My Very End of the Universe
My Very End of the Universe; Five Novellas-in-Flash and a Study of the Form
By Chris Bower, Margaret Patton Chapman, Tiff Holland, Meg Pokrass, and Aaron Teel.
Awards & Publicity
My Very End of the Universe wins the Gold IPPY! (Independent Publisher’s Book Award)
KMSU Weekly Reader, discussing the novella-in-flash and reading selections from “Here, Where We Live”
Hear the playlist at Largehearted Boy
Meg’s interview at Brevity
Podcast author reading at The Next Book Blog
Praise & Reviews
My Very End of the Universe is a celebration and study of an increasingly popular genre: the novella-in-flash, a novella built of standalone flash stories. The novellas in this collection—Betty Superman by Tiff Holland, Here, Where We Live by Meg Pokrass, Shampoo Horns by Aaron Teel, Bell and Bargain by Margaret Patton Chapman, and The Family Dogs by Chris Bower—are compact and specific, yet whole and universal, using the flexibility of the genre to offer a polyphony of setting and emotion. Accompanying each novella-in-flash is a craft essay by the author exploring the form’s power, uses, and unique characteristics. The book opens with a genre-defining introduction to the novella-in-flash by editors Abigail Beckel and Kathleen Rooney, which also offers historical and contemporary context.
Although the family struggles presented in these five novellas-in-flash are as old as time, the authors use the form to make them new and vital, each one presenting a self-contained galaxy of characters, while expanding—like the universe itself—into vaster realms of experience.
“The five novellas-in-flash in My Very End of the Universe are excellent type specimens of the genre, and the accompanying craft essays help give this chimeric form a theory and a practice. Writers interested in story structure owe it to themselves to add this book to their office bookshelves, but it’s adventurous readers who will surely benefit the most, finding themselves thrilled by the surprising tales within.”
– Matt Bell, author of In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods
“My Very End of the Universe is indispensable reading for anyone who loves fiction that defies categorization—and for anyone who simply loves engrossing stories cast in superb prose. Each of these novellas-in-flash is exquisite in its own distinct way, and collectively they demonstrate what is possible when we break the traditional confines of form and dare to invent something new.”
– Laura van den Berg, author of The Isle of Youth
“Mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, family dogs, all the dramas, distilled, through flash, more potent than ever. My Very End of the Universe offers five outstanding examples of the novella-in-flash form itself, along with indispensable essays from the authors on what this blending of short and long can do.”
– Jane Ciabattari, author of Stealing the Fire and California Tales
“In tornado-flung trailer parks and icy lakes, citrus groves and drugstore aisles, the characters of My Very End of the Universe yearn to soar like Superman but are, more often, prayed for. Daughters struggle to rescue mothers, sons clobber the weak, outlaws menace and bedazzle—and in 1893, a newborn says ‘Hello?’ in a tiny, astonishing voice. Compact, intense, and thrilling, these five novellas-in-flash show us that even in the smallest spaces, we can learn how to fly.”
– Rebecca Meacham, author of Let’s Do and Morbid Curiosities