Congratulations to Carolyn R. Russell and Vine Leaves Press on the release of Death and Other Survival Strategies, a collection of flash fiction that cuts across multiple genres.
★★★★★ “You will emerge on the other side of this book laughing, crying, and braver.” ~Lorette C. Luzajic, founder and editor of The Ekphrastic Review
Note: Flash Fiction Online describes flash fiction as complete stories told in 500-1000 words...bite-size stories perfect for readers to enjoy in the breakroom or on the bus, while waiting in line or as a breather between daily tasks...yet not to be underestimated because their impact can be great, and they’re likely to stick with you long after you’ve reached the end.
Death and Other Survival Strategies
NEW RELEASE: October 24, 2023Genre: Short Stories, Literary Short Stories, Contemporary Short Stories
Paperback: $14.99
Ebook: From $4.99
A young boy confronts a terrifying family secret. A recent college graduate is surprised by her fairy godmother in the powder room of a fancy nightclub in Manhattan. An exhausted midwife and her talking horse stumble into the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. A crack real estate agent confronts monstrously annoying thrill seekers at her open house. Two scheming ex-lovers meet at a diner; only one will leave. A small child gleefully bends reality to her will.
This cross-genre collection of flash explores the far realms of our most basic instinct. Russell’s stories astonish, delight, and repulse, unleashing a multiverse of possibility as her unforgettable characters respond to uncertainty in bedeviling ways.
Praise for Death and Other Survival Strategies
★★★★★ “Carolyn Russell’s collection of multi-genre flash gives her readers big surprises in small and smartly crafted morsels, deftly conjuring whole worlds and unforgettable characters in fewer than 1200 words.” ~Connie Johnson Hambley, award-winning author of The Jessica Trilogy
★★★★★ “[Carolyn's] insightful voice is both strange and familiar, finding the humanity and humor in lives real, imagined, and in between.” ~Doug Mathewson & Sally Reno, Editors, Blink-Ink
★★★★★ “Akin to spending time at your favorite art museum. You turn a corner and are greeted by a wall lined with exquisite miniatures, and here, you turn a page and melt into micro-jewels.” ~John McCaffrey, author of Automatically Hip
★★★★★ “Russell’s collection of compressed literary art is just that: art. Brush strokes trimming out tantalizing microfiction in tighter spaces...gorgeously imagined and thoughtfully rendered.” ~Keith Hoerner, founding editor of The Dribble Drabble Review
★★★★★ “Worlds recognizable enough to feel familiar, yet filled with the underlying dread and longing inherent in our human condition...combines parable, humor, logic and fairy tale to an entertaining and eerily devastating effect.” ~Andrea Caswell, Senior Fiction Editor, Cleaver Magazine
★★★★★ “These stories are compelling, provocative, and a wholly immersive experience, even in a medium that celebrates brevity...don’t just entertain; they make you think.” ~Bob Krasner, 2023 NYPA award winner for Arts Coverage
About the Author
Author and educator Carolyn R. Russell lives on and works from Boston’s North Shore. Her literary interests are varied, as one might expect given the breadth of genres represented in Death and Other Survival Strategies. Learn more at carolynrrussell.com.
About the Publisher
Vine Leaves Press likes to blur the line between commercial and experimental works. They publish book-length vignette collections, writing reference books, short story collections, memoir/autobiography, and character-driven novels with a literary bent. Subscribe to the Vine Leaves Press newsletter to receive FREE advanced review copies of upcoming new releases, news about their authors and subscribers, and/or to read the monthly opinion column, SPILL IT! or a daily dose of 50-word stories. Learn more at VineLeavesPress.com.