Reviews

‘Robert Scotellaro is well-known in the world of flash fiction. He’s considered a master of the form and is branching out and experimenting with short prose. I’ve read all his books so far, and I believe this one to be his best. There are too many wonderful triptychs to mention. But here are some wonderful excerpts from some favorite stories:

‘From The Widower’s Feathers: “He has Emily Dickinson poems tattooed across the near sum of him. In Times New Roman as if they were typed there. This is the part of him known only to the women he dates. Privy to the shock of them excavated in dim light as he disrobes.”

‘From Chickens in the Parlor: “When my mother felt her life had become drab and spark-smothered, her lipsticks became redder and redder.”

‘From Rodeo Clown: “The bull torpedoes out of the chute: a bulky ballet of heft and violence.”

‘From The Antiquity of Certain Moments: “He becomes suddenly aware of the antiquity of certain moments. Like crazed china, somehow old in an instant.”

‘Then there are stories like Stuck about conjoined twins that are stellar, and the whole collection ends on a pitch perfect note.

‘It’s been an honor to ride alongside this writer and watch his career grow, and I’m thrilled to read these latest masterful little stories.’

—Tara Lynn Masih, at Goodreads

“Robert Scotellaro is the magician playing his flute in front of his house of mirrors, luring you in with lyric and song. Who knows what reflections of yourself you will find in there? As though his previous books of flash and micro fiction weren’t enough, here he presents us with a new form: the flash triptych. Welcome to stories broken into three distinct parts, reflecting & echoing and bouncing off each other until they gather into organic wholes that are delightfully easy to read. How does he do it? No matter, it’s magic. Scotellaro is an undisputed master of the short-short story, in all its myriad reflective incarnations. Wow! Go on in.”

—James Thomas, at Amazon

Ways to Read the World

Paperback: 137 pages
Publisher: Scantic Books (March 11, 2022)
Finalist for The American Fiction Award

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“Ways to Read the World is another masterwork by a brilliant weaver of the compact tale. Robert Scotellaro’s ability to compress whole worlds into a few sentences is singular, profoundly entertaining, and illuminating. As with the author’s previous flash fiction collections, this new offering challenges the reader’s complacency and imagination––a sudden turn of phrase and the train is off its tracks and bound in unexpected directions. The innovative triptych format works to marvelous effect, expanding and enriching the themes and motifs of its luminous prosetry. Scotellaro’s artistry, wit, and insight are on exquisite display in this superb new volume. A triple delight and triumph.”

–– Michael C. Keith, author Insomnia 11 and Quiet Geography

“No one has a deeper and more playful literary imagination than Robert Scotellaro. The triptychs in Ways to Read the World conjure up vivid worlds that are sometimes humorous, sometimes unsettling and oftentimes both—but always, always, supremely entertaining.”

—Tom Hazuka, co-editor of Flash Fiction and Flash Nonfiction Funny

“Ways to Read the World is a dazzling collection of stories so beautifully written and so powerfully sad that your heart will break over and over. No one—no one—does flash fiction better than Robert Scotellaro. Is there such a thing as a perfect book? This might be it.”

—Robin Stratton, author of Some Have Gone and Some Remain

“In Ways to Read the World, Robert Scotellaro’s head-of-the-pin triptych stories are miniature wonders. This author’s great gift is his power to condense human experience into mini-marvels of diamond-cut prose.”