best of web + flash stories

good news: Dzanc's "Best of the Web 2010" collection is officially finished and sent to the printer, it will be released in the middle of June. the collection is edited by Matt Bell, and guest-edited by Kathy Fish. Matt put a blog note on it online that generously offers a preview of the index and of the introduction. it's all up here: Best of the Web 2010: Finished! - click the cover at the bottom to get to the preview of index and introduction.

Matt Bell's introduction includes a note on print and online fiction, and on flash fiction that i would like to quote here, as it relates to the current issue of blueprintreview, which from concept started as flash issue. the quote also relates to the blueprint micronovel print plans for this summer:

"There is room - and perhaps even a need - for our literary community to have both print and online incarnations, and for both to thrive. We're lucky to have as many options as we do, arguably more than any generation of readers and writers has ever had.
Consider, for instance, the explosion of flash fiction as a form, which is, in my opinion, one of the hallmarks of current online literature: While the rise of flash has commonly been cited as a response to or panacea for the supposedly shortened attention span of contemporary Americans, I believe instead that the internet merely provided the room for new markets to arice, particularly those that might focuse on the kinds of fiction or essays or poetry somehow less popular with already magazines. This sort of thing can only be a good thing for the future of literature." - Matt Bell.

i can only second this view: print and online aren't counterparts or rivals, they are options that often connect and overlap.

but back to "Best of Web":
- the collection is now available for pre-orders at Dzanc Books.
- the full content overview is up here: Best of the Web 2010 - index
- this list also includes a story from the blueprintreview shortcuts/detours issue:
- "Nostrum" by Michelle Reale.