#tiny crimes

TINY CRIMES EDITED BY LINCOLN MICHEL & NADXIELI NIETO CATAPULT

I got interested in Tiny Crimes when I saw that Lincoln Michel was a co-editor. We reviewed his dark, quirky short story collection Upright Beasts a few years ago. The assonant title aside, most of the crimes in this anthology of flash fiction are not so tiny. The perpetrators in the 40 short stories in this collection are often heinous and occasionally psychotic. My favorite leans toward the latter category. In Richie Narvaez’s “Withhold the Dawn” the protagonist lures IRS agents to her house and then brutally murders them. She then turns them into empanada filling which she gifts to her neighbors. I’m averse to gore (I often close my eyes when watching The Walking Dead) but this was a fun take on revenge.

There are lots of nifty touches in Tiny Crimes. The index is amusing, if not exactly necessary -- here’s an excerpt from G section: (“...Gangsters, Gated Community, Gasoline -station, -used as accelerant, Good Guy -claims to be, Guilt -y of being a bystander, human-, Gun...”). There are stories that are straightforward flash and many that are experimental, like “Airport Paperback” by Adam Hirsch which is heavily redacted. A few of the stories are translations -- one from Chinese -- the original text presented side-by-side with the English.

I was inspired flipping through this collection and found it useful in my day job -- not doing crimes but teaching creative writing to high school kids. My only crimes of late have been not updating this blog and maybe sharing “Withhold the Dawn” with my students. “Okay class, trigger warning: unknowing cannibalism, axe murders…”. I actually had to say that. Anyway, they loved it -- and no one reported me. Win, win.

So steal a copy of this book from your local bookseller or get a copy from the wonderful imprint Catapult. Catapult is doing lots of cool literary things and giving new writers a forum (just not this writer -- ha, ha, -- I entered the contest to get published in this book). Tiny Crimes, released June 5th, is perfect for the beach, the plane, or the stakeout. 

Check out my new story “Airport Paperback” in the kickass crime anthology Tiny Crimes. There’s 39 other stories by incredible authors like Amelia Gray, Laura van den Berg, Carmen Maria Machado, and Brian Evenson.

“The only important elements in any society are the artistic and the criminal, because they alone, by questioning the society’s values, can force it to change.” ― Samuel R. Delany

THE GIGANTIC BOOK OF TINY CRIMES SEEKS FLASH NOIR/CRIME

The Gigantic Book of Tiny Crimes, an anthology of "flash noir" to be published by Catapult's Black Balloon imprint, will feature 50 tales of tiny tightrope robberies, disastrously diminutive double crosses, mournful muggings, and murders both foul and sweet. This anthology of flash noir will explore the genre of crime fiction—from the most hardboiled of noirs to the coziest of mysteries—gathering leading and emerging literary voices who scour the underbelly of modern life to expose the criminal, the illegal, and the depraved.

Nadxieli Nieto and Lincoln Michel previously co-edited and published Gigantic Worlds, a science flash fiction anthology with new (or previously uncollected) work from Ted Chiang, Jonathan Lethem, Lynne Tillman, Charles Yu, Alissa Nutting, Philip K. Dick, and more.

Submission guidelines: We’re looking for a diverse collection of stories from writers of different aesthetics and backgrounds. Crime fiction is defined loosely here, with an eye toward weird crime/noir—stories that push against and redefine what a crime is, and who criminals are. Previously unpublished stories only.

Submissions should be under 1,200 words.

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