Suspend Your Disbelief

Author Archive

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FWR's Own in Glimmer Train

by Celeste Ng

At Fiction Writers Review, a key part of our mission is to support emerging writers—and hey, we’re emerging writers, too. So I’m especially pleased to report that the current issue of Glimmer Train (Issue 75) contains stories by not one, but TWO of the FWR staff: our Associate Editor, Jeremiah Chamberlin, and our site’s designer/graphic design goddess, Marissa Perry. Both are amazing writers, and we’re not just saying that because we know them. It’s especially appropriate to highlight Glimmer Train this month—Short Story Month—as it’s one of just a handful of journals that publish only short fiction. Moreover, Glimmer Train […]


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Win a copy of Skip Horack's collection The Southern Cross

by Celeste Ng

I am often skeptical of reviews by people who know the author: sometimes they’re a bit too chummy, like Sarah Palin praising Glenn Beck. (Ew. Just—ew.) So let me start off by saying that I do know Skip Horack, but only slightly. We met at the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference in 2009, and though we chatted a few times, this is the moment that stands out in my mind. It was a very hot August day, and I was trudging back to the dining hall in search of a cold drink when Skip and his roommate (the poet Matthew Dickman) […]


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When we go digital, what happens to the flyleaf?

by Celeste Ng

We’ve talked previously about what may happen to book covers as e-books become more prevalent. But the VQR blog has a nice post about another vanishing aspect of paper books: marginal notes, flyleaf dedications, and physical insertions. Says blogger Megan Alix Fishmann, who works in a used bookstore: Each receipt, torn article, and note is a clue leading me to learn just a bit more about the book’s previous owner. In 125 Cookies to Bake, Nibble & Savor, in the midst of a recipe for peanut butter cookies, I found a woman’s prescription for 15mg of Terazepam, a strong sleeping […]


Reviews |

Tunneling to the Center of the Earth, by Kevin Wilson

If Tunneling to the Center of the Earth (HarperPerennial, 2009) were a child, it would be the kind who held your hand until you reached the road and then insisted—slapping at your grasping fingers without taking his eyes off the road—on crossing the street without help. If Kevin Wilson’s debut collection were a car, it would be the kind of bubble-topped, shark-finned future-car that you see on footage of old World’s Fairs, but you would see it out in the world, cruising the miracle mile. If this book were a friend, it would be the kind who goes with you […]


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NPR's Three-Minute Fiction Contest, Round 4

by Celeste Ng

May is Short Story Month, and what better way to celebrate than by reading some short fiction by emerging writers? But I don’t have time, you say. National Public Radio has the answer: three-minute fiction. These stories can all be read aloud in under three minutes—little gems to surprise and delight you in less time than it takes to microwave a bag of popcorn. The deadline for the current round NPR’sThree-Minute Fiction Contest has passed, but while judge Ann Patchett decides on the winner, check out some of the entries. All stories for this round include the words “plant,” “trick,” […]


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Book Review Bingo

by Celeste Ng

Boston Examiner Michelle Kerns has come up with the perfect way to monitor clichés in book reviews: Book Review Bingo. Just because I’m a sucker for you guys, I’ve taken all the work out of it: you’ll find, below, eight Bingo cards specially designed for the cliché-intolerant among us. I even gave you a freebie — see the middle square? It’s the “Cliché -free” zone. Print them out. Distribute them among your reading fellows. See who can get to Bingo first. Or — depending on which publication you’re reading — who can get a blackout first. Okay, we here at […]


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ESPN Short Fiction Contest

by Celeste Ng

The Millions alerted us to this contest for sports-themed short fiction, sponsored by—of all people—ESPN. Now, I love my Red Sox and my Cavaliers, but I would never call myself a sports girl. So I was skeptical of the whole idea of “sports fiction.” But I recently served on the admissions board for the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, reading applications for waitership positions, and I was surprised to see a number of well-written, compelling, and honestly interesting sports-related stories. The key? They weren’t about sports per se; they were about interesting people who happened to be involved in sports, and […]


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Do the Write Thing for Nashville

by Celeste Ng

You may have missed it between the Times Square Car bomb and the giant uncontrolled oil spill that’s taking over the Gulf Coast. But last week, the Cumberland River flooded much of Nashville, covering the city with over 10 feet of water, closing institutions like the Grand Ole Opry House, and killing more than 25 people. A group of publishing professionals, Do the Write Thing for Nashville, is working to raise money for flood victims by auctioning off signed copies of books, manuscript critiques by agents and editors, writing retreats, and other lit-related swag. So far, the group has raised […]


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Win a copy of If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This, by Robin Black

by Anne Stameshkin

Before I recommend or send any book to one of FWR’s reviewers, I always read a sample story or two, a chapter, or maybe the first fifteen pages. If I fall in love, I order a copy of the book for myself. But sometimes there’s a novel or collection that demands to be read immediately. If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This (Random House, April 2010) made me forget I had a job, a website, friends, a boyfriend waiting for me to pick him up, dinner burning on the stove. And even after finishing this book (and sending […]




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