If you ask me, Flash Fiction pretty much defines itself: written and read in a flash. There are purists who insist on a FF story of less than 100 words. There are other practitioners who make 1500 words as the final dividing line. (I know that sounds like a mighty long flash, but I can [...]
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There are two things that pretty much guarantee my interest in a book I haven’t yet read:
1. Fairy tale retellings.
2. Ron Koertge.
I have yet to read anything by Koertge that I’ve disliked — poetry or prose, adult or young adult. And his latest, LIES, KNIVES AND GIRLS IN RED DRESSES, is no less than what I’d expect from a fairy tale book by Ron Koertge.
Cleverly blending the classic, gruesome, Grimm-style folklore with a few modern references, each poem in Koertge’s short collection is a mini retelling of a fairytale. Spanning from classics like “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Cinderella” to lesser known tales like “The Little Match Girl” and “Diamonds and Toads,” each poem takes on a distinctive, artful voice to carry the short narrative.
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Ron Koertge: Everybody who writes likes to talk about process. You know mine: sit down every day with my solitariness and write something. End of story. Is yours more complicated? Christine Heppermann: It’s only complicated in that I’m never completely solitary, I always have my insecurity and fear whining for my attention. Once I settle [...]
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I’ve been banned pretty much from the beginning. In the first YA I published about thirty years ago (WHERE THE KISSING NEVER STOPS), two sixteen-year-old kids are making out in a car. The boy is excited and ejaculates. Both the kids are baffled and embarrassed. The girl asks, “I can’t get pregnant from something like [...]
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I recently had the pleasure of reading STONER & SPAZ and its brand new sequel NOW PLAYING by the inimitable Ron Koertge. These novels, about a film addict with CP and the drug-addled girl who shakes him out of his self-made isolation, are equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking. I’m so pleased to have Ron on [...]
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Robert Frost said that writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down. Well, I’ve played tennis with the net down and it can be fun. My partner (opponent is too strong a word) and I can chat while we volley, try behind-the-back shots, make sky high lobs, tell jokes, and do lots [...]
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