Friday, February 22, 2013

Five You Can't Miss -- Tom Pitts

1) Daniel Mkiwa's The New Sleep in All Due Respect. This story so moved me that I sought out the author and begged him to send OOTG a piece. It's a fresh take on street crime and his keen sense for dialogue gives this barrio tale a realistic feel that's hard to find out there
http://all-due-respect.blogspot.com/2012/06/issue-29-june-2012.html

2) It's probably already been mentioned by others in this series, but Nicky Murphy's Daddy's Girl in OOTG's Flash Fiction Offensive got my attention. A lot of emotion rises up from very sparse prose. The tale between the lines is brutal and unforgettable.
http://www.outofthegutteronline.com/2012/07/daddys-girl.html

3) Joe Clifford's Shady Palms from Shotgun Honey. Another story where the writer heats up the heart then sticks a knife in it and twists. Betrayal upon betrayal. Joe at his meanest and leanest.
http://www.shotgunhoney.net/2012/06/shady-palms-by-joe-clifford.html

4) Mike Monson's Hot Cups. A winner of OOTG's Digital Rage contest. The thing I loved about this one was that the action happened off the page. It's crafty to build that kind of tension without hitting you over the head with violence.
http://www.amazon.com/Out-Gutter-8-Matthew-Louis/dp/0982688792/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359192947&sr=1-1&keywords=out+of+the+gutter+8

5) Going to Hell to the Sound of Sucking or How the Gimp got 86'd from Mac's by Jaylee Alde
I'm bending the rules a bit, but this tale has its own story. There's no link because it didn't get published. Not yet anyway. Its subject was the cause of much backroom hullabaloo over at Out of the Gutter's Flash Fiction back office. I thought it was hilarious, bold, and irreverent. Three things I love. The rest of the FFO editorial staff said, "No fucking way! Hilarious, yes, but I'm not going to hell!" I recently contacted Jaylee to see what happened with it and I believe it will make it onto the virtual pages of some daring zine sometime soon. Watch out for it.

2 comments:

  1. Word on the street is the un-publishable #5 by Jaylee Alde is going to be published! Look for it on Feb 28th at OOTG's Flash Fiction Offensive and see what the fuss was all about.

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  2. Good list Tom. You're right, Mkiwas' "Sleep" was like a backhanded slap from out of nowhere. Unique is the word I'd use. Joe's Sticky . . . er, Shady Palms doesn't waste any time at all to get you up to your eyeballs in story. Daddy's Girl rang my bell too. Haven't read the other two but that will be soon corrected. I'll keep an eye out for the unpublishable pn the 28th. And good on OOTG for doin' it. Censors be damned.

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