truth Serum Press
It’s not especially shocking to find a teenaged narrator playing strip poker with his elderly babysitter in Paul Beckman’s latest flash fiction collection, Kiss Kiss. In fact, that kid is probably better off than the boy who finds his brothers waiting to kill the...
I Don’t Know About You But by Kara Vernor
I Don’t Know About You But by Kara Vernor, [A Craft Essay] I read and write because it’s cheaper than travelling and the second best way I know to surprise myself and feel something new. To remind myself that my daily trappings—showering, running my face through a...
The Expanse Between by Lee L. Krecklow, Winter Goose Publishing
Wisconsinite Lee L. Krecklow's novel raises interesting questions about storytelling and ethics. He pits the “I saw it, I own it” social media mindset vs individual privacy rights. Thomas Stone, a reclusive writer whose early success never gained traction, is...
A Report on Reports by Brian Evenson (The Cupboard, 2018)
A Report on Reports by Brian Evenson (The Cupboard, 2018) by Jonathan Cardew I was going to write a report on Reports by Brian Evenson—and I still am, it’s still happening right now—but I must admit to a little bit of trepidation in doing so....
All The Ghosts We’ve Always Had by Jules Archer, Thirty West Publishing, 2018
All the Ghosts We’ve Always Had by Jules Archer, Thirty West Publishing House, 2018 By Robert Scotellaro Here is a gutsy mosaic of moments. Moments masterfully and poetically rendered. Authentic travels through growth and living. Of family fractures and survival....
We Can’t Help It If We’re From Florida, New Stories from a Sinking Peninsula, edited by Shane Hinton, Burrow Press, 2017
We Can’t Help It If We’re From Florida, New Stories from a Sinking Peninsula, edited by Shane Hinton, Burrow Press, 2017 by Jennifer Fliss Burrow Press has curated a collection as weird, wacky, and diverse as that southern spongey mass of terrain and people… in a good...
Plots Are For Dead People by Jacqueline Doyle
PLOTS ARE FOR DEAD PEOPLE Jacqueline Doyle Who knows what attracted me to flash ten years ago? I hate following rules, for one thing, and as far as I could see it was a genre without rules. Within the maximum word count, anything was possible. My first flash was a...
Other Household Toxins by Christopher Allen, Matter Press, 2018
A collage review of Christopher Allen's Other Household Toxins by April Bradley (in author Allen’s own words) Waves like they fathered the tides: “My world is not broken. My world is not broken.” Freaks to Lynn are portents, stunned by the big dumb beauty of men...
Blog?
Visit our BLOG page for Bending Genres editor Jonathan Cardew's Microviews column, and craft essays. Also Bending Genres editor Corey Holzman's Ask The Editor and Previous Contributor Updates. Will also include q & a's with various authors.
Review of A World Beyond Cardboard by Jonathan Cardew (by Dan Crawley)
I was ecstatic to find out that Jonathan Cardew published a debut microfiction collection, A World Beyond Cardboard (ELJ Editions, 2022). I have been following his writing for years and greatly admire his talent of creating memorable short fiction. Cardew’s use of...
A Review of Leigh Chadwick’s YOUR FAVORITE POET by Dan Crawley
Leigh Chadwick is the kind of poet who causes me to constantly blurt out, “That is so true!” when I read her superlative writing. And her new collection, Your Favorite Poet (Malarkey Books, 2022) causes me to shout my praises to the top of the sky about her...
Michelle Ross’s They Kept Running, review by Dan Crawley
They Kept Running (University of North Texas Press, 2022) by Michelle Ross is the 2021 Winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction. As I read this gem of a book by one of my favorite writers, I was not surprised this collection of flash fictions...
A review of Jayne Martin’s Daddy Chronicles by Jonathan Cardew
Less is more, so they say. But more what? In Jayne Martin’s case: more devastating, more incisive, more insightful. This book is a case in point. Through 37 bite-sized chapters, each about 100-300 words, Martin recounts her experiences growing up without a...
A Review of Stella Lei’s, “Inheritances of Hunger” by Amy Cipolla Barnes
Pull up a seat to Stella Lei’s word table with her collection Inheritances of Hunger. It feeds the soul in five story courses: “Games,” “Changeling,” “On Building a Nest,” “Graftings,” and “Meals for the End of the World.” Throughout, she...
