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Collaboration:
A review of Rift by Kathy Fish & Robert Vaughan

rift In Rift, stories by Kathy Fish and Robert Vaughan, published in 2015 by Unknown Press, lovers of flash fiction have a new Must Read, a new entry to the list of flash fiction classics that show the power and depth possible in stories compressed into a page or two.

Even the one-word, four-letter title conveys more than the sum of its parts. As a noun, rift means a break in something. A crack. A split. A flaw. A breach. A fracture. A cavity. An opening. A serious division in friendly relations.

The book Rift contains four escalating sections: Fault, Tremor, Breach, and Cataclysm. Each section has around eighteen stories that alternate between writers.

The table of contents is the only place Read in Full

Interview with Peter Blair
Bath Flash Commended

Flash 8.2 cover

Peter’s flash fiction Shadowtrain, commended by Tania Hershman in our February Award, began as a gentle parody of a colleague’s wonderful prose poems then went off on its own journey. In this interview he tells us more about the development of the story and what he likes about reading and writing flash fiction. With his colleague Ashley Chantler, Peter founded and edits Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine, a biannual literary journal for stories and reviews of up to 360 words now in its sixteenth edition. He enjoys the incredible variety of subjects, settings and styles that a limited word count makes possible.

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Interview with
Clodagh O’Brien
Bath Flash Prize Winner

clodagh

Clodagh embarked on reading all the unread novels on her shelves in order to inspire her to write flash fiction. We think reading one form of fiction to prompt ideas to write in another is a great idea. Her third prize winning story, Billy is a wonderfully creative response to the novel ‘An Ocean in Iowa’ by Peter Hedges. In this interview Clodagh also tells us about her love of flash fiction, her favourite writers and where she best likes to write.

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Interview with Al Kratz
Bath Flash Prize Winner

Al Kratz with beer

Al tells us how his second prize-winning story was sparked off by the title, which came into his head on the way to work. This great ten-worder, You have so many more choices than fight or flight posed questions about human existence and allowed Al to write in the second-person, a voice he wouldn’t normally use. We think he’s definitely created a ‘kick-ass’ flash fiction.

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Interview with
Ingrid Jendrzejewski
Bath Flash Prize Winner

Ingrid tells us how persistence pays off when you’re faced with a blank screen. It certainly did when she cast about and discovered the idea for Roll and Curl, her first-prize winning flash. In this interview, Ingrid tells us more about this story and shares some of her writing methods.

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Guest Interview: Michelle Elvy

Michelle Elvy

Michelle Elvy is a writer, editor and manuscript assessor based in New Zealand’s Bay of Islands. Her poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and reviews have been published in numerous print and online journals. She lives on her 43’ sailboat with her husband and two daughters and is presently exploring the waters of East Africa. She edits at Flash Frontier: An Adventure in Short Fiction and Blue Five Notebook and is Assistant Editor, International, of the Best Small Fictions series, by Queens Ferry Press.
www.michelleelvy.com

Interview with Damyanti Biswas
Bath Flash Commended

Damyanti Biswas

Our second commended writer, Damayanti Biswas, tells us how a blog challenge propelled her into writing flash fiction and owning Betta fish inspired her story for the inaugural Bath Flash Fiction award.

Interview with Sarah Henry
Bath Flash Commended

Sarah-Henry

It is always interesting to find out what prompts a piece of fiction. In this short Q and A, Sarah Henry tells us more about this and her particular interest in writing flash fiction. Sailboats, her inaugural award commended piece, can be read here.

Interview with Mark Ralph-Bowman
Bath Flash Prize Winner

Mark Ralph-Bowman

The winners in our inaugural award have written very different styles of flash fiction. Mark Ralph-Bowman’s piece, which you can read here, is all about dialogue. Mark, primarily a playwright and novelist, wanted to try a new form. More about this below in our short Q and A.

Interview with Eileen Merriman
Bath Flash Prize Winner

Eilleen Merriman

Eileen Merriman took second prize in our inaugural Bath Flash Fiction Award. You can read her winning piece here. Eileen’s work came to Bath Flash by winning free entry via Ad Hoc Fiction, available to read here. In this interview, Eileen shares some of her thoughts regarding her work.