After the Rapture is a flash fiction hybrid book written at the intersection between flash fiction and the novel. A leader and innovator of the form, Stohlman fragments the long form narrative into the distilled intensity of micro and compressed fiction while still maintaining a larger story arc. After the Rapture is a flash fiction hybrid book written at the intersection between flash fiction and the novel. A leader and innovator of the form, Stohlman fragments the long form narrative into the distilled intensity of ...
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After the Rapture is a flash fiction hybrid book written at the intersection between flash fiction and the novel. A leader and innovator of the form, Stohlman fragments the long form narrative into the distilled intensity of micro and compressed fiction while still maintaining a larger story arc. After the Rapture is a flash fiction hybrid book written at the intersection between flash fiction and the novel. A leader and innovator of the form, Stohlman fragments the long form narrative into the distilled intensity of micro and compressed fiction while still maintaining a larger story arc. Nancy Stohlman has authored four previous books of flash fiction including The Vixen Scream and Other Bible Stories , The Monster Opera , and Madam Velvet's Cabaret of Oddities , which was a finalist for a 2019 Colorado Book Award. Her flash fictions have been anthologized in the W.W. Norton anthology New Micro: Very Short Stories and in Macmillan's The Practice of Creative Writing: A Guide for Students . Her flash fiction craft book, Going Short: An Invitation to Flash Fiction , won the Readers View Gold Award and was recently re-released as an audiobook. She teaches at the University of Colorado Boulder and runs workshops and retreats around the world. "In this world of Walmarts, Barbies, Kens, orgies/time-shares, 7-11s, clones, a red Lake Michigan, and dreams, Nancy Stohlman's humor and talent shines. The rapture becomes more than just a rapture: it's a world turning on its head, acceptance, and then finding a new normal. Redeeming and heart-felt, this dystopian novel-in-flashes is one not to forget. After the Rapture is a rapture!"--Kim Chinquee, three-time Pushcart Prize winner, author of seven collections and the novel, Pipette " After the Rapture is a startling, rhapsodic, brilliant tome. Stohlman dares to venture into an intricate mosaic of layered, futuristic identities, individualities, and lives both wasted and yet fully explored. A dazzling oscillation of scintillating prose, on the threshold between the ephemeral and the eternal. After the Rapture is a book full of surprise and wonder, a compelling and majestic book."--Robert Vaughan, author of Askew , Funhouse and Addicts & Basements "Mesmerizing, challenging, funny, awesome, entertaining, bewildering, full of doom, wisdom, absurdity, and heart. I love how gigantic and scary Biblical personages and events are swallowed up by commercial / pop culture. It's ridiculous, genius, and moving, all at the same time."--Robert Shapard, co-editor of the Norton Flash Fiction anthologies Sudden Fiction , Flash Fiction Forward , and Flash Fiction International Fiction. Hybrid. Women's Studies.
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After the Raptureâ�� by Nancy Stohlman, is the ultimate in what flash fiction could be. She has taken it to a new, transformative level in this dystopian dramaâ�"part flash fiction, part novel. If you like flash fiction, then you are in for a real treat, because Stohlman is a master at condensing big, high concepts into compact, economic snapshots without losing the larger meaning of a novel. Yes, large ideas can come in small packages. But these arenâ��t just large ideas. Their smart ideas. They say a lot in a little bit of space.
Stohlman�s mesmerizing style will pull you in from the first page. Once you get into the style and tone, you will become entertained and intrigued by the story. If you�ve ever wanted to write flash fiction, let this book be your guide. It�s always a good read when you feel like you can trust the author and her writing to take you into territories with big payoffs. This gifted writer unleashes her imagination in a way that will stir YOUR imagination. Just when you think you know where the story is going, well, you do in a way, and then you don�t. So, the surprises are another layer to add to the talent of this established writer.
As you read, you�ll also run into a sense of humor, and that is always welcome in a dystopian novel. But so are philosophy, social commentary, and wisdom, and you�ll find those things here too. This is one of those multi-layered books that can make you both feel and think, even though you may be laughing in parts at the absurdity of it all. I mean, you�ve got this little excerpt:
Sometimes I wake in the middle of the night and think my old arm is still there. Shhh, Ken says, pushing his plastic torso against my back. It�s okay.
But it�s not okay. It�s definitely not okay.
I love this kind of absurd humor. For a dystopian novel with takes that are even unique for a dystopian novel, ââ?¬Å"After the Raptureââ?¬Â? by Nancy Stohlman, is a must-read in this genre.