Triumph of Female Empowerment: a review by Claire Polders of Let Our Bodies Be Returned to Us by Lynn Mundell
I’ve been a fan of Lynn Mundell’s writing ever since I discovered her work in 2015, so when her debut collection won the Yemassee 2021 Fiction Prize, I was not surprised. Mundell is a master of the darkly funny and tenderly magical. In this collection, she...
With the Help of Leigh Chadwick, I Review Shane Kowalski’s Small Moods
by Leigh Chadwick I first came across Shane Kowalski’s writing while doom-scrolling through Leigh Chadwick’s Twitter feed. It was a piece of flash fiction—nothing more than a slight paragraph. It’s been months since I read that piece of Shane Kowalski’s writing on...
How Far I’ve Come by Kim Magowan
How Far I've Come by Kim Magowan, review by Dan Crawley Kim Magowan’s How Far I’ve Come (Gold Wake Press, 2022) is a collection of flash fictions and a few longer works that brought me joy while I read. Yes, I smiled with delight, finding myself smiling time...
A Review Q&A with Myself on the Subject of Dan Crawley’s Collection The Wind, It Swirls with the Principal Answer Being I Couldn’t Put This Book Down by Jonathan Cardew
Q: Could you put this book down? A: No, I could not. I could not put this book down. Q: Why is it you couldn’t put this book down? Can you put your finger on the reason? A: I think there are many reasons. The stories fizz with interesting characters and...
TURMERIC & SUGAR: STORIES by Anna Vangala Jones; review by Dan Crawley
The debut short story collection, Turmeric & Sugar: Stories by Anna Vangala Jones (Thirty West Publishing House), is a feast for the senses and a tour of the challenges of love, triumph, and regret. Throughout, Jones’s prose is a wonderful mix of magic...
My Fave Five- May 2021
May 2021 Series Curator: Jonathan Cardew May Selector: Andrew Bertaina What’s rare, what’s bright, what’s new? This is what we ask a new writer every month in search of the best hybrid, poetry, and flash writing from the previous month. In this edition, we catch up...
MY FAVE FIVE- APRIL 2021
April 2021 Series Curator: Jonathan Cardew April Selector: Minyoung Lee What’s rare, what’s bright, what’s new? This is what we ask a new writer every month in search of the best hybrid, poetry, and flash writing from the previous month. In this edition, we catch up...
BENDING GENRES PRESENTS!!! Meg Tuite interviews Garielle Lutz about writing, life and so much more! So honored to have these two amazing writers in conversation…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTIyc9wIjL0 And you can order Gari's new book, WORSTED, from SF/LD here: https://www.hobartpulp.com/books/worsted
Bending Genres Reading for SMOLfair- March 5, 2021 at 9:00 p.m. E.S.T. This Friday, we have a great line-up for our Bending Genres Reading for the SMOLfair book fair event happening March 3- 7. Fiction Editor, Meg Tuite and EIC Robert Vaughan will be hosting a...
My Fave 5 – October 2020
October 2020 Series Curator: Jonathan Cardew August Selector: Tommy Dean What’s rare, what’s bright, what’s new? This is what we ask a new writer every month in search of the best hybrid, poetry, and flash writing from the previous month. In this edition, we catch up...
Fave 5: Taylor Byas
Series Curator: Jonathan CardewJune Selector: Taylor Byas What’s rare, what’s bright, what’s new? This is what we ask a new writer every month in search of the best hybrid, poetry, and flash writing from the previous month. In...
Demolition in the Tropics by Rogan Kelly (review by Alina Stefanescu)
Rogan Kelly. Demolition in the Tropics. Lewisburg, PA: Seven Kitchens Press, 2019. 28 pages. $9.00. Some readers expect to be punched in the gut repeatedly. Demolition in the Tropics is not for them. Rogan Kelly's poetic line is wistful, impressionistic, similar to...
Death, Desire and Other Destinations by Tara Isabel Zambrano (review by Dan Crawley)
Tara Isabel Zambrano’s full-length flash collection, Death, Desire, and Other Destinations (Okay Donkey Press, 2020), illuminates, enchants. I’m awestruck with Zambrano’s effortless talent, her swings from stark realism to inventive magic realism. She is...
