Suspend Your Disbelief

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Sophie Powell

Contributor

Sophie Powell is the author of The Mushroom Man, which received glowing reviews, including from the New York Times Book Review, and which was translated into several languages. She has also written short stories, reviews and articles for publications such as Town And Country Travel,Time Out New York, Words Without Borders andThe Rumpus. She teaches creative writing at Boston College and Grub Street and is currently working on a novel, a screenplay, and a non-fiction work on myths and fairytales. Three books she recommends are: The Stories of Breece D J Pancake by Breece D J Pancake, Listening Below The Noise: A Meditation on the Practice of Silence by Anne D LeClaire, and A Fortunate Age by Joanna Smith Rakoff. Visit her website at meetsophiepowell.com.


Articles

Reviews |

Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms, by Ethan Gilsdorf

by Sophie Powell

Ethan Gilsdorf, a former Dungeons and Dragons addict and seasoned pop-culture and travel journalist, chronicles his international odyssey through the worlds of Harry Potter bands, medieval reenactment societies, World of Warcraft guilds, and massive fantasy conventions, to name only a few. In the process he learns to come to terms with his own attachment to the imaginary that has persisted into his forties. As a dedicated fairytale and myth fanatic myself, my curiosity was piqued by the title of the book which is at once a memoir, an insider’s guide to the world of gaming, and a quest that takes him all around the world to find answers not only to his own life, but to the larger question of why tens of millions of people turn away from reality and fully embrace fantastical other-existences.


Reviews |

The Rose Metal Press Field Guide To Writing Flash Fiction: Tips from Editors, Teachers, and Writers in the Field, edited by Tara L. Masih

by Sophie Powell

As a creative writing professor at Boston College, I frequently use collections of flash fiction, stories which usually run 1000 words or less. Given time limitations and the varying writing experience of my students, these versatile, word-limited pieces are a very approachable and satisfying form to work within. However, I always find myself floundering about when I try to explain and define this genre for the first time. It was therefore with keen interest that I picked up The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction, an unprecedented gathering of 25 brief essays by experts in the field that includes a lively, comprehensive history of the hybrid genre by editor Tara L. Masih.



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