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Flash Nonfiction Funny: 71 Very Humorous, Very True, Very Short Stories
The seventy-one flash essays collected here are hilarious proof that you don't need more than 750 words to laugh out loud. Featuring both established and up-and-coming writers, these essays are no flashes in the pan--they demonstrate careful attention to craft and exploration: everything you want in a thoughtful essay, only shorter. This collection is perfect for students of writing and comedy--and for anybody who appreciates a good laugh!
204 pages, Paperback
Published March 1, 2018
36 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
About the author
Brian Doyle
60 books733 followersDoyle's essays and poems have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, The American Scholar, Orion, Commonweal, and The Georgia Review, among other magazines and journals, and in The Times of London, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Kansas City Star, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Ottawa Citizen, and Newsday, among other newspapers. He was a book reviewer for The Oregonian and a contributing essayist to both Eureka Street magazine and The Age newspaper in Melbourne, Australia.
Doyle's essays have also been reprinted in:
* the Best American Essays anthologies of 1998, 1999, 2003, and 2005;
* in Best Spiritual Writing 1999, 2001, 2002, and 2005; and
* in Best Essays Northwest (2003);
* and in a dozen other anthologies and writing textbooks.
As for awards and honors, he had three startling children, an incomprehensible and fascinating marriage, and he was named to the 1983 Newton (Massachusetts) Men's Basketball League all-star team, and that was a really tough league.
Doyle delivered many dozens of peculiar and muttered speeches and lectures and rants about writing and stuttering grace at a variety of venues, among them Australian Catholic University and Xavier College (both in Melbourne, Australia), Aquinas Academy (in Sydney, Australia); Washington State, Seattle Pacific, Oregon, Utah State, Concordia, and Marylhurst universities; Boston, Lewis & Clark, and Linfield colleges; the universities of Utah, Oregon, Pittsburgh, and Portland; KBOO radio (Portland), ABC and 3AW radio (Australia); the College Theology Society; National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation," and in the PBS film Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero (2002).
Doyle was a native of New York, was fitfully educated at the University of Notre Dame, and was a magazine and newspaper journalist in Portland, Boston, and Chicago for more than twenty years. He was living in Portland, Oregon, with his family when died at age 60 from complications related to a brain tumor.
Doyle's essays have also been reprinted in:
* the Best American Essays anthologies of 1998, 1999, 2003, and 2005;
* in Best Spiritual Writing 1999, 2001, 2002, and 2005; and
* in Best Essays Northwest (2003);
* and in a dozen other anthologies and writing textbooks.
As for awards and honors, he had three startling children, an incomprehensible and fascinating marriage, and he was named to the 1983 Newton (Massachusetts) Men's Basketball League all-star team, and that was a really tough league.
Doyle delivered many dozens of peculiar and muttered speeches and lectures and rants about writing and stuttering grace at a variety of venues, among them Australian Catholic University and Xavier College (both in Melbourne, Australia), Aquinas Academy (in Sydney, Australia); Washington State, Seattle Pacific, Oregon, Utah State, Concordia, and Marylhurst universities; Boston, Lewis & Clark, and Linfield colleges; the universities of Utah, Oregon, Pittsburgh, and Portland; KBOO radio (Portland), ABC and 3AW radio (Australia); the College Theology Society; National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation," and in the PBS film Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero (2002).
Doyle was a native of New York, was fitfully educated at the University of Notre Dame, and was a magazine and newspaper journalist in Portland, Boston, and Chicago for more than twenty years. He was living in Portland, Oregon, with his family when died at age 60 from complications related to a brain tumor.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 2, 2018
This anthology of flash nonfiction was a gift and a very welcome one. It's chock full of list essays and laments about owning dumb dogs. It includes a couple of nods to scatological humor (Andrew Hudgins' moving--no pun intended--essay about old age and plunging out his father's toilet in "We Shall Find Out," and Lisa Romeo's "The Long Pink Line" about getting a colonoscopy without anesthesia). The essays that most resonated with me were those that yoked comedy with an underlying serious message--works by Chris Offutt, Sarah Einstein, Suzanne Strempek Shea, Leah Williams, Sarah Lemire, V. Hansmann, Gina Barreca, Robin Hemley--and my favorite, Ravi Shankar's "The Top Ten Reasons It's Awesome to Be a Tam-Bram American."
June 20, 2020
Any time a book claims to be "very humorous," it is challenging the reader to believe that the essays are funny. I don't respond well to dares. Overall, I felt that Flash Nonfiction Funny: 71 Very Humorous, Very True, Very Short Stories was OK. In many ways, it was all downhill after the preface.
I enjoyed seeing pieces by writers whom I have met at writers' workshops or have otherwise crossed paths with, such as Dinty W. Moore and Andrew Hudgins. I also enjoyed seeing writers whose blogs I follow, such as Allison K. Williams. I enjoyed their pieces beyond the mere loyalty factor. I also enjoyed seeing one of my favorite writers: Suzanne Strempek Shea, an underappreciated talent in Massachusetts.
Other nice surprises:
"The Insomniac's To-Do List," by Jody Mace (I laughed out loud.)
"What Fathers Say, What Daughters Hear," by Charles Rafferty
"Hardware," by Chris Offutt
"Writing Advice to My Students that Would Also Have Been Good Sex Advice for My High-School Boyfriends," by Helena De Bres
"How to Die Alone," by Sarah Einstein
"Horror in the Okefenokee Swamp," by Sandra Gail Lambert (I read this one twice.)
"Gained in Translation: A Real-Life Play in One Act," by Mark Budman
"What You Need to Feed Your Baby," by Susan Lerner (However, it was not funny when I was living this.)
"Life Among the Yankees," by Juliana Gray
"The Tao of Weighing In," by Beth Levine
"The Mysterious Case of the Deluded Reader," by Damhnait Monaghan
Many of the writers seemed stuck in what my mother called "bathroom humor." By that, she meant poop, pee, turds, etc. I found a number of writers were also still fascinated with body parts. Who knew one's body could be entertaining even past the age of 6!
I think many of the essays would have been improved if their authors had followed Allison K. Williams' advice in "How to Write Comedy." I will let her last step be my last words: "6. Return to step one. Repeat until you're funny."
I enjoyed seeing pieces by writers whom I have met at writers' workshops or have otherwise crossed paths with, such as Dinty W. Moore and Andrew Hudgins. I also enjoyed seeing writers whose blogs I follow, such as Allison K. Williams. I enjoyed their pieces beyond the mere loyalty factor. I also enjoyed seeing one of my favorite writers: Suzanne Strempek Shea, an underappreciated talent in Massachusetts.
Other nice surprises:
"The Insomniac's To-Do List," by Jody Mace (I laughed out loud.)
"What Fathers Say, What Daughters Hear," by Charles Rafferty
"Hardware," by Chris Offutt
"Writing Advice to My Students that Would Also Have Been Good Sex Advice for My High-School Boyfriends," by Helena De Bres
"How to Die Alone," by Sarah Einstein
"Horror in the Okefenokee Swamp," by Sandra Gail Lambert (I read this one twice.)
"Gained in Translation: A Real-Life Play in One Act," by Mark Budman
"What You Need to Feed Your Baby," by Susan Lerner (However, it was not funny when I was living this.)
"Life Among the Yankees," by Juliana Gray
"The Tao of Weighing In," by Beth Levine
"The Mysterious Case of the Deluded Reader," by Damhnait Monaghan
Many of the writers seemed stuck in what my mother called "bathroom humor." By that, she meant poop, pee, turds, etc. I found a number of writers were also still fascinated with body parts. Who knew one's body could be entertaining even past the age of 6!
I think many of the essays would have been improved if their authors had followed Allison K. Williams' advice in "How to Write Comedy." I will let her last step be my last words: "6. Return to step one. Repeat until you're funny."
April 25, 2018
There’s nothing pithy in the title ‘Before We Break for Lunch, Let Me Repeat Everything Already Said at This Meeting At Least Twice.’ And that's exactly the point.
