Francois Bereaud

Mar 15, 2024 | theargylelitmag.com | David Estringel |Francois Bereaud

Simi sat on the Food 4 Less loading dock, pulling nicotine into his lungs and watching a rat eat the remainder of a bean burrito. He wondered if the rat could feel anxiety. Doubtful. The creature acted on impulse, just as he used to do, whether in the middle of a quick-flowing stream or on the wrestling mat. Impulse which short-circuited doubt. “You got the eyes, boy,” Eric would tell him. The eyes to read the river for trout. The eyes to see an opponent’s move before it happened.

Dec 21, 2023 | bendinggenres.com | Francois Bereaud

by Francois Bereaud“It’s the things you don’t expect to miss that hit you the hardest.”This line from Green Card Girl, a prose poetry collection from the British-American writer Shannon Wolf hit me hard. In this, her first collection published by ELJ Press, Wolf takes us from a long-anticipated arrival in the United States and the subsequent adjustment period, back to England and the abuses she suffered there.

Nov 8, 2023 | bendinggenres.com | Francois Bereaud

A mom, two kids, a jar of pickles, an abandoned K-Mart, and a flood walk into an Amy Barnes story … For the rest, you’ll have to read Barnes’ new hybrid collection, Child Craft, recently released from Belle Point Press. Whether Barnes’ punchlines hit in the gut or the heart, they don’t miss. Barnes’ weird and bountiful imagination and nimble prose make each flash story an adventure unto itself.