Pat Foran: My Fave Five
Series Curator: Jonathan Cardew June Selector: Pat Foran What’s rare, what’s bright, what’s new? This is what we ask a new writer every month in search of the best hybrid, poetry, and flash writing from the previous month. In this edition, we catch up with Pat Foran!...
Directory by Christopher Linforth (review by Levi Andrew Noe)
Sauteing your Sense of Self We are at a loss with how to describe this book in any cumulative, definitive way. We don’t want to summarize or euphemize or categorize a book that was not built for “I”s (see what we did there?). So we will just say that the...
Bending Genres Anthology Review
The Bending Genres Anthology – 2018/2019, published earlier this year, is an artfully curated collection and a beautifully produced book that celebrates some of the best in their first two years as a journal.
Leonora Desar: My Fave Five
Leonora Desaar gives us a little selection of her favorite writing from May 2020.
Collective Gravities by Chloe N. Clark (review by Erin Schmiel)
Gravities is a collection with perfect pacing where longer stories that build plot, characters and images immerse you into a world only to release you back up to the small, rich flash pieces that give you a glimmer of a whole new reality.
Beauty by Christina Chiu (review by Haley Papa)
Christina Chiu’s Beauty is a fascinating look into the fictionalized world of an up-and-coming designer, Amy Wong…
Bury Me In The Sky by Sara Comito (review by Luke Johnson)
If there’s one thing (of many) I’ve learned, from reading Sara Comito’s “Bury Me in the Sky,” it’s this: she will not spare her reader.
My Fave Five with Alina Stefanescu
April 2020 Series Curator: Jonathan Cardew April Selector: Alina Stefanescu What’s rare, what’s bright, what’s new? This is what we ask a new writer every month in search of the best hybrid, poetry, and flash writing from the previous month. In this edition, we catch...
My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland (review by Haley Papa)
It is difficult to believe how little Jenn Shapland knew of Carson McCullers prior to the creation of My Autobiography of Carson McCullers, but upon her discovery of “intimate, suggestive” love letters between McCullers and Swiss writer and photographer Annemarie...
Bending Genres Presents … Sara Comito
Sara Comito reads “The Germ Suspended” published in the Bending Genres Anthology 2018/2019.
Colin Pope Video
Bending Genres Productions is pleased to present a video of several people reading a poem by Colin Pope.
Bending Genres Presents … Tara Campbell
Tara Campbell reads "The Fish," published in Bending Genres Anthology 2018/2019. Tara Campbell (www.taracampbell.com) is a writer, teacher, Kimbilio Fellow, and fiction editor at Barrelhouse. Prior publication credits include SmokeLong Quarterly, Masters Review,...
Bending Genres Presents … Jayne Martin
Jayne Martin reads "One of A Kind," published in Bending Genres Anthology 2018/2019 Jayne Martin lives in Santa Barbara, California, where she rides horses and drinks copious amounts of fine wines, though not at the same time. She is a Pushcart, Best Small Fictions,...
My Fave Five
My Fave Five… March 2020 Series Editor: Jonathan Cardew March Selector: Jude Higgins What’s rare, what’s bright, what’s new? This is what we ask a new writer every month in search of the best hybrid and flash writing from the previous month. In this edition, we...
Sam Pink (review by Tyler Dempsey)
I’m ignorant in many ways. Writing one. Reading only “Goosebumps” till college, when I was hired at a used bookstore because the gay manager thought I was attractive. Solicited my opinion on romance covers he’d ripped off and taped behind our desk. We got about 4...
In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado (reviewed by Haley Papa)
Carmen Maria Machado’s memoir reads like a whispered truth only she can give the reader, and a different take on what a memoir entails. Machado first entered the literary world with her short story collection, Her Body and Other Parties in 2017, and now sets...
Juliet the Maniac by Juliet Escoria (reviewed by Emily Bertholf)
Juliet is an adolescent girl. Juliet is a cutter. Juliet is dizzy. Juliet is bored. Juliet is afraid of birds. Juliet is feeling helpless. Juliet is a machine. Juliet is any old kid. Juliet is...
the Internet is for real by Chris Campanioni (reviewed by Emily Bertholf)
Chris Campanioni’s the Internet is for real: a review in phrasal substitutions and futuristic fabrication by Emily Bertholf Rad Fib #1: from Only You Can See What You Saved (Full Size Render) Full Size Render is the stranger of this shadow. Full Size Render is...
