The third entry for Chapbook Week is Girlmine by Erica Soon Olsen.

The “Daphne” stories are among my favorite because of the way the well-known character orients you to an extent, then completely turns what you know upside down. The sense of place in every story is perfection, and I couldn’t help but notice it as it’s something I struggle with in my own writing. “The Iron Ranger” is especially spot-on in terms of location and description.

This tiny book is part of the INCH series from Bull City Press. Get your copy HERE.

My second title of Chapbook Week is Love Letter to Biology 250 by Chella Courington.

The stories in this chapbook blur the line between biology and everyday life, often in a surreal, almost magical way. Each piece gave me a pleasant flashback to college biology courses, which is amazing because I didn’t enjoy the class at the time. I only wish I had Courington’s innovative framework back then so I could search beneath the facts for stories.

Each piece is great, but my two favorites are “Et Cetera” and “Smack.” You can get this flash fiction chapbook from Porkbelly Press.

I’ve been reading a lot of amazing fiction chapbooks lately and want to highlight them. First up is The Swell of Seafoam by Keely O’Shaughnessy.

I met Keely when I worked as a Priority Editor at Flash Fiction Magazine and got to know her writing from there. This micro-chap contains five pieces of flash fiction “from amongst the waves.” The sea almost takes on a character role in these stories, along with parents, siblings, stepsiblings. They touch on how complicated familial relationships can be, paralleled with the mysteries of the ocean.

I love all of these stories, but this line from “Floatation Therapy in the Subjunctive Mood” sticks with me:

“[…] what if, once he was gone, I didn’t have to feel my body expand as I buried my face in the pillows letting out big, heaving sobs […]”

This micro-chapbook is part of Ghost City Press’s summer series, and you can get a copy HERE.