Small is beautiful

I thought I'd highlight a recently published book from Cinnamon that looks hugely promising: Exposure. It's an anthology of more than 1000 writers from Wales and beyond, presenting their take on what it means to be human by way of that smallest wonder of small wonders: the micro-fiction. It's co-edited by Holly Howitt, a hugely talented young writer and herself a gifted micro-fictioneer.

I was really fortunate to meet and discuss the genre with Holly and Deborah Kay Davies at an Academi Conference earlier this year, and it was fascinating to pick over the history and purpose of a form that, while reflecting the age of tweets, bleats and Facebookery, is, in many respects, an urform. I've personally adored the genre since my first immersion into it with Borges, that grandmaster of mythic fictions in miniature. At its very best, micro-fiction opens doors that lead into immense, immediate worlds. The landscape of Wonderland. One lingering regret I have about my tenure at the Review is that I was somehow never able to accommodate micro-fiction, though I had planned to. Unsolicited submissions somehow never hit that special, immediate spot the genre simply has to and a plan lined-up to otherwise provide, provide never quite came off. Of mice and micro-fiction.

In the meantime, though, for those that long for the micro or want to find out more, here's Exposure. And, incidentally, do also check out Dan Rhodes's superb, hilarious and whip-smart micro-fiction collection on love, Anthropology.