Ghosts of You by Cathy Ulrich (reviewed by Audra Kerr Brown)
Audra Kerr Brown lives betwixt the corn and soybean fields of southeast Iowa with her husband and two children.
Bending Genres Q & A with author Karen Stefano (What A Body Remembers) and Emily Bertholf
Q & A : Interview with Karen Stefano, author of What A Body Remembers. Emily Bertholf: Your latest book is a memoir about the life-altering night in 1984 when you were violently attacked on your way home from work and your long struggle of dealing with...
Shame by Iris N. Schwartz (reviewed by Paul Beckman)
Shame . Shame on Iris Schwartz. She’s at it again. She has no shame. It’s all in this book. Coming on the heels of her critically acclaimed collection, “My Secret Life With Chris Noth” is her new short story, flash fiction, & micro-fiction collection,...
Bending Genres Q & A with author William R. Soldan
Bending Genres Interview with Author William R. Soldan: What went into the decision to attend the Taos Mabel Dodge Bending Genres July 2018 Writing Retreat? -With the exception of attending a weeklong writing workshop in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 2014, after being...
Not Everyone is Special by Josh Denslow (reviewed by Audra Kerr Brown)
Buy the Book
The In-Betweens by Davon Loeb (reviewed by Levi Andrew Noe)
Identity. To say it’s complicated is like saying that losing an arm might hurt a bit. Family is complex too, except that’s more like saying that lopping off your head might make filing your own taxes problematic. For Davon Loeb, identity and family are the foundations...
Some Field Notes on Wild Life: Collected Works from 2003 – 2018 by Kathy Fish (in Randomized Order) Published by Matter Press
Final Thought: Buy this Book. The Lines That Would Not Be Considered “Killer” But Are “Killer” Because They Are Not Necessarily “Killer”: “The man stretches his legs out. He mutes the television and chuckles. She thinks he muted the television to make sure she...
Closing Statements on the Virginia Project
Welcome to the conclusion of the Virginia Project Diaries! This is the last of four focused interactions with writer Tina Barry, a closing interview on her successful exhibition of 14 artists giving their interpretation of her words through a medium of their...
Postcard Poetry Contest #2
Bending Genres Postcard Poetry Contest—December 2018 Guest Judge: Sara Comito The premise of the contest is simple: write a poem, one page or less, using the front and back of the "postcard" below as a prompt. You could be the person that sends it, the postperson...
You Might Want to Get a Handjob from Rick Moranis: A Review of Madam Velvet’s Cabaret Of Oddities by Nancy Stohlman
I mean, possibly. Nothing’s beyond the conceivable, especially when Stohlman’s in the car. When she’s driving it, and it’s a clown car, and one of the clown’s in the upside down position “because Marty needs a break,” anything becomes possible (like fantasy handjobs...
The Virginia Project Diaries: The Next Seven
Here are the next seven women who created art for Tina Barry's The Virginia Project. Each piece is inspired by a passage which is included. Take a moment to read through their work, what they've done, and check out the great work that was created by each and every...
Random-and-Oftentimes-Fabricated Statistics About Sad Laughter (Brian Alan Ellis), by Ryan Werner
(329) The number of times I thought “These were tweets, right?” (0) The number of times I actually went to Brian’s Twitter to check if these were tweets because, much like the aura and culture of literature are constantly pointed out to be in Sad Laughter, that would...
I too dislike flash fiction, sometimes by David Swann (with cartoons by Bob Nancollis)
I. The first widely-read ‘books’ appeared in Medieval times. They were made out of stained glass, and relied upon sunshine. When illiterate church-goers visited the new cathedrals, they’d read stories about saints and sinners, painted in light. Eventually, illustrated...
The Virginia Project Diaries: The First Seven
Fourteen wonderful artists have contributed their time and effort to create visual interpretations of Tina Barry’s words. We will be showcasing a glimpse of what the artists have done for Ms. Barry, and also letting them rock out with their respective accomplishments...
Three Men on the Edge by Michael Loveday; V. Press, U.K.
Everything explained? Boring. Linear plot? Boring. Long chapters? Boring. Three Men on the Edge by Michael Loveday? Not boring. This book—the first full-length flash collection from UK-based V. Press—takes us to the edge of traditional prose and veers into poetry....
The Virginia Project Diaries, by Tina Barry
Welcome to the Virginia Project Diaries. This is the first of four focused interactions with writer Tina Barry, and her upcoming exhibition, The Virginia Project. Tina Barry has long had a fascination with Virginia Haggard, the partner of the artist Marc Chagall, and...
Show Her A Flower by Peg Alford Pursell; Second Edition, WTAW Press
Ever focus so hard on a star that it disappears? The human eye’s anatomical constraints allow for only oblique attention to life’s wonders. The heart likewise skews in relation to life’s calamities. In her collection, Show Her A Flower, A Bird, A Shadow, Peg Alford...
Bending Genres New 50mm MicroFiction Contest
50mm Fiction is our new Bending Genres microfiction contest. The premise of the contest is simple: write a piece of fiction, 50 words or less, using the 50mm photo as a prompt. Here is our photo prompt: This month's contest will be judged by none other than...
Bending Genres Q & A with author Lynn Mundell
Lynn Mundell attended our first Bending Genres retreat at Synergia Ranch, outside of Santa Fe last September. We asked Lynn six questions about her experience at the retreat and her writing: What went into the decision to attend the Synergia Ranch September 2017...
Kiss, Kiss by Paul Beckman, Truth Serum Press
It’s not especially shocking to find a teenaged narrator playing strip poker with his elderly babysitter in Paul Beckman’s latest flash fiction collection, Kiss Kiss. In fact, that kid is probably better off than the boy who finds his brothers waiting to kill the...
I Don’t Know About You But by Kara Vernor
I Don’t Know About You But by Kara Vernor, [A Craft Essay] I read and write because it’s cheaper than travelling and the second best way I know to surprise myself and feel something new. To remind myself that my daily trappings—showering, running my face through a...
The Expanse Between by Lee L. Krecklow, Winter Goose Publishing
Wisconsinite Lee L. Krecklow's novel raises interesting questions about storytelling and ethics. He pits the “I saw it, I own it” social media mindset vs individual privacy rights. Thomas Stone, a reclusive writer whose early success never gained traction, is...
A Report on Reports by Brian Evenson (The Cupboard, 2018)
A Report on Reports by Brian Evenson (The Cupboard, 2018) by Jonathan Cardew I was going to write a report on Reports by Brian Evenson—and I still am, it’s still happening right now—but I must admit to a little bit of trepidation in doing so....
All The Ghosts We’ve Always Had by Jules Archer, Thirty West Publishing, 2018
All the Ghosts We’ve Always Had by Jules Archer, Thirty West Publishing House, 2018 By Robert Scotellaro Here is a gutsy mosaic of moments. Moments masterfully and poetically rendered. Authentic travels through growth and living. Of family fractures and survival....
We Can’t Help It If We’re From Florida, New Stories from a Sinking Peninsula, edited by Shane Hinton, Burrow Press, 2017
We Can’t Help It If We’re From Florida, New Stories from a Sinking Peninsula, edited by Shane Hinton, Burrow Press, 2017 by Jennifer Fliss Burrow Press has curated a collection as weird, wacky, and diverse as that southern spongey mass of terrain and people… in a good...
Plots Are For Dead People by Jacqueline Doyle
PLOTS ARE FOR DEAD PEOPLE Jacqueline Doyle Who knows what attracted me to flash ten years ago? I hate following rules, for one thing, and as far as I could see it was a genre without rules. Within the maximum word count, anything was possible. My first flash was a...
Other Household Toxins by Christopher Allen, Matter Press, 2018
A collage review of Christopher Allen's Other Household Toxins by April Bradley (in author Allen’s own words) Waves like they fathered the tides: “My world is not broken. My world is not broken.” Freaks to Lynn are portents, stunned by the big dumb beauty of men...
Blog?
Visit our BLOG page for Bending Genres editor Jonathan Cardew's Microviews column, and craft essays. Also Bending Genres editor Corey Holzman's Ask The Editor and Previous Contributor Updates. Will also include q & a's with various authors.