By sticking its finger in the eye of brevity, this piece at the tail end of Flash Nonfiction Funny captures everything that’s beautiful and funny and sad and true about the whole collection--and life itself.
Tiny dictators hold us hostage. The buffet’s right there, but you can’t eat. Monotony and desperation might also breed wit and inspiration. Best of all: real as they may be, our daily traumas seldom kill us.
Many times, these traumas are just what make us laugh.
The collected slices of life in FNF hold before us the things we know—breakups and rejections, puberty and old age, humiliation and self-delusion—but provide sweet escape: the torment belongs to someone else. The pages are filled with teachers and parents, dysfunctional families and cross-dressers, pets and barbers and bureaucrats. Dachshund hounds and metaphors abound.
Feel the colonoscopy without anesthesia, and see ‘the long pink line’ as the camera worms its way inside you. Smell an aging parent’s decaying waste. Taste cocktails from around the world. Hear yourself, exactly as your children hear you, in 'What Fathers Say, What Daughters Hear':
Do you want to hear about when your mother and I first kissed?
Do you want to throw up?
How many times do I have to tell you?
I love hearing the sound of my angry, disappointed voice.
The writers in FNF are most of all the kind of people you’d like to share a beer with. They have a talent for brevity and wit. They don’t stand on ceremony and they don’t shy from tyranny. They embrace the absurd, illuminate chaos, and chase redemption. Imagine a lively social gathering, bound and transportable, good for the train, the break room, or anywhere you go to escape life’s misfortunes.
Unlike it’s brilliant companion from Tom Hazuka--Flash Fiction Funny--Flash Nonfiction Funny is funny mostly because it’s true.
By sticking its finger in the eye of brevity, this piece at the tail end of Flash Nonfiction Funny captures everything that’s beautiful and funny and sad and true about the whole collection--and life itself.
Tiny dictators hold us hostage. The buffet’s right there, but you can’t eat. Monotony and desperation might also breed wit and inspiration. Best of all: real as they may be, our daily traumas seldom kill us.
Many times, these traumas are just what make us laugh.
The collected slices of life in FNF hold before us the things we know—breakups and rejections, puberty and old age, humiliation and self-delusion—but provide sweet escape: the torment belongs to someone else. The pages are filled with teachers and parents, dysfunctional families and cross-dressers, pets and barbers and bureaucrats. Dachshund hounds and metaphors abound.
Feel the colonoscopy without anesthesia, and see ‘the long pink line’ as the camera worms its way inside you. Smell an aging parent’s decaying waste. Taste cocktails from around the world. Hear yourself, exactly as your children hear you, in 'What Fathers Say, What Daughters Hear':
Do you want to hear about when your mother and I first kissed?
Do you want to throw up?
How many times do I have to tell you?
I love hearing the sound of my angry, disappointed voice.
The writers in FNF are most of all the kind of people you’d like to share a beer with. They have a talent for brevity and wit. They don’t stand on ceremony and they don’t shy from tyranny. They embrace the absurd, illuminate chaos, and chase redemption. Imagine a lively social gathering, bound and transportable, good for the train, the break room, or anywhere you go to escape life’s misfortunes.
Unlike it’s brilliant companion from Tom Hazuka--Flash Fiction Funny--Flash Nonfiction Funny is funny mostly because it’s true.
April 5, 2020
Flash writing remains one of my favourite writing and one that I am exploring at the moment. An excellent series of great example, and very relaxing. My favourite one : writing advices to my students which would have been great sex advices ofr my high school boyfriends.
October 30, 2018
Expectedly, some essays are funnier than the others. But overall I was very pleased with this read and can see myself teaching this book in the near future.
June 6, 2019
If you don't like to laugh, you shouldn't read this book.
August 24, 2019
The stories were not that funny. Disappointed in this book.
October 20, 2022
I had high hopes but these were not “very humorous” to me. I read several and they were more like slightly humorous, so I stopped.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews