Brevity & Echo: An Anthology of Short Short Stories

by Abigail Beckel (Editor), Kathleen Rooney (Editor), Chip Cheek (Contributor)

Fiction. Edited by Abigail Beckel and Kathleen Rooney. Introduction by Ron Carlson.BREVITY & ECHO is an essential anthology of previously published short shorts by Emerson College alumni. BREVITY & ECHO broadens the scope of this rich and expanding genre with a wide range of flash fiction styles, and celebrates of the continuing legacy of Emerson's writing program. The anthology contains work by Don Lee, Denise Duhamel, Lee Harrington, and many more, as well as an introduction by Ron Carlson and an afterword by Pamela Painter. These tiny fictions--the longest weighing in at 1400 words and the shortest at just 55--appeared originally in the pages of such books and journals as McSweeney's, StoryQuarterly, Quick Fiction, What If?, Night Train, failbetter, and Best American Non-Required Reading.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Literature, Anthologies

168 pages, Paperback

First published December 11, 2006

About the author

Abigail Beckel is the co-founder and publisher of Rose Metal Press, an independent nonprofit publisher dedicated to publishing books in hybrid genres. She has worked professionally in publishing for more than 11 years at publishing houses such as Pearson Education, Beacon Press, and Blackwell Publishing, and for the magazine Physicians Practice. She is a published poet and received her MA in Publishing and Writing from Emerson College.

Reviews

[Antonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a few gems here, but the best ones I've read before in other collections. I love short-shorts, but overall, wasn't taken with this set. Did like Pam Painter's afterward. Her enthusiastic championing of short-shorts is infectious. I've had the pleasure of taking several workshops with her — though not a year-long one, like the fortunate students at Emerson.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, fresh, innovative collection of short short fiction. A great read.

[Al Kratz · Rating 4 out of 5]

More required Flash fiction reading. Mad at myself for not reading it a few years ago when I first started writing flash. These seem a little more experimental or exercise driven possibly than the anthology Flash Fiction , but on the other hand, it's an even better example of/ standard for compression.

[Sterling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Few and far between. There are two stories which consist of song titles and book titles to create a story, which were both pretty lame.

One story in particular was very good. "You Always Know It's Over When They Say:". That one made up for a lot of the fluffy stuff.

[Rusty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm in this lovely anthology from Rose Metal Press.

[Marian · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are short short stories. Many are very very short and some as "long" as 1200 words. Some of the stories I liked and some I didn't. But it was very creative. The preface stated that this book would make you think. And whether I liked a story or not they all made me think so I'm glad I read it. In the afterward I learned that most of the authors came out of a short story writing class at Emerson College. Each week they had writing exercises to come up with a short story. Within that context the eclectic nature of the stories made more sense. I probably would have enjoyed the book more if the afterward had been the preface. I would have enjoyed deconstructing what they were doing as I was reading it.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dang.
Some of these I did not enjoy.
Others hit home real hard.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

great collection of short short/flash fiction. HIghly